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INFOWAR: Info.War.101
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ARS ELECTRONICA FESTIVAL 98
INFOWAR. information.macht.krieg
Linz, Austria, september 07 - 12
http://www.aec.at/infowar
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InfoWar 101:
"The 20th century has been characterized by three developments
of great political importance: the growth of democracy, the growth of
corporate power, and the growth of corporate propaganda as a
means of protecting corporate power against democracy."
--Alex Carey
RIGHT FROM THE MOUTHS OF THE PRACTITIONERS:
EXCERPT FROM MITRE INFOWAR DEPARTMENT
Information warfare may be the ultimate stealth
weapon -- victims may not realize an information
attack has taken place until considerable damage
has been done, and even then, tremendous expertise
may be required to recognize and identify the
attack and counteract its effects.
For example, adversary forces could penetrate U.S.
computer networks, reading files and giving
themselves wide access to sensitive information.
They could intercept or alter electronic mail, and
send false messages that direct personnel and
supplies to the wrong locations. In addition, they
could capture and control network hosts, halting
electronic communications, or they could introduce
viruses to attack databases, denying commanders
access to vital information.
from MITRE, private contractor to the US Dept. of Defense.
http://www.mitre.org
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EXAMPLE OF THE USE OF PUBLIC RELATIONS CONSULTANTS,
GOVERNMENT HEARINGS AND MEDIA, BY THE US AND KUWAITI
GOVERNMENTS TO SWAY PUBLIC OPINION TOWARD WAR
On October 10, 1990, as the Bush administration
stepped up war preparations against Iraq, (the
Public Relations Firm) Hill and Knowlton, on behalf of
the Kuwaiti government, presented 15-year-old "Nayirah"
before the House Human Rights Caucus. Passed off as an
ordinary Kuwaiti with firsthand knowledge of atrocities
committed by the Iraqi army, she testified tearfully
before Congress:
"I volunteered at the al-Addan hospital...[where] I saw
the Iraqi soldiers come into the hospital with guns, and
go into the room where 15 babies were in incubators.
They took the babies out of the incubators, took the
incubators, and left the babies on the cold floor to
die."
Supposedly fearing reprisals against her family,
Nayirah did not reveal her last name to the press or
Congress. Nor did this apparently disinterested witness
mention that she was the daughter of Sheikh Saud
Nasir al-Sabah, Kuwait's ambassador to the U.S. As
Americans were being prepared for war, her story-
which turned out to be impossible to corroborate
-became the centerpiece of a finely tuned public
relations campaign orchestrated by Hill and Knowlton
and coordinated with the White House on behalf of the
government of Kuwait and its front group, Citizens for
a Free Kuwait.
[...]
All this PR activity helped "educate" Americans about
Kuwait-a totalitarian country with a terrible human
rights record and no rights for women. Meanwhile, the
incubator babies atrocity story inflamed public opinion
against Iraq and swung the U.S. Congress in favor of
war in the Gulf.
[...]
...the degree of success PR firms have in manipulating
public opinion and policy is almost imposssible to
determine. By design, the PR industry carefully conceals
many of its activities. Persuasion, by its definition,
is subtle, says one PR executive. The best PR ends up
looking like news. You never know when a PR agency is
being effective; you'll just find your views slowly
shifting.
Using money provided by its special interest clients
usually large corporations, business associations and
governments the PR industry has vast power to direct
and control thought and policy. It can mobilize private
detectives, lawyers, and spies; influence editorial and
news decisions; broadcast faxes; generate letters;
launch phony grassroots campaigns; and use high-tech
information systems such as satellite feeds and internet
sites.
Activist groups and concerned individuals often fail
recognize the techniques and assess the impact of PR
campaigns. And indeed, with its $10 billion-a-year
bankroll and its array of complex, sophisticated
persuasive weaponry, the PR industry can often
outmaneuver, overpower, and outlast true citizen
reformers. Identifying the techniques of the industry
and understanding how they work are the first steps in
fighting back.
Public Relationships: Hill & Knowlton, Robert Gray, and the CIA
by Johan Carlisle (from CAQ #44, 1993)
http://caq.com/Hill&Knowlton.html
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DIVIDE AND CONQUER:
A HOW-TO LESSON FROM PR-SPY FIRM
MONGOVEN, BISCOE AND DUCHIN
Ronald Duchin, senior vice-president of another PR spy
firm Mongoven, Biscoe, and Duchin would probably have
labeled Steinman and Tylczak radicals. A graduate of the
US Army War College, Duchin worked as a special
assistant to the secretary of defense and director of
public affairs for the Veterans of Foreign Wars before
becoming a flack. Activists, he explained, fall into
four categories: radicals, opportunists, idealists, and
realists. He follows a three-step strategy to neutralize
them: 1) isolate the radicals; 2) cultivate the
idealists and educate them into becoming realists; then
3) co-opt the realists into agreeing with industry.
According to Duchin, radical activists:
"want to change the system; have underlying socio/political motives
[and] see multinational corporations as inherently evil....These
organizations do not trust the... federal, state and local governments
to protect them and to safeguard the environment. They believe,
rather, that individuals and local groups should have direct power
over industry. ... I would categorize their principal aims right now as
social justice and political empowerment."
Idealists are also hard to deal with. They want a
perfect world and find it easy to brand any product or
practice which can be shown to mar that perfection as
evil. Because of their intrinsic altruism, however, and
because they have nothing perceptible to be gained by
holding their position, they are easily believed by both
the media and the public, and sometimes even
politicians. However, idealists have a vulnerable point.
If they can be shown that their position in opposition
to an industry or its products causes harm to others and
cannot be ethically justified, they are forced to change
their position.... Thus, while a realist must be
negotiated with, an idealist must be educated. Generally
this education process requires great sensitivity and
understanding on the part of the educator.
Opportunists and realists, says Duchin, are easier to
manipulate. Opportunists engage in activism seeking
visibility, power, followers and, perhaps, even
employment. ... The key to dealing with [them] is to
provide them with at least the perception of a partial
victory. And realists are able to live with trade-offs;
willing to work within the system; not interested in
radical change; pragmatic. [They] should always receive
the highest priority in any strategy dealing with a
public policy issue. ... If your industry can
successfully bring about these relationships, the
credibility of the radicals will be lost and
opportunists can be counted on to share in the final
policy solution.
The Public Relations Indystry's Secret War on Activists
by John Stauber & Sheldon Rampton (CAQ #55, 1996)
http://caq.com/Caq55.prwar.html
to be continued.
Respectfully submitted,
Paul Garrin
http://mediafilter.org
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