Browsing by Author "Jardine, Eric"
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- Analysis of Information Diffusion through Social MediaKhalili, Nastaran (Virginia Tech, 2021-06-16)The changes in the course of communication changed the world from different perspectives. Public participation on social media means the generation, diffusion, and exposure to a tremendous amount of user-generated content without supervision. This four-essay dissertation analyzes information diffusion through social media and its opportunities and challenges through management systems engineering and data analytics. First, we evaluate how information can be shared to reach maximum exposure for the case on online petitions. We use system dynamics modeling and propose policies for campaign managers to schedule the reminders they send to have the highest number of petition signatures. We find that sending reminders is more effective in the case of increasing the signature rate. In the second essay, we investigate how people build trust/ mistrust in science during an emergency. We use data analytics methods on more than 700,000 tweets containing keywords of Hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine, two candidate medicines, to prevent and cure patients infected with COVID-19. We show that people's opinions are concentrated in the case of polarity and spread out in the case of subjectivity. Also, they tend to share subjective tweets than objective ones. In the third essay, building on the same dataset as essay two, we study the changes in science communication during the coronavirus pandemic. We used topic modeling and clustered the tweets into seven different groups. Our analysis suggests that a highly scientific and health-related subject can become political in the case of an emergency. We found that the groups of medical information and research and study have fewer tweets than the political one. Fourth, we investigated fake news diffusion as one of the main challenges of user-generated content. We built a system dynamics model and analyzed the effects of competition and correction in combating fake news. We show that correction of misinformation and competition in fake news needs a high percentage of participation to be effective enough to deal with fake news.
- An Analysis: Complex Interdependence and the Chinese-United States Cyber RelationshipMorrison, Robert Maxwell (Virginia Tech, 2018-06-19)The United States and the People's Republic of China maintain a unique relationship due to the high levels of interdependence between the countries' political, economic, military, and social functions. This association has been complicated in the past by Chinese industrial cyberespionage (CE) carried out against United States organizations and individuals in pursuit of economic advancement. This paper examines the nature of Chinese-American relations and determines whether its features adhere to Robert Keohane and Joseph Nye's theory of complex interdependence in Power and Interdependence. Further, this paper also explores possible reasons for a decline in Chinese CE beginning in mid-2014 and what impact this could have on the two countries' relations moving forward.
- Birthers, Hand Signals, and Spirit Cooking: The Impact of Political Fake News Content on Facebook Engagement during the 2016 Presidential ElectionWheaton, Grace Claire (Virginia Tech, 2019-04-18)Throughout the 2016 U.S. presidential election, public debate and media coverage was shaped by so called "fake news" – news articles which were intentionally false, and designed to influence opinion and policy. Although fake news itself is not a new concept, the way in which it was covered, and the was it was spread on social media platforms, was. Given this, scholarly literature examining fake news, and specifically the content or stylistic characteristics of fake news, is minimal. My research seeks to address that gap through examining different content characteristics of fake news articles spread on social media in 2016, and testing the impact of those characteristics on Facebook engagement (the number of likes or shares an article received). I find political fake news circulated during the 2016 U.S. election is relatively homogeneous in content: it avoids policy discussion, is highly partisan, and negative in tone. Furthermore, personal content, policy discussion, partisan lean, and article tone have no detectable effect on the engagement received on Facebook. My research serves to provide avenues for future research, and increase our understanding of how fake news is spread. More importantly, given the negative influence fake news has on public discussion and democratic legitimacy, my research also increases our understanding of how to best combat the influence of fake news, and how to limit its spread.
- Bitcoin and CryptocurrenciesVasek, Marie; Jardine, Eric; Brantly, Aaron F. (Virginia Tech, 2018-05-18)This panel includes three presentations: “Cryptocurrencies and Financial Crimes” by Marie Vasek; “Cryptocurrencies and Specific Drug Types” by Eric Jardine; and “Bitcoin and OPSEC for Terrorists” by Aaron Brantly. (Please note that due to technical difficulties, slides for the last presentation by Aaron Brantly were not captured on the video). The presentations were given as part of the conference "Understanding the Dark Web and Its Implications for Policy" held on May 18, 2018 at the Virginia Tech Executive Briefing Center in Arlington, Virginia.
