Revealed: US spy operation that manipulates social media

[go west young man]

Source: The Guardian UK

The US military is developing software that will let it secretly manipulate social media using fake online personas designed to influence internet conversations and spread pro-American propaganda.

A Californian corporation has been awarded a contract with the US Central Command (Centcom) to develop what is described as an "online persona management service" that will allow one serviceman or woman to control up to 10 separate identities at once.

The contract stipulates each persona must have a convincing background, history and supporting details, and that up to 50 controllers must be able to operate false identities from their workstations "without fear of being discovered by sophisticated adversaries".

The project has been likened by web experts to China's attempts to control and restrict free speech on the internet.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/mar/17/us-spy-operation-social-networks

---

Orwell had it so right. Reminds me of that sketch by Ricky Gervais where he plays a Nazi and ask's if we're the baddies?

[Autumn]

1. Well now we know just how tricky these bastards are.

They out tricked Dick.

[RedCloud]

55. It's almost like the Pentagon Propaganda Machine was 100% true!

Who would have thought that Fulbright was writing the truth?

[L. Coyote]

58. One more reason to de-welfare the military industrial complex

[chill_wind]

81. True and illegal as hell, but who's keeping track? They investigated themselves

and found themselves wholly innocent.

http://www.prwatch.org/node/7261

http://www.prwatch.org/node/8148

[markpkessinger]

156. They've got their hands full...

...going after whistle-blowers and file sharers!

[Kali]

2. it would almost be funny if it weren't so evil, but then we have been

hypnotized by teevee for more than 60 years

FaceBook Inc?



:freak:

[Name removed]

3. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Botany]

4. "sophisticated adversaries"

You mean like the American people?

Hey republicans do you want to cut government spending? This program would be
a good place to start.

[defendandprotect]

44. Wasn't propagandizing the American public by government actually illegal?

[Botany]

49. Well I thought that putting the loser of a presidential election into ....

..... the White House to spare him of embarrassment was kind of weird
as per the Constitution too but ..... :shrug:

[midnight]

99. sparing persons of embarrassment continues to be justification for gving a loser the winnings

, and it continues to be the same meme for the bankers... They completely failed in the eyes of the world and they can't be allowed to fail... So they get our tax dollars that we need for our children's food, health care, and education.... It is very weird thinking... I'm sure there are plenty of examples of failed business dealings that continue to shell out money to those who continue to fail the country and the people of the United States...

[Grinchie]

109. Perhaps they really didn't know the Economy was really a Ponzi scheme ready to collapse...

SO they TARP'ed on behalf of the banks.

However, after 3 years, the truth should have been discovered by now, but the reality is too scary for the gov to imagine, so they have to go along with it or else. Never mind that the elderly suffer, Never mind that the fat young teenage boys have no prospect for work other than military service.

Meanwhile, the best they can do is keep on fighting wars as an excuse to print money and build up the weapon stocks for when the masses get fed up and start looking for someone to lynch. Of course, their search will be in vain, because the American Government is the same as Corporate America, which is totally immune from accountability by laws that have been implanted into our society for the past 70 years. The only thing that will clean out the cancer is a breakdown in the Judicial system, and we are not seeing that, other than having laws enforced selectively upon the rich and the poor. THe Gov vs citizens, etc..

Perhaps we need to just stop consuming for a few weeks and cause the complete failure of the Ponzi scheme. It will be very stressful, but at least we could get it over with and started moving forward again.

[defendandprotect]

150. Yep -- a lot of "weird" -- beginning with Bush W doing it -- at least out in open --

cause "Operation Mockingbird" has been with us since WWII!!!

sigh --

To be fair Petraeus is saying not US citizens --

and I'm sure we all trust him --

:shrug:

[snot]

67. According to this from back when Bush was caught doing it, yes:

http://counterpunch.org/farsetta10152005.html :

" . . . the recent ruling reiterated the GAO's strong standard for determining when government-funded VNRs (or, presumably, their radio cousins, audio news releases) are illegal:

"The failure of an agency to identify itself as the source of a prepackaged news story misleads the viewing public by encouraging the viewing audience to believe that the broadcasting news organization developed the information. The prepackaged news stories are purposefully designed to be indistinguishable from news segments broadcast to the public. When the television viewing public does not know that the stories they watched on television news programs about the government were in fact prepared by the government, the stories are, in this sense, no longer purely factual -- the essential fact of attribution is missing."

"This common-sense standard is similar to what the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) wrote in its April 2005 Public Notice: "Listeners and viewers are entitled to know who seeks to persuade them. To defend its stance, the GAO didn't just rely on common sense. It pointed to 20 years of precedent, including Comptroller General rulings and Congressional measures, most recently a May 2005 act mandating "a clear notification within the text or audio of the prepackaged news story that was prepared or funded by that executive branch agency."

"{But t}he Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel, the Office of Management and Budget and, more recently, the Department of Education's Inspector General have all rejected the "audience must know" standard. Instead, they argue, hidden government involvement in the news is fine, as long as government messages are "informational" and not "persuasional.""

[Grinchie]

106. Not in time of War Defend!

Remember, we are still in two wars in case you've forgotten.

Wartime power comes with certain delicious privileges that even the Democrats salivate over. Such as the right to declare everyone an enemy until proven otherwise.

[defendandprotect]

153. Yes, War -- the big screen to hide behind --

This may mean that some people are looking behind that screen --

Or maybe they're not as impressed lately with US Superpowerdom?

I've rarely seen a thread up here at DU about the war -- death toll, whatever --

very quiet -- or am I missing it, somehow?



:nuke:

[Grinchie]

167. Good Points regarding posts about War

Perhaps it may be because most of us are resigned to the fact that as long as their are people that will sign their self perceived unimportant lives away to the US Military, only to be used up and spent at the whim of whimsical National Policies and let loose to fend for themselves afterwards should they survive the ordeal, that we cannot do anything.

We can try and let the inner city youths know that farming can be just as challenging as a wartime patrol, but would they listen or be able to comprehend our message? I doubt it.

The only superpowerdom I see stresses on the dumb and not the super. All we need are for people to make up their minds and say "Enough" to take the power away from those who puff and posture to maintain it. Sure, their are lots of people that are to afraid to take on the challenge of providing for themselves, but I don't have to be one of them.

I made the effort years ago to remove my dependancy upon the system, and I have never regretted that decision, as it has been more liberating than anything I ever could have imagined. I'm not counterculture or alternate lifestyle other than just making a vow to work for myself and my family. It's a hard job, but I love it, and thats the key to happiness.

We all need to be able to face tomorrow without fear of a system collapse, because that stupid fear emotion is a killer.

Soon enough, the Armies will run out of cannon fodder and technicians to operate the machines, and then the machines will be intelligent enough to kill on their own.

Doesn't anyone ponder the fact that the Japanese are the most highly technological country in the world, with robots that can walk and dance, yet we have not seen robots at Fukushima? Why aren't they doing the dirty work like our Predator drones in Pakistan?

Perhaps because it's all a big fat Hollywood show put on to impress the masses.

[defendandprotect]

175. Unfortunately ....

the lack of interest in the war here may have more to do with the fact that such articles

may be perceived by some here as "criticism of Obama"?

otoh, have to say that I don't come across many articles on the war I'd be interested

in posting here -- so maybe two edged sword?



Doesn't anyone ponder the fact that the Japanese are the most highly technological country in the world, with robots that can walk and dance, yet we have not seen robots at Fukushima? Why aren't they doing the dirty work like our Predator drones in Pakistan?

Perhaps because it's all a big fat Hollywood show put on to impress the masses.

Interesting --

but, I was wondering why they were so late in trying to get new electrical lines set up to get

the cooling systems back on -- but then I realized that their roads and communications have been

so shot that the survivors and displaced aren't even getting food and water!!

So - not really sure about their situation --

I am sure, however, that much of what happened in Japan with these reactors is criminal --

in design and management -- and that they should have been closed down a decade ago.

Capitalism is suicidal in its exploitation of nature --

and in creating Global Warming it has also brought increasing seismic activity --

and it will continue to increase.

