Any novice in the security field can tell you the importance of sanitizing input that is being read into computer systems. But what steps do most of us take in sanitizing the input that is read into the computer systems known as our brains? This presentation will go over the attack vector that is known as Propaganda. By studying works such as Manufacturing Consent (by Noam Chomsky and Ed Herman) we can learn of the various manipulations that happen to media before it reaches the end reader.
Armed with the knowledge of how propaganda works, a person could attempt a more healthy diet of media consumption. Computer and data networks are heavily utilized by those wishing to push agendas, but who is to say these same technologies can not be utilized to fight back? Developers have access to all sorts of tools that help accomplish this feat, such as web scrapers, natural language tool kits, or even the reddit source code repository. This talk will walk the audience through some different techniques that can be used for better media consumption.
The Bob Ross Fan Club is currently working as a security software engineer for embedded linux systems. Has previously been apart of published research efforts on the topics of user privacy and the threats posed by the tracking practices employed by internet companies. Twitter: @bobross_fc