Public Address | Cafe | Hard News: Meet the new bots, same as the old bots?

Tomek

Mon, 20 Mar 2017 12:39:44 +1300

Important article about the sinister Robert Mercer – the money behind Donald Trump and Cambridge Analytica who specialise in “election management strategies” and “messaging and information operations”.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/feb/26/robert-mercer-breitbart-war-on-media-steve-bannon-donald-trump-nigel-farage

linger

Sun, 12 Mar 2017 11:25:23 +1300

Or indeed the old standard
I'm Not Racist Butt
(isn't it dark up there)

Kumara Republic

Sun, 12 Mar 2017 04:11:49 +1300

I've noticed this cluster of opinions:

* It's not that I support Trump but Hillary Clinton is a warmonger.

* It's not that I support Assad but there's no moderate opposition.

* It's not that I support Putin but he shouldn't be provoked.

Not sure what motivates the pretense. In…

Neil

Sat, 11 Mar 2017 18:41:09 +1300

I've noticed this cluster of opinions:

* It's not that I support Trump but Hillary Clinton is a warmonger.

* It's not that I support Assad but there's no moderate opposition.

* It's not that I support Putin but he shouldn't be provoked.

Not sure what motivates the pretense. In…

David Hood

Sat, 11 Mar 2017 11:41:56 +1300

Speculatively, if there was contact between the Trump campaign and people they shouldn't be talking to, and the people they shouldn't have been talking to see there being more value in creating chaos for the administration than supporting it, then they can leak contact information to the degree that suits…

Hilary Stace

Fri, 10 Mar 2017 11:46:42 +1300

Re spying, technology and Trump links. This stuff that Matt Nippert is uncovering about Peter Thiel and his influence in NZ is very worrying.

Ian Dalziel

Fri, 10 Mar 2017 08:11:11 +1300

and even capable of appearing to pass the Turing Test.

" ...these aren't the bots you're looking for."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=532j-186xEQ

Craig Ranapia

Fri, 10 Mar 2017 02:01:32 +1300

Some of them are definitely human: one responded with telling (and amusing) indignation to my customary greeting, “How’s the weather in St Petersburg?”, demanding to know whether I was racist against Russians. You blew your cover there, dude.

Aw, damn… the only time I regret dropping the “report and block”…

Kevin McCready

Thu, 09 Mar 2017 16:27:45 +1300

The response to your St Petersberg jibe may not prove the bot is a real person. AI is getting better and even capable of appearing to pass the Turing Test.

BenWilson

Thu, 09 Mar 2017 12:27:32 +1300

I haven't noticed any twitterbots yet. But I only follow and am followed by less than 400 people. My concept is to keep it sort of village sized. But my purpose is not to speak directly to vast numbers in the first place. I'd rather whatever goodness there is in…

David Hood

Thu, 09 Mar 2017 11:19:08 +1300

For the Twitterbots, I would hypothesise that if your primary intent is to cause chaos in the U.S. then you have no particular loyalty to any faction in the US and will boost or attack on the basis of what seems to cause the most friction.

Alfie

Thu, 09 Mar 2017 11:12:22 +1300

With the bot posts here, what is the aim?

It's simple. They're forum spammers aiming to place links on any site which rates well with Google.

I help to run a specialised forum which is only open to NZ and AU members. While we make this clear on the front…

Ian Dalziel

Thu, 09 Mar 2017 10:12:55 +1300

Dark data...
With the bot posts here, what is the aim?
Am I supposed to click on the link or website, will that then give 'them' a chance to 'infect' my computer via cookies, or somesuch, or does it show them a live address to target – like email spam?…

linger

Thu, 09 Mar 2017 09:47:45 +1300

they are getting better at appearing ‘real’ They sure are. Including an apparently positive if bland reaction is scarily effective social engineering — you want to give those statements of approval the benefit of any doubt, even when you know you're being manipulated. It's the selection of dormant threads that…

Joe Wylie

Thu, 09 Mar 2017 08:42:56 +1300

they are getting better at appearing 'real' ...

Jürgen Tomicek.

Ian Dalziel

Thu, 09 Mar 2017 07:36:46 +1300

Out damned bot!
How long does a bot 'live'?
Once released can they be controlled/instructed (or taught or misled)?
...or are they autonomous thereon in?
Can they 'reproduce'?

I've noticed (and reported) the waves of dubious looking posts that linger refers to – they are getting better at appearing 'real'…

Bevan

Thu, 09 Mar 2017 07:20:49 +1300

Part of me is: that's a bit strange.
But most of me is: is this some kind of "twitter circle-jerk" meaning nothing at all?
(not meaning to be rude)

That said, seems like there's little point in arguing on twitter.
Nobody goes there to get their mind changed ...

Kumara Republic

Thu, 09 Mar 2017 01:21:14 +1300

But whatever it is, it feels like something is going on. And the fact that that something includes a ramping-up of anti-Trump provocations makes it even more intriguing. Is this a new entrant to the mass-manipulation game? Or is the same old network of automated emotional dividers recalibrating for a…

linger

Wed, 08 Mar 2017 21:00:02 +1300

So far, there’s been a cluster of features that together have formed a reliable diagnostic for the recent flurry of bot-posts here:
(i) new username;
(ii) random selection of thread (often long-dormant, because most threads are);
(iii) lack of new relevant content (though some superficial relevance may be achieved through…

Russell Brown

Wed, 08 Mar 2017 20:28:12 +1300

In fairness, though, it was a great jab and deserved the coverage it got.

Aw, thanks!

Russell Brown

Wed, 08 Mar 2017 20:27:57 +1300

Perhaps as bots get more prevalent and realistic, they’ll undermine the (flaky) economic basis of social media – will companies pay to advertise to an audience of non-consuming computer programs?

The rampant fakery of the internet advertising market hasn't killed off "programmatic" yet – agencies understandably don't want to tell…

Rich of Observationz

Wed, 08 Mar 2017 20:10:17 +1300

Perhaps as bots get more prevalent and realistic, they'll undermine the (flaky) economic basis of social media – will companies pay to advertise to an audience of non-consuming computer programs?

Teej

Wed, 08 Mar 2017 18:42:31 +1300

In fairness, though, it was a great jab and deserved the coverage it got.

Hugh Wilson

Wed, 08 Mar 2017 18:25:45 +1300

As of last week one can block egg's, so their replies don't show up in your mentions/timeline – it seems this feature was long requested, so hopefully its of some use managing what looks to be quite a nuisance:

https://thenextweb.com/twitter/2017/03/01/twitter-now-lets-auto-mute-eggs-sketchy-accounts/#.tnw_4Xh77mxy

I gather there are also ways to remove them en-masse…

Russell Brown

Wed, 08 Mar 2017 18:14:56 +1300

One other thing that could be relevant: Lucy Lawless retweeted my unkind tweet about Ben Carson being stupid this week. My tweets usually get 1000-5000 impressions. That one is closing in on 40,000.

Public Address

Wed, 08 Mar 2017 18:14:55 +1300

Discussion from blog post.