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You Know Those Obnoxious Posters Who Almost Seem Like Alter Egos Of The Same Person? They Actually Might Be ...
I noted in 2009, in an article entitled "Does The Government Manipulate Social Media?":
The U.S. government long ago announced its intention to "fight the net".
As revealed by an official Pentagon report signed by Rumsfeld called "Information Operations Roadmap":
The roadmap [contains an] acknowledgement that information put out as
part of the military's psychological operations, or Psyops, is finding
its way onto the computer and television screens of ordinary Americans.
"Information intended for foreign audiences, including public
diplomacy and Psyops, is increasingly consumed by our domestic
audience," it reads.
"Psyops messages will often be replayed by
the news media for much larger audiences, including the American
public," it goes on.
***
"Strategy
should be based on the premise that the Department [of Defense] will
'fight the net' as it would an enemy weapons system".Indeed, the Pentagon publicly announced years ago that it was considering using "black propaganda" - in other words, knowing lies.
CENTCOM announced in 2008 that a team of employees would be "[engaging]
bloggers who are posting inaccurate or untrue information, as well as
bloggers who are posting incomplete information."
The Air Force is now also engaging bloggers. Indeed, an Air Force spokesman said:
"We
obviously have many more concerns regarding cyberspace than a typical
Social Media user," Capt. Faggard says. "I am concerned with how
insurgents or potential enemies can use Social Media to their advantage.
It's our role to provide a clear and accurate, completely truthful and
transparent picture for any audience."In other words, the government is targeting "social media", including popular user-ranked news sites.
In
addition, when you look at what the Israeli lobby has done with
Megaphone software to automatically vote stories questioning Israel down
and to send pro-Israel letters to politicians and media (see this, this and this),
you can start to see how the U.S. military - an even larger and
better-funded organization - could substantially influence voting on
social news sites with very little effort.
Moreover,the military has
outsourced many projects to private contractors. For example, in Iraq,
much of the fighting has been outsourced to Blackwater. And governmental intelligence functions have largely been outsourced to private companies.
It
is therefore not impossible that the government is hiring cheap labor
to downvote stories on the social media sites which question the
government, and to post pro-government comments.
(other governments and large companies "astroturf" online as well. See this, this and this.)
I pointed out the same month:
Government
propagandists, their hired private contractors and useful idiots are
creating "downvote bots" or scripts to bury stories which question the
government.
***
One free, simple scripting program to
create automatic downvotes of certain topics or news posters is called
"Greasemonkey", which is commonly used on large social news sites such
as Reddit.
For example, there are some 2,480 hits [now past 9,000] for the google search site:reddit.com greasemonkey downvote. This is some 2,480 times that Reddit users are publicly admitting to using greasemonkey (see also this).
Propaganda
agents obviously aren't going to publicly brag about what they are
doing, and you can bet that their use of downvote bots is much greater.
Moreover, they probably have more sophisticated software than
Greasemonkey.
Today, Raw Story reports that the Air Force ordered software to manage army of fake virtual people:
Internet users would be well advised to ask another question entirely: Are my "friends" even real people?
In
the continuing saga of data security firm HBGary, a new caveat has
come to light: not only did they plot to help destroy secrets outlet
WikiLeaks and discredit progressive bloggers, they also crafted
detailed proposals for software that manages online "personas,"
allowing a single human to assume the identities of as many fake people
as they'd like.
The revelation was among those contained
in the company's emails, which were dumped onto bittorrent networks
after hackers with cyber protest group "Anonymous" broke into their
systems.
In another document unearthed by "Anonymous," one of HBGary's employees also mentioned gaming geolocation services to make it appear as though selected fake persons were at actual events.
"There are a variety of social media tricks we can use to add a level of realness to all fictitious personas," it said.
Government involvement
Eerie as that may be, more perplexing, however, is a federal contract
from the 6th Contracting Squadron at MacDill Air Force Base, located
south of Tampa, Florida, that solicits providers of "persona management
software."
While there are certainly legitimate applications for
such software, such as managing multiple "official" social media
accounts from a single input, the more nefarious potential is clear.
Unfortunately, the Air Force's contract description doesn't help dispel their suspicions either. As the text explains, the
software would require licenses for 50 users with 10 personas each,
for a total of 500. These personas would have to be "replete with
background , history, supporting details, and cyber presences that are
technically, culturally and geographacilly consistent."
