D2.3. Report on the adverse use and reliability of new media

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The efficient use of new information and communication technologies can be of crucial importance in emergency response and crisis communications. New media applications are able to perform a range of functions such as facilitating two-way communication, enabling citizens and first respondents to request/offer assistance, enhance campaigning activities for fund raising purposes, and enable individuals/groups to efficiently organize for action. Likewise, social networking, crowdsourcing, and data mining technologies offer new means through which different stakeholders, such as officials, responders, citizens, can gather and disseminate information so as to optimize emergency response. Yet, new media technologies, and particularly social media, may often be misused, either intentionally or unintentionally in ways that can impede efficient communication during emergencies and crises. The present “Report on the adverse use and reliability of new media” (D2.3) aims to provide an overview the adverse use of new media by scammers, hackers, terrorist groups, ordinary citizens, as well as, at times, government authorities and companies. The report also aims to provide an in-depth discussion of an issue that users of new media technologies face in the utilization of such technologies during crises and emergencies: reliability of information. Following a brief introduction (Chapter 1), the report will comprise three chapters. In Chapter 2, the report will focus on types of misuse of new media and their management. The first two sections of Chapter 2 will consider misuse of new media technologies along two axes: types of misuse and players in misuse. In the first section of the chapter, the report will focus on are misrepresentation, rumor spreading, propaganda, surveillance and censorship, and lateral surveillance. After discussing these misuse types, the section to follow will proceed with an analysis of key “players” in misuse of new media technologies. Using examples from case studies of emergencies and crises conducted by the COSMIC team in Deliverable 2.2., as well as examples form other recent emergencies and crises (such as the Arab Spring and Hurricane Katrina) the chapter will describe the role that scammers, hackers, government authorities, and private corporations may play both as misusers and responders, depending on the circumstances. In the final section of Chapter 2, the report will discuss how different stakeholders try to manage misuse of new media. In terms of management of misuse, the report distinguished between external threats as those that come from the outside a given system or organization and internal threats that come from within an organization. In this section, particular attention has been paid to the concept of sousveillance, which can be defined as surveillance from below (performed by the public on institutions) as an approach that can increase the accountability of powerful players and prevent abuse of power. Also, the report discussed new countersurveillance techniques that can protect citizens’ right to privacy and free speech at times of crises (specifically political crises). Finally, discussion of management of internal threats underlined how datamining techniques can be used for early detection and prevention of misuse during times of crises. An important lesson learned from the discussion on Chapter 2 is that in many cases, while trying to respond to potential misuses of information, various stakeholders, including government authorities, may themselves hinder effective utilization of new media technologies for crises communication. Hence, a proper approach to management of misuse of new media technologies should definitely involve multitude of stakeholders, and particularly supranational organizations, that can provide a system of checks and balances. The focus of Chapter 3 was dissemination of misinformation via new media technologies at times of crises and techniques that can be used by various stakeholders (including citizens and mainstream journalists) to verify information. In this chapter, specific attention was paid to primary data collected from Internet users about reliability of information during the Gezi Protests that took place in Turkey in 2013. The findings from these data suggest that while Internet users are aware of the potential pitfalls of relying on the Internet for information about crises and emergencies, they often see the Internet as a more viable choice for up to date information when compared to mainstream media. Moreover, the data suggests that a considerable proportion of users engage in techniques to actively verify the information they receive. However, some of these techniques may end up amplifying the problem of dissemination of misinformation. As such, development and widespread adoption of technologies that can assist stakeholders in information verification is needed. Given this need, Chapter 3 concludes with an overview of some of the technologies (e.g., Semantically Interlinked Online Communities-SIOC), applications (e.g., Hoodcast) and techniques (crowdsourcing) that can be viable options to assist not only citizens but all stakeholders who utilize new media for getting information during times of emergencies and crises. Based on these analyses, the last chapter (Conclusion) provides a summary of key insights regarding misuse of new media technologies during crisis, management of misuse and information verification. Also, the last chapter proposes a set of principles that can guide future efforts to alleviate the adverse uses of new media described in the report