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November 03, 2008
Teh Internets [heart] The Smith-Mundt Act?
There's a prominent upcoming conference on The Smith-Mundt Act - an act which, among other things, means that the US government cannot legally direct propaganda towards the US population. Abu Muqawama argues that
the act was also written in the early days of TeeVee and is seriously hindering our efforts to mount an effective information campaign on teh internets and such against sworn enemies like al-Qaeda
I can certainly see how this Act might be problematic - with the Internet today, stories cross national boundaries with ease and 'blowback' from propaganda targeted at audiences abroad is almost inevitable. Abu Muqawama may be right when he argues that "al-Qaeda [hearts] Karl Earl Mundt". However, I would also argue that the Internet - and the international public sphere - should also heart Kart Earl Mundt: this Act is valuable insofar that, while it may stop the US from doing Information Operations as they would want, it also helps to limit US propaganda to an extent. And, frankly, I don't think that additional US propaganda is something that teh interwebs (or the mainstream media, for that matter*) need. I'm therefore rather more attached to this act than Abu Muqawama appears to be.
As has been seen in the emergence of stories such as the use of white phosphorous as an anti-personnel weapon, it may be that teh internets are now revealing false information more quickly than before - outright propaganda, aside from ethical issues, may simply end up looking bad. A better solution would seem to be an honest, ethical engagement with others - moving beyond propaganda to be honest about what is going well and to offer quick, open acknowledgement of (and restitution for) mistakes. I would heart that, and I don't think that Al Qaeda would be please: such an approach does have the potential to lead to significantly more effective Information Operations (IO).
One more thing - it's interesting to see that lolspeak has infected Abu Muqawama. This meme does seem to spread with remarkable efficacy: I wonder how long till we start seeing IO reports headlined 'we can haz infosphere'? More worryingly, I am not sure whether this would be a good or a bad thing.
*Nick Davies' excellent Flat Earth News is well worth a read for it's excellent discussion of this.
Posted by jon_mendel at November 3, 2008 12:24 AM
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