Information war

Information warfare ( Infowar or information warfare ) is a term for the targeted use and manipulation of controlled information in order to achieve advantages over competitors and opponents in business or politics. This also includes influencing the media through false information ( fake news ), partial information or propaganda with the aim of media manipulation in one's own interest.

In the public media, information warfare is a form of cyber war .

In social networks, algorithms ( social bots ) are increasingly used to falsify profiles, collect information or distribute it in a targeted manner. Illiberal regimes, but also demagogues, need not silence dissenting opinions if they succeed in disturbing and confusing them; this is a "censorship through noise".

Furthermore, methods that serve to switch off and sabotage "hostile" communication systems are referred to as infowar . These include B. the destruction of systems for television and radio broadcasts, the use of third-party television and radio stations to broadcast your own information or the destruction of communication logistics. The manipulation of securities transactions , the use of privileged knowledge and the targeted spread of rumors are possible criminal interventions on the stock exchange , which have been greatly facilitated with the help of computer science.

See also

• Deepfake
• disinformation
• Fake news
• Psychological warfare

literature

• Sandro Gaycken : Cyberwar - The Internet as a theater of war , Open Source Press, November 2010, ISBN 978-3-941841-23-9
• Lawrence T. Greenberg et al .: Information Warfare and International Law . National Defense University Press, 1998. - PDF, 59 pp., 323 kB
• Christian Stelter: Use of force under and alongside the UN Charter , Duncker and Humblot publishing house, Berlin 2007 ISBN 978-3-428-12547-0 .

Magazine articles

• William M. Darley: Clausewitz's Theory of War and Information Operations . In: Joint Force Quarterly, January 2006. - PDF, 7 pages, 723 kB

Web links

• Reinhard Wolff: Army, Air Force, Navy - Media? (taz, December 31, 2002)
• Dirk Eckert: From Cyber-War to Infowar (2000)
• Ralf Bendrath: Postmodern War Discourses . The information revolution and its reception in strategic thinking in the USA . Telepolis, December 13, 1999
• Brent Jessop: Pentagon: The internet needs to be dealt with as if it were an enemy "weapons system". Global Research, February 2, 2008. Originally at: Knowledge Driven Revolution.com, November 19, 2007 (on the "update" of the Information Operations Roadmap dated October 30, 2003 - PDF, 78 pages, 2.26 MB)
• Christian Meurers: The Information War in the 21st Century and Its Impact on US Military Doctrines (2008)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Frank Seibert: Social Bots in the Net, The opinion machines are among us Bavarian Broadcasting from January 21, 2015
2. ↑ McKay Coppins: In the World of Lies , republik.ch, 193 March 2020