Climates of suspicion: 'chemtrail' conspiracy narratives and the international politics of geoengineering

Concurrent with growing academic and policy interest in ‘geoengineering’ the global climate in response to climate change, a more marginal discourse postulating the existence of a climate control conspiracy is also proliferating on the Internet. Here, the term ‘chemtrails’ is used interchangeably with the term geoengineering to describe the belief that the persistent contrails left by aeroplanes provide evidence that a secret programme of large scale weather and climate modification is on-going. Despite recent calls for greater appreciation of the diverse ways in which people conceive of and relate to ideas of climate control, and widespread acknowledgement of the importance of democratic public engagement in governance of geoengineering, the chemtrail conspiracy narrative has received very little attention in academic work to date. This paper builds on work highlighting the instability of the distinction between ‘paranoid’ and ‘normal’ views, and examines the chemtrail conspiracy narrative as a discourse rather than a pathology (either psychological or sociological). The analysis finds that while some elements of the chemtrail narrative do not lend themselves to democratic processes of deliberation, and potential for engagement with more mainstream discourse appears to be low, nevertheless certain elements of the discourse (such as the moral outrage at the idea of powerful elites controlling the climate, or the importance of emotional and spiritual connections to weather and climate) highlight concerns of relevance to mainstream geoengineering debates. Furthermore, the pervasive suspicion that characterises the narrative and its reminder of the key role that trust plays in knowledge creation and the justification of beliefs, signals what is likely to be a perennial issue in the emerging international politics of geoengineering

(G)hosting television: Ghostwatch and its medium

This article’s subject is Ghostwatch (BBC, 1992), a drama broadcast on Halloween night of 1992 which adopted the rhetoric of live non-fiction programming, and attracted controversy and ultimately censure from the Broadcasting Standards Council. In what follows, we argue that Ghostwatch must be understood as a televisually-specific artwork and artefact. We discuss the programme’s ludic relationship with some key features of television during what Ellis (2000) has termed its era of ‘availability’, principally liveness, mass simultaneous viewing, and the flow of the television super-text. We trace the programme’s television-specific historicity whilst acknowledging its allusions and debts to other media (most notably film and radio). We explore the sophisticated ways in which Ghostwatch’s visual grammar and vocabulary and deployment of ‘broadcast talk’ (Scannell 1991) variously ape, comment upon and subvert the rhetoric of factual programming, and the ends to which these strategies are put. We hope that these arguments collectively demonstrate the aesthetic and historical significance of Ghostwatch and identify its relationship to its medium and that medium’s history. We offer the programme as an historically-reflexive artefact, and as an exemplary instance of the work of art in television’s age of broadcasting, liveness and co-presence

Throwing our Voices: Ventriloquism as New Media Activism

In the fall of 2010, Chevron released an ad campaign designed to respond to consumer worries about the conduct of oil companies. Each ad depicted “customers” voicing rather nonspecific concerns about oil companies, answered by the “We Agree” slogan and information about something positive the company is doing in particular communities. Just before the campaign’s official roll-out, the anti-corporate activist group known as the Yes Men produced a series of sophisticated parody ads that spoke in more detail about the damage the company has done in specific countries. Designed to be mistaken for the real, the dummy campaign was distributed with a fake press release purporting to be from Chevron. It was indeed picked up by the press, followed by a cascade of confused articles quoting alternately from the company’s real retraction and a subsequent fake retraction. The Yes Men succeeded in temporarily “throwing their voice” into the body of the Chevron corporation, using a savvy form of ventriloquism as a means of directing the public conversation. Although it is normally the powerful (like large corporations) who are heard in public life, often speaking both for themselves and others, the tactic of ventriloquism temporarily reverses that flow. The case study provides a compelling example of a method of capitalizing on the democratic potential of new media, wielding parody and play as a weapon of the crowd

Counter-terrorism and national security legislation reviews: a comparative overview