It continues, noting the need for secure virtual private networks that randomize
the operator's Internet protocol (IP) address, making it impossible to
detect that it's a single person orchestrating all these posts.
Another entry calls for static IP address management for each persona,
making it appear as though each fake person was consistently accessing
from the same computer each time.
The contract also sought
methods to anonymously establish virtual private servers with private
hosting firms in specific geographic locations. This would allow that
server's "geosite" to be integrated with their social media profiles,
effectively gaming geolocation services.
The Air Force added
that the "place of performance" for the contract would be at MacDill
Air Force Base, along with Kabul, Afghanistan and Baghdad. The contract
was offered on June 22, 2010.
It was not clear exactly what the Air Force was doing with this software, or even if it had been procured.
Manufacturing consent
Though
many questions remain about how the military would apply such
technology, the reasonable fear should be perfectly clear. "Persona
management software" can be used to manipulate public opinion on key
information, such as news reports. An unlimited number of virtual
"people" could be marshaled by only a few real individuals, empowering
them to create the illusion of consensus.
***
That's precisely what got DailyKos blogger Happy Rockefeller in a snit:
the potential for military-run armies of fake people manipulating and,
in some cases, even manufacturing the appearance of public opinion.
"I
don't know about you, but it matters to me what fellow progressives
think," the blogger wrote. "I consider all views. And if there appears
to be a consensus that some reporter isn't credible, for example, or
some candidate for congress in another state can't be trusted, I won't
base my entire judgment on it, but it carries some weight.
"That's
me. I believe there are many people though who will base their
judgment on rumors and mob attacks. And for those people, a fake mob
can be really effective."
***
"Team Themis" [tasked by the Chamber to come up with strategies for responding to progressive bloggers and others] also included a proposal
to use malware hacks against progressive organizations, and the
submission of fake documents in an effort to discredit established
groups.
HBGary was also behind a plot by Bank of America to destroy
WikiLeaks' technology platform, other emails revealed. The company was humiliated by members of "Anonymous" after CEO Aaron Barr bragged that he'd "infiltrated" the group.
Gaming social media is only one propaganda technique employed by the government:
- Famed Watergate reporter Carl Bernstein says the CIA has already bought and paid for many successful journalists
- The New York Times discusses in a matter-of-fact way the use of mainstream writers by the CIA to spread messages
- A 4-part BBC documentary
called the "Century of the Self" shows that an American - Freud's
nephew, Edward Bernays - created the modern field of manipulation of
public perceptions, and the U.S. government has extensively used his
techniques
- The Independent discusses allegations of American propaganda
- And one of the premier writers on journalism says the U.S. has used widespread propaganda
»
- advertisements -
i posted that, and my monitor basically puked...barely readable
which of you did this?
Ah, now we know how Bristol Palin did so well on Dancing with the Stars
WoW: Johnny Bravo a spook? How about Nadler?
No, Nadler is not an agent of the US government.
He collects his paycheck directly from Satan.
So Jon Nadler is paid in silver, not gold, then?
Personally i believe the only possibly paid trolls would be either Repubgnant (more than likely spelled it wrong), more crititalthinking, and harry wanger.
More critical thinking I think is the worst, followed closely by Rep.
Thanks for sharing!
Why not just go on SA and whip up a Goon rush? Got to be cheaper then employing people and will still get an army o trolls. But then when your the pentagon money is no object.
Speaking of Seeking Alpha, I have been commenting on there for a couple of years, but noticed something weird a few weeks ago. I commented on an article on BofA, regarding the risk courts would allow a sampling method for putbacks (i.e. they would no longer go on a case by case basis as each loan defaults), which would create the risk of a very large number of putbacks etc etc. Anyway, I have no doubt I am qualified to comment, as I have been in this industry for years. However, I wrote the comment and then literally 5 minutes later, wanted to add another point. I went back to the comment and there were 8 thumbs down and zero thumbs up. It looked like a platoon of BofA goons had hit the site.
The funny thing was, a couple of hours later, there were still 8 thumbs down, but now more thumbs up. I actually contacted SA and asked if there was anything weird, and whatever the reason, the thumbs down vanished (so I think they are aware that phony members are being created.)
