
Ask HN: Correct response to Russian election bots/propoganda campaigns? - ianai
In Vladimir Putin’s own words, there were thousands of Russians hacking systems, comment systems, and social media to influence the US presidential election. Similar tactics continue across the globe today. What does HN think can and&#x2F;or should be done?
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cpr
First perhaps look at what the US has been doing around the world for decades,
"hacking elections" and worse.

And then ask why any other nation-state should refrain from doing the same.

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AnimalMuppet
Perhaps _morally,_ they have no reason to refrain (except that "they did it
first" isn't a moral stance, it's just an excuse). But _practically_ , we have
good reason to try to make it not affect us...

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AnimalMuppet
What _really_ needs to happen is that people need to start thinking much more
skeptically about stuff their friends retweet/like on Facebook/forward on
email/otherwise endorse in some fashion.

And also they need to think a lot more critically about what they see in the
"news", since the news organizations have shown themselves to be biased,
sometimes significantly. They even (maybe especially) need to not blindly
accept stuff that comes from their preferred news source.

But that takes debugging _people_ , not just algorithms. That's a hard problem
to solve...

~~~
PaulHoule
Actually you can protect yourself by _NOT_ using facebook and developing tools
to put yourself in a filter bubble you control as opposed to one that controls
you.

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owebmaster
Anything the US do as a response I hope Brazil do the same against the spying,
hacking and social media influence US has been using against the country to
overthrow and delegitimate the elected government in 2016 to dismantle BRICS
(a group comprised of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa).

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w_t_payne
Cut the cables.

~~~
AnimalMuppet
That's not practical. But if we did it, Russia will just hire people in
Ukraine or Togo or somewhere to do it for them.

Or did you mean "cut _all_ the cables"? That's even less practical...

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axonic
Nothing, really. Nothing negative at least. Russia has broken no laws, is only
guilty of being shady in the same manner as we are lol. I think we're
overreacting to what essentially amounts to a symptom of a disease. The real
problem isn't Russia expressing an opinion, but how it was presented. They did
sneaky things TM like we all do. The reason being open diplomacy in a paranoid
world is challenging.

Why not offer the world a vote, since every American fart in the wind has the
potential to impact everyone's life, economy, food supply, etc. The world is
pissed, like Americans, that the USG doesn't listen and take everyone's
interests into account. We've developed a bad habit as a world here, of
mistrust, secrets, and information wars. I think that the world [other nations
and their people] feel they should have a voice, and I agree.

Russia can't run political ads openly, obviously, but why not? If myself, Rush
Limbaugh, or David Duke can buy an ad, why not? State clearly whose opinion it
is, and be done with it. If Justin Beiber put out an anti-trump campaign,
would everyone panic? Besides, read the reports, no harm was done or could
have been done. RT was the most watched news on YouTube with over 5 billion
views. A few Facebook ads or tweets made all the difference? If they were
gonna change peoples' opinions, wtf was another $200k USD gonna do? Don't
forget they were approached and asked to buy ads in the first place.

Perhaps their arguments bear consideration since we've spent over half a
century examining each other and analyzing each other's systems for flaws and
coming up with every creative way imaginable to rebut the rationale, suggest
improvements to processes, and criticize legislature. Such an opinion sounds
valuable as hell to me. I love when people tell me I'm ate up, please do so I
know.

Is it so hard to accept that Americans might agree with non-Americans on
issues? WTF is so terrifying? I went to elementary school during the Cold War
in a school which was an underground bomb shelter designed with 18 ft. of
reinforced concrete to withstand nuclear strikes in the area. We heard every
piece of propaganda there was to hear, I met Reagan on the playground, and I'm
a Veteran now myself. The brainwashing failed I guess because I still, rather
more than ever, think we need to grow up and re-prioritize our efforts. Why
can we not accept that we're on the same dirt ball? We're neighbors in fact,
with so much in common that it's laughable.

I gave it a _lot_ of thought, and realized there is really no way I can
understand Russians. After spending over a year studying Russian language,
culture, intercultural communication, and history, I realized everything I
thought was wrong. We've been misled quite badly on both sides by assumptions,
misgivings, preemptive fuckery, and old emotions. How many of your friends
know we got Alaska from Russia, or about Valentina Tereshkova? I mean we're
being guided by the provably unfounded opinions of people not qualified to
even have an informed perspective on the subject, to everyone's detriment.

Invite Russia to roast us, and have a public analysis of the feedback. Let's
act like we give a shit and hear them out instead of forcing these silly spy
games as our only means of discourse. Look how fast people flipped out when
Trump wanted to establish a line to Putin. Wtf? Because 'I'm not talking to
you because you don't think just like me' always works wonderfully, no?

To go a step further we could declare amnesty for all offenses in the spirit
of understanding, truly forgive each other, and invite our governments to
literally come over and talk. No secrets, complete data exchange. Invite
Russian agents to NORAD, sit down and do an AMA. Tour the Kremlin with US
officials. We think they did this, they think we did that, maybe we did maybe
they did... Labor stories.

I'd bet if we laid all the cards on the table for each other and agreed to a
cooperative path forward with an exchange of intelligence, defense, science,
and medical information, we would find atrocities we never imagined on both
sides as well as tons of wrong assumptions. Can't we have a laugh, exchange
some glares, and hug before walking out before the press to announce that the
notion of destabilizing the free world is over, and the games are too? That
from this moment forward, we will consider our impact on _all_ people of _all_
nations and abandon the fallacious thinking that either of us has the right
answers all the time?

Or are we really so self-serving that we cannot bear criticism of our beliefs
and methods, even when we cause harm to others. Fuck 'em then? Frustration
leads to wanting to feel this way, but nobody really means it and we all pay
for it when we give up.

Or maybe I'm crazy. o/ There is no Deep and Mysterious Russian Soul, and
Americans are so ignorant they can't even see how ignorant they are. Accept
this and be friends without completely agreeing on everything? Maybe? Sounds
like just having respect for others to me, which is also having respect for
yourself.

As an experiment, here is a Soviet propaganda film from 1979. Check it out, at
the time it seemed extremist, insulting, a danger to the free world... But how
does it look now? Did we change, or did perceptions? Does the concept, the
warning about dangers of western extravagance, seem unfair or untrue to you?

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRSsybt9wAo&t=518s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRSsybt9wAo&t=518s)

