The Eye of Sauron
How the New Zealand government planned to deal with “disinformation”.
The Lord of the Rings trilogy is spectacular, with Orcs, Elves and breathtaking scenery filmed on location in New Zealand. The special effects were good too - the eye of Sauron looked very realistic - perhaps it is.
We have come across a minimally redacted 28 PAGE draft of a Kiwi Government document entitled “Communications approach to managing disinformation, online harms and scams” dated 10 Dec 2021 (Available here).
The document's aim appears to be coordinating countering disinformation seeking to harm “by threatening public safety, fracturing community cohesion and reduced trust in democracy”. All well and good then; it’s a bit like saying, do not open fire on the Red Cross.
Except that the object is “disinformation” relating to the Kiwi government's response to the Covid pandemic. The definition of disinformation in the document is on page 5:
