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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face="Lucida Sans Unicode"><span
lang=EN-GB style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Lucida Sans Unicode";
color:navy'>Dear FIS Friends and Colleagues,<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face="Lucida Sans Unicode"><span
lang=EN-GB style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Lucida Sans Unicode";
color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face="Lucida Sans Unicode"><span
lang=EN-GB style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Lucida Sans Unicode";
color:navy'>My best wishes for a healthy, happy and productive New Year!<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face="Lucida Sans Unicode"><span
lang=EN-GB style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Lucida Sans Unicode";
color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face="Lucida Sans Unicode"><span
lang=EN-GB style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Lucida Sans Unicode";
color:navy'>As requested by Pedro, following a dialogue with him on the subject
of disinformation, I attach below a few pages that I have prepared on the
subject. I have also attached the file, but the system may not accept it. If
anyone needs a separate Word copy, please let me know.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face="Lucida Sans Unicode"><span
lang=EN-GB style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Lucida Sans Unicode";
color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face="Lucida Sans Unicode"><span
lang=EN-GB style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Lucida Sans Unicode";
color:navy'>I look forward to your comments, criticisms and suggestions of
examples. I will let the format for summaries ‘emerge’ from your
responses and the subsequent discussion.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face="Lucida Sans Unicode"><span
lang=EN-GB style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Lucida Sans Unicode";
color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face="Lucida Sans Unicode"><span
lang=EN-GB style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Lucida Sans Unicode";
color:navy'>Cheers,<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face="Lucida Sans Unicode"><span
lang=EN-GB style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Lucida Sans Unicode";
color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face="Lucida Sans Unicode"><span
lang=EN-GB style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Lucida Sans Unicode";
color:navy'>Joseph a.k.a Joe<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face="Lucida Sans Unicode"><span
lang=EN-GB style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Lucida Sans Unicode";
color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><b><font size=4
face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:14.0pt;font-weight:
bold'>STRUCTURES OF INFORMATION AND DISINFORMATION<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><b><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:12.0pt;font-weight:
bold'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><b><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:12.0pt;font-weight:
bold'>Joseph Brenner<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:12.0pt'>These notes
summarize some of my recent thoughts about disinformation as a valid subject of
discussion within FIS. They have emerged in part from the massive amounts of
disinformation produced by, among others, the current Administration of the <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">United States</st1:country-region></st1:place>
and its most partisan supporters. The notes are not intended for publication as
such, but, as usual to generate exchanges. I certainly urge readers to provide
their own examples of forms of disinformation to complete the few noted below.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><b><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:12.0pt;font-weight:
bold'>INTRODUCTION<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><b><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:12.0pt;font-weight:
bold'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><b><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:12.0pt;font-weight:
bold'>1 The Structure of Information<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><b><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:12.0pt;font-weight:
bold'> </span></font></b><span lang=EN-GB>Those of us who have been
able to learn from the FIS discussions of the last, now, 20 years will realize
that they have not led to a fully agreed-upon definition of information. This
is perhaps an indication that a single ‘clear’ definition is
neither possible nor desirable, but even this meta-question has not resulted in
a consensus.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText style='text-align:justify'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:
"Times New Roman"'> A key related concept, only touched on in prior
discussion, is the structure of information. In the comments to the subject
“Revisiting the Fluctuon Model”, of which I was one of the two
organizers. <st1:PersonName w:st="on">Loet Leydesdorff</st1:PersonName> wrote
(25 Sep 2010, in part): “In the Informational Structural Realism of
Floridi, reality is an informational structure. The It-part (of the It-from-Bit
model) is in the “structure” which assumes the specification of a
system of reference. In evolutionary terms: structure is
deterministic/selective; Shannon-type information measures only
variation/uncertainty.” The immediate corollary is that the structure of
information is both real and dynamic. It is a meaningful <i><span
style='font-style:italic'>process</span></i>, in my opinion insufficiently recognized
(cognized) as such. The idea that structure is an ontological/dynamic process
is to be found in the work of Stéphane Lupasco “<i><span
style='font-style:italic'>Qu’est-ce qu’une structure?</span></i>”
In contrast, Floridi’s description is static, epistemological only. More
familiar to most readers will be the work of Anthony Giddens who captured the
dynamic properties of processes by the terms ‘structuring’ or
‘structuration’, also used in French by Lupasco. Other key
structural properties of information include - breadth: a scalar measure applicable
to categorization and comprehension (or comprehensibility): presumably a higher
dimensional parameter.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText style='text-align:justify'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:
"Times New Roman"'> In this period of 2011 and after, additional
seminal ideas about the structural aspects of information were presented by
Mark Burgin, Terrence Deacon and Stuart Kauffmann and their colleagues which
centered on the concept of information as a constraint on the evolution of
processes. Deacon went further in relating information to <i><span
style='font-style:italic'>absence</span></i> rather than only to the
uncertainty in the original concept of Shannon. I expanded this to the duality
absence-presence. Today, I would ask what can we say about the structure of