This paper outlines the key reviews of Australia\u27s counter-terrorism and national security legislation, followed by a more detailed comparison of the recommendations of the Independent National Security Legislation Monitor and Council of Australian Governments reports with each other and, where relevant, those of earlier reviews. Introduction Following the events of 11 September 2001 in the United States and the subsequent United Nations Security Council Resolution 1373 (2001), the Australian Government, in cooperation with the states and territories, embarked on a series of significant legislative reforms to respond to the threat of terrorism. The reforms included special powers for the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO), a range of new offences and the introduction of a mechanism for the proscription of terrorist organisations. The London bombings in July 2005 prompted further reforms, including the introduction of the control order and preventative detention order regimes and additional police powers in relation to suspected terrorism offences. Given the extraordinary nature of the new powers granted and the reach of the new offences, which were designed to capture conduct in the early preparatory stages, the relevant legislation required that reviews be undertaken at certain junctures. In addition, the office of Independent National Security Legislation Monitor (INSLM) was established in 2010 to provide ongoing oversight of Commonwealth counter-terrorism and national security laws. Accordingly, there have been several significant reviews of Australia’s counter-terrorism and national security legislation, the most recent and comprehensive being those of the INSLM and the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) Review Committee. The Government is now embarking on a further series of national security reforms, the first part of which is contained in the National Security Legislation Amendment Bill (No. 1) 2014 (the Bill), introduced in the Senate on 16 July 2014. The Bill responds to recommendations on legislation governing the Australian Intelligence Community (AIC) made by the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security in 2013. The Attorney-General has stated that the Bill is ‘just the first step’ and indicated that the Government would introduce further legislation to both respond to recent reviews and proactively address any other shortcomings it identified. On 5 August 2014, the Government announced it would soon be introducing further reforms to, among other things, remove sunset provisions from a range of legislation, expand the criteria for the proscription of terrorist organisations, lower the threshold for arrest without warrant for suspected terrorism offences and enable requests for the suspension of passports in certain circumstances. This Research Paper provides a brief overview of key reviews of counter-terrorism and national security legislation, followed by a more detailed comparison of the recommendations of the INSLM and COAG reports with each other and, where relevant, those of earlier reviews. It also provides information on how governments have responded to review recommendations

How Misinformation Spreads Through Twitter

While living in the age of information, an inherent drawback to such high exposure to content lends itself to the precarious rise of misinformation. Whether it is called “alternative facts,” “fake news,” or just incorrect information, because of its pervasiveness in nearly every political and policy discussion, the spread of misinformation is seen as one of the greatest challenges to overcome in the 21st century. As new technologies emerge, a major piece of both content creation and the perpetuation of misinformation are social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. As news events emerge, whether be a pandemic, a mass shooting, or an election campaign, it is difficult to divulge the facts from fiction when so many different “facts” appear. This study looks at 14,545,945 tweets generated in the wake of the 1 October mass shooting and its second anniversary to identify how much of the public response is fogged by information pollution, to identify what kind of misinformation is spread and how it spreads on Twitter and news coverage

"Virtual disenfranchisement": cyber election meddling in the grey zones of international law

This Article examines remotely conducted election meddling by cyber means in the context of international law and asks whether such cyber operations qualify as "internationally wrongful acts." An internationally wrongful act requires both a breach of a legal obligation owed by one State to another under international law and attribution of the act to the former. The Article considers three possible breaches related to such meddling-violation of the requirement to respect sovereignty, intervention into the internal affairs of another State, and, when the cyber operations are not attributable to the State from which they were launched, breach of the due diligence obligation that requires States to ensure cyber operations with serious adverse consequences are not mounted from their territory. The Article then examines the various modalities for attributing a cyber operation to a State under international law. Whether cyber meddling in another State's election is unlawful, as well as the severity thereof, determines the range of responses available to the victim State. The Article concludes that the law applicable to remotely conducted meddling in another State's election is unsettled, thereby comprising a normative grey zone ripe for exploitation by States and non-State actors

Implementation of Da’wah in Counteracting Hoax News on Social Media

The primary objective of this study is to examine the significance of da'wah values within the MAFINDO (Masyarakat Anti Fitnah Indonesia) website as a means to combat hoax news on social media. The research methodology employed is content analysis, which helps   reveal the contents of the research instrument. The study utilizes the Media Dependency Theory to evaluate MAFINDO's image as portrayed in several of its posts. In this particular case, the Media Dependency Theory serves as a tool to better understand how da'wah values manifest in the content presented on the MAFINDO website, aiming to counter hoax news on social media. The study's findings indicate the presence of two da'wah values on the website. Firstly, the MAFINDO website serves as a platform for truth, promoting the value of information disclosure. Additionally, the value of da'wah is evident in the "fact-checking" tool, which makes a significant contribution to fostering an intelligent, critical, and honorable society. Individuals can establish trust and uphold national and societal harmony by collaborating to prevent the spread of fake news. Previous literature lacks research examining the role of da'wah in countering hoaxes, making this study a valuable contribution to the social and religious communication field and the study of hoax news on social media. This research highlights the correlation between social and religious factors in MAFINDO's role as an institution combating defamation and slander, particularly in anti-corruption efforts

MMM: May I Mine Your Mind?

Consider the following set-up for the plot of a possible future episode of the TV series Black Mirror: human brains can be connected directly to the net and MiningMind Inc. has developed a technology that merges a reward system with a cryptojacking engine that uses the human brain to mine cryptocurrency (or to carry out some other mining activity). Part of our brain will be committed to cryptographic calculations (mining), leaving the remaining part untouched for everyday operations, i.e., for our brain's normal daily activity. In this short paper, we briefly argue why this set-up might not be so far fetched after all, and explore the impact that such a technology could have on our lives and our society.Comment: 4 pages, 0 figure, Accepted at the "Re-Coding Black Mirror" workshop of the International World Wide Web Conferences (WWW