I'd also venture that volcanic activity is also going to be part of Global Warming's chaos!

Imagine this -- the reactors were designed for 7.0 earthquake on an earthquake-prone island

where US had begun the "atomic era" by dropping bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki creating

unimaginable suffering for the Japanese.

Now -- a 9.0 earthquake with more than 300 aftershocks -- in the range of 8 and 6 and 4 ... !!


:(

[Grinchie]

177. Excuse me for being skeptical about roads being impassable

The U.S has a very large presence in Japan at Yokota AFB, Yokosuka Naval Shipyards, and Misawa AB in Northern Japan. Air travel is a given in Japan, and this is evidenced by the Horrific Live Aerial film of the Tsunami's as they hit, real time.

Secondly, we see heavy lif chopper being sacrificed to drop water onto the reactors, mimicking what we do for forest fires. If they can fly those big chinooks in there, they could easily transport any of a dozen robots that currently exist for demolition purposes to scout the site and keep people out of harms way. It would probably be cheaper than contaminating a Chinook helicopter and rendering it useless until it is decontaminated properly -- if it could be at all..

It was not too long ago that the SR-71 would routinely fly out of Okinawa on aerial surveilance missions when the bad old Russians were the enemy du jour.

Of course, it is well known that the idea of scaling up a Submarine boiling water reactor was not the best idea, but they did it anyway without thinking it through, paid for by the lobby for GE and the paid trolls in the NRC.

I expected better from the Japanese government regarding this disaster, but they have fallen into the "Safe Face" mentality to the point where Hare Kirei is the only way out for the ones that attempted to hide the scale of the disaster from the world.

One good thing that did get revealed is that water makes a great fuel. Just looks at the explosions caused by the disassociated Hydrogen and Oxygen that recombined into water explosively, destroying three separate reactor building of enormous size, blowing chunks of concrete 800 meters into the air.

And they really expect the cooling system to be undamaged and operational after such a violent explosion? Give me a break.

There is currently a huge spin campaign underway in order to save the Nuclear industry, and being that so many people are so fucking stupid, they might get away with it and get more Nuclear Reactors built anyway, all based on lies about how safe they are. I guess nobody even comprehends that many people rely of Rainwater Catchment in the Tropics for their water supply.. Who is going to ensure they are not contaminated? Who would even know? You think the local governments are prepared to tell people to disconnect their systems until the threat of fallout has passed?

This whole situation is a sickening turn of events, and I am ashamed that the way the economic system is rigged has prevented us from developing real alternative energy by starving research and development to maintain the status quo. Now we get to pay the piper, with interest.

[DeadEyeDyck]

127. but what about PSAs

there are plenty whose only purpose is to promote some program or another. How is that not propaganda. How is it that recruitment PSAs are not propaganda?

[inademv]

5. So they're creating a trolling program?

Why don't they just seek out and hire the exceptionally bored individuals who do that kinda shit for entertainment?

[formercia]

9. It's much easier to use a slave (military volunteer)

Fuckwads that live in their mothers' basements require minders with skills.

[Grinchie]

116. "Mothers Basement" is a codeword for "Cubicle in a Secured Facility"

Mother is a codeword for Security Police authorized to use deadly force.

Of course, the individuals manning these operations most likely trained themselves in earlier years in a real basement, doing similar tasks on their own.

[CLANG]

27. They'd probably do it for free if you gave them a subscription to a paid porno site,

a case of K-Y jelly, and a lifetime supply of !!

[JoeyT]

100. Too great a chance of the bored individual releasing information.

After they finish burning Manning at the stake as an example of what happens to military personnel that embarrass them, there's much less chance of that happening if they use in house talent.

[dotymed]

101. This is happening

under a Democratic administration. That kinda proves that Obama is a part of the corporate/MIC complex

[Grinchie]

117. I don't know how much more proof people need.

Obama is more like the masthead of the Country. The CEO if you will that schmoozes the stockholders while miscreants like Jeffery Skilling come up with even more devious schemes at white collar crime and racketeering activities.

It is very clear that the country has not deviated one degree off the crash course it has started since the 90's, and this is significant because of the grandiose rhetoric used by Obama to win the election. All that rhetoric was non-chalantly discarded as the real leaders push on with whatever this defective plan may be in total disregard for the people of America, the World, or the safety of the planet or the environment.

I have a feeling that if I were to left in a room with Obama for 30 minutes, I would find a very shallow, yet well communicated individual that is more Hollywood facade than real roll up the sleeves producer.

[Truth2Tell]

147. if I were to left in a room with Obama for 30 minutes

I've often wondered about that. My guess is that you would find more depth than you expect. But you'd find a true-believing, elitist, neo-liberal, pro-business interventionist. And I'd bet you'd encounter highly sophisticated rationalizations for every imaginable injustice of America. This is not Reagan or W. IMO.

[freshwest]

176. Or that the entire government is a subsidiary of the MIC...

And not the other way around.

Just a thought, probably not well reasoned out, still...

[Bandit]

6. Bet Republicans don't want to cut funds for this, spying on and manipulating Americans

:shrug: They are very evil people.

[L. Coyote]

59. Whatever happened to armies making a profit by plundering enemies instead of taxpayers?

:sarcasm:

[Judi Lynn]

7. How surprising it takes a source outside the U.S. to do this story.

From the article:

The discovery that the US military is developing false online personalities – known to users of social media as "sock puppets" – could encourage other governments, private companies and non-government organisations to do the same.

Critics are likely to complain that it will allow the US military to create a false consensus in online conversations, crowd out unwelcome opinions and smother commentaries or reports that do not correspond with its own objectives.

Recco-flipping-mended.

[neohippie]

11. Anonymous Hacked HB Gary and found similar plans

When the hacker group Anonymous hacked the HB Gary firm the discovered documentation of similar plans,to help promote the chamber of commerce when it was coming under attack...


I would imagine that the defense industry, and other super corporations would pay a lot to develop a technology to make people believe that they have grassroots support and what better way there when you don't actually have public support except to make it appear that you have popular support by creating virtual public identities that spew out your message

[Selena Harris]

15. Guess who the Chamber just hired?

None other than the former U.S. Attorney General-Michael Mukasey.

They want him on board to lobby against the Foreign Coruuption Practices Act...folks,you can't make this stuff up.

[defendandprotect]

47. Masters of the cover up -- !!

[defendandprotect]

46. Which makes it ever more important to listen to your own common sense ....

and also think we all need our BS meters turned waaaay up higher!!





The Rightwing Koch Bros. Funded the DLC --

http://www.democrats.com/node/7789

http://upload.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x498414

If you knew this, why didn't you tell us?

If you didn't know, pass it along -- !!

:)

[kristopher]

112. HBGARY was one of the bidders on the AF contract. List below

List of bidders for AF Persona Management Contract

GLOBAL BUSINESS SOLUTION AND ASSOCIATES LLC
2525 E PARIS ST SE STE 100GRAND RAPIDS, MI 495466191 USA
Email: [e-mail] Phone: [phone]
Uk Plus Logistics Services Ltd

International Market,
International Building 3rd floor Kabul AfghanistanKabul, 1 w13 AF
Email: [e-mail] Phone: [phone]

NevinTelecom
397 Mill Valley DRMTN House, CA 96391
US Email: [e-mail] Phone: [phone]

BUNKERCOMMUNICATIONS.COM
14213 STONE BLUFF LNROSHARON, TX 775833362
USA Email: [e-mail] Phone: [phone]

HBGARY FEDERAL
3604 FAIR OAKS BLVDSACRAMENTO, CA 958647253 USA
Email: [e-mail] Phone: [phone] ext 118

PLANMATRIX LLC
5780 UPPER TWIN CREEK RDCASTLE ROCK, CO 801042191
USA Email: [e-mail] Phone: [phone]

[Crabby Appleton]

12. There have been several posts in GD about this

with multiple sources over the last month or so..

