Feds eyeing online forums to correct 'misinformation' (Canada)

[IScreamSundays]

Source: CTV News

The next time you post an opinion in an online forum or a Facebook group message board, don't be surprised if you get a rebuttal from a federal employee.

The government is looking for ways to monitor online chatter about political issues and correct what it perceives as misinformation.

The move started recently with a pilot project on the East Coast seal hunt. A Toronto-based company called Social Media Group has been hired to help counter some information put forward by the anti-sealing movement.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade has paid the firm $75,000 "to monitor social activity and help identify ... areas where misinformation is being presented and repeated as fact," Simone MacAndrew, a department spokesperson, said in an email.

snip>

Read more: http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20100523/government-online-forums-100523/20100523?hub=Canada

[Enrique]

1. $75,000 to correct misinformation on the Internet?

:rofl:

[unhappycamper]

2. Come on, the government never speaks to me.

Except when I owe them money at tax time.

[No Elephants]

36. The government may be speaking to you more often than you know.

[friendly_iconoclast]

3. Will the responders be from the Department of Truth?

Can't wait to see what happens with this.

[sasquuatch55]

4. Orwell was a visionary!

And so many of us live in a fog of ignorance.

[Cleita]

7. No doubt.

:rofl: I think I've run across a few of them here. Especially, the Obama is above criticism posts.

[proudohioan]

29. That's exactly what I was thinking! n/t

[krkaufman]

35. Maybe you've misinterpreted them ... ???

... 'cause it does seem that Obama is beyond criticism, at least from the political left.

[Go2Peace]

19. It's already here. We have a multiple budgets for "information control"

There were a number of articles about it during Bush's years and it was discussed on this site. It is alread a fact and well funded and formed.

[onethatcares]

5. first correction

during the 2000 election * won in a landslide and that smart fellow, well, he didn't get any votes...................at all.

Yep, by the time I go to meet my maker or whatever, the kids today won't know what color the sky is.

[sabrina 1]

6. 'Someone said something wrong on the internet'

I hope they have unlimited funds ~ lol!

[Flying Dream Blues]

8. Oh, I'm sure some of them are right here with us on DU. nt

[glinda]

9. I actually do not mind if it can be linked and proven.

[Posteritatis]

10. The fun thing about the "paid shills" meme is that it doesn't care about evidence. (nt)

[Iowa]

16. Self-delete.

[Go2Peace]

21. LOL. Just the Defense "Information control" budget is almost a Trillion $$$

Get your head out of the sand. And do you really think that both parties dont hire messaging people that work on the internet? That has been written about as well.

http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=55AA99D3-18FE-70B2-A861C81B31DB4B5F

[Go2Peace]

22. Here is an article discussing the $671 Million budget for "non-defense" "propaganda"

http://mediacitizen.blogspot.com/2006/02/bush-budget-pumps-propaganda-slashes.html

"671.9 million for the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), the federal agency that supervises all US government non-military propaganda."

And that was during Bush, but there have been complaints leveled that information control budgets are growing too fast under our new administration. So they are very much alive and working to control the information you and I get.

[Go2Peace]

23. None of these includes the"secret" budgets. Welcome to the real world folks

[AlphaCentauri]

26. I was under the impression that they were teabaggers, now I for sure know. n/t

[Go2Peace]

27. It's hard to know who is who.

That is one of the dangers about the current era. And one reason why the people need to be more aware of it and demand we get out of the business of manipulation and move into an era of true transparancy.

We are putting the USSR to shame. They never had the apparatus that even approached what we have in place today. Folks really need to become more aware.

[Posteritatis]

25. Did I deny their existence?

If you read my comment with any comprehension you would see that I did not. I'm referring to the particularly inane pattern on DU where half the site's membership constantly assumes the other half are paid spies and, of course, can never offer a shred of evidence about that.

[Go2Peace]

28. oh..

Sorry. I totally agree with that.

I have said before that the simplist way to get rid of the foodfights is to reform the rec system. Some of the problems with DU are related to how the site works. Just go over to Huffington post and look at their system. The same groups of people post there but it is much more civilized.

[No Elephants]

37. Exactly how would you prove that the owner of any given screen name was {or was not} getting paid?

Heck, I don't know your real name, let alone the real names of your sources of income.

[No Elephants]

38. Outrageous. It should be zero.

[glinda]

31. Well then who would pay attention?

[Cleobulus]

33. That is 100% not true...

(this post brought to you by the Social Media Group), oh and go club a seal, its great fun!

[Posteritatis]

11. Things like this always work out so well when tried

If someone showed up and actually said "I work for DFAIT/Walmart/whatever else and _____," I wouldn't actually mind that at all. People openly arguing their points with critics directly? There's nowhere near enough of that in the world.

The problem is that that never actually happens with these guys; they're so worried about being seen as making use of damage control that they'd rather damage themselves more by using masquerading accounts instead. (I think they get bonus points for doing so in an awkward and stilted way, too.)

[TheEuclideanOne]

12. $75,000K? Will that be enough for FreeRepublic.com?

I am thinking that they might have to bump up their budget a bit on that site. :) Perhaps the feds can put a whole team on Fox News. :) For the Glenn Beck show, they might have to place somebody next to his blackboard with an eraser in hand. :rofl:

[harun]

13. That would pay for about a week.

[snagglepuss]

14. Wasting taxes on effing propaganda. What online forums do you think the article

is referring to, other than the CBC forum which seems popular?

[SkyDaddy7]

15. I wonder what it would cost America...

If we tried the same thing here? LOL! Not that I would EVER agree with such a waste of money but could you imagine trying to rebut ever bit of misinformation that comes from FOX "News"...It would cost more than our defense budget! LOL!

[Go2Peace]

18. Seriously? We already have a budget for this. LOL. 300 million was stated durning Bush

I thought everyone was aware of it. It may have been there before Bush but there were a number of articles just like this one about Canada, talking about the amount of money we spend on information control. If I remember correctly, it was about $300 Million. And that did not include how "black ops" budgets that are so secret even our congressmen don't get all the details.

Anyone else remember when wikipedia caught the CIA playing with their site (They were able to trace IPs). Of course the government probably more sophisticated now and uses common carrier IP for this kind of work.

[SkyDaddy7]

20. It does sound familiar but...

Was it geared toward political issues?

[Go2Peace]

24. $671 Million budget for "non-defense" "propaganda"

The link is above.

[SkyDaddy7]

34. Thanks!

[Go2Peace]

17. We are already far ahead of them. We have a large budget for it and have for years

[donco6]

30. Ha! That explains a lot.

It's certainly no surprise around here.

[boppers]

32. Been doing this in the US since (at least) the 50's, folks.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Mockingbird

Web forums are just another form of media.

[No Elephants]

39. I'd bet a lot that it goes beyond just the CIA, wouldn't you, boppers?

[boppers]

40. Oh, certainly.

Public, private, big, small, everybody's trying to control (and manipulate) information where they can, and participatory media has vastly increased the landscape... CIA, DoD, AFL-CIO, BP, Joe's crab shack, they're all chasing this dragon.