Disinformation
Disinformation, in the context of espionage, military intelligence, and propaganda, is the spreading of deliberately false information to mislead an enemy as to one's position or course of action.
Disinformation techniques may also be found in commerce and government, used by one group to try to undermine the position of a competitor.
Unlike propaganda or the Big Lie technique designed to engage an emotional support; disinformation is designed to manipulate the audience at the rational level by either discrediting conflicting information or proposing false conclusions. A third technique of concealing facts, or censorship is also used if the group can affact such control.
The Soviet Union made disinformation a recognized military and political tactic, though disinformation is generally more subtle and designed to remain unconscious to the target audience.
Disinformation is also a company, The Disinformation Company, and publishes a number of books and DVDs, as well as a web site disinfo.com (http://www.disinfo.com) about conspiracies, subculture, politics and other topics the traditional media won't talk about.
See also
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