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=439&topic_id=453875

[Judi Lynn]

19. Thanks for the link to the thread for those of us who missed it the first time. Good one. n/t

[Crabby Appleton]

24. It's come up several times in GD in relation to HBGary

was in WaPo and information technology news sources over the last month

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/spy-talk/2011/03/spy_bloggers_not_friending_us.html

added on edit
http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/client/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229219056

[Judi Lynn]

25. Thanks for posting these links. Amazing. n/t

[Grinchie]

111. Actually this is related to Anonymous and HBGary's leaked emails

At least thats what my feeble memory recalls. I don't keep track of everything I stumble across, but I'm pretty sure it was an HBGary project.

[bigworld]

8. I think it was Mitchell and Webb. But point taken!!

How about we not, like, bomb them? That would go a long way toward helping public opinion!

[HuckleB]

83. +1

[Octafish]

10. Dude!

Interesting architecture: The residents of Whoville organized so they could shout loud enough for Horton, an elephant, to hear.

[melm00se]

13. and of course

no other government could possibly do this but the USA

[elias49]

Lots of govts do. No one said otherwise.

Hell, big corporations do it. It's propaganda. Probably as old as the spoken word.
The fact that we've made it high art in the 21st century is the troubling part.

[vicarofrevelwood]

14. Automated Sock Puppets?!

This is Bullshit!

[Selena Harris]

16. Make that "dirty" socks

[EJ24]

17. Any legal challenges to this would be dismissed under...you guessed it...

The "Patriot Act". God, this disgusts me.

[Zephie]

18. Anonymous won't let that happen.

I have complete faith in that.

[Zephie]

32. Case and point, the first retweet I got after tweeting the story!

I posted it and moments later it had been passed on through one of the twitters that dispense info for people who are following Anonymous. Anonymous is always watching.

Remember! Always report suspicious activity.

[Jester Messiah]

62. Anonymous will be dubbed a terrorist group the moment they act against this.

Just wait and see.

[grahamhgreen]

20. Well, I think we all know who they are on this board! Oddly, it will increase traffic.

Don't advertisers have a right to know how many "real" people are on a sight?

[L. Coyote]

60. I can harvest the IP numbers of every computer that accesses any thread with ease

and so can anyone else with the know-how. We have their addresses already!!

Anyone need George Bush's PC address :rofl:

[JDPriestly]

108. Astounding, and I can't even remember my passwords to my own

various website accounts. I just don't understand hacking at all. I consider it a good day if I can get into my e-mails (and remember to read them).

My children are good with computers.

It's as though the world is now divided (often generationally) by those who understand computers and those of us who stand outside looking in at all the computer wizards eating their ice cream sundaes while we starve. It's a funny feeling.

I've noticed, L. Coyote that you seem to be very technology savvy.

[boppers]

146. Uhm, that's why the machine connections are laundered.

Over at wikipedia (where we deal with socks all the time), we've found a few clever folks who change up their proxies for each identity.

[Scottybeamer70]

21. Seems as though Hollywood has

been manipulating social media for many years now. Wonder what Californian corporation was awarded the contract?
Surely not a hollywood mogul.......nah..........couldn't be. Check for yourself and see who owns and manipulates
96% of entertainment and news. What more control could they need?

[peacetalksforall]

39. Ntrepid - the name of the company.

[L0oniX]

22. The Great Satan!

Satan is the father of the lie. These fake online personas are a deception which is a lie. The US is full of liars and deception.

[Name removed]

23. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[nc4bo]

26. USA! USA! USA! #1 #1 #1 Woohoo!

Woot! :patriot::applause:

[peacetalksforall]

28. Well we know it well. Now we can just say NTREPID and move on - not waster

our time.

[Uncle Joe]

29. Under the premise that nothing sells your product like sincerity and

when you've learned how to fake that, you've got it made.

Thanks for the thread, go west young man.

[CrossChris]

30. Smart humans = "sophisticated adversaries." That's pretty much what we are to them.

Get used to being labeled that way.

[tavalon]

50. Sophisticated Latte Drinkers and adversaries

Though I haven't had a latte in about 3 years - bad for the tummy.

They tried to dumb us down and it worked in too many cases but some of us slipped through those broken bricks in the wall. Of course, in a totalitarian regime, we would be the first lined up to be shot. That doesn't feel too good.

I guess it's better than being labeled an uppity smart ass bitch, which I have been called from time to time.

[DirkGently]

31. U.S. Gov't-paid operatives sock-puppeting on the Internet? shocking, shocking. i say.

[appleannie1]

33. FOX News on the internet.

[Diclotican]

34. go west young man

go west young man

Nothing THAT suprising, as this have been rumored on many places on the net, for years, maybe as long as I have had a internet line out to the world.. That "some government" have using metodes to influence conversations, and spread propaganda from one or another nations.. USA have been rumored to do this for a long time.. As China, and to some degree many others too...

But, it is maybe more intersting that it looks easy to do it in US, as many americans are not that difficult to be told what to think, and what to do.. To an forreigner, who are looking in it looks like americans on a regular basis are really easy to manipulate... Not that everyone can be manipulated, but many americans is easy to manipulate as long as you do it, the right way.. Waiw the flag around an americans, so are most americans willing to go down a cliff voulentary...

Diclotican

[go west young man]

84. I totally agree Diclotican.

[WHEN CRABS ROAR]

88. Currant examples of Americans just reacting as a herd is the

Japanese nuclear power plant destruction, all of a sudden we need to look in to the safety of our own plants, as if we never could imagine the possible problems. Or the Gulf Oil Spill, yes they did lie about safety, what a surprise the magnitude of the disaster was. So whats wrong with our critical thinking? Is it really that easy to brainwash Americans?

[Diclotican]

105. WHEN CRABS ROAR

WHEN CRABS ROAR

I do not know, if it is easy to brainwash americans.. But it looks like large segment of americans is rather easy to fool, most of the time, and now they sudden discover that nuclear reactors is "dangrous"?... Nuclear reactors have ALLWAYS been dangrous, the knowlegde about nuclear power have been rather open for everyone with the ability to read as book... Or have the ability to read documents.. Even I understand to a degree how dangrous nuclear power is. It is an amazing tool to produce "sheap" electrisity, but it cost a lot, and it is not alowed to cut corners to save a buck or two And most of the industry have been known to try to do that, cut corners to get the prize down.. And now they also discover that they have to look into the safty of nuclear plants in US?... In the last 40 year, we have had nuclear reactors to power our needs, it have been 10 large scale accident, more than 4 every decade.. 8 of them have been big accident with a partial or full meltdown... Chernobyl in 1986 is maybe best known as it more or less killed off building of new reactors in most of Europe for a decade and a half.. One of the few country that still are building nuclear stations, Finland, have more or less re-designet every segment of the nuclear reactor, and build in a lot of security measures that was never thouth about when they desided to build a nuclear plant... To replace older power plants in Finland.. And even then, the new stations, are more than a decade later than promised.. It should have been finished january 2009.. It is still not open for production of electrisity now in 2011.. And I have the feeling that the current chatastrophe in Japan wil dely it further...

Diclotican

[Grinchie]

119. Nice persona! Mind if I put your typos in my datingbase?

Just kidding.. Lol

[Diclotican]

162. Grinchie

Grinchie

BY all means, please feel free to do that, if you want to:)... I know my english is far from perfect.. Was never a good student at school, but I hope I got my message across... And english is not my native language either, and are NOT a easy language to write, as it differ from spoken language in many ways... That pesky Latin, Norman-french and then some Anglo Saxcon really messed up the language... Oh well, my native language have a lot of innfluence from german, and dannish, who we even today can read clearly, and to a degree speake with withouth troubles at all. Its like a different form of the same langauge for the most part...

Diclotican

[boppers]

151. "Is it really that easy to brainwash Americans?"

American Idol
Kardashians
Oprah
DHMO

Americans, as a rule, have come to honor and revere the willfully ignorant and uneducated. Issues of a sufficient level of complexity just confuse us.

