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Propaganda and Dissemination in YTU

C

chipla

SOC-12
Having been woken up Tuesday night/Wednesday Morning by the air raid alarm for the propaganda leaflet balloons sent from the North I've had a few days to think about how hostile propaganda (that is propaganda from a state not your own) would be disseminated in the Far Future.

I suspect much of the routine dissemination (during peacetime) would be done by inserting data into whatever is used to update the various planetary data networks, or by having sympathisers on planet disseminate the propaganda (again via the networks).

Obviously if you have orbital control, or boots on the ground you can use more traditional methods (leaflets, radio, etc, etc).
 
chipla said:
Having been woken up Tuesday night/Wednesday Morning by the air raid alarm for the propaganda leaflet balloons sent from the North I've had a few days to think about how hostile propaganda (that is propaganda from a state not your own) would be disseminated in the Far Future.

I suspect much of the routine dissemination (during peacetime) would be done by inserting data into whatever is used to update the various planetary data networks, or by having sympathisers on planet disseminate the propaganda (again via the networks).

Obviously if you have orbital control, or boots on the ground you can use more traditional methods (leaflets, radio, etc, etc).
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I think it’s far more likely to be disseminated through simple messaging.

ie Imperial citizens / corporations / worlds want to know what is happening in the Julian Protectorate. They then either
-send people (journalists/spies) to send back information from the JP
-contact people already in the JP to send them information

Any Information from the JP will contain propaganda from multiple sources in the JP.
Official statements obviously. But propaganda can come from “unofficial” statements, plants that are apparently unofficial, but actually repeating official propaganda.

So if the JP wants to encourage unrest in Imperial Vargr, they can spread the message about how they are concerned about 3I covering up mistreatment of Vargr in the Antares sector…eventually those thoughts/suspicions will spread in the Antares sector (how well it spreads depends on how many of/how much the locals already believe that)
 
In the Star Dairies, a planet that was a genetic tech powerhouse would execute propaganda with viruses to overwrite DNA and literally change the enemy minds to yours.
 
There was a discussion about this in the 2300AD forum a number of years back. There were some interesting ideas about information control through mass-filtering of data-dumps from visiting ships. Colonies (or their patrons) blocking content that was negative etc. Which then also creates an excellent in-game reason for pirate news, blackmarket news dealers etc. Foreign consulates and spy agencies would sponsor renegade news sources (ie. the radio stations used during the cold war to breach the Curtain).

Oh look, I already responded. Well it's been awhile and I think the idea is rife for cool campaign/adventure ideas in addition to interesting effects on planetary societies over time. Even in the Imperium... or on the Fringes.
 
Kilgs said:
There were some interesting ideas about information control through mass-filtering of data-dumps from visiting ships. Colonies (or their patrons) blocking content that was negative etc. Which then also creates an excellent in-game reason for pirate news, blackmarket news dealers etc. Foreign consulates and spy agencies would sponsor renegade news sources (ie. the radio stations used during the cold war to breach the Curtain).
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Information smuggling.
Combine with "blockade running" for extra flair. :cool:
 
"Which then also creates an excellent in-game reason for pirate news, blackmarket news dealers etc. "

Sort of a SciFi version of Pirate Radio. Interesting. Smuggle data, messages, small films, etcetera.

Cool adventure if not a complete campaign. :) (y)
 
In my Traveller universe, the Imperium is pretty much a legend as it is far to the coreward of my sector, which has a lot of independent planets with limited population. Most off-planet information comes from the various Free and Subsidized Traders operating in the sector, along with the Rim Scouts and their bases and way stations. People take any off-planet news with a fairly large grain of salt. The Rim Scouts tend to be the most respected purveyors of off-planet happenings.
 
kilemall said:
Does the 3I control the EM spectrum in space?
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That would be rather difficult to do. You'd need multiple broad-spectrum jamming satellites for every planet in the system to ensure coverage, all of which would need to be maintained on a regular basis. There would need to be redundancy in the network so that if one jammer malfunctions or gets taken out by a micrometeorite hit or weapon fire.

I doubt the 3I would want to go to all that trouble. However, an authoritarian government with enough money might.
 
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kilemall said:
Does the 3I control the EM spectrum in space?
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You don’t need to control the spectrum to control access to the data (see China and my own occasional issues accessing this site in Korea).

On this point, you can broadcast whatever whenever into the spectrum but it doesn’t matter if people aren’t listening or can’t listen. If the planetary data net uses a certain frequency or encryption that the average user isn’t going to be frequency hopping they’ll be using the frequency or encryption that allows them to access data/talk to their friends/share memes.

