CIA suddenly stops publishing, removes archives of The World Factbook
1–10 of 197 posts
Re: CIA suddenly stops publishing, removes archives of The World Factbook
#2[flagged]
Re: CIA suddenly stops publishing, removes archives of The World Factbook
#3More discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46891794
Re: CIA suddenly stops publishing, removes archives of The World Factbook
#4[flagged]
What makes you think they can't "keep it going"? They're ceasing the publication, aka, the act of releasing it.
From the CIA Factbook History page it writes,
> It was first made available to the public in 1975 and in 1981 was renamed The World Factbook
Is it just being classified again? Who knows! That could be classified.
Re: CIA suddenly stops publishing, removes archives of The World Factbook
#5The irony of an intelligence agency publishing a "fact book" in the first place is thick.
Re: CIA suddenly stops publishing, removes archives of The World Factbook
#6The irony of an intelligence agency publishing a "fact book" in the first place is thick.
Why?
Re: CIA suddenly stops publishing, removes archives of The World Factbook
#7The irony of an intelligence agency publishing a "fact book" in the first place is thick.
Why? It's an excellent recruiting tool. I used to read it as a kid (along with every other paper or digital encyclopedia I could get my hands on), and it certainly made me interested in the CIA.
Re: CIA suddenly stops publishing, removes archives of The World Factbook
#8The irony of an intelligence agency publishing a "fact book" in the first place is thick.
Why?
Because intelligence agencies generally have a vested interest in spreading subtle propaganda, such as by distorting facts.
Now, I have yet to see any cases of the CIA doing this to the World Factbook, since that would tank its credibility, but I also don't browse the Factbook too often.
Re: CIA suddenly stops publishing, removes archives of The World Factbook
#9Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why?
Because intelligence agencies generally have a vested interest in spreading subtle propaganda, such as by distorting facts. Now, I have yet to see any cases of the CIA doing this to the World Factbook, since that would tank its credibility, but I also don't browse the Factbook too often.
You are looking at the trees, and missing the forest. The subtle propaganda that the Factbook exists to spread is “the CIA is a neutral and trustworthy gatherer and purveyor of facts”.
Re: CIA suddenly stops publishing, removes archives of The World Factbook
#10[flagged]
It was updated weekly. Constantly writing and maintaining so much information is almost certainly very expensive. Coupled with the fact that you have to be very careful before releasing each edit to make sure that no accidental personal beliefs or theories slip by (as that would be a diplomatic catastrophe), I reckon the cost of maintaining the thing could be very high.
I would wager that they're still going to maintain their own version of the World Factbook, and just simply not share it. This would allow them to cut out the very costly review step that I talked about.
Now whether that's a good decision or not is a completely different question.