[Diclotican]

164. boppers

boppers

Hm, maybe little less American Idol, and little more facts would be the magic trick?... I don't know.. I lok a lot at the TV, sometimes American Idol is on there too.. Some of them is really good too.. But I don't get brainwashed becouse of it.. But then I do read at least a couple of newspaper every days, from different sourses and have been touth from early age to never trust just one source of information.. And I read a lot.. At one time I read everything, from the phone book, to big ugly books about everything.. Oh well, the phone book is goone, everything are 1881.no this days;).. But I still read a lot of books, I have a room full of it I don't know what to do with... And I try to keep at least a track of everything that interest me... Even tho, I sometimes need "downtime" when informations is to mutch... But at least, I try to follow what is up with the world.. I don't just are sitting there and following american idol as a slave... Yea, its cool when they dance, or are doing something else that is amazing, but I don't let it came in the way of educate myself..


I don't belive americans are less smart than rest of the world.. i belive most of it, is becouse you have been told for many, many years now, that you are superiour to everyone else on the face of the planet.. And that you don't need to have knowlegde about the rest of the world.. Your system, your way of thinking, your way of life is the perfect one.. As long as you are been telling this, americans, would never change what they are doing.. And collectively go down the cliff the rest of the world are seeing you are doing - and 90 percent hope you can se it and stop it in time.. The rest, wil be thrilled when you finaly is jumping the cliff...

And it dosen't help that many in the republican party, is doing their best to kill of public education, that be on local level. State level or federal level.. The nutcases on the right in the republican party wil go back to a time when ordinary men and woman could dream of higher eductation, if they was lucky enough to know some with ressourses, money or conections.. But else, they might stick to the lower paid and lower education bases.. And be happy with it..
But the same persons, who wil not give everyone a chance, have forgotten that it was BECOUSE of FEDREAL money, that the boom who happend after World War Two was posible.. Where US was going from just one of the many, to THE ONE the rest of the world admired, and was willing to follow to get the same eductation level.. At one time, US was the best player in the world, when it came to education.. At one time, the rest of the world, including Soviet Union and the Eastern Pact nations, was sending some of their brightest, smartest to the US, to try to get some of the "secrets" back home... Even under Soviet rule, as long as you was "trustworthy" you could in theory get education paid for, by the state in the US...

And many in my grandfathers and dads generations, have gotten education, or have been living in the US for a short or longer time.. My dad even worked in US for two years in the 1960s.. And he allmoust desided to move to US for good.. Thankfully he never did that but got home, and desided to live here instead...

Diclotican

[Auggie]

35. .

I'm just speechless...

:(

[NBachers]

36. Next- holographic teabaggers so the media can shout about huge crowds of 45 instead of 14 nt

[begin_within]

37. Isn't that what Freepers already do, for free?

[BenzoDia]

38. I used to dig the Guardian, but they seem to be into shock headlines lately.

The article took way too long to get to the point of the technology, and they know very wll that a significant portion of readers won't make it that far...or even past the headline.

[peacetalksforall]

43. Sorry. The Guardian has guts - the only one in a paper of their size. You have to

dig deeper to get to the smaller sources, like blogs to find out what's going on. I CANNOT DISAGREE WITH YOU MORE.

The G has investigative journalism relative to the needs of the people - UNLIKE the NYT, WSJ, LAT, WP - who are all decade old members of the Bilderberg Group and Council on Foreign Relations - who form the policy that is handed off to the State Dept and DOD and everyone else that makes lies that all we fools follow voluntarily or with disgust for the hypocrisies, transparencies, and an American values void that has no bottom because of them - we are a bankrupt, deficient, ruined nation because of them.

All praise to the Guardian - for now.

[freshwest]

133. All praise to the Guardian - for now.

I agree!

[JJW]

40. Democracy

Democracy at the end of a rifle. Who could ever imagine?

[azul]

41. It gets kind of wacky when you imagine the conflict of interests

in the Christian military mind. Promoting war and mistrust and hatred in the name of the Prince of Peace.

Waste of our resources and time. Allowing secrecy in government is asking for trouble, war-profiteers and corruption and criminal behavior are enabled.

[Bragi]

42. Foreign language social media the (alleged) target

Note this from the article:

Centcom spokesman Commander Bill Speaks said: "The technology supports classified blogging activities on foreign-language websites to enable Centcom to counter violent extremist and enemy propaganda outside the US."

He said none of the interventions would be in English, as it would be unlawful to "address US audiences" with such technology, and any English-language use of social media by Centcom was always clearly attributed. The languages in which the interventions are conducted include Arabic, Farsi, Urdu and Pashto.

If this programs succeeds, it will necessarily lead to a loss of public confidence among targeted linguistic groups in the authenticity of communications on social media.

Since the beneficial impact of social media on organizing recent uprisings in the Arab world is generally accepted, then it is pretty clear what the real intention is here -- to clutter social media with fake conversation so as create confusion on what is real and what isn't, to make social media platforms unreliable, which will help limit the ability of any mass protest movement to organize via social media.

[azul]

51. Has our military ever lied, outright, to the public?

With no consequences anywhere in the chain of command when caught?

Who in their right mind would not take Commander Bill's words with a grain of salt? Or a dose of fear?

[Bragi]

169. Of course they lie, and that's the point

While this program is targeted at foreign-language social media, it's also obvious that the government (especially the military) and the usual corporate interests are already flooding English-language social media with paid-for interventions disguised as peer-to-peer conversations.

But I think the most important thing to understand here is that these types of social media campaigns are not just PR campaigns of the typical sort, intended to sell the paid-for viewpoint over independent voices.

These initiatives do that, but beyond that are also thought-out and evidence-based initiatives that aim to undermine the actual credibility and effectiveness of the social media channels that are being polluted by these interventions.

As people become more and more aware that much of the social media "great conversation" is in fact nothing more than paid-for shilling, people will come to have less and less confidence in these social media channels.

In my view, that is the real goal here. The forces of repression hate social media because it can empower people. It is really no great surprise that that are now actively polluting these channels and undermining their credibility, efficacy and reliability.

[RufusTFirefly]

65. Don't worry. Only non-English interventions.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

45. so do we have an agent mike on DU?

[peacetalksforall]

56. We have teams of Mike's.

None of the Mike's operate alone unless they are first on the scene. They have to have back-up to pretend that there is concensus.

[tavalon]

48. Once again, something for the DUH forum

We need a DUH forum badly. Who here didn't know this was going on? Yay! We have confirmation. But we still always knew. Just like so little of the stuff that has come out through Wikileaks has been a surprise to anyone paying just a little attention and well, we at the DU pay an awful lot of attention.

[peacetalksforall]

52. Anyone doubt that Cheney and Rumsfeld are making money on this?

R and C can multi-task - R from Mt. Misery and C from his bunker next to the CIA.

Chemical weapons, drug weapons, word weapons, nuclear weapons, dod and cia consultant fees. Cheney tops Rumsfeld with nuclear and Halliburton and branches most days. Rumsfeld may top Cheney with Roche and affiliates every once in awhile.

Ntrepid. Not very original - they announce that they are copying China.
Ntrepid. Pretty gimmicky.

It all equals 'slimespam', imo.

[loudsue]

53. "Awarded a contract by Centcom"???? Are our TAX DOLLARS being

used for this contract???

I'd like to see where the money is coming from.

[peacetalksforall]

54. Tokyo Rose - aimed at the workers of the nation. I would guess that there

is a poster of her in their 'phone bank'.

[L. Coyote]

57. Only ten personas at once? Ohhh, come on. Will they also vote in elections?

What a waste of taxes!!

[felix_numinous]

61. Organizations like these will no doubt be targeted

by counter intelligence groups like Anonymous and Wikileaks, and more will be formed--their very existence has created their opposite. As well they should, as these people need to have oversight.

Repression creates resistance, that is a social law. Keeping resistance sane and with a balanced goal is the challenge, as soon as we find insane violent instigators in our midst who appear to be disrupting all intelligent discussion--our troll alarms should go off. What we need to keep in mind in all times is, what would the mission of the trolls be at any given moment, would it be to distract, disrupt or to instigate extremely bad behavior? These are their tactics, plus they saturate the flow of information with useless events. And of course they collect information--but screw that--we are an open forum and have nothing to hide. We are merely standing our ground.

