Digital Influence Mercenaries

"""Forest lays out a compelling, detailed analysis of the murky world of disinformation for profit."" -- Journal of Cyber Security ""Forest's book is quite insightful."" --National Security Institute ""Digital Influence Mercenaries imparts valuable lessons that all its readers would benefit from. But in a country where perhaps the demographic that most needs to read this book is also the demographic least likely to actually, well read a book, it's unlikely the message will reach them. As these modern mercenaries get right on to the friction of the day, we should not be surprised if digital influence campaigns continue to be the primary theater in which the battle for 'hearts and minds' will be waged."" --Armchair General ""Dr. James Forest has written a new book titled Digital Influence Mercenaries: Profits and Power Through Information Warfare which describes a robust private sector in which digital influence mercenaries will do online public perception manipulation on behalf of the highest bidder, which could be political parties, corporations, dictators, individual politicians and CEOs, and yes, even state government agencies. A must-read for security professionals, educators, political analysts, journalists and most importantly, the general public which increasingly only seeks a point of view that they already agree with and without learning any other point of view."" --Brig. Gen. Russell D. Howard (Ret.), Distinguished Senior Fellow, Joint Special Operations University ""This volume is of great interest-whatever one's politics. The emerging cyber realities detailed here must be better understood by all of us in the social sciences, including economics and sociocultural anthropology."" --Christopher C. Harmon, PhD, adjunct professor, Institute of World Politics ""In his new book, Digital Influence Mercenaries: Profits and Power Through Information Warfare, James J.F. Forest analyzes the next frontier of conflict --the information environment, and how cyber warfare, disinformation, and hackers will figure prominently in the future of warfare. Forest meticulously details how digital forms of influence warfare will disrupt the geopolitical landscape, tracing its evolution and highlighting the main players and technologies involved. An absolute must-read!"" --Colin P. Clarke, PhD, director of policy and research, The Soufan Group, and senior research fellow at The Soufan Center ""James J. F. Forest offers readers a tour around the rocky and challenging landscape of online information manipulation and paid influence operations. In a world that is increasingly mediated by networked technology, Digital Influence Mercenaries is destined to be an instant standard academic reference on a vitally important topic."" --J.M. Berger, author of Extremism and postgraduate researcher at Swansea University School of Law"