The Cognitive Crucible is a forum that presents different perspectives and emerging thought leadership related to the information environment. The opinions expressed by guests are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of or endorsement by the Information Professionals Association.

During this episode, Genia Simkin discusses his firm’s Samizdat technology which makes it possible to bypass DNS blockades set up by autocratic regimes.

Recording Date: 5 Aug 2024

Research Question: Genia Simkin suggests as interested student examine OSINT practices. For example, would it be possible to get an accurate sense (census, poll, survey, etc.) of how various populations that live in fear of and under the repressive rule of governments like those in Russia, Iran, or China feel about their governments' various policies and other important geopolitical questions so as to better understand what kinds of propaganda that they're subjected to is effective and they're able to see past?

Resources:

• Samizdat Online makes it possible to bypass the DNS blockades set up by autocratic regimes. Through Samizdat Online, you will be able to access censored media from around the globe and share freely, without VPN.
• Samizdat = the clandestine copying and distribution of literature banned by the state, especially formerly in the communist countries of eastern Europe.
• Yevgeny Simkin Bulwark site
• Alfred North Whitehead Quote: “Civilization advances by extending the number of important operations which we can perform without thinking of them.”
• I, Pencil: My Family Tree by Leonard E. Read
• Wayback Machine
• Fact Checks and Context for Wayback Machine Pages by Mark Graham
• I Love Russia: Reporting from a Lost Country by Elena Kostyuchenko, Bela Shayevich, Ilona Yazhbin Chavasse
• Putin's People: How the KGB Took Back Russia and Then Took On the West by Catherine Belton

Link to full show notes and resources

Guest Bio: 

Yevgeny (Genia) Simkin is a technologist, analyst, comedian, musician, and entrepreneur who fled with his family to the US from the former Soviet Union in 1978, during the mass Soviet Jewish exodus of the 70s.

Over the last 25 years, Simkin has developed a multitude of software products for the likes of CBS News, YouTube, USA Today, and, many other global media and tech companies. Additionally he's a regular contributor to The Bulwark and has intended but failed to find the time to write multiple insightful and arguably books on the ways in which humanity has failed to realize its potential.

Last year, after Russia invaded Ukraine, Yevgeny co-founded Samizdat Online, an anti-censorship media platform that uses unique IP to make it possible to bypass Internet blocking commonly practiced by autocratic regimes such as Putin’s.

About: The Information Professionals Association (IPA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to exploring the role of information activities, such as influence and cognitive security, within the national security sector and helping to bridge the divide between operations and research. Its goal is to increase interdisciplinary collaboration between scholars and practitioners and policymakers with an interest in this domain.

For more information, please contact us at communications@information-professionals.org.

Or, connect directly with The Cognitive Crucible podcast host, John Bicknell, on LinkedIn.

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