I think discussions about these people should stay in the open at all times, and I think what is most effective is the direct approach, roaches scatter in the light. I have noticed some posters being asked outright what their motivations were, and they often back off. I often post with "Agent Mike" in mind, and we often have posts addressing all trolls and puppets. I would like to think that every once in awhile one of those guys goes home and questions their ethics. To them I say, welcome aboard, join us, be on the side of the People.

[Bragi]

64. Well said

The main troll tactic I see here is for a handful of posters to descend on an important topic -- Wikileaks and the torture of Manning comes to mind here -- and through steady questioning of the mainstream DU viewpoint, they can create the illusion that there is significant disagreement among DUers on this topic.

The useful result of this for the powers that be is that if DUers are convinced by the faux debate on a topic that there is no unity on it among fellow DUers, then they aren't likely going to promote, let along organize, any opposition to it.

[riderinthestorm]

86. The HCR debate was an eye-opener for me. That's when the sock puppets had difficulty

keeping up their progressive disguise.

[KansDem]

63. So US military "Psych-Ops" isn't just for US senators anymore?

Wow, they're expanding!

[NashVegas]

66. Monsanto Already Does

Or haven't you noticed?

[jorno67]

68. So the U.S. Government is officially a TROLL

well at least now we know for sure....

[Blue Owl]

69. Who doesn't love a good PSYOPS tweet?

n/t

[certainot]

70. 1000 coordinated radio stations taking paid callers and

protected from truth by call screeners has been operating for 20 years, still under the noses of most thinking americans - this is supplemental.

[Judi Lynn]

73. Thanks for the reminder. They have many inroads to our unsuspecting midst. Damned sad. n/t

[L. Coyote]

77. Talk radio is propaganda too, lest we forget, as is most M$M media, even films

Thanks for bringing up this very useful perspective on talk radio as a propaganda tool.

Your 777th post is post 77, BTW.

[certainot]

78. lucky 7s, i'm headed to the casino if i can get the truck running

[KoKo]

80. And C-Span has been on the Dark Side forever. Same callers over and

over reading from script and allowed to talk on and on while the few real innocent callers who express a viewpoint are cut off. The creation of an overwhelming Repug/Conservative consensus point of view there and the ignorance of many of these callers caused me to try to avoid it. If I do check in I notice that many of the same callers are still there from years ago (you can recognize their voice)and the hosts never question them.

We've been propagandized for so long it's hard to remember when the Fairness Doctrine existed. It did make a difference, though. Also when the Networks (before cable) had "Standards and Practices" divisions that kept some of the crap ads for products that could be harmful and the more trashy ads off the air. There was even required programming suitable for children which produced some valuable educational series not just copy cat cartoons. That's why no one in power in the media wants it reinstated. Dumbing down our population is what they wanted...and they've gotten it. :-(

[Alcibiades]

89. Your comment is intriguing

For years, I have had a pet theory that right-wing chain e-mails are generated by some propaganda outfit. What leads me to believe this is not that they are reactionary--there are plenty of reactionaries out there--but because their spelling and grammar is consistently bad in the same ways. I have graded many an undergaduate paper, and what's common to them is that there are so many ways to mutilate the English language: everyone has their own pathology of writing, a pattern of errors that are fairly unique. In right wing chain e-mails, however, you see the same telltales:

* Use of bullet points and factoids
* Consistently bad spelling of words that are not commonly misspelled
* USE OF ALL CAPS FOR EMPHASIS

The misspellings are suspicious, in part, because, as stupid as right-wingers are, it is impossible for all of them to be so consistently stupid in exactly the same ways. Spell check exists, and if I were to send out something to thousands of recipients, I'd use it. They read exactly as though they were proceeding from a handbook. Also, their ability to get their chains to go viral is also suspicious, as though they had compiled a list of people who were most likely to send their message out to everyone in their inbox and they targeted those folks.

It had never occurred to me that the same thing might be true of talk radio, but it seems obvious now that you point it out. Do you have a link?

[L. Coyote]

91. misspelling may have purpose

Two reasons,
* evade search engines, etc. Good example is f**k employed on DU to not lower search rank of a post. Vice-versa, trolls use the actual spelling to make sure search engines dfo not return a thread to the searcher.

* code. It can be a form of encrypting messages.

[certainot]

141. you mean like tracking a talking point by the entire phrase

- so they evade being tracked etc.?

on the other hand, searching with the planned mispelled word might indicate amount of spread

[L. Coyote]

149. More like you don't want search engines to turn up posts for Bush, so you mangle his name

by calling him "Chimpy," and those searching for Bush turn up a different URL because they search for Bush instead of Chimpy. Old trick to evade automated searching of e-mails, etc.

[Alcibiades]

142. I think it's meant to make them seem "authentically grassroots"

To disguise the fact that it's probably some disinformation campaign by the GOP, the right wing think tanks, or the intelligence community. These misspellings actually usually have the effect of making them come up higher in search rankings, at least if you bother to look for an exact match.

I was curious to know, though, if you have any information on whether there are paid callers on right wing AM radio. It rings true, and I'm looking for something I can use to discredit these folks to some folks in my family.

[certainot]

157. Radio Daze by LIEL LEIBOVITZ was the article that

got things going recently.

as a long time student of talk radio i'd say it is not only common but well coordinated on both the local and national level. a comment of mine below has a longer look.

[certainot]

143. here's something about paid callers.

when i had a very slow connection i ended up at daily kos- the format was faster for me mostly relative to reading comments, etc. so i have a few things there about talk radio. below is a recent bit about paid callers.

xxxxxx

Paid callers for RW radio means free speech is a joke.

If there are banks of paid callers calling Limbaugh and other right wing talkers from right wing think tanks or government agencies Americans need to know about it.

This level of coordinated misinformation makes national discussions of important problems impossible and short circuits the feedback loops that democracy depends on.

Radio Daze by LIEL LEIBOVITZ

Here are some excerpts:

A short while later, he received the following email: “Thank you for auditioning for Premiere On Call,” it said. “Your audition was great! We’d like to invite you to join our official roster of ‘ready-to-work’ actors.” The job, the email indicated, paid $40 an hour, with one hour guaranteed per day.
But what exactly was the work? The question popped up during the audition and was explained, the actor said, clearly and simply: If he passed the audition, he would be invited periodically to call in to various talk shows and recite various scenarios that made for interesting radio. He would never be identified as an actor, and his scenarios would never be identified as fabricated—which they always were.

Curious, the actor did some snooping and learned that Premiere On Call was a service offered by Premiere Radio Networks, the largest syndication company in the United States and a subsidiary of Clear Channel Communications, the entertainment and advertising giant. Premiere syndicates some of the more sterling names in radio, including Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, and Sean Hannity. But a great radio show depends as much on great callers as it does on great hosts: Enter Premiere On Call.
Rachel Nelson, a Premiere Radio Networks spokesperson, defended the Premiere on Call service and said that responsibility for how it is employed falls ultimately to those who use it.
“Premiere provides a wide variety of audio services for radio stations across the country, one of which is connecting local stations in major markets with great voice talent to supplement their programming needs,” Nelson wrote in an email. “Voice actors know this service as Premiere On Call. Premiere, like many other content providers, facilitates casting—while character and script development, and how the talent’s contribution is integrated into programs, are handled by the varied stations.”

That may be the case on a limited basis but I doubt many local stations or even the national talkers and their staffs do much of this. The main national right wing talkers are well coordinated as a unit. The main ones regurgitate much of the same material. They’re getting paid millions to sell national GOP talking points. To be useful the call needs to be timed right and be on topic. And to be successful they have to get past the call screener. Paid callers are not going to be waiting for 2 hours and maybe not get on. How does the call screener know he needs to let the paid caller through? Maybe they have their own area code. Or password.

Do the Heritage Foundation, US Chamber of Commerce, and the Pentagon have their own paid caller banks? Do lobbyists use them to stop or push legislation? The Abramoff emails had some references to coordinating radio when trying to influence politicians. Local right wing talkers often reinforce the national shows and coordinate with state and local GOP political needs. Are they getting preferred topics lists and how are these coordinated with paid callers on a national scale?

