Disinformation and misinformation have always been part of conflict. But as the essays in this volume outline, the rise of social media and the new global information ecosystem have created conditions for the spread of propaganda like never before-with potentially disastrous results. In our "post-truth" era of bots, trolls, and intemperate presidential tweets, popular social platforms like Twitter and Facebook provide a growing medium for manipulation of information directed to individuals, institutions, and global leaders. A new type of warfare is being fought online each day, often in 280 characters or fewer. Targeted influence campaigns have been waged in at least forty-eight countries so far. We've entered an age where stability during an international crisis can be deliberately manipulated at greater speed, on a larger scale, and at a lower cost than at any previous time in history. This volume examines the current reality from a variety of angles, considering how digital misinformation might affect the likelihood of international conflict and how it might influence the perceptions and actions of leaders and their publics before and during a crisis. It sounds the alarm about how social media increases information overload and promotes "fast thinking," with potentially catastrophic results for nuclear powers

The Internet has changed the way we access the world. This is especially true for kids, who soak up new technologies like eager little sponges. They have access to an enormous array of material, including educational links, sports info, chat rooms?and, unfortunately, pornography. But we must approach our need to protect children with care to avoid placing unnecessary restrictions on the many positive features of the Internet. Youth, Pornography, and the Internet examines approaches to protecting children and teens from Internet pornography, threats from sexual predators operating on-line, and other inappropriate material on the Internet. The National Research Council's Computer Science and Telecommunications Board explores a number of fundamental questions: Who defines what is inappropriate material? Do we control Internet access by a 17-year-old in the same manner as for a 7-year-old? What is the role of technology and policy in solving such a problem in the context of family, community, and society? The book discusses social and educational strategies, technological tools, and policy options for how to teach children to make safe and appropriate decisions about what they see and experience on the Internet. It includes lessons learned from case studies of community efforts to intervene in kids' exposure to Internet porn. Providing a foundation for informed debate, this very timely and relevant book will be a must-read for a variety of audiences. Table of Contents Front Matter Executive Summary 1. Introduction 2. Technology 3. The Adult Online Entertainment Industry 4. Legal and Regulatory Issues 5. Children, Media, and Exposure to Sexually Explicit Material 6. The Research Base on the Impact of Exposure to Sexually Explicit Material: What Theory and Empirical Studies Offer 7. Beyond the Science: Perspectives on Impact and the Public Debate 8. Approaches to Protection from Inappropriate Material 9. Legal and Regulatory Tools 10. Social and Educational Strategies to Develop Personal and Community Responsibility 11. A Perspective on Technology-Based Tools 12. Technology-Based Tools for Users 13. Technology-Based Tools Available to Non-End Users 14. Findings, Conclusions, and Future Needs Appendix A: Information-Gathering Sessions of the Committee Appendix B: Glossary and Acronyms Appendix C: Selected Technology Issues Appendix D: Site Visit Synthesis Appendix E: Biographies Index

We depend on information and information technology (IT) to make many of our day-to-day tasks easier and more convenient. Computers play key roles in transportation, health care, banking, and energy. Businesses use IT for payroll and accounting, inventory and sales, and research and development. Modern military forces use weapons that are increasingly coordinated through computer-based networks. Cybersecurity is vital to protecting all of these functions. Cyberspace is vulnerable to a broad spectrum of hackers, criminals, terrorists, and state actors. Working in cyberspace, these malevolent actors can steal money, intellectual property, or classified information; impersonate law-abiding parties for their own purposes; damage important data; or deny the availability of normally accessible services. Cybersecurity issues arise because of three factors taken together - the presence of malevolent actors in cyberspace, societal reliance on IT for many important functions, and the presence of vulnerabilities in IT systems. What steps can policy makers take to protect our government, businesses, and the public from those would take advantage of system vulnerabilities? At the Nexus of Cybersecurity and Public Policy offers a wealth of information on practical measures, technical and nontechnical challenges, and potential policy responses. According to this report, cybersecurity is a never-ending battle; threats will evolve as adversaries adopt new tools and techniques to compromise security. Cybersecurity is therefore an ongoing process that needs to evolve as new threats are identified. At the Nexus of Cybersecurity and Public Policy is a call for action to make cybersecurity a public safety priority. For a number of years, the cybersecurity issue has received increasing public attention; however, most policy focus has been on the short-term costs of improving systems. In its explanation of the fundamentals of cybersecurity and the discussion of potential policy responses, this book will be a resource for policy makers, cybersecurity and IT professionals, and anyone who wants to understand threats to cyberspace. Table of Contents Front Matter Summary 1 Why Care About Cybersecurity? 2 Some Basics of Computing and Communications Technology and Their Significance for Cybersecurity 3 On the Nature of Cybersecurity 4 Enhancing Cybersecurity 5 Tensions Between Cybersecurity and Other Public Policy Concerns 6 Findings and Conclusion Appendixes Appendix A: Committee Members and Staff Appendix B: Bibliography

