Author: James Patrick

March For Change Launches Campaign

On Saturday July 20, as a new Prime Minister prepares to take office, grassroots organisations will gather in central London for one of the biggest pro-European rallies that the UK has seen.

“MARCH FOR CHANGE” CALLS ON GRASSROOTS TO FIX BRITAIN

Grassroots activists are at the heart of a new march taking place in London on July 20th 2019. The independent campaign is being led by key figures behind the peaceful protest which saw a reported million people take to the streets of the capital earlier this year.

To act without casting a long shadow.

With the creation of new environmental charity, Cynefin Foundation, well underway, this is a brief reflection on purpose, action, and leaving things a little better than we found them.

Predicting Parliament: Emojiocracy Has Landed

A new data-led tool is in town, allowing users to predict the future of what goes on in Westminster. Emojiocracy is the digital equivalent of Toto, pulling back the curtain on a lot more than expenses and what has happened during previous votes…

The Brexit Death Spiral

We’ve reached the point where there is no good conclusion to Brexit and Britain faces a choice: take one for the team or be willing participants in the fall of Europe. And no, you are not going to like this.

Leading Charities Call For No Deal Clarity On Insulin

Government must provide concrete detail on access to insulin in event of no-deal Brexit, say leading diabetes charities: In a joint statement, Diabetes UK and JDRF have said that, without more detail, they cannot say a no-deal Brexit would be safe for people reliant on insulin.

Film: Malware For Humans

Malware For Humans is a conversation-led, independent documentary about fake news, big data, electoral interference, and hybrid warfare. It is available for free, without advertisements, worldwide from 12pm (GMT) today.

Disinformation Threat: Osprey

A small hub of active, external hostile disinformation actors has been identified and is working in conjunction with a domestic disinformation operation to advance Yellow Vest and WTO narratives. The network has been accessing the UKIP audience in order to drive narratives into public visibility.

Dark Influence Campaign Website Traced

Global Britain’s dark influence campaign website operated behind an encrypted DNS record. It has now been traced to a small advertising agency in Essex. Downing Street alerted to efforts to influence Cabinet due to Brexit risks.

Cabinet Targeted In Dark Influence Campaign

Global Britain, a group closely affiliated with the European Research Group (ERG) led by Jacob Rees-Mogg, ran a dark influence campaign targeting the constituents of Cabinet MPs to encourage rejection of a deal with Brussels.

Expansion

Sometimes the end is just change. Growth. Finding a sliver of hope in a charred pile of ashes and running with it like there’s no tomorrow…

The Fall Podcast: Episode 6 – Power Part 2

In this episode of The Fall, we discuss electricity and fuel supply disruption, setting out a number of ways in which you can minimise your exposure to vulnerabilities…and there’s a listener Q&A too.

Scotland Yard Dismisses Brexit Allegations

The Metropolitan Police Special Enquiry Team dismissed complaints of potential Misconduct in Public Office offences related to Brexit without investigating, documents show.

The Fall Podcast: Episode 5 – Power Part 1

In this episode of The Fall, we discuss the digitalisation of the world and its impact on us in terms of hostile actor and state surveillance and the vulnerabilities our online presence and personal data sharing opens us up to.

Brexit: The Final Furlong

As reality lands, there are still people who believe a no deal outcome automatically means Brexit will not happen. This is a dangerous fantasy.

Malware For Humans: Film Enters Production

A new film explores hybrid warfare and the scandals which have rocked Western democracies, bringing the topics to life in a way which strips the complexity of electoral interference, hacking, and espionage down and rebuilds it for everyone. Malware For Humans is set for release in February 2019.

The Fall: New Podcast Explores No Deal Brexit

In the first episode of a new podcast, The Fall, I explore the first few days of life in No Deal Britain with the help of former army officer Guy Dorrell, using our experience in the armed and emergency services and current expertise to draw a brutal guide to surviving Brexit.

Labour Pains: Pregnancy Website Fined For Data Used By Labour Party

The ICO has levelled a £140,000 fine at a pregnancy and childcare website for illegally collecting and selling information for the purpose of political campaigning. The data was used by Experian Marketing Services in Labour’s targeting of new parents in the run up to the 2017 General Election.