- Cyberattacks and public opinion - The effect of uncertainty in guiding preferencesJardine, Eric; Porter, Nathaniel D.; Shandler, Ryan (Sage, 2024-01-30)When it comes to cybersecurity incidents – public opinion matters. But how do voters form opinions in the aftermath of cyberattacks that are shrouded in ambiguity? How do people account for the uncertainty inherent in cyberspace to forge preferences following attacks? This article seeks to answer these questions by introducing an uncertainty threshold mechanism predicting the level of attributional certainty required for the public to support economic, diplomatic or military responses following cyberattacks. Using a discrete-choice experimental design with 2025 US respondents, we find lower attributional certainty is associated with less support for retaliation, yet this mechanism is contingent on the suspected identity of the attacker and partisan identity. Diplomatic allies possess a reservoir of good will that amplifies the effect of uncertainty, while rivals are less often given the benefit of the doubt. We demonstrate that uncertainty encourages the use of cognitive schemas to overcome ambiguity, and that people fall back upon pre-existing and politically guided views about the suspected country behind an attack. If the ambiguity surrounding cyberattacks has typically been discussed as an operational and strategic concern, this article shifts the focus of attention to the human level and positions the mass public as a forgotten yet important party during cyber conflict.
- Effects of Social Media Use on Political PolarizationKansco, Jacob Anthony (Virginia Tech, 2020-06-22)21st century political science has seen a growing field of research focused around the idea of political polarization. While authors like Fiorina and Abramowitz have been debating the existence of such polarization, the literature has come to understand that perhaps the root of the issue lies in differing definitions. The never-ending quest for clarity has produced a variety of measures of polarization and, subsequently, theories on why 21st century Americans may be experiencing such polarization. Unsurprisingly, as political science questions what may be causing various trends in 21st century voter behaviors and attitudes, the Internet is often mentioned. With the Internet being a clearly powerful tool for political mobilization, whether or not it is divisive among the public could have politically consequential implications. Because of its interactive nature, it is difficult to evaluate a person's social media use. This study uses a unique survey to evaluate a respondent's general social media and internet use, as well as measures of political polarization. Using this information, along with analysis of the 2016 ANES, I am able to make associations of various levels of social media activity and political polarization. Using means comparison and multivariate regression, I am able to evaluate social media use controlling for effects of age and other confounding variables and how it relates to measures of political polarization. The survey results ultimately provide some evidence for the claim that increasing social media use is associated with higher levels of political polarization. Additionally, in an OLS regression model testing the effects of different sources of political news, increases in internet use are highly correlated with an increase in political polarization.
- In Viewership We Trust? Exploring Relationships Between Partisan Cable News and Mass Partisan SentimentLillard, Kevin Thomas (Virginia Tech, 2022-01-27)Prior literature has identified several simultaneously occurring trends: namely, sharply intensifying negative partisanship, partisan patterns of media trust, increasingly partisan content on cable news networks, and increased viewership of these networks. A large portion of this literature, as well as journalistic research, has predominantly focused on individuals' consumption, rather than trust, of particular political media sources. I explore to what degree the nature of how individuals are consuming partisan media (be it trustingly, skeptically, etc.) plays a role in the relationship between partisan media consumption and partisan sentiment. Using OLS regression models across three ANES samples, I test the relationship between individuals' viewership and trust levels of particular partisan cable news sources (Fox News and MSNBC) and corresponding partisan sentiment, taking into account individuals' own partisan leanings. I find those who consume like-minded partisan media to express more partisanship (both for their own political group and against the other). I additionally find that trust, as opposed to just viewership, of these partisan networks correlates strongly with partisan sentiment. In light of these findings, I conclude that future research on this topic should more clearly distinguish between trust and viewership of political media.
