The Charbonneau Villager Newspaper 2020_Mar_issue Villager newspaper | Page 5

THE CHARBONNEAU VILLAGER 5
March 2020
BUILDING
A DIGITAL
DEFENSE
T
By OREGON FBI
he FBI has launched the
“Protected Voices” initia-
tive to help 2020 political
campaigns and American
voters protect against online foreign
influence operations and cyber secu-
rity threats. The Protected Voices
campaign includes information and
guidance from the FBI, the Depart-
ment of Homeland Security and the
Office of the Director of National In-
telligence.
This FBI Portland report is adapted
from the Protected Voices initiative
with a focus on providing cyber securi-
ty information to political campaigns
as well as businesses and individuals
in Oregon. More information on all as-
pects of the initiative, including video
downloads, can be found at www.FBI.
gov/ProtectedVoices.
Let’s start with the basics. A “bot” is
a program that can simulate human
behavior. You likely encounter bots on
a regular basis. It can be something as
simple as “chatting” with a customer
service representative at an online
business or asking for help on a shop-
ping site. Today, though, we are going
to talk about how foreign actors use
bots on social media platforms to drive
discord and decision-making.
The Department of Homeland Secu-
rity (DHS) warns that bots “use artifi-
cial intelligence, big data analytics,
and other programs or databases to
imitate users posting content.”
The bots start by targeting divisive
issues big and small. The issue could
be the upcoming election or the ap-
propriate pizza topping. They don’t
care about a winning side — it’s all
about making people stake out very
different positions.
By getting people to respond, they
are able to start building a large fol-
lowing. Once an influencer or a bot
network identifies you as someone
willing to engage, they often rename
accounts and reuse them for multiple
issues.
That large following allows the for-
eign actors to be effective in spread-
ing misinformation and hate speech,
both of which can generate an emo-
tional reaction by those involved in
the debate. Feeling anger or extreme
satisfaction can cause you to ignore
signs of what’s going on and encour-
age you to like, repost, or share the
info to even more people.
In the end, the foreign actors and
their bots impact our ability to have fair
and free elections by polluting our polit-
ical discussions about the candidates
and the issues. What can you do?
Be wary of accounts or profiles
where the posts are only working to
drive extreme views. Trolls are in it to
make you mad — don’t let them. You
can also check an account’s activity
history. Is it very new? Was it created
years ago but started posting a huge
volume of content just recently? Has it
changed its name repeatedly? Do some
basic online research to see if you can
determine if that very American-
sounding group is really a legitimate
organization.
Finally, if in doubt — take your con-
versations offline. Focus on verifiable
facts and encourage your friends and
family to do the same.
Remember your voice matters, so
protect it. Go to www.FBI.gov/Protect-
edVoices for more information.
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