Russian Intelligence Service Indicted For DNC Hack

Over a year after the truth was public knowledge, Deputy Attorney General of the United States Rod Rosenstein announces the indictment of 12 Russian intelligence officials for hacking and leaking data from the Clinton campaign, which was used to interfere in the US election of 2016.

Blowing Smoke

Comment: A ridiculous cartoon character meets a pastiche of Victoriana, reality slowly sobs from within the confines of a layer cake made from bull excrement, and the general public continues to reject truth, suckling instead at the teat of a deranged nursemaid whose entire body is a cynical advert.

Democracy Disrupted? No, It’s Dead.

Opinion: The ICO isn’t equipped to deal with a complex assault on Western democracy and a corrupted parliament pulls the strings. We aren’t asking if democracy has been tickled a bit, we’ve seen it die and there’s nobody coming to save us.

Fascism Has Won, Get Over It

Opinion: As long as the true state of the world continues to be downplayed and given dismissive commentary from the same stale media which failed to predict Brexit, Trump, and Russia, the more quietly the arrival of the eventual door knocks will come. Privilege has already sealed our collective fate

The Death Of Truth

Months ago I set about to answer six questions on truth. A sextet of simple demands which go to the heart of what is wrong with our world. So I turned to two people whose words carry more weight than my own: journalist Tim Walker and the multi-faceted John Cleese.

Dark Trades – How Brexit And Trump Shorted Crypto

The whole mess of Russian hacking, Cambridge Analytica, the Trump and Leave Campaigns was not only a coup but an unprecedented shorting of the market through

mass manipulation of the electorate with the aim of controlling not only geopolitics but the financial markets too.

Getting Ready Together

By getting ready together, we can all contribute to the survival of what remains of decency. This leaflet is being made electronically available to all residents of what is currently known as the United Kingdom, free of charge.

Comment: The Perfect Shambles

Arron Banks and Andy Wigmore of Leave.EU appeared before the UK’s Fake News Inquiry chaired by Damian Collins, unleashing a masterclass in walking away without a scratch and showing how trial by committee fails us all.

The Tuesday Letter: Inside SCL

Correspondence from Cambridge Analytica’s suspended director, Alexander Nix, sets out in excruciating detail the worldwide locations where the parent company, Strategic Communication Laboratories, was active up until 2010. Bringing British-based psyops for hire straight to 10 Downing Street’s door.

Russian Hybrid Offensives: November Statement to Parliament

Below is the unedited text of a statement sent to to the UK Parliament’s Fake News Inquiry on November 21 2017. The intention at the time of its submission was to provide Parliament and MPs the time to deal with inevitable future disinformation campaigns led by the Kremlin.

US Grand Jury Indicts Iranians For Global University Hacks

In a huge boost to the FBI, with its reputation under attack by the GOP and Trump White House over the Russia investigation, Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein announces the indictments of nine Iranian hackers involved in global scientific research theft linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard .

Russia 101: How To Lose A War

In the 101st article since my Russian odyssey began in Sweden during early 2017, the time has come to confront the truth: Britain lost the war against Putin’s criminal state and there’s no road back.

Defriending Putin: How Britain Must Defend Against Russia

As Theresa May declares Russia the “highly likely” culprit in a nerve agent attack on British soil and demands an explanation from Russian President Vladimir Putin, a measured response is required from the UK. But what can be done without risking all out war?

Cambridge Analytica CEO Gives Evidence To Fake News Inquiry

Covering topics from Brexit, Leave.EU, to Trump and Wikileaks, Nix gave vital insight into a company which operates globally, subject to only limited scrutiny, which targets voters at a personal-emotional level to drive the behaviour of electorates and change political landscapes for profit.

Off Down T’ Bitmine

Having become increasingly annoyed with my computer slowing down, I searched for some answers. Though I didn’t realise what was happening, I fell down a rabbit hole and landed in the dark world of cryptojacking. As I found, it wasn’t so far from where I’ve spent the last year digging…

Inside The Wikileaks Leak

The Intercept has published a series of leaked private messages from inside Wikileaks, providing an insight into the world of Julian Assange, confirming there is nothing public spirited to be found. The organisation deliberately targets journalists and public officials.

