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SW: →Pondering hiring or hacking bloggers: another great quote re misinformation
In addition to recruiting, building or promoting blogs friendly to the U.S. military, the study suggested hacking an "enemy blog" to use it "covertly as a vehicle for friendly [[information operations]]. ... Subtly changing the messages and data -- merely a few words or phrases -- may be sufficient to begin destroying the blogger's credibility. ... The enemy may reason that the blogger in question has betrayed them and [may] take down the site (and the blogger) themselves." <ref name="blogPSYOPS"/>
The study also cautioned about misinformation campaigns: "There will also be times when it is thought to be necessary, in the context of an integrated information campaign, to pass false or erroneous information through the media. ... Given the watchdog functions that many in the blogging community have assumed -- not just in
the U.S., but also around the world -- doing so jeopardizes the entire U.S. information effort. ... In these cases, extra care must be taken to ensure plausible deniability and nonattribution, as well as employing a well-
thought-out deception operation that minimizes the risks of exposure." <ref>James Kinniburgh and Dorothy Denning, "[http://cryptome.org/covert-blogs.zip Blogs and Military Information Strategy]," Joint Special Operations University, June 2006.</ref>
SOCOM spokesperson Lt. Commander [[Marc Boyd]] said the study's suggestions "are not 'actionable,' merely thought provoking. .. The views expressed in the article publication are entirely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views, policy or position of the U.S. Government, [[Department of Defense]], USSOCOM [Special Operations Command], or the Joint Special Operations University." Study co-author Dorothy Denning said she had received "some positive feedback from people who read the article, but I don't know if it led to anything." <ref name="blogPSYOPS"/>
