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CIA suddenly stops publishing, removes archives of The World Factbook

simonwillison.net

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Re: CIA suddenly stops publishing, removes archives of The World Factbook

#21

Post by epsilonic »

scarecrowbob wrote: post #13

Damn I wish the waning of US soft power felt like a positive thing to me; the CIA, along with the DEA, has been one of the more powerful criminal networks on the planet since its inception in the mid 20th C. It doesn't feel like the US gov is moving away from the soft-power/understated action stuff because the US gov is somehow committed to being less evil. It feels to me like they don't feel like it's as useful as t…

We're definitely going in the direction of "might is right". The "palantirization" of data stores (not just those for surveillance) is going to be an enabler of the "hard power" you're alluding to. This whole platform is probably a dragnet for identifying intelligent people with dissident views. Expect things to get uglier and stranger as well.

Re: CIA suddenly stops publishing, removes archives of The World Factbook

#22

Post by strangattractor »

lvspiff wrote: post #17

I used the CIA factbook so much in college in the early 2000's when looking at so many things. When researching countries to support and travel to it made sense to vreview it beforehand. Its insane that this as a resource would be taken down.

It was a great resource for basic facts about countries. Providing it to the public was genius in addition to being useful.

Re: CIA suddenly stops publishing, removes archives of The World Factbook

#23

Post by supjeff »

regenschutz wrote: post #10
SilverElfin wrote: post #2

[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 maint…

yeah, where is the CIA going to find the money to pay a few editors?

I think you touched on the real reason: objective facts are anti-trump, woke leftist propaganda

Re: CIA suddenly stops publishing, removes archives of The World Factbook

#24

Post by Retric »

SECProto wrote: post #16
RajT88 wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your definition of "very high" costs likely don't align with what you think of when you think of "very high" government spending. NASA's 25 billion dollar budget for 2025 was a paltry ~.4% of the total government budget. Wikimedia foundation's operating budget is 207 million a year - a drop in the ocean of federal budgets, if Factbook was similar.

> NASA's 25 billion dollar budget for 2025 was a paltry ~.04% of the total government budget. I'm sorry, I think you have a math or data error here. The US government budget for 2025 was not $62.5 trillion dollars.

Yea, they where off by a factor of 10, so 0.4%.

Re: CIA suddenly stops publishing, removes archives of The World Factbook

#25

Post by otterley »

dragonwriter wrote: post #9
regenschutz wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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”.

I think that’s a secondary or even tertiary goal. The primary goal is to provide a public service to public and private parties who want to become better informed and to show the American people that their tax dollars are at work and reduce the risk of having their funding get cut.

Re: CIA suddenly stops publishing, removes archives of The World Factbook

#26

Post by Supermancho »

bluGill wrote: post #11
regenschutz wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

They have multiple competing interests. One of their interests is telling the truth to their local military and politicians - getting caught in a lie to their side is the worst that could happen to them. The world factbook was mostly things that the military or politicians might care about the truth of, and data they need anyway. Mostly what is there were things where there wouldn't be much value in spreading lies -…

> One of their interests is telling the truth to their local military and politicians - getting caught in a lie to their side is the worst that could happen to them.

It's definitely not the worst that can happen. Happens fairly often - google: CIA lying to congress. Getting audited is the worst that thing that happens to the CIA. ie The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) last actively audited the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in the early 1960s, specifically discontinuing such work around 1962.

Re: CIA suddenly stops publishing, removes archives of The World Factbook

#27

Post by goda90 »

scarecrowbob wrote: post #13

Damn I wish the waning of US soft power felt like a positive thing to me; the CIA, along with the DEA, has been one of the more powerful criminal networks on the planet since its inception in the mid 20th C. It doesn't feel like the US gov is moving away from the soft-power/understated action stuff because the US gov is somehow committed to being less evil. It feels to me like they don't feel like it's as useful as t…

> It feels to me like they don't feel like it's as useful as the application simple hard power.

Soft power is a hard power amplifier though. I don't think it's incompetence and ignorance about how to maintain and use power, I think it's intentional deconstruction of power so that others can fill the vacuum.

Re: CIA suddenly stops publishing, removes archives of The World Factbook

#28

Post by idle_zealot »

scarecrowbob wrote: post #13

Damn I wish the waning of US soft power felt like a positive thing to me; the CIA, along with the DEA, has been one of the more powerful criminal networks on the planet since its inception in the mid 20th C. It doesn't feel like the US gov is moving away from the soft-power/understated action stuff because the US gov is somehow committed to being less evil. It feels to me like they don't feel like it's as useful as t…

> It feels to me like they don't feel like it's as useful as the application simple hard power.

They do feel that way, but I think they're wrong. Pervasive soft power is a lot better for building stable systems of oppression than more overt shows of force. They're either really bad at, or not interested in (probably both) building anything. I don't think this period of brutal oppression they're gearing up for is going to last very long. People in the US react very poorly to roving bands of State goons.

Re: CIA suddenly stops publishing, removes archives of The World Factbook

#30

Post by mrexcess »

scarecrowbob wrote: post #13

Damn I wish the waning of US soft power felt like a positive thing to me; the CIA, along with the DEA, has been one of the more powerful criminal networks on the planet since its inception in the mid 20th C. It doesn't feel like the US gov is moving away from the soft-power/understated action stuff because the US gov is somehow committed to being less evil. It feels to me like they don't feel like it's as useful as t…

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