Given the growing importance of cyberspace to nearly all aspects of national life, a secure cyberspace is vitally important to the nation, but cyberspace is far from secure today. The United States faces the real risk that adversaries will exploit vulnerabilities in the nation's critical information systems, thereby causing considerable suffering and damage. Online e-commerce business, government agency files, and identity records are all potential security targets. Toward a Safer and More Secure Cyberspace examines these Internet security vulnerabilities and offers a strategy for future research aimed at countering cyber attacks. It also explores the nature of online threats and some of the reasons why past research for improving cybersecurity has had less impact than anticipated, and considers the human resource base needed to advance the cybersecurity research agenda. This book will be an invaluable resource for Internet security professionals, information technologists, policy makers, data stewards, e-commerce providers, consumer protection advocates, and others interested in digital security and safety. Table of Contents Front Matter Executive Summary Part I Setting the Stage 1 Introduction 2 What Is at Stake? 3 Improving the Nation's Cybersecurity Posture Part II An Illustrative Research Agenda 4 Category 1 - Blocking and Limiting the Impact of Compromise 5 Category 2 - Enabling Accountability 6 Category 3 - Promoting Deployment 7 Category 4 - Deterring Would-Be Attackers and Penalizing Attackers 8 Category 5 - Illustrative Crosscutting Problem-Focused Research Areas 9 Category 6 - Speculative Research Part III Conclusion 10 Looking to the Future Appendix A Committee and Staff Biographies Appendix B Cybersecurity Reports and Policy: The Recent Past Appendix C Contributors to the Study

Emerging and Readily Available Technologies and National Security is a study on the ethical, legal, and societal issues relating to the research on, development of, and use of rapidly changing technologies with low barriers of entry that have potential military application, such as information technologies, synthetic biology, and nanotechnology. The report also considers the ethical issues associated with robotics and autonomous systems, prosthetics and human enhancement, and cyber weapons. These technologies are characterized by readily available knowledge access, technological advancements that can take place in months instead of years, the blurring of lines between basic research and applied research, and a high uncertainty about how the future trajectories of these technologies will evolve and what applications will be possible. Emerging and Readily Available Technologies and National Security addresses topics such as the ethics of using autonomous weapons that may be available in the future; the propriety of enhancing the physical or cognitive capabilities of soldiers with drugs or implants or prosthetics; and what limits, if any, should be placed on the nature and extent of economic damage that cyber weapons can cause. This report explores three areas with respect to emerging and rapidly available technologies: the conduct of research; research applications; and unanticipated, unforeseen, or inadvertent ethical, legal, and societal issues. The report articulates a framework for policy makers, institutions, and individual researchers to think about issues as they relate to these technologies of military relevance and makes recommendations for how each of these groups should approach these considerations in its research activities. Emerging and Readily Available Technologies and National Security makes an essential contribution to incorporate the full consideration of ethical, legal, and societal issues in situations where rapid technological change may outpace our ability to foresee consequences. Table of Contents Front Matter Summary 1 Framing the Issues 2 Foundational Technologies 3 Application Domains 4 Sources of ELSI Insight 5 An Analytical Framework for Identifying Ethical, Legal, and Societal Issues 6 Going Beyond Initial A Priori Analysis 7 Mechanisms for Addressing Ethical, Legal, and Societal Issues 8 Findings and Recommendations Appendixes Appendix A: Committee Members and Staff Appendix B: Meeting Agendas and Participants Appendix C: Research and Development Organizations Within the Department of Defense Appendix D: Established Institutional Mechanisms for Addressing Ethical, Legal, and Societal Issues