What percentage of the calls that make it through to Limbaugh and Hannity during a day, reaching many millions of listeners, are from real callers? The real answer may be very embarrassing considering how few they usually take in a day. How will their loyal callers, who try in vain for years, feel when they find out the paid callers always get bumped to the top?

How much do Limbaugh and Hannity depend on paid callers to reinforce, worship, prompt a talking point, start a buzz, inject a rumor, attack a political enemy, distort, divert blame, or make an excuse. Or cheer on the teabaggers screaming 2+2=3 in town hall meetings. Or teach a nation of teabaggers 2+2=3.

What part did paid callers play to reinforce and rationalize the talking points for going into Iraq, make excuses for a dry drunk AWOL dictator wannabe, sell wall street deregulation, praise an unqualified supreme court nominee, swiftboat a war hero or dedicated public servant, and attack publicly financed broadcasting. Or call single payer communist or talk about death panels and ACORN voter fraud. How many were paid to repeat the phrase "Tiller the baby killer?"

If the GOP has a problem and wants to turn a molehill into a mountain to distract the media they can just get a few paid callers on 200 or 400 or 600 radio stations, with a host that not only agrees but reinforces it, never asks for facts, and makes sure his call screeners keep out the truth tellers.

Randi Rhodes and Thom Hartmann like to call them out or play with them when they hit their shows. But they may not be obvious.

On several occasions I have heard what seemed like a staged series of calls coordinated to lay out all the most important RW talking points on a particular topic, like attacking Iraq. And by the way, life on an aircraft carrier is fun! Ending with a nasty jerk with an arab accent badmouthing America. Or a slurred-mouthed hippie asking "What about peace, dude... can't we all just get along?" And now for some more calls, folks, doesn't that last guy make you mad? All lines are open!

How many politicians were made or destroyed and how much legislation was passed or obstructed because the Karl Roves could inject a groundswell buzz of worship or lies into the national media whenever they wanted? Or present ten possible excuses for why such and such a GOP politician shouldn't go to jail?

It makes a total joke of the claim that right wing talk radio dominance is based on market forces and popular demand. Right wing talkers are constantly saying “The American people want so and so” and the rest of the media often agree. Talk radio talkers on TV are often asked what their callers have been saying.

And how can our universities continue to rationalize broadcasting their sports on stations using paid callers to deny global warming/climate change?

If Americans don't demand investigations they are democratically suicidal. Whistleblowers need to be encouraged- not only the paid callers but call screeners and other radio staff.

Americans need to take this seriously. Free speech is a joke until the radio is fixed.

[Alcibiades]

172. Thanks!

Wow. I am amazed I did not know this. And it has a name: Premiere On Call.

[lovuian]

71. if you can't figure out what a Troll is Shame on you

they have been out there but no computer can act that quickly

But it gives insight on the subtle attack and propaganda

the main action is to make the reporter like their crazy

[paparush]

72. Can we de-fund this crap?

[Little Star]

74. fake online personas designed to influence internet conversations ?

Well I never would have guessed!

[sakabatou]

75. US: "They see me trollin', they hattin'..."

[Javaman]

76. It will backfire...

when you lie to the public about everything, even the truth becomes hard to believe.

[Slit Skirt]

79. how do dems and obama admin explain this???

and all the other shit like the torture of manning...


A BIG WTF

[caseymoz]

82. Not limiting free speech. Just all the speech is phony and from the same people

:sarcasm:

With speaking orders from even fewer people. Camouflaged government-funded spam is what this is just cluttering things up and misleading people. I'm absolutely certain that this manipulation has already been going on. All this software will do is put it on an industrial scale.

Between this and the loss of net neutrality, the Internet will be a lost cause in two years.

US military and intelligence community are the same organizations that used to routinely subvert and overthrow democracy in other countries. With that amount of cynicism, why would they stop at the "homeland?" They are simply importing our Cold War policy.

[Veronica.Franco]

85. this has been happeningn for some time ...

They finally closed the New York Times Forums and The Guardian Talkboards to get rid of the trolls ...

[cliffordu]

87. K&R

[AllTooEasy]

90. I'm certain the Right Wing does the same thing on this site, with ...

...all the Obama bashing that's goes on here. Fake liberals who's only purpose is to lower voter enthusiasm for Obama's 2012 campaign.

This is a sneaky and OLD trick. I love it when fake conservatives do it on conservative sites. I've done it a couple times myself!!!

[Pacifist Patriot]

92. As if it hasn't been happening already.

[Downtown Hound]

95. Bingo!

the only difference here is that they're developing software that's going to make it easier. You know what's funny, but whenever people have said things like this we're going on, they're laughed at and called nutters by so-called rational people.

[L. Coyote]

93. I'm taking a class in misspelling, so I can troll conservative forums

:rofl:

[jobycom]

94. So let's spend tons of money pretending things are great instead of trying to make them great. nt

[queerart]

96. Lets Face It......

Most corps (or the government) are spying for the government/it's self......

http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=53784

http://lawvibe.com/the-fbi-database-how-the-government-is-spying-on-you/


All the way from mega Search engines who sell that data to the government... to the telephone companies.....


http://content.usatoday.com/communities/technologylive/post/2010/07/consumer-advocacy-group-calls-for-hearing-on-google-spying/1


http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/google-is-watching-you-450084.html


http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2009/10/att-doj-foia/


I do cartoons (Gay & sometimes political) that have on occasion criticized the government, and religious zealots......


...and my site (as I have access to my logs) has been watched all the way from governmental agencies to banks (banks, seriously) and radical religious organizations/individuals .....


My bandwidth logs from this week show (if someone is not spoofing) that a corporation who has made fame by making home thermostats are very interested in gathering data on folks as well......


http://www.tradereform.org/tag/honeywell/


As for watching cartoonists.... they seem to have an interest most....

http://www.hour.ca/news/news.aspx?iIDArticle=9139

(snip from the 9th paragraph) the weirdness doesn't stop there. "I've had a couple of visits to www.twistedreality.ca, my art site on the same server, by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security - they must enjoy my George W. Bush paintings," he jokes.

and I too have even had visits from the DOD... (no, that was not a typo.. the friggin' DOD), and an ip associated with The US Terrorist Surveillance Program......

http://www.comicsbeat.com/2007/05/23/ted-rall-enemy-of-the-state/


I even wrote this post (here on DU) back in 2007 about the visits after I emailed some Senators... no replies from any of them.....

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2849650#2850002



-----------------------------------------------------------------------



http://secpriv.com/who-is-cyveillance-and-why-should-you-care


They are even watching UFO Bloggers:

http://mysteryhistory.tv/2010/12/government-spying-on-ufo-bloggers-2/




Spying is the new California Gold Rush...... and each will go father than the other for contracts, (all) information, and their slice of the governmental pie.....

[dotymed]

97. So UN-AMERICAN

This propaganda is against everything that I was taught that America stands for. This really needs to be sent to every American, maybe they will realize that we are in a Wall Street Fascist country and we need to hit the reset button immediately. Our constitution allows for governing Emergencies like this.
This is OUR GOVERNMENT, WE ARE NOT THEIR SLAVES.

[JoeyT]

98. What's really disturbing is that they can't handle multiple personas without specialized software.

Seriously, can anyone not handle five or more in a tabbed browser or multiple browsers? Especially if it was what you got paid to do and was your only job?

Propagandizing is bad enough, that they're so fucking incompetent at it that they have to spend millions of dollars to rival the ability of the people in /b/ is icing on the cake.

[boppers]

155. Handling complex personas is tricky.

You need different source IP addresses, different browser cookies, different user-agent strings, different back stories, different facebook profiles, different grammar and syntax, different typo tendencies, different education level emulation, different "awake hours", different colloquialisms, different hobbies (and corresponding internet histories), etc.

Spoofing 5 people is easy. Spoofing 5 people in such a way as to have those 5 *never* linked is much harder.

[JDPriestly]

102. I think we have some pro-Obama stooges here on DU.

No matter how little sense some of Obama's decisions make, certain people come up with that predictable list of trivial things that Obama's defenders brag about over and over.

