What will this substack be about?
Spoil: it will be about OSINT and Disinformation
It will be about mostly
about Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) and Disinformation.
More specifically, it will be about the anti-disinformation industry. This is where I work and, in these posts, we will address some of the core issues and problems workers face in this industry.
In many ways, it looks like prestigious industry, between international institutions, research and NGOs and working with the few for the good of the many. But in other aspects, it seems that anti-Disinfo is stuck between the worst of these worlds. Lobbyist only seeking grants with no idea of what to do with it. Researchers forced to backstab each other in a giant ego jungle with no other rules than NDAs protecting the inanity of the bosses. Institutions’ only concern is to point out Russia and seem to be afraid of doing anything else, especially asking big companies to be accountable. And NGOs are producing a steady flow of brilliant young minds breaking down, immediately replaced by even more brilliant and less paid younger minds rushing to “work out of passion” against disinformation.
Probably the real state of this industry
is somewhere between the two visions, in an alternative purgatory. The fantasy paradise of disinterested heroes dedicated to dive into the abyss of the Internet, to save free speech and democracy from the armies of trolls sent by the Kremlin. Or the scorched earth of egos betraying their faith in democracy for the last “deepfake” or “A.I.” grants, unfairly given by the all-mighty ministry of Truth, secretly puppet-controlled by big tech companies?
But let us move away from post-apocalyptic havens
and directly introduce some of the disinfo subjects we have in mind:
the notion of FIMI, Foreign Interference and Manipulation of Information, the term became very popular in reports, studies, groups and research. Yet no one really knows what it means…
The famous founder of Telegram, and less famously French citizen, Pavel Durov, was arrested by the police in France. Wait, what did just say happened?
What do you know about OnlyFans? Could it be a subject for anti-disinformation?
VLOPs, Very Large Online Platforms. They are designated targets of the Digital Services Act as soon as they have 45 million users in the European Union. Does anyone know what is a “European user” and how do you find them? We will embark an adventure to find an answer to that question
Other surprises I don’t want to spoil yet
We will also speak about Open Source Intelligence,
(the OSINT). Because I am writing a book about what is OSINT, the definitions, the history, the challenges it poses to secrecy. Opening Intelligence, this here is a contradiction. Intelligence is secret. It is James Bond, it is CIA, it is Jason Bourne, it is Matthieu Kassovitz à la DGSE. It is not supposed to be Open to any monkey with a smartphone. Who got this idea of spreading “Open Source Intelligence” all over the internet, it makes no sense!
We will explain the sense it makes, even if you are among the non-believers.
I have a Master in history specialised in intelligence services in the 1920s from la Sorbonne; and a MA in Intelligence and International Security from King’s College, that should help for the theory.
For the practice, I work as a freelance OSINT consultant, I design Open Source Intelligence methodologies, programs and trainings. I designed OSINT methodologies and programs to track inauthentic behaviours that are currently used by the most prestigious institutions in Europe.
I won’t disclose the names of these organisations for obvious confidentiality and security reasons, and because I want to allow a lingering mystery usually associated with the secret intelligence world when one issues the words “confidentiality and security reasons”.
But with the OSINT I will provide here, all this will not remain so secret and confidential in the end.
I hope you will enjoy the content provided here. I will do my unpaid best to maintain a regular publication. Don’t hesitate to support, spread the word among friends and colleagues. And like my LinkedIn. Raging comments can also boost visibility and, as you probably noticed by my accent, I am French, and we love a good debate.
Enjoy your read,
Yours truly
Signals & Shadows