It is a fact that OSINT existed a long time ago, but with the advent of the internet era, it skyrocketed and turned the world around. Similarities can be found in politics and political activism as it constantly changed through the years and centuries, shaping into what we see today. A couple of decades ago, government and political activism were spread throughout the radio broadcasts, newspapers, and later on TV, leading people to listen but not participate in the process mainly, but with the internet around it, all changed. This evolution has resulted in governments and people being on the same level. This resulted in a constant exchange of opinions that are now available to everyone and not just to close friends and family.
OSINT in politics and political activism
The main point here is that with OSINT being available to everyone and it is hard to stick to the old ways of political activism and government narratives as it is easily found and inspected by anyone. Nowadays, political activism and investigations heavily rely on open-source intelligence, and many of which resulted in massive protests, riots, and even government boycotts. There are multiple examples of that in the case of China, the US, Russia, and many others. One of these cases is that of the Russian government opposition leader Navalny.
Navalny started his political career back in 2000 in Russia with no significant success at the time, but it all changed when he and his team created a YouTube channel in 2008. On his youtube blog, he would use open-source intelligence and his political connections to present this investigations related to corruption and hidden agendas in the government to the public. Years later, a video about Putin’s alleged palace came out and caused a worldwide uproar resulting in endless protests with golden toilet brushes and parodies. This is something that has not happened in Russia before. But it does not end there as news about Navalny’s arrest and imprisonment resulted in many people from all over the country going outside and demanding his freedom in one, of not many, initially peaceful protests in Russia and other countries.
This could all be traced back to the way how OSINT influenced the events and the outcomes as people get to see firsthand how everything develops. Since then, Russian officials are not commenting on the issues, rather they rely on old methods of commenting on the situations on government-owned TV channels and newspapers as their social media narratives had to be changed. Even after the media narrative of the government was somewhat transparent,-professionals and individuals identified that everything was faked due to open-source intelligence tools.
Worldwide movement
In other cases, we can see how, for example, the Black Lives Matter movement rose after a police brutality incident, resulting in government officials of the USA agreeing with the public and arresting the law enforcement member who took the life of a black man back in2020. Due to OSINT, the public quickly identified the police officer and dug up information on Facebook about him and where he had moved. Later, a photo alleged to be Derek Chauvin, the police officer in question, surfaced, resulting in more uproar. In addition, the image included a hat saying, “make whites great again” resulting in additional hatred towards Derek. In truth, the photo was actually of a different person-Jonathan Riches, but it was too late as the public and celebrities shared the photo.
In conclusion, it is clear how OSINT can provide the public with truthful information, and even the government has to adapt to it. People are no longer behind the curtains, and political activism and movements have to stay transparent rather than paint a certain picture as it was before. However, even if the information is true, it does not mean that it is used ethically; thus, it is vital to check the sources.
Have a look at Alisitas Acadamy, our online security academy.
