For the past two years, it has beenvirtually impossible to go through a single day's news cycle without a reference to Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia Investigation.The report was finished on March 22.The investigation hadbecome somewhat politicized with respect to the questions of whether thePresident, or his campaign, had any involvement.

That said,the evidence and Mueller's report seemfairly clear with respect to the more basic question:Did Russia use the internet in an attempt to influence the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election?Regardless of your political views, there are two facts which appear to be widely accepted today: (1) Russia was likely behind the breach and subsequent leak of Hillary Clinton's emails, and (2) Russia conducted an active propaganda campaign on social media during the 2016 campaign.This is information warfare.

Generally, sources indicate that Russia directly acted to illegally obtain emails which were subsequently leaked.Additionally, Russiaused "fake news" or propaganda, released through various channels, to spread disinformation during the 2016 election.Russian organizations also staged political rallies both for and against Donald Trump.It appears that the aim was to be disruptive to the U.S. political process, thought it is not clear what, if any, impact these activities themselves may have had on the outcome of the election.

While this seems like a very serious foray into our American democracy, this is not entirely new in the intelligence community.Since long before the rise of the Internet and social media,Russia, other nations, and even the U.S. have engaged in activities that are designed to influence elections.

In light of this and a recent revelations about data breaches at Facebook, somehavebeen advocating forregulation ofsocial media.This may address some issues, but it could also create barriers to entry for small companies.

How concerned are you about foreign countries spreading false information on the internet during U.S. elections?What about going to the next level andactively (and illegally) hacking to influence elections as was done with the emails?Do you think that regulation is the solution?If so, what regulations should be imposed?If not, what should be done?