Course Content
Phase 1: The SIFT Protocol (Source Verification)
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Lesson 1.1 The Neurology of the Pause
Lesson 1.2 The Four Moves: SIFT Deep Dive
Lesson 1.3: Domain Forensics & The Wayback Machine
Lesson 1.4: Tracking “Pink Slime” & Syndication Networks
Phase 2: Data Forensics & “Calling Bullshit”
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Lesson 2.1 The Bad Science Audit
Lesson 2.2: The Fermi Estimation Check (Mental Math)
Lesson 2.3 Commercial Bias: The “Bad Pharma” Audit
Lesson 2.5 The Denominator Blindspot (How to Lie with Truth)
Lesson 2.6 Auditing Authority: The “Official Source” Trap
Lesson 2.7 The Autocrat’s Playbook: 20 Signs of Sliding
Lesson 2.8 The “Boring Truth” Doctrine
Lesson 2.9 The “Strategy of Tension”
2.10 The “Drug War” Smoke Screen: Narrative vs. Reality
2.11 The “Free Speech” Shield: Opinion vs. Incitement
Phase 3: Logic & Argument Analysis
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Lesson 3.1: Propositional Logic (Beyond the Syllogism)
Lesson 3.2: The Principle of Charity (Steel-Manning)
Lesson 3.3: Cognitive Biases 2.0 (Motivated Reasoning)
Phase 4: Digital Investigation (The OSINT Toolkit)
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Lesson 4.1: Reverse Image Search 3.0 (Yandex, Baidu, TinEye)
Lesson 4.2: Geolocation Basics (Mapping the Territory)
Lesson 4.3 Deepfake Detection (The Glitch List)
Lesson 4.4 (Part 2) – Video Forensics
Lesson 4.5 Lazy Journalism: The “Quote as Fact” Trap
Lesson 4.6 The Anatomy of a Disinfo Tweet
Lesson 4.7 THINK TANKS & THE “EXPERTISE” INDUSTRY
Phase 5:The Capstone (The Million Dollar Audit)
We tell the story of Sholto David not as a "news story," but as a Case Study in Tradecraft. He used the exact skills we just taught (Visual Forensics, Source Verification, Institutional Audit) to expose a massive lie and get paid for saving the taxpayer money.
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5.1 The $2.6 Million Audit (Case Study: Sholto David)
TRADECRAFT: The Intelligence Analyst’s Guide to the Internet

TRADECRAFT: Reverse Image Search 3.0

The Concept

Most people stop at “Right-Click -> Search with Google.” Google is great for shopping and celebrities, but it filters results heavily for safety and copyright. For investigation, you need engines that are “permissionless.”

THE TOOLKIT: The Big Three

1. Yandex (The Face Hunter)

  • Origin: Russia.

  • Superpower: Facial Recognition and Background Details.

  • Why use it: Yandex has much looser privacy guardrails than Google. It is shockingly good at finding the same person in different photos, even with sunglasses or different hair. It is also the best engine for European and Eastern European locations.

  • The Tradecraft: If you have a photo of a person and Google gives you zero results, Yandex will often find their social media profile.

2. Baidu (The Asian Lens)

  • Origin: China.

  • Superpower: Asian Context.

  • Why use it: The Western internet is distinct from the Chinese internet. If a photo originates from China, Japan, or Southeast Asia, Google might not even index the site it came from. Baidu does.

  • The Tradecraft: Use this for verifying manufacturing leaks, supply chain photos, or news stories from Asia.

3. TinEye (The Time Machine)

  • Origin: Canada.

  • Superpower: Date Verification (Chronology).

  • Why use it: Google shows you similar images. TinEye looks for the exact image and tells you when it first appeared online.

  • The Tradecraft: Use this to debunk “War Photos.” If a tweet claims “Bombing in City X today,” run it through TinEye. If TinEye says “First crawled in 2015,” the tweet is a lie.

 EXERCISE: The “Catfish” Challenge

  1. Find a “Too Perfect” Profile: Go to a stock photo site (like Pexels) and grab a photo of a generic business person.

  2. Run the Gauntlet:

    • Search with Google Lens: It will likely say “Business person.”

    • Search with Yandex: It might find the specific model’s name or other ads they appeared in.

    • Search with TinEye: It will tell you the first time this stock photo was ever sold.

 

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