In some ways, it would surprise me if govt and business interests were not involved. On many articles, the comments are more informative than the articles themselves, but we are in an age where there is an attempt to manufacture consent. With BofA in particular, I have no doubt that without massive protection of the Treasury, SEC, Fed etc etc, this bank would be dead, but given that they were coerced into buying first Countrywide and then Merrill, there is huge interest in protecting them. The problem is, the long term damage to the very fabric of our capitalist system may be greater in keeping them alive than in using the resolution authority. Of course, in order to protect Paulson, Bernanke etc etc, there is no limit to what they will do.
Can anyone doubt that some of the more virulent and vehement trolls here on ZeroHedge have originated out of such diabolical and desperate government programs to subvert the discussion of the dirty truth about our corrupt and oligarchic political and financial establishments?
Or they're just assholes. I'm going with Occam on this one. There might be one or two that are gov't lackeys, but most of the time BBs like this are just troll magnets.
That said, it is disconcerting to see how many of the fantastic forum members who were posting solid info when I first joined ZH, are now gone -- too bad, I learned a lot from them and read every comment every day. Now I read the stories and skim the comments, but there's a lot of Yahoos around now, throwing bombs and making noise. I doubt seriously that most of them are gov't employees -- if ZH truly threatened the Elite, it simply wouldn't be available anymore.
Or they're just assholes. I'm going with Occam on this one. There might be one or two that are gov't lackeys, but most of the time BBs like this are just troll magnets.
That said, it is disconcerting to see how many of the fantastic forum members who were posting solid info when I first joined ZH, are now gone -- too bad, I learned a lot from them and read every comment every day. Now I read the stories and skim the comments, but there's a lot of Yahoos around now, throwing bombs and making noise. I doubt seriously that most of them are gov't employees -- if ZH truly threatened the Elite, it simply wouldn't be available anymore.
While I don't discount the idea of government sponsored trolls, it's more annoying to remember how many tools, morons and asshats are doing this at no cost to anybody. (Except maybe their immortal soul.)
I first ran into corporate-sponsored posters on UFC/MMA forums back atleast 5 years ago. Thats when I knew the CIA/intelligence agencies had set up entire 'conspiracy theory' forums for themselves, and their fellow propagandists. They go much farther than just trolling web sites like ZH, believe me! Two of the biggest are AboveTopSecret and GodlikeProductions.
darlin':
the real trolls are paid by the post. So, when they scribble across a thread, well, we can see them. Smack 'em upside of the head and they blither snot. I wonder if they get bonus $$$ for anonymous junks. I'd betcha' "YES"
as opposed to your listing of tools, etc. one might hope that reality would intervene, but nay hope very much.
and, probably (sadly) they have no concept of their own, individual soul.
- Ned
I wear my junks with pride.
Junks show that I've upset somebody's bullshit enough for them to lash out. And when I see that, I say to myself, "I'm doing good work and somebody noticed."
That's a good troll. Now roll over.
I am doubtful that you and others like you are on the government radar.
Topcallingtroll, could we get your boss to put that in writing for us, please?
very nice
++ ;-)
Lol.
You may want to research the Homeland Security "fusion" centers that have been set up everywhere.
Also: http://www.truth-out.org/justice-department-prepares-expansion-laws-targeting-activists
Repression is Already Happening, FBI Grand Juries and Anti-War
http://www.counterpunch.org/murphy01252011.htmlMoney has been ruled speech. As such, it can not be interfered with when a corporate entity wants to exercise "its" free-speech rights. Sorry little people if you don't have the artillery to compete that's just tough, when it comes to corporates, it would be un-American to curtail their corporate use of fiat.
So what if you use your money to create a post on how to access Al-Manar satelite TV? That's free-speech too but, ... You go to jail.
http://www.enduringamerica.com/april-2009/2009/4/28/beyond-roxana-saberi...
If you find a charity and make a donation of free-speech-money, but the infallible USgov and Israeli minders don't like the charity, your rights to exercise free-speech via money is curtailed and ... You go to jail.
By contrast, if you give your money to some ethnic-cleansing Greater Israel settler group, terrorizing the local inhabitants ... That's OK ... You don't go to jail.
The world's insane. The system is broke and broken. I'm looking forward to a collapse so we can start over, seeing clearly after the lies and hypocrisies have crumbled away.
you make some excellent points.
Thanks Jeff.
I forgot to mention that when one gives to the settler, ethnic-cleansing, Greater Israel group, not only does one not go to jail, one also get a tax deduction.