Russia More Influential Than Leave Campaigns During Brexit

New analysis by 89up.org confirms the scale of Russian media influence during Brexit vote dwarfed the main Vote Leave and Leave.EU campaigns, driving anti-EU propaganda, disinformation and fake news to influence voters. The Kremlin campaign peaked on the 23rd of June 2016 as British cast ballots.

May To Lead Britain To No Deal Nightmare

Government internal communications indicate Theresa May is due to capitulate to the hard-right and take Britain out of the EU with no deal, securing the worst case outcome shown in the government’s own impact assessments.

UK Fake News Inquiry Joins Forces With US Russia Probe

The UK’s Fake News Inquiry, chaired by MP Damian Collins, has travelled to Washington to interview Social Media giants about Russian influence on Brexit. Britain is at the start of what will be a painful process but Collins has teamed up with Senator Mark Warner to fight the attacks on democracy.

May Crime Figures Claim Fake News

During PMQ’s, Prime Minister Theresa May clashed with Jeremy Corbyn over cuts to policing. She claimed she had changed the way police crime was recorded as Home Secretary. The change was in fact the result of an inquiry sparked by a police officer: me.

We All Fall Down: Dispatches From The Front Line Of A Hybrid War

A new type of virus has swept across the West. Malware for the human mind powered by the social engineering equivalent of money laundering. A plague is upon us and the symptoms are clearer than ever but, without a cure in sight and to our continued detriment, a nursery rhyme mentality prevails…

Translation As A Hybrid Weapon: A View From Ukraine

A ban on a Russian translation of British historian Anthony Beevor’s book “Stalingrad” was announced on the 10 January by a Ukrainian government body. However, the Russian book which has been subject to the ban was published in Moscow and is “significantly different” to the original text…

#AltWar: The Story So Far…

By Toby Venables

When starting to conceptualise fact as truth-based fiction, one faces certain challenges and decisions. We needed a story to serve as a vehicle – and to make it entartaining as hell – but when dealing with truths as important as these, it’s crucial not to obscure or distort them.

#AltWar Feature Film – What Are You Funding?

What I wanted to do today, is write a little about the creative process Toby and I will be going through – from a practical point of view – and explain how the £10,000 script development fund will be used if we succeed…

Ireland An Obvious Target For Russian Operations

As Sweden declares its election is already being hacked and launches a new public agency to counter Russian interference, we have been monitoring intelligence and identified Ireland is a clear target with operations already underway. Sadly, it isn’t even on the radar of beleagured security services.

US Senate Confirms Putin’s Alternative War

The US Senate’s Committee on Foreign Relations published an explosive report on January 10 2018, entitled: “PUTIN’S ASYMMETRIC ASSAULT ON DEMOCRACY IN RUSSIA AND

EUROPE: IMPLICATIONS FOR U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY.” The extensive document confirms Russian involvement in the US, EU, and the UK’s Brexit

Assange: Fake News Embodied

Suspected rapist Julian Assange, a deliberately deceitful, disingenuous individual on the run under diplomatic protection in Ecuador’s London embassy, breaks from Russian hacking operations and Kremlin-led disinformation campaigning to attack journalists while defending Russia’s White House asset.

Reality Check: Russia Is At War With The UK

After a year screaming into the wind, the end of 2017 saw the true state of Russia’s threat to the United Kingdom acknowledged for the first time by the security services. And nobody batted an eyelid. Entering the new year, the world has passed the tipping point and the dead kitten bounce awaits.

Brexit Mess: The Just “Dessert” Of A Flawed System

An end of year review of the Leave affiliated group figures published by the Electoral Commission gives rise to a new understanding of co-operation between Anti-EU campaigns and exposes a critical flaw in the Working Together rules which applied during the Brexit Referendum – a sticky Brexit pudding

Brexit Means Hate

One Twitter user has collated a horrifying catalogue of messages allegedly written by British supporters of the Leave campaign. From the use of the word N****R, to encouraging murders of MPs, to calling for Remain voters to be shot, Brexit reveals its true meaning: hate.

