# The coming Automation of Propaganda

**URL:** <https://community.humanetech.com/t/the-coming-automation-of-propaganda/4316>\
**Category:** Harms to society\
**Tags:** freedom, fake-news, misinformation\
**Created:** [August 10, 2019, 9:42am UTC](https://community.humanetech.com/t/the-coming-automation-of-propaganda/4316 "2019-08-10T09:42:53Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 4

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![aschrijver](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex036/user_avatar/community.humanetech.com/aschrijver/32/1498_2.png) [@aschrijver](https://community.humanetech.com/u/aschrijver)\
**Post date:** [August 10, 2019, 5:41pm UTC](https://community.humanetech.com/t/the-coming-automation-of-propaganda/4316/4 "2019-08-10T17:41:48Z")

</div>

> [@Broodwich](#):
>
> Anonymity, privacy, security, we need to either formally separate these words from electronic communication, or defend them. Giving the people who build the prisons a list of everyone’s name and what they say is what we are trying to avoid.

Well, this is not how that system would work. First of all everyone retains the right to stay fully anonymous at all times, but besides have the opportunity to have one or more identities. These can be pseudonymous (e.g. just a username) or fully validated. These identities could be provided by a government, a company or any other institution, or you could create them on your own server or that of your friend.

Depending on the nature of your identity (which can be aggregated from multiple sources and only contains information you want to provide) other people can determine the credibility they give to content you publish. If you are anonymous then other people might not give much credit to your ‘important news article XYZ’, whereas if you are validated as a journalist by US Government and NY Times your article can be deemed way more likely to be legit.

* * *

**Edit** :

@Broodwich, this [primer on functional identity](http://community.humanetech.com/t/investigating-privacy-respecting-online-identity-data-ownership-control-solutions/3089/27) also highlights the danger of abuse in identity systems. It’s why good systems require careful thought and deliberation. But you should ask why you are using an identity system in real life, and at the same time no proper identity system online.

---

_[View the full topic](https://community.humanetech.com/t/the-coming-automation-of-propaganda/4316)._