Beware of Fake "Open Source" info

[bayonetbrant]

Great article

https://medium.com/war-is-boring/be-very-skeptical-a-lot-of-your-open-source-intel-is-fake-5e4a5d5a9195

Case in point—the July shoot-down of Malaysian jetliner MH17. In the wake of the disaster, eagle-eye open-source analysts including Higgins and others managed to trace the Buk missile system responsible for destroying the jet from Russia, into the hands of Russian-backed rebels, to the site of its fateful launch and its quiet slink back into Russia.

The sleuthing became a much-celebrated symbol of the power of open sources, but the reaction from the Kremlin was telling. Faced with evidence that its proxies in Ukraine had committed a terrible crime, Russian officials tried to turn the tables with a social media case of their own.

In what looked like a nod to their open source nemeses, Russia's general staff trotted out a video of the allegedly responsible Buk missile system, released by the Ukrainian government on YouTube, moving next to a billboard for a car dealership.

Russia pushed back on the claims, arguing that a blow-up image of the billboard showed an address in Krasnoarmeysk, a town in Ukrainian government control — the implication being that Buk was Ukrainian, not Russian.

The blow-up was, in all likelihood, a forgery. Aric Toler, a Russia analyst and columnist for Global Voices, dug deeper and discovered the car ad in the billboard was a generic one, not tailored with an address in Krasnoarmeysk.

In fact, Toler noted, Krasnoarmeysk hadn't even participated in the dealership promotion. Lugansk, where the Ukrainian government argued the film was taken, had.

plenty more at the link

[LongBlade]

Eventually the truth comes out, but lies can do a lot of damage if not carefully vetted.

[GDS_Starfury]

lies can do a lot of damage if not carefully vetted.

I swear I'll pull out in time.  :P

[bob48]

You always say that, and you never do.

[BanzaiCat]

Boys, boys, boys. Keep the man-paint proxy stories private, please.