I would prefer to read posts in which people acknowledge it when Obama does good things and critize when Obama does stupid things. That is honest. We may disagree about what is good and what is stupid, but when someone constantly takes either a positive or negative stance no matter what the issue or conduct, it looks like stoogism to me.

[L. Coyote]

136. Obama Trolls. I like that!! It sure beats secrets wars by coke lords!

See, America is better under Democratic leadership :rofl:

[Grinchie]

103. It won't work - Machine massaged Persona's are only skin deep

While this scheme may serve to fool some of the people, there are a great many more people that are awake enough to spot rhetoric that doesn't pass the smell test.

This whole project to obfuscate the propagandist's identities serves only to divide the online community by spreading disinformation and other data to be forwarded by unsuspecting dupes to their friends and associates.

The easiest way to spot propaganda is to actually try and determine the real motivation behind the use of particular words and phrases when compared to reality.

A good example I saw recently was a report on MSNBC that used the sentance "The outer building of the reactor is used to protect the Uranium from the environment". Yes, it's true, but does Uranium really need the protection, or does the Environment need the protection? We all know that Uranium is quite happy in the wild, as all Uranium is mined out of the earth. However, the Environment does not need protection from being contaminated.. This is the kind of spin that is totally motivated by a particular agenda, and in this case, the agenda is to sell more Nuclear Reactors come hell or high water.

As far as persona's go, this technology has been around for years as outsourcing forces canned responses to many support questions, and in many cases, you can see the Lawyers stamp of approval on the language being pasted into the chat window by "Tom" aka Mandeep Tidelopoopoo in Mumbai.

Unfortunately, this story only serves to remind us that the US Military has way too much money on their hands, and too much money requires that silly and stupid ways be concocted to spend this unearned income as fast as they can get it. Unfortunaetly, real spending for the benefit of the Social structure remains unfunded, school curricula is gutted, the critical thinking skills of the masses decay, and the libraries are shut down in order to create more dupes that are easily fooled by the tactics of unconventional warfare that are now being waged on the very citizens that created the machine in the first place.

"Remember Remember the 5th of November" - Truer words have never been spoken.

[peacetalksforall]

130. We can be assured that the person who is behind Ntrepid is a friend of Cheney,

Rumsfeld, Wolkowitz, or the Bush's. Right up there. Friend helping friends in new businesses.

How many people had to move out of their home as we read this article and the comments?

PS - your post was excellent. Informative. Thanks.

[Sonoman]

104. Has anyone here seen John Poindexter (DARPA)?

Just wondering.

Sonoman

[peacetalksforall]

132. That's the friend - I just posted above that we can be sure that whoever is in charge

at Ntrepid is a friend of the top level of abusers.

Hearing his name assures me that what is being reported as a start-up has been in existence since the day they kicked Poindexter out of the database project because of all the resistence to the man, his history, his disgrace, his evil - this venture has been going on with a secret contract - now for some reason they let it out. It makes sense if he's involved.

So it looks like these smart $&@ &(%&)#& trolls that I've recognized established enough live experience to proceed to code them while those jerks go on to something else. If patterend after them - they will be easy to reconize.

[diane in sf]

107. Better believe they're doing it here and now as well.

[Hutzpa]

113. I believe they have been doing it here for awhile

how else can you explain the lack of discussion when it comes to Isreal?

[Hutzpa]

110. This is the problem

every fuckin' evil is generated from United States, every EVIL thoughts and agendas.

Then when the rest of the world takes it and ran away with it, we are ready to blow them
up.

There are truly evil people living in this country.

:puke:

[McCamy Taylor]

114. News flash! Private business has been doing this for years. Their puppets are obvious.

Unless they get some damn good writers to run this thing, it will be a joke. China's puppets are laughably inept.

[KansDem]

115. Why are we reading about this in a foreign publication?

It boggles the mind...

[Crabby Appleton]

118. It was published elsewhere about a month ago

including DU/GD
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=439&topic_id=453875

(moved from LBN about a month ago)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4739184

http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/client/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229219056

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/02/18/revealed-air-force-ordered-software-to-manage-army-of-fake-virtual-people/

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/spy-talk/2011/03/spy_bloggers_not_friending_us.html

added on edit

even on Fox on 19 Feb
http://nation.foxnews.com/culture/2011/02/19/us-gov-t-software-creates-fake-people-spread-message-social-networking

another DU on on 17 Feb - there were several in GD the last month
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x436443

[KansDem]

121. Wow, FOX News??!!!

They must have had a twinge of journalistic integrity...

[AKDavy]

120. The mass culture and collective myth thing has been going on...

for almost 100 years (Since WWI).

Eliminate regional cultures and local interests in favor of a national identity and mass culture of production and consumption.
Use group behavior to manipulate the masses.
Marginalize freethinkers and discredit dissenters.

The military industrial complex does this shit because it works.

[htuttle]

123. We can thank Edward Bernays for that

The Century of Self (Part 1 of 4)
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6718420906413643126#

(other 3 parts linked on page)

[AKDavy]

126. Yep. Thanks for the link!

[LatteLibertine]

122. Not surprised

Corporations have been doing a manner of this for some time. They hire people to "manage online communities" and to "seed viral assets". Usually these folks join a community, build up a rep, then start spinning/spreading propaganda. In some cases they have may have up to 100 different identities. The idea is to appear like an average joe and of course to influence others into spreading their propaganda to friends etc.

Our government has been lying to us for years about what they've been doing over seas.

We've always used propaganda.

In addition, our corporations control our government through bribes and other forms of compensation. Control of our government is essentially control of our military.

Who are most of our politicians? Millionaire lawyers who were involved in lobbying before they became our "servants".

They own our media as well. They often use polls there to influence public opinion rather than report it.

[radhika]

124. Do the Sock Puppets donate to blogger fund drives?

Hope so, they owe their income to the blogosphere.

[Arugula Latte]

125. Dear U.S. Military:

Here is what you should be doing:
- "Defending" the United States. Anyone tries to attack us, like those sneaky Canucks, you stop 'em, okay?
- Lending help in crisis situations such as Japan.

Other than that, you're wasting your time and our money.

[indimuse]

128. KNR! n/t

[CoffeeCat]

129. That's kind of scary, on a personal level....

So, you're on Facebook, and you see some pro-Glenn Beck, Palin cheerleader making riduclous statements.
And you insult them.

You are real. All of your information--including your name, hometown, and other personal
data are right there--as well as a picture of yourself! What do you want to bet that the
government will keep tabs on and gather information about the people who insult or engage
these "fake" personalities?

That's another frightening tangent to this. You may be arguing with a government plant.

I once met an obnoxious Palin supporter online. She droned on about how intelligent Palin
was and how she was the only thing that could save the universe. I was in a mood. I figured
this person was too far gone to engage in rational discourse, so I asked her why she was wearing
a dress that looked like a Christmas tree skirt. Yeah yeah, it was childish. But whatever--will
the government retaliate or make notes in a folder if we piss off their "pseudo personas"???

...or will they just declare us enemy combatants?

[freshwest]

131. I don't know if I'd call it 'pro-American,' it's more anti-human and pro-MIC.

And that goes for all the American internet sites as well, which are being used to inflate numbers of people supporting inhuman crap. The Koch, etc. groups have more than enough money to toss around, paying the likes of Rushbo and Beck and the O'Keefes to live lives of luxury spewing their garbage.

After a while, the reality of what most of us think and feel are beaten down because all we see is their filth reflected back at us. It is simply drowning us out.

All television and radio are used to make us think we are worse than we are, and those without any grounding or education* simply imitate what they hear and see an are taught to feel at Fox, etc.

There is no true consensus of the type media is making us think there is within our lives. The corporate owned media is just an excuse for those in government and corporations to manufacture consent to do what nobody ever even asked for, except the teabagger dittoheads.*

I've suspected a lot of what we'e been seeing online where every liberal or progressive poster on message boards is attacked and the posting is done in a sophiscated manner to outwit the protocols of the website to prevent their actions. They have posted so much vulgar and hateful stuff under numerous persona that people have simply quit trying to have any dialogue there.