- On market concentration and cybersecurity riskGeer, Dan; Jardine, Eric; Leverett, Eireann (Taylor & Francis, 2020-02-24)Market concentration affects each component of the cybersecurity risk equation (i.e. threat, vulnerability and impact). As the Internet ecosystem becomes more concentrated across a number of vectors from users and incoming links to economic market share, the locus of cyber risk moves towards these major hubs and the volume of systemic cyber risk increases. Mitigating cyber risk requires better measurement, diversity of systems, software and firms, attention to market concentration in cyber insurance pricing, and the deliberate choice to avoid ubiquitous interconnection in critical systems.
- Policing the Dark Web: Legal Challenges in the 2015 Playpen CaseChertoff, Michael; Jardine, Eric (2021-11-11)The dark web allows for anonymous browsing and publishing of content and is inherently cross-border by design. Law enforcement’s best tool to police anonymous dark web sites is a suite of technologies known as “network investigative techniques” (NITs), which essentially hack The Onion Router (Tor) hidden services (i.e., darknet sites) to deanonymize users. Using Operation Pacifier, the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI’s) 2015 investigation of the Playpen child abuse content darknet site, as a case study, this paper explores the implications of the use of NITs and both the Fourth and Sixth Amendments. We find that initial conflicts between the rules governing search and seizure and the search of machines using the dark web have been reconciled with changes to law and evolving legal precedent. The issues surrounding the due process remain more open.
- The potential harms of the Tor anonymity network cluster disproportionately in free countriesJardine, Eric; Lindner, Andrew M.; Owenson, Gareth (National Academy of Sciences, 2020-11-30)The Tor anonymity network allows users to protect their privacy and circumvent censorship restrictions but also shields those distributing child abuse content, selling or buying illicit drugs, or sharing malware online. Using data collected from Tor entry nodes, we provide an estimation of the proportion of Tor network users that likely employ the network in putatively good or bad ways. Overall, on an average country/day, ∼6.7% of Tor network users connect to Onion/Hidden Services that are disproportionately used for illicit purposes. We also show that the likely balance of beneficial and malicious use of Tor is unevenly spread globally and systematically varies based upon a country’s political conditions. In particular, using Freedom House’s coding and terminological classifications, the proportion of often illicit Onion/Hidden Services use is more prevalent (∼7.8%) in “free” countries than in either “partially free” (∼6.7%) or “not free” regimes (∼4.8%).
- Rapporteur Report: Understanding the Dark Web and its Implications for PolicyJardine, Eric (Virginia Tech, 2018-05)The Understanding the Dark Web and Its Implications for Policy conference focused on addressing the challenging dilemmas posed by the anonymity created by the “Dark Web” (the unindexed portion of the Internet only accessible through special browsers, such as Tor and I2P). The conference events brought together experts from computer science, sociology, political science, and information sciences to share their research on the Dark Web and cryptocurrencies. Through two distinct sessions – a May 17th briefing of congressional staffers on Capitol Hill and a May 18th conference of academics, government officials, civil society and industry professionals – the researchers were able to present their ideas and foster wider policy-relevant discussion of these issues... This short report summarizes the events of the two days.
- U.S. Abrogation of the I.N.F. Treaty: Implications for Russian-Sino RelationsBarrett, Leah Robinson (Virginia Tech, 2021-01-27)This thesis aims to address how the strategic partnership between Russia and China is affected by the absence of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, also known as the I.N.F. Treaty. Through historical evidence of the strategic partnership, along with various balancing theories, this thesis presents the argument that American abrogation of the I.N.F. Treaty would result in strengthened relations between Russia and China if the United States deploys intermediate-range nuclear weapons to the Pacific. Without U.S. deployment, however, the Russian-Sino strategic partnership will likely remain undisturbed.
- Understanding the Dark Web and its Implications for Policy (flyer)Jardine, Eric (Virginia Tech, 2018-05-18)How to deal with the negative excesses of the Dark Web and other anonymity-granting technologies without harming those who use these tools for benign activities is one of today’s most pressing policy challenges. This conference gathers researchers, government officials, civil society activists and private industry experts to engage in constructive debate and dialogue. The conference will explore the topography and implications of Tor Hidden Services and debate the various ways in which online anonymity poses unique normative and policy challenges.
- Understanding the Dark Web and its Implications for Policy (program)Jardine, Eric (Virginia Tech, 2018-05-18)The program includes the agenda, speakers, and sponsors.