Plausible Deniabilty in Web 2.0

Last time, we talked about how a successful assassination would require multiple capabilities, and how the CIA used the edge -- the world outside of its self -- to develop the capabilities needed to execute the assassination.

As we've noted previously, the key to production in web 2.0 is developing the ability to build capabilities. Mastery of the ability to use the edge is essential in ensuring that you can build capabilities as fastly and cheaply as possible. This is because working with firms and production units outside of yours allow you to share risk.

In the case of the Kennedy assassination, it was imperative that the CIA minimize the risk of its involvement being known; if such information were to become known, it would cause a national scandal (or so it was assumed). To minimize this risk, the CIA utilized the concept of "plausible deniability" -- the creation of power structures loose enough to be denied if necessary. The CIA-Mafia alliance is a perfect example of how this concept was executed in real life, and how it was used to minimize the risk the CIA was exposed to in its "black ops" -- ops like the Kennedy assassination.

In web 2.0, we already see company's exploiting power structures conducive to plausible deniability. Think, for instance, of YouTube and other file-sharing sites "passing the buck" on copyright liability issues, citing that they are just a platform and that the user is ultimately culpable of infringement (Mark Cuban had a great post on the YouTube copyright infringement issue). After all, we know that the world is being inverted, and that the second principle of this inversion is that the things you own end up owning you. Ownership isn't always all it's cracked up to be.

And I think we will see more of this. In fact, I think we will see the development of companies routinely being setup specifically for the sake of plausible deniability; institutions that can be used to blame stuff on. As web companies focus on building capabilities, edge-focused networks will emerge -- which in turn will greatly facilitate the cost-effective deployment of concepts like plausible deniability.

Next time, we'll look at how understanding the ecosystem is essential for determining strategy in web 2.0 -- and how the CIA's relation to its ecosystem led to it developing the strategy to assassinate Kennedy.

If you're just joining us, this is a mini-series on Web 2.0 and the Assassination of John F. Kennedy. Click here to go to the start page of the mini-series.

Here's a nice three and a half minute video on the CIA-mafia relationship in the context of assassination plots against Fidel Castro.