We live in a TL7–8(ish) society. How many people in 25 to 35 in the first world actually listen to a radio outside of their cars? How many 18-25yo even listen to car radio? By TL10 I don’t see people using comms devices in the same way people used to, how many people nowadays know how to make their phone change frequency?
 
I meant legally although certainly what can technically be done matters.

Planets own that 10D so any jamming satellites or the like would be there. I am thinking more like wavelength assignment so for instance pirate radios don’t transmit over emergency or navigation bands.

And then once you have that regulated space, in a rule of men not laws culture it will inevitably be used at some point for political/megacorps/personal benefit.

Getting pirate radio down/up to/from the surface is going to be another matter- changing bandwidths, multi frequency, repeaters, translations that inject it into the planetary network, etc.

Don’t forget that the higher the law level, the more bribery is a thing.

Re: civilians not able to alter their sets to pick it up, people will learn how to do what they want to. So more of an assessment of ‘market demand’ to get this information and how much impact it actually has.

Don’t forget getting info out can be just as or more important to a government. Really the whole of the meaningful action in the movie Serenity for instance.
 
casquilho said:
Sort of a SciFi version of Pirate Radio.
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Actually, perhaps a more apt concept is the idea of a Newsreader.

I can't speak to their authenticity, but the idea is sound, and it was a character Tom Hanks played in the western"News of the World".

Simply, his job was to go from town to town, and he would read the news. He had some source for the far off newspapers (like the NYTimes etc.), and he would conduct gatherings and simply read the news. I assume he lived off of tips, or he charged admission.

The concept is quite sound. Newspaper distribution was quite limited, and very expensive, plus it bridged the likely literacy gap of the age as well.

Even with the arrival of the telegraph, I imagine there would still be a place for a Newsreader, especially in the disparate frontier camps and such.

In this context, the Newsreader is, instead, a smuggler. Sharing news in speakeasys, patrons homes, safe houses, etc. They would not be video recorded, as that would not just broadcast the news, but also the likeness of the reader (who may then be arrested).

It could be a colorful character in a campaign, even if just bumped into in a bar.
 
As Kilemall says tourists to dictatorships aren’t getting to talk to real people all that often, they’ll have people watching them and the locals will know that, so even if they meet an authentic local they’re not gonna get the truth out of them.

Even if the tourist isn’t going to a country that’s under the thumb of the secret police how often do they actually meet the average Joe Schmo?

When tourists come here to Korea they’re not exactly going into the fields and talking to Lee Joo Hyun the rice farmer’s wife or Park Sam He the office worker. They visit the Palaces the temples the DMZ and the museums (and depending on age the nightlife. To be fair the only reason I’ve met rice farmers is because I live in the sticks and bank with Nonghyup (farmer bank).

Even open countries tailor the tourist experience to show themselves in the best light, and perhaps subconsciously or consciously to limit any tourist access to social undesirables (the criminal classes, dissidents etc). If you go to Itaewon you’re not going to see many political activists (and certainly no homeless) because the state removes them. Obviously this counts double for sensitive infrastructure or monuments, the parts of the DMZ open to general tourists are different from the parts I’ve visited as the token white employee when politicians do things with the vets, which is vastly different from the areas that the Korean military deal with.
 
Taiwan and South Korea were authoritarian regimes, if not dictatorships, until fairly recently, and are currently in a cold war with their neighbours, with known infiltrators and fellow travellers, so surveillance exists but is now more covert.
 
I wouldn’t characterise the Park regime as a dictatorship (mostly because I’m a government employee and would like to keep my benefits for this Term 😂).

As for the surveillance here against the communist rebels while the NSA (formerly KCIA) and police are obviously active in enforcing the National Security Act. I’d say that a fair proportion of surveillance is less of a covert surveillance (particularly of random tourists) but more communal in nature. The reason you get followed by the NSA and police isn’t a random wiretap or because you look sorta communist but because you said something to an ajusshi who’s long enough out of his conscription to have a rose tinted memory while you were at the pub fourteen sojus deep.

I think this is probably a problem that ‘tourists’ spreading propaganda will face in Traveller. If you’re a pro-Zho guy making leaflets about how the mind readers aren’t that bad, you better watch what you say around the local shopkeeper who served a term as an imperial marine a decade ago and remembers his mates more than having to mop the parking lot in the rain. The former imperial service members, (all branches) likely make up an unofficial communal counter espionage and counter propaganda element.
 
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