Information warfare and the Internet

The advent of networked information exchange and technology revolutionized multiple aspects of human life. Ranging from finance to education to entertainment to security, the internet was one of the most significant technological developments in human history. It revolutionized humanity's ability to store information, transmit information quickly and over a large area, and connect millions or even billions of people together in ways previously inconceivable even 30 years ago. 

    It revolutionized entertainment and news media (for better or for worse) and gave a platform to aspiring artists, writers, and marketers of products and services that wouldn't otherwise exist without the internet.

   As far as defense goes, the internet provided new avenues for securing sensitive information and more rapid communication and coordination of military operations throughout the globe. It does a pretty large array of other things for defense as well. It also, (again, for better or for worse) allows for a much broader reach of surveillance activities of government agencies than were previously possible a quarter century ago. 

    Between social media and the almost innumerable amount of web activity the average citizen partakes in, digital surveillance, and online espionage probably has only gotten easier with the advent of the social media era of the internet age. 

Information warfare is nothing new. We have been engaging in information warfare as long as there has been media and language. The internet just amplified it and changed the dynamics of the game a little bit.

A component of modern information warfare involving the internet is cyberwarfare. Cyber warfare involves disrupting or attacking computer systems, servers, and other networks that have a strategic value to an adversarial group or government. 

        It is often used to disrupt communications, attack means of financing of opposing groups, steal money, and steal data and compromising information that is detrimental to the security interests of a particular group or agency.

  Cyberwarfare is a relatively new field of warfare, and manifested itself as information technology and networked information exchange became more advanced and more developed in the later part of the 20th century. 

The advent of the internet required massive new developments in security to protect sensitive data and information from getting into the hands of the wrong people, and the warfare and defense utility of information technology is quite obvious and needs no introduction.

    Warfare and technology of any kind are no strangers to each other. In fact, it is often war or the preparation for war that gives rise to new technology. The internet is no exception. 

      On top of cyberwarfare, the internet has made the transmission and dissemination of ideological propaganda a cakewalk compared to what it used to be, which is very much contributing to the ideological and cultural rifts we are seeing in our nation right now. 

    Information warfare is strongly correlated with psychological warfare. Obviously, since aside from chemicals, information is what alters cognition and thinking the most. Information is the weapon that targets the human mind. 

   Ideological information has found a platform through the internet to attack and "conquer" in a sense the minds of millions of people susceptible to being radicalized in a particular ideology. 

       The internet, and especially the media, amplified this and exascerbated the ideological rifts and confusion of ideas that had already existed in our society, creating the cultural and political incoherence we see today amongst active groups. 

This mass political and ideological confusion is not necessarily new. It's just the internet has in some ways made it worse. The internet and mass media has made the divide and conquer principle much, much easier for foreign nation-states, extremists, and ideological groups and movements not tied to any particular nation. Dividing the United States, because of the internet and media, is easier today than it probably has ever been.

Conquering it? You don't need an army to conquer a mind. You just need the right ideas. With the right ideas, you can create an army. With the right ideas, you win over hearts and overthrow minds. With the right ideas, you sometimes don't even need to shed blood to achieve your goals.