information that is new and that we have learned in the last 9+ years?<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText style='text-align:justify'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:
"Times New Roman"'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText style='text-align:justify'><b><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:
"Times New Roman";font-weight:bold'>2 The Structure of Disinformation<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><b><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:12.0pt;font-weight:
bold'> </span></font></b><span lang=EN-GB>Some people have suggested
that disinformation is radically different in <i><span style='font-style:italic'>kind
</span></i>from information. I believe that disinformation has a structure
close to if not identical to that of information. The big differences lie in
the intentionality behind it and its meaning content and its consequences. For
discussion, we may try to see if there are ‘signs’ of the falsity
and intent to deceive that are perceptible and hence may characterize
disinformation. In any case, its consequences can be same as for
misinformation, but the intentionality is clearly different, as indicated
below. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><b><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:12.0pt;font-weight:
bold'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><b><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:12.0pt;font-weight:
bold'>DEFINITIONS<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><b><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:12.0pt;font-weight:
bold'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><b><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:12.0pt;font-weight:
bold'>1. Information<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:12.0pt'>
For the purposes of this exercise, I will give my own definition of information
as a process of informing, a transfer of knowledge from one human being to
another that is meaningful in the sense of having value for his/her survival or
pleasure. It supervenes on the definition of information as data (Floridi). The
theory of information includes its communication or messaging, Angeletics
in the term of Capurro.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><b><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:12.0pt;font-weight:
bold'>2. Misinformation<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:12.0pt'>
Misinformation is false information that has been generated and transferred by
accident, without any intention on the part of the sender. Any negative
consequences, even if they are disastrous, does not imply negative intent, but
the sender may still be held responsible for them. Negligence, at least in a
somewhat decent society, cannot be allowed to go without suitable reaction.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><b><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:12.0pt;font-weight:
bold'>3. Disinformation<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:12.0pt'>
As I have just learned from Wikipedia, we have Joseph Stalin to thank for the
invention (and use) of the term <i><span style='font-style:italic'>dezinformatsiya</span></i>,
which then entered French and English. Today, disinformation has become a major
topic of concern at the level of the European Union as evidenced in this March,
2019 article, <a
href="https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/STUD/2019/624279/EPRS_STU(2019)">https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/STUD/2019/624279/EPRS_STU(2019)</a>,
“Regulating disinformation with artificial intelligence. Effects of
disinformation initiatives on freedom of expression and media pluralism”.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:35.4pt'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:12.0pt'>For me,
disinformation – disinforming - is an intentional process whose objective
is to subvert information for criminal and/or selfish purposes. It is
characterized by having no meaning, since there is no dialectical relation
between message and intent, and any meaning, for the disinformer, is
subordinate to his/her underlying – lying – objective. In other
words,<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:12.0pt'>disinformation
is a lie, characterized by the logical properties of semantic, mathematical and
visual paradoxes, namely, the perceivable oscillation between limiting binary
logical states of yes or no, truth or falsity, 0 and 1. In the social domain,
disinformation is a tool, a method of attempting domination by any means, <i><span
style='font-style:italic'>ipso</span></i> facto immoral or unethical. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:35.4pt'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:12.0pt'>My definition
can be compared with that of the EU study: “false, inaccurate or
misleading information designed, presented and promoted to intentionally cause
public harm or for profit”. The difference with misinformation is as in
the above in its intentionality.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><b><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:12.0pt;font-weight:
bold'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><b><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:12.0pt;font-weight:
bold'>STRUCTURES OF DISINFORMATION<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><b><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:12.0pt;font-weight:
bold'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><b><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:12.0pt;font-weight:
bold'>1. Forms</span></font></b><span lang=EN-GB><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:12.0pt'>
Typical forms of disinformation consist of messages that are incomplete and
misleading as well as directly false. Disinformation in this sense is close to
lying by omission, and in fact one could consider disinformation as describing
lying in the social sphere. People who withhold information about their
physical condition in connection with their employment are
‘engaging’ in this form of disinformation, and I point here to the
utility of using the verb form instead of the noun.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><b><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:12.0pt;font-weight:
bold'>2. Domains. Socio-politics of Disinformation<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:12.0pt'>
Disinformation in all walks of life is so prevalent that it becomes –
almost – taken for granted. This is becoming an increasingly greater
danger for the society in view of the influence of social media, some of which
can now only be described as anti-social media. In fact, the only question may
be to what extent political and narrow economic objectives can be maintained <i><span
style='font-style:italic'>without</span></i> disinformation.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:12.0pt'> There
is no obvious solution, as we are very close here to the domain of belief, from
which science is excluded. There is no overlap or interaction possible in the
information/disinformation content of the following two statements:
“Climate change is an impending disaster for which there is almost no
remaining time to avoid,” and “Climate change is a hoax propagated
by Communists to weaken the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">U.
