govt 'truthy' database to monitor hate speech, suspicious memes

[SandEagle]

http://foxnewsinsider.com/2014/08/2...database-monitor-hate-speech-suspicious-memes
http://video.foxnews.com/v/3753128989001/feds-funding-database-to-track-misinformation-on-twitter/

On Fox and Friends, Fox News legal analyst Peter Johnson Jr. brought us more details on the “Truthy” database, which intends to monitor suspicious Internet memes as well as false or misleading ideas spreading around social media.

goodbye free speech. hello, 1984.

 

[Zaap]

We can't go on together
With suspicious memes...

 

[her209]

#gop2112

 

[IronWing]

We can't go on together
With suspicious memes...

:awe:

 

[Greenman]

I thought anything on Fox was automatically dismissed as FUD? Was there a memo I missed?

 

[Victorian Gray]

Seems like a pretty typical bit of university research.

from the head of the project:

"For the past four years, researchers at the Center for Complex Networks and Systems Research at the Indiana University School of Informatics and Computing have been studying the ways in which information spreads on social media networks such as Twitter. This basic research project is federally funded, like a large percentage of university research across the country. The project, dubbed “Truthy,” makes use of complex computer models to analyze the sharing of information on social media to determine how popular sentiment, user influence, attention, social network structure, and other factors affect the manner in which information is disseminated. Additionally, an important goal of the Truthy project is to better understand how social media can be abused.

In recent weeks, the Truthy project has come under criticism from some, who have misrepresented its goals. Contrary to these claims, the Truthy project is not designed and has not been used to create a database of political misinformation to be used by the federal government to monitor the activities of those who oppose its policies.

Truthy is not intended and is not capable to determine whether a statement constitutes “misinformation.” The target is the study of the structural patterns of information diffusion."

and

"8/28/2014 Update: Despite the clarifications in this post, Fox News and others continued to perpetrate their attacks to our research project and to the PI personally. Their accusations are based on false claims, supported by bits of text and figures selectively extracted from our writings and presented completely out of context, in misleading ways. They did not bother to contact any of the researchers for comments before publishing these outlandish conspiracy theories. There is a good dose of irony in a research project that studies the diffusion of misinformation becoming the target of such a powerful disinformation machine."

Read below for a primer on Truthy. More detailed information can be found on the Truthy website and publications."

http://cnets.indiana.edu/people/filippo-menczer/

 

[Jhhnn]

Right wing persecution complex, Ho-Oh!

Dunno why they'd have a problem with anybody tracking false or misleading memes. It's not them, anyway, right? Right?

Certainly not Fox News. Couldn't Be!