Evil bastards, I suspected they were being paid!

[Countdown_3_2_1]

134. I WOULD LIKE TO APPLY FOR A JOB. yoo hoo! Agent Mike!

I am willing to sit at a computer all day and troll, I mean influence political sites.
Pay me $500K a year and I'll even work from home.
I'm willing to work flexible hours, nights and weekends, but I enjoy porn on my breaks.

My wife is willing too, but she wants to sign up the cat as well! So you can arrest my Lovie and replace her with some hot 20 something twins. Triplets like the Dahm sisters are acceptable as well, but I'll need a higher salary (hey. those gals can eat a lot). I love the bennies of govt work!

Just give me the days talking points and I can start right away. Oh, and the girls will need a discount at Victoria's Secret...or a pretty hefty govt expense card (because playmates in exotic lingerie IS a necessary evil--don't get cheap on me).

I CAN BE BOUGHT! I AM YOUR MAN!

[sce56]

135. DOD, SERVICES CREATE ORGANIZATIONS DEDICATED TO PROTECTING MILITARY NETWORKS—AND

DOD, SERVICES CREATE ORGANIZATIONS DEDICATED
TO PROTECTING MILITARY NETWORKS—AND POSSIBLY
TO WAGE OFFENSIVE CYBER-OPERATIONS.

from:

MIT 2010 Volume: 14 Issue: 4 (May)
http://www.military-information-technology.com/mit-archives/249-mit-2010-volume-14-issue-4-may/2908-cyber-command-update.html

Following the confirmation by the Senate in May of General Keith Alexander to head U.S. Cyber Command, the Department of Defense and military services are moving ahead in establishing organizations dedicated to protecting military networks—and possibly to wage offensive cyber-operations. U.S. Cyber Command (USCYBERCOM) is a subordinate unified command under U.S. Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM). Its service components are the 24th Air Force; Army Forces Cyber Command (ARFORCYBER); Marine Corps Forces, Cyberspace Command; and U.S. Fleet Cyber Command/U.S. 10th Fleet.

Many aspects of the new organizations, their working and reporting relationships, policies and personnel are still being worked out. Nevertheless, some or all are expected to achieve full operating status by the end of the year, assuming their place in the battle against the growing efforts to enter and bring down U.S. military networks by hostile outsiders. The major subordinate commands under 24th Air Force are the 689th Combat Communications Wing, Tinker AFB, Okla.; 688th Information Operations Wing, Lackland AFB; and 67th Network Warfare Wing, Lackland AFB. More than 5,400 men and women conduct or support 24-hour operations involving cyberspace operations for 24th Air Force, including 3,339 military, 2,975 civilian and 1,364 contractor personnel. In addition, more than 10,000 Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve personnel directly support the 24th Air Force and Air Force Space Command mission.

The 24th Air Force attained IOC on January 22, with FOC projected for October. The Navy component is called U.S. Fleet Cyber Command, and also includes the U.S. 10th Fleet. The latter is a revived unit designation last used during World War II, when it served as the organizational home of Navy forces fighting German submarines in the Battle of the North Atlantic. Vice Admiral Bernard J. McCullough III is the commander of both Fleet Cyber Command and 10th Fleet, which are located at Fort Meade. McCullough has said publicly that the combined commands will have roughly 180 personnel, including cryptologists, information operations professionals and intelligence specialists.

The Army intends to establish a new ARFORCYBER headquarters within the Washington, D.C., area no later than October. The Army Network Enterprise Technology Command/9th Signal Command (Army) and portions of the 1st Information Operations Command (Land) will be subordinate units to ARFORCYBER. Additionally, Army Intelligence and Security Command will be under the operational control of ARFORCYBER for cyber-related actions. The total command strength will exceed 21,000 soldiers and civilians, and there will be no new growth or impact to Army end strength. The cost to establish ARFORCYBER will be funded from within existing fiscal resources.

[2banon]

137. What a Surprise! (Not) n/t

[Corruption Winz]

138. Not that big of a deal to me, truthfully.

I don't care how many people say something that I don't truly believe. If I don't believe it, then I don't believe this. If someone is foolish enough to call for this, then so be it.

I also think the comparison to China's attempts to control free speech is a bit of a stretch.

[Richard D]

139. Shocking! Unbelievable!!

Not.

[JerseygirlCT]

140. Aren't scads of companies doing the same already?

Trying to grasp their social media and bend opinion to themselves?

I don't find this so shocking, really.

[hootinholler]

145. It's a bit more insidious than that

It's not the use of public media it's about the manipulation of the ideas in the noosphere.

Persona management software provides the capability to have a conversation with yourself on a public board. Present whatever argument you want and tear it down all by yourself appearing to be 50 different people, divided into factions and each having a back story.

I certainly hope no one thinks this is a military only program. The respondents to the AirForce RFP will sell their software to anyone. What is needed is a reliable method of detection. It's an interesting problem, actually, from a computational point of view.

-Hoot

[TNLib]

144. meh Propagandist. are pretty easy to spot. Just hit the ignore button... Problem solved

Some how I don't think it will work that well. If a bunch of people came on here spewing propaganda unless it fits in with their own ideology there just going to hit the ignore button.

[Kurovski]

148. K&R. (nt)

[TygrBright]

152. FINALLY RimJob got a big government contract! n/t

[dflprincess]

154. So, outside of Americans

will anyone else be dumb enough not to see through a constant stream posts "designed to influence internet conversations and spread pro-American propaganda" especially when they come from the same posters and will, no doubt, use the same talking points?

[Diclotican]

165. dflprincess

dflprincess

The short answer for that is NO..

The long answer for it is HELL NO..

Diclotican

[RoccoR5955]

158. Next time I say in these forums to someone, "Nice Try,"

I know that they are being paid by one of these operations to state a corporate agenda.
They have been doing it for a long, long time. Since before there was what we now know as an Internet, on BBSes, where we used a dialup connection and a modem to write about the kind of things that we do here.

[Major Hogwash]

159. Rage Against the Machine

Every day there's more bad news about OUR government.

[snot]

160. Something further, and scary:

Just came across this comment on this news item in a different forum, from a commenter I know and trust:

"I was watching that Wisconsin live feed channel last week and in the sidebar was an ongoing chat. Those participating had identified a computer program by the way it was chatting. Everytime someone typed in one of several keywords, the automoton would spew out some cranky right-wing talking point. weird."

Scary to think what other programs are out there that we don't know about yet.

[joshcryer]

161. Damn, how much can I get paid? I do this shit for free!

[Shining Jack]

163. Ha!

Anonymous vs. HBGary

Early in 2011, Aaron Barr submitted a talk to a security conference in which he planned to "focus on outing the major players of the anonymous group".

Barr, the CEO of Washington-based HBGary Federal, had spent time "infiltrating the group" using multiple identities on social networks and Anonymous IRC channels.

---

The CEO of HBGary prepared a post explaining how they had flexed their "muscle today by revealing the identities of all the top management within the group Anonymous."

Anonymous were quick to respond.

Even while Barr was proclaiming victory and threatening to "take the gloves off", Anonymous were burrowing deeper into his network.

By the end of the attack, Barr's iPad was reputedly erased, his LinkedIn and Twitter accounts were hijacked, the HBGary Federal website was defaced, proprietary HBGary source code was stolen and with over 71,000 private emails now published to the internet, HBGary was laid bare.

http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2011/03/20113981026464808.html

Some of them will have nasty surprises.

[pam4water]

166. Saw something probably on here a couple months ago where China already does this to it's people.

[Vidar]

168. Now we can all accuse each other of being top secret, spook sock puppets,

instead of just the regular, garden variety.

[Hotler]

170. kicking n/t

[Enthusiast]

171. Now that the lines between

private corporations and the government have been sufficiently eroded we can expect this software to be used against the interests of the American people. This is fascism.

[Zorra]

173. Nothing really so new. "Agent Mike" and friends have been at DU

for years.

[Fuddnik]

174. I liked it better when they just stared at goats.