Who makes the laws in this country?
double post
The charity. Ain't justice sweet.
yes, very nice. the whole 1st amendment thing has become very orwellian
Individually, probably not.
Collectively, you are an idiot to believe otherwise, especially when the government has already stated repeatedly that we are in their sights, and are considered their enemies.
It only makes sense to me that a site such as this that posts virulent attacks everyday again the FED, is on government radar somewhere. You can be certain that someone is paying attention. Secure conversations general strikes, demonstartions and the like would have to take place on alternate nets or via anonymous browsing, encrypted email, etc. Fortunately those tools are readily available.
...hey, whooz this we u talkin bout ??
Do you have any kind of link or reference where a government representative has called a group you belong to an "enemy?" You did use the term "we." I would be happy for one link or reference even though you have stated the government has said this "repeatedly."
Did you happen to catch this headline a while back:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2009/02/12/us-security-usa-economy-idUSTRE51B64820090212
Now, given that it is a publicly stated #1 nationwide securekeeping priority to keep a lid on the ongoing global economic/financial crisis (by implication -- through any and all means necessary) what do you think a "reasonable approach" to a site like ZH would be on the part of TPTB? Would ZH be classified as part of the solution? Or as part of the panic-inciting, rabble-rousing, contraindicative and potentially adverserial camp?
Remember the DHS report on the elevated risk and significance of domestic militias?
Did you not see the sticky article headline tonight on the reporting requirements for PM sales in WA state being proposed to State legislature?
I am a skeptic, but the evidence is simply overwhelming. If your antennae are not bristling, you are not paying attention.
Plus, don't forget one more angle: now that they have hired the staff, built the infrastructure, written the software -- why WOULDN'T they use it -- if for no other reason than to field-test and maintain situational readiness? Or simply because they CAN?
EDIT: Having read thru the rest of the thread, your comments make a lot more sense. Should've trusted gut instinct, though it seemed like you wrote a few posts while on coffee break as well...
Psywarhttp://www.archive.org/details/Psywar_277 Century of the Self http://www.archive.org/details/AdamCurtis_TheCenturyOfTheSelf
I am swayed by the strength of the argument, not the number of people posting the same argument.
I knew it! Harry Wanger is really an A.I. program!
Then the Air Farce is in desperate need of an upgrade; HW (and the clones) don't stand up to a Turing test.
artificial idiocy?
But it only takes a small handful of disingenuous and malicious trolls, or sometimes just a single one (e.g. JohnnyBravo) to disrupt and destroy meaningful discussion in any given thread. That is the real Achille's heel of online forums such as this one.
In all seriousness, do you think that the threads following a posting on gold prices is going to have any kind of serious discussion?? For every JB, there is a bullish twit that happens to be part of the majority and their posts are no less devoid of intellectual value. I mean, really, what do you expect? If you want to join a fan-club and have pep rallies, by all means do so.
For the record, I am looking at a tube of krugger's as I type.
Are you implying that Harry Wanger is not a legitimate member of ZH???
If the troll mask fits ...
Personally I think HarryWanger posts for free! No one has to pay him. Don't you need two sides to have a debate?
"Debate" solves nothing. It only serves to obfuscate.
Just the facts, please.
"Debate" solves nothing. It only serves to obfuscate.
Just the facts, please."
And if the "facts" are debatable? ;-)
and, more, the significance of the facts. also what is "good" and "bad", etc.
"and, more, the significance of the facts. also what is "good" and "bad","
Exactly so Jeff...that is where the rubber hits the road.
Oh brother. Fucking sophists: here LowP let me help you out,
Quaecumque vera
"Just the verifiable facts, please."
Otherwise this is heading straight for an epistemological 'Mish' style argument about the 'proper' use of the prefix 'de-'.
Willfull and purposeful obfuscation, misdirection, misinformation, and divisive diversion do not constitute a legitimate opinion, or the "other side" of any honest debate. And I am sick to death of trolls, and apologists for trolls, who continually and speciously try to make such a point.
For the one plutocratic percent to go contrarian to the silent and increasingly desperate majority is a delicate game in a nominal democracy, requiring all the techniques of Taoism. False flags, secret cabals, the works...Once you're in this game there in no way out. Like the sicilian kiss ...you never leave the famigliaaaa...