Privacy is a growing concern in the United States and around the world. The spread of the Internet and the seemingly boundaryless options for collecting, saving, sharing, and comparing information trigger consumer worries. Online practices of business and government agencies may present new ways to compromise privacy, and e-commerce and technologies that make a wide range of personal information available to anyone with a Web browser only begin to hint at the possibilities for inappropriate or unwarranted intrusion into our personal lives. Engaging Privacy and Information Technology in a Digital Age presents a comprehensive and multidisciplinary examination of privacy in the information age. It explores such important concepts as how the threats to privacy evolving, how can privacy be protected and how society can balance the interests of individuals, businesses and government in ways that promote privacy reasonably and effectively? This book seeks to raise awareness of the web of connectedness among the actions one takes and the privacy policies that are enacted, and provides a variety of tools and concepts with which debates over privacy can be more fruitfully engaged. Engaging Privacy and Information Technology in a Digital Age focuses on three major components affecting notions, perceptions, and expectations of privacy: technological change, societal shifts, and circumstantial discontinuities. This book will be of special interest to anyone interested in understanding why privacy issues are often so intractable. Table of Contents Front Matter Executive Summary Part I Thinking About Privacy, 1 Thinking About Privacy Part II The Backdrop for Privacy, 2 Intellectual Approaches and Conceptual Underpinnings 3 Technological Drivers 4 The Legal Landscape in the United States 5 The Politics of Privacy Policy in the United States Part III Privacy in Context, 6 Privacy and Organizations 7 Health and Medical Privacy 8 Libraries and Privacy 9 Privacy, Law Enforcement, and National Security Part IV Findings and Recommendations, 10 Findings and Recommendations Appendix A A Short History of Surveillance and Privacy in the United States Appendix B International Perspectives on Privacy Appendix C Biographies Index

The United States is increasingly dependent on information and information technology for both civilian and military purposes, as are many other nations. Although there is a substantial literature on the potential impact of a cyberattack on the societal infrastructure of the United States, little has been written about the use of cyberattack as an instrument of U.S. policy. Cyberattacks-actions intended to damage adversary computer systems or networks-can be used for a variety of military purposes. But they also have application to certain missions of the intelligence community, such as covert action. They may be useful for certain domestic law enforcement purposes, and some analysts believe that they might be useful for certain private sector entities who are themselves under cyberattack. This report considers all of these applications from an integrated perspective that ties together technology, policy, legal, and ethical issues. Focusing on the use of cyberattack as an instrument of U.S. national policy, Technology, Policy, Law and Ethics Regarding U.S. Acquisition and Use of Cyberattack Capabilities explores important characteristics of cyberattack. It describes the current international and domestic legal structure as it might apply to cyberattack, and considers analogies to other domains of conflict to develop relevant insights. Of special interest to the military, intelligence, law enforcement, and homeland security communities, this report is also an essential point of departure for nongovernmental researchers interested in this rarely discussed topic. Table of Contents Front Matter Synopsis 1 Overview, Findings, and Recommendations Part I: Framing and Basic Technology 2 Technical and Operational Considerations in Cyberattack and Cyberexploitation Part II: Mission and Institutional Perspectives 3 A Military Perspective on Cyberattack 4 An Intelligence Community Perspective on Cyberattack and Cyberexploitation 5 Perspectives on Cyberattack Outside National Security 6 Decision Making and Oversight Part III: Intellectual Tools for Understanding and Thinking About Cyberattack 7 Legal and Ethical Perspectives on Cyberattack 8 Insights from Related Areas 9 Speculations on the Dynamics of Cyberconflict 10 Alternative Futures Appendixes Appendix A: Biographies of Committee Members and Staff Appendix B: Meeting Participants and Other Contributors Appendix C: Illustrative Criminal Cyberattacks Appendix D: Views on the Use of Force in Cyberspace Appendix E: Technical Vulnerabilities Targeted by Cyber Offensive Actions

Despite a strong commitment to delivering quality health care, persistent problems involving medical errors and ineffective treatment continue to plague the industry. Many of these problems are the consequence of poor information and technology (IT) capabilities, and most importantly, the lack cognitive IT support. Clinicians spend a great deal of time sifting through large amounts of raw data, when, ideally, IT systems would place raw data into context with current medical knowledge to provide clinicians with computer models that depict the health status of the patient. Computational Technology for Effective Health Care advocates re-balancing the portfolio of investments in health care IT to place a greater emphasis on providing cognitive support for health care providers, patients, and family caregivers; observing proven principles for success in designing and implementing IT; and accelerating research related to health care in the computer and social sciences and in health/biomedical informatics. Health care professionals, patient safety advocates, as well as IT specialists and engineers, will find this book a useful tool in preparation for crossing the health care IT chasm.

This book describes a number of social and legal issues as they relate to various members of electronically networked communities. After a brief introduction to relevant legal precedents and to the manner in which societies develop norms for social behavior, the book explores right and responsibilities related to free speech, vandalism, property interests, and privacy. Table of Contents FRONT MATTER EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1 THE NATURE OF ELECTRONIC NETWORKS 2 NETWORKS AND SOCIETY 3 LEGAL CONSIDERATIONS FOR ELECTRONIC NETWORKS 4 FREE SPEECH 5 ELECTRONIC VANDALISM 6 INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY INTERESTS 7 PRIVACY 8 COMMON THEMES A Network Technology B Workshop Schedule and Session Descriptions C Forum Statement of Purpose and Agenda D Keynote Speech: Networked Communities and the Laws of Cyberspace E Biographical Sketches