The state usage of information technology

Information technology is an expansive area that can be used and abused in a myriad of different ways by state governments, both democratic and less so, both of great powers and small states. It empowers them on domestic and international field by enabling them to gather intelligence previously inaccessible, and to disseminate (dis)information on an undreamt scale. Thus they can control the happenings inside and outside their borders much more easily, which in effect enables them to react promptly and, supposedly, with less mistakes.

An advanced information technology enables states to monitor their citizens at any time through any imaginable device. Without being a conspiration theorist, a postmodern citizen should be aware that anything he or she sends out leaves a virtual print that can be easily traced and held him or her responsible. A frequent occurrence of the so called false positive (an information classified by a system as anomalous when in fact it is normal) is an example of how such words as bomb and Pentagon that are monitored by computers and taken out of their context might make one suspicious for the government.

Outside its borders, a state can be more confident in analyzing or predicting actions of other state and non-state actors, which leads to reducing the security dilemma. Yet even that might not be a hundred percent foolproof process, as many terrorist attacks went unabated.

In addition to gathering information, another crucial aspect of using IT by governments is their increased ability to disseminate information, and more dangerously disinformation, in order to achieve some goal, e.g. getting public support for a military mission, or undermining the credibility of some other government in its own country. Mass media act as a shaping force in the minds of the populations and governments are well aware of it. Despite what majority of people would like to believe, they have a tight connection with mass media through which the masses are unconsciously manipulated.

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