US agency's balloon hunt tests internet accuracy

[demoleft]

Source: bbc

The US defence research agency has launched 10 red balloons in a contest to assess the accuracy with which information spreads on the internet.

The giant moored weather balloons were launched on Saturday morning at 10 undisclosed locations across the United States.

More than 4,000 groups have registered to take part in the challenge.
...
Johanna Jones, a spokeswoman for the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa), said that beyond the actual contest, the aim was to see whether social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter should be seen as credible sources of information.

Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8397649.stm

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funny.

[Arctic Dave]

1. DARPA? Pentagon must be trying to find ways to militarize social sites.

[AtheistCrusader]

2. They tried to make a betting pool out of terrorist attacks.

No shit.

Actually the idea was somewhat intriguing, but so politically unpalatable, I think some people lost their jobs over it.

http://www.mongabay.com/external/pentagon_terror_futures.htm

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

3. Or counteract them.

Their Pay-For-Posts™ program is failing miserably.

[Robb]

4. I know

I haven't gotten my check in weeks. :(

[vadawg]

5. dude you just coded your hours wrong, you put 167 as the code which is maternity leave

instead of 187 which is disinformation... just go back and do your time sheets again..