S.</st1:country-region></st1:place> economy.”<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><b><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:12.0pt;font-weight:
bold'>3. Philosophy</span></font></b><span lang=EN-GB><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:12.0pt'>
Philosophy and the social sciences in general benefit from the vast capacities
for identification of sources that are now available. On the other hand, these
are more than compensated by the information explosion, such that finding all
relevant references is still a difficult process. Disinformation can come down
to a very specific, at least partly intentional process of ignoring easily
available references.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:35.4pt'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:12.0pt'>Other methods
include swamping of new results by overemphasis on classical sources of only
historical value.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><b><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:12.0pt;font-weight:
bold'>4. Scientific Literature<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:12.0pt'> In
general in science, disinformation becomes roughly equivalent to fraud, the
dissemination of data not obtained by actual experiments. However, for data
with major social implications, such as data on climate change, its misuse is a
clear example of disinformation including a major ideological component as in 2
above.. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:12.0pt'> In
addition, false accusations of fraud or plagiarism are usually supported by a
mass of disinformation which can become auto-catalytic. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><b><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:12.0pt;font-weight:
bold'>5. Advertising. Gambling and Lotteries<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:12.0pt'>
In my opinion, there is a difference between making people aware of the
availability of consumer goods and services and aggressive advertising of them.
The latter will generally involve recourse to clearly unethical practices based
on psychological tools, known since antiquity, but whose effectiveness is
unfortunately enhanced by modern technology. ‘Creating demand’ is
an accepted professional objective, despite being probably counterproductive
for the common good.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:12.0pt'>
Promotion of gambling and lotteries always overemphasizes the potential gains
compared to their low probability in a specific instance. To be fair, some TV
advertising for sports now includes the message “Bet Responsibly”,
calling attention to possible, if not probable losses which the bettor might
not be able to afford.. This opens up the entire domain of the ethics of
production and marketing of goods that are not vital to existence. The authors
of disinformation are watching closely the outcome of the related debate<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><b><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:12.0pt;font-weight:
bold'>6. “The Informer”. <i><span style='font-style:italic'>Délation</span></i>
or Denouncement<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:12.0pt'>
As a different topic in these notes, I would like to mention the 1935 movie
“The Informer”, starring Victor McLaglen. The main character
provides a canonical example of a negative transfer of information that is true!
What is involved is the treacherous transfer of correct information about one
group to its controlling opposition with disastrous results for the former, in
this case, during the ‘troubles’ in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region
w:st="on">Ireland</st1:country-region></st1:place>. The disinformation, of
course, lies in the concealing by the informer of his intentions and actions.
The French term <i><span style='font-style:italic'>délation</span></i>, and
native French-speakers may wish to correct this, always has for me the
implication that the denouncement carries disinformation.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><b><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:12.0pt;font-weight:
bold'>7. Combating Disinformation<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
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There are several levels on which disinformation can be combated: 1) on the
personal level, correcting false information in one’s personal network;
2) on the institutional level. Let me define an institution as a group that is
present in the public domain with sufficient resources to insure the reception
of its messages by a wide audience. I separate this from individuals accessing
masses of people through social media. Let us assume that the Foundations of
Information Science initiative is such an institution. Then its members –
we – must, can and should, report instances of disinformation to an organ
in the institution that would insure its dissemination.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:12.0pt'>
I have no idea whether or not this would ‘work’, but I feel that it
could do no harm for anyone with the access to the FIS site to see a regularly
up-dated Section listing examples of disinformation which we have encountered.
Many further details on regulatory and technological responses to
disinformation are provided in the EU study, and some of them should be
addressed in the forthcoming discussion<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:12.0pt'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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lang=EN-GB style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Lucida Sans Unicode";
color:navy'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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