2017 Without A Safety Net: A Year Ahead Of The Game

With 2017 drawing to a close and the world catching up, it’s time to reveal the behind the scenes action which has accompanied a year of extensive crowdfunded investigations for Byline Media. Only you can decide whether this continues in 2018…

Cambridge Analytica: Same Big Data, New Russia Ties

Controversial big data firm Cambridge Analytica, who target populations worldwide for political and military organisations, face requests for more information and communications as part of US Senate Inquiries into Russian support of Trump’s campaign. New names identified provide yet more Russia ties

Logical Efficiency Measures: Are We Ready For Robots?

As huge leaps forwards are taken in robotics and artificial intelligence fields, the world’s most powerful nations are facing up to the fact our biggest technology companies have allowed hackers and intelligence services to attack democracies. Should we entrust them with the rise of the machines?

A Final Battle?

As cadets sing of a final battle for Uncle Vladimir, Putin calls on industry to prepare for war. Are we approaching a final episode in the world conflict still being broadly denied across the globe?

Hybrid Threats, Russia, And An Attack On The West

I didn’t know any of this in 2016. Like everyone else, I thought the world had simply fallen victim to a deceitful bus and some idiotic, gun-toting rednecks. I was wrong, I’m not ashamed to admit. We all were.

Brexit: The Russian Job

What is the true extent of Russia’s interference in Brexit through social media and did it have any impact?

Byline has been at the forefront of the Brexit/Russia investigation and, as the world catches up, we can exclusively reveal Brexit as you’ve never seen it before.

We need to talk about identifying trolls….

There is no silver bullet for the identification of troll accounts on social media. In fact, the process of identifying them and making a decision about what they are is a hugely complex matter. This is a problem, because we aren’t just dealing with automated bots, as this case study explains…

We need to talk about Patriots….

Following the threads of investigation which led from using pens in the brexit referendum to the St Petersburg troll farm of Russia’s Internet Research Agency, the picture of disinformation being used in social media – affecting both the UK and US – exposes the abuse of patriotism as a weapon.

Brexit, Trump, Russia: The Whole Story

Over the course of 2017 the Russian hybrid offensive on the West, which specifically targeted the Brexit referendum and the election of President Trump, has been extensively investigated and confirmed. From Sweden to the online world of Social Media this is the whole story and a growing archive

We need to talk about Social Media….

Starting with one single Olgino Troll account, identified by Twitter in the US Senate Russia Inquiry, a detailed analysis and dip samples confirm the Brexit social network is also infested with managed and automated accounts.

We need to talk about Russian money….

One denial from Russian television network RT leaves us with even more questions over Russia’s state influence on UK politics and a trail of Kremlin money. So far, eight public officials are known to have received £9,000 in Russian state funds and Farage is earning a mystery £60,000.

We Need To Talk About Nigel…

Flamboyant politician, media spokesperson, bad boy of Brexit. Kremlin asset. People are waiting for suitcases full of cash but the truth is what the truth is: something which has been staring us in the face for years.

Before Paradise: The Tangled Web of Brexit, Trump, and Russia

Almost six months ago the tangled web of Russian ties to the White House, the Leave.EU campaign, and the key figures was already being unravelled. With renewed focus on hidden finances through the Paradise Papers, it’s worth reminding the world of one harsh lesson: leaks are not the only answer.

The Manafort Indictment

Trump Campaign Manager Paul Manafort and his junior partner Rick Gates have been indicted. These are the first charges in the ongoing Mueller inquiry into Russian collusion.

Exposed By Bots: How Trump And Brexit Work As One

The use of bots remains broadly misunderstood but the data points to undeniable tandem pushes of disinformation on both sides of the Atlantic. Both the MAGA and Brexit bots are operating as one in a new kind of laundry, where social engineering and not money is being cleaned in plain sight.

Twitter and RT: Another Reason To Question More

With Twitter set to give evidence over its part in Russia’s hybrid war, it transpires they pitched for business from Kremlin-managed RT and are making money from hosting vast numbers of trolls…