On the heals of a previous idea about putting body cameras on entertainment agents, I feel compelled to suggest another fix -- although this one is more of a social fix for a social problem, thus providing a much needed "balance". Yeah, that's supposed to be funny to those who know me all too well...

What To Do About Russian Election Meddling Using Fake News?

There's a lot of hand-wringing about this subject. In my opinion, part of the solution here is really simple.

Here's a proposed solution, using Facebook as a hypothetical example. The idea centers around reversing the flow of social influence that the peddlers of this propaganda intended.

Facebook and the US Intelligence community, acting on data that is by the day becoming clearer, have the fake news ads and memes. Specifically, they know what ads and fake news stories that were shipped with the intention of swaying opinions in the election. They have also got another treasure trove -- a whole bank of real US citizens that still have the lingering "shares" in the history of their feed.

So what's to stop Facebook from hijacking a user's feed, and putting up an un-deletable, Facebook-driven "post"? One that says, in effect: "NOTE: User John Doe shared the following Fake News ad on their feed on September of 2016. This Post has been traced to a hostile foreign entity." It should appear for at least 2-3 days and after that until they delete the actual post off of their feed. There should be tools visible to the user, such that they can easily delete the fake news post. Again, in either case, this post will appear to all of the users friends for at least 2-3 days. And yes, commenting on the post should be allowed. It should be group commenting, such that all users that were exposed across multiple people will see the commentary.

They should appear in serial fashion in my opinion. Once the user has had the blow of 2-3 days of one fake ad NOTE, the next NOTE will appear. It should happen over and over, in other words, for the special type of repeat offender that got away with sharing propaganda in our last election.

No doubt, this will lead to some people deleting their accounts. In that case, Facebook should continue to leave up the NOTEs for that user, with the added caption "John Doe has since deleted his account.", leaving off the unsaid portion "in shame". No doubt, facebook itself will face a serious backwash of unpopularity. To those that would wring their hands about this hit on facebook's popularity, the simple point that our democracy is being hijacked by a foreign entity should be provided as balance.

In the case of Twitter -- the same thing. The account will "tweet" out an apology text indicating what was linked to their feed.

Reddit is a bit more complex. There are users and there are sub-reddits. For Reddit, whole sub-reddits that were hijacked will do penance, and the user accounts that posted them will be called out in the text. The moderators will not have control -- any post traced to a foreign government will get exposure. It will appear on the feed for that sub, and no moderation tools will be able to remove it.

No doubt, this will make sites like Facebook, reddit and twitter a bit more somber. No doubt, some idiots will cry foul of "free speech" -- no one is not saying you can't share fake news. We're just saying that when that news has been traced to a hostile government, you might end up with egg on your face.

It would be a form of digital penance for the sites that helped Russia sway the election. I'm saying it would be extremely easy to implement. I'm thinking sooner rather than later, as the Russians are all to willing to have another go at this.

-=FeriCyde=-

There's a simple technological fix for the Weinstein's of this world, but it ain't pretty...

Often as a tech guy I slide into seeing problems as having fixes rooted in circuitry and software. I'm aware of this internal bias -- more than most people like me. I reflexively laugh now when I think about a tech solution to a social problem, as often I'm so engrossed with the nifty tech being suggested that I miss the silliness of the idea. On rare occasion though, I get to see someone actually implement the idea (better than what I was thinking in all cases).

So bear with me here, while I suggest a technological fix to the Weinstein's of this world.

We are increasingly using police body cameras to keep everyone honest as it pertains to law enforcement. I don't have a good gauge of the interaction, but I'm guessing that more often than not, the perpetrators of crime get caught on police body camera doing stupid stuff at a much higher ratio than the police. We just get to see the law enforcment mistakes more often because it is more newsworthy when it happens. The exception here: The TV show "COPS". There we get to see what a typical cop goes through. I don't know if you watch the show, but the more I watch it, the less faith I have in general humanity. I pity the long hours of mostly thankless work those men and women in uniform have to endure. It's informative, but depressing. I can only watch so much, honestly, before I turn it off and thank God there are people willing to do the work like that because I'd have a lot less patience, I'm certain.

The main point I'm making here is this -- police sit in a valuable service to our society and their actions being recorded, good bad or indifferent, add value. We, as a society, are able to review and improve. I.E., weed out the people that shouldn't have a badge and exonerate the ones that were simply executing their duty when perpetrators attempt to falsely accuse them. The simple truth is that the recordings give us more faith that the right thing is going to happen. It keeps people more honest. It provides a valuable record of activities that might have gone otherwise, ... South ...

Body cameras are proven technology and fairly easy to deploy. And yes, I'm suggesting that if you're an agent, working with people in the movie or TV or related entertainment industries, and you have a modicum of power, you're going to have to register as a particular kind of worker and you're going to have to wear the same stuff we ask the police to wear. Everything you're doing and saying needs to be recorded when it involves vulnerable people. It needs to be stored somewhere in a registered archive that can only be accessed by a governing body when any accusations are made. Any interaction with actors will have to be recorded by your body camera. It will be on at all times and turning it off while in the company of an actor will be taken as a sign of guilt by omission of evidence.

Like I said before, I'm not a huge fan of tech being used to solve problems that are rooted in human or social behaviors. This is a bit of an exception though. I've thought about it, and it makes sense. Just read the headlines -- a lot of people are throwing up their hands like there isn't anything that can be done with this kind of systemic abuse. Well, here's something fairly easy to deploy and honestly I can't see a reason not to do it.

I'm sure some agents out there are balking at the idea, but take a trip through a few abuse stories -- maybe it won't sound like such a crazy idea after all.

-=Fericyde=-