Thomas Rid > Quotes

“Yet we choose to remember history very selectively, favoring foresight over failure.”
― Thomas Rid, Rise of the Machines: A Cybernetic History

“Technology on its own would have been too narrow, too geeky, too insular. But when combined with counterculture and paired with punk and added art, computers became cool.”
― Thomas Rid, Rise of the Machines: A Cybernetic History

“Myths don't contradict the facts; they complement the facts.”
― Thomas Rid, Rise of the Machines: A Cybernetic History

“At-scale disinformation campaigns are attacks against a liberal epistemic order, or a political system that places its trust in essential custodians of factual authority.”
― Thomas Rid, Active Measures: The Secret History of Disinformation and Political Warfare

“Nel 1962, il KGB promosse il Dipartimento D trasformandolo in Servizio A, e ordinò alle agenzie di intelligence del blocco sovietico di seguire la sua leadership. “A” ben presto cominciò a significare misure attive. Uno degli scopi di questo cambio di nome e di questa nuova terminologia era evitare di concentrarsi in modo controproducente sui fatti o sui non-fatti. Quel che rendeva attive le misure attive non era la correlazione con la realtà, ma con le emozioni, con i valori condivisi da una comunità, e la capacità di esacerbare le tensioni esistenti: nel gergo degli agenti della guerra fredda, di rafforzare le contraddizioni.”
― Thomas Rid, Misure attive: Storia segreta della disinformazione

“Kopp mi disse che i migliori agenti erano ribelli. Uno degli uomini di punta dell’HVA a volte “non lavorava per un paio di giorni o si limitava a leggere qualcosa”, e poi, d’improvviso, stilava un falso eccezionale.”
― Thomas Rid, Misure attive: Storia segreta della disinformazione

“Bittman explained how entire bureaucracies were created in the Eastern bloc in the 1960s for the purpose of bending the facts, and how these projects were proposed, authorized, and evaluated. He outlined how he learned to mix accurate details with forged ones; that for disinformation to be successful, it must “at least partially respond to reality, or at least accepted views.” He explained”
― Thomas Rid, Active Measures: The Secret History of Disinformation and Political Warfare

“For liberal democracies in particular, disinformation represents a double threat: being at the receiving end of active measures will undermine democratic institutions—and giving in to the temptation to design and deploy them will have the same result.”
― Thomas Rid, Active Measures: The Secret History of Disinformation and Political Warfare