Jan 7, 2022
Ben Dubow is CTO and founder of
Omelas, a firm that provides data and analysis on how nations
manipulate the web to achieve their geopolitical goals. He has a
background in research on Russian and Chinese online information
operations and is a recognized expert, having appeared on
international media including Reuters, Bloomberg and Roll Call. Ben
began his career tracking jihadi, white supremacist, and Iranian
activity online before joining Google where he played a lead role
in removing ISIS content from YouTube and establishing the Redirect
Method to counter violent extremism. Before Omelas, Ben was
Secretary of Code To Inspire, a nonprofit that teaches Afghan women
to code. Ben speaks Arabic, French, Farsi, and basic
Russian.
In this OODAcast we discuss
Ben’s continuous drive to work in meaningful ways by contributing
technical and cultural expertise to emerging challenges. Other
topics include:
- The foundational story of Omelas and the needs
for technology to help spot malicious influence operations via
tracking open source information. - How to focus on missions by understanding what
decision-makers need - How authoritarian states manipulate open source
data - Why propaganda is effective and how the right
information can help counter it - How technology can improve scale of
analysis - The Omelas Wolf Totem dashboard and what it
presents - The metrics that can be applied to malign
influence operations - How to reduce the risk of our own analysts
being biased in research
Additional Links:
https://www.benjamindubow.com/
Book recommendations:
The Constitution of Knowledge:
A Defense of Truth
The Invention of Russia: The
Rise of Putin and the Age of Fake News