Own up! Which one of you is a USA spy?

[somabc]

US propaganda to be spread via 500 fake social network accounts

 

The US military is developing 500 fake social networking profiles to spread American propaganda in countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan.

 

The $2.76 million (£1.71 million) project, spearheaded by the US Central Command, will involve the creation of an “online persona management service” that allows one US serviceman to control ten “persona” — or fake identities — each.

 

Once developed, the software will be licensed to 50 users who will be able to set up 500 identities, known colloquially as “sock puppets”, on popular websites such as Twitter and Facebook.

 

Sophisticated tracking software will allow the US to insert a fake identity virtually anywhere in the world. From there the military could provide ostensibly live commentary on real events, such as protests, even when thousands of miles away. Chat rooms, blog posts, tweets and other social media can all be infiltrated.

 

Each identity would come with its own detailed backstory, “replete with history, supporting details and cyber presences that are technically, culturally and geographically consistent”, according to a document released by the Central Command. Encrypted technology will allow each “puppet” to operate “without fear of being discovered by sophisticated adversaries”.

 

Commander Bill Speaks, of Central Command, told The Times that the contract “involved no violations of laws in the US or elsewhere”. He said: “The activities are classified, but the programme is to counter violent extremism and enemy propoganda.”

 

There was a “false impression” that the programme would be used to target US and British audiences, he said. “That’s simply not true.”

 

US attempts to manipulate social networks follow similar efforts by more repressive regimes, from Tehran to Beijing. Twenty months ago the Iranian police tracked the electronic trails left by activists of the Green Revolution, monitoring them through fake Twitter accounts. Such electronic surveillance led led to thousands of arrests in the crackdown that followed the protests.

 

“The Iranian Government has become much more adept at using the Internet to go after activists,” Faraz Sanei, who tracks Iran at Human Rights Watch, told The New York Times in January. Iran’s Revolutionary Guard controls a “cyber army” of hackers that it can unleash against opponents, he said.

 

The US contract, which was awarded to Ntrepid, a newly formed US corporation, calls for “traffic mixing”, a process that blends a user’s traffic with that of many others outside the military. The technique “provides excellent cover and powerful deniability”, Central Command noted.

 

According to the US website Crunch Gear, Ntrepid’s website is registered to a company called Domains By Proxy, whose slogan is: “Remember, your identity is nobody’s business but ours.”

 

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/world/americas/article2950627.ece

[aerospacemango]

I have no idea what you mean....

 

Anyhoo....USA, USA, USA, USA!

[X-13]

Oh, for forks sake...

 

 

Why can't everyone just keep their noses out of people's business. This is just the US trying to take over everything.

 

 

They'll go in, wind everyone up and cause riots, go in under the guise of peacekeeping and giving democracy to the people... then never fork off.

 

Before you know it, it's America lite.

 

 

And it'll always be places with oil.

[Trapper]

You Commie how dare you uncover our brave cyber operatives!

 

I mean, erm, no not all y'all.

[somabc]

Operation Earnest Voice the perfect example of doublespeak

[teejay]

No, I'm not an American spy, comrade somabc.

[CESIL]

What!! You mean that some identities on facebook etc. may not be genuine!

 

Does this mean that some of the beautiful young foreign woman that have become my friends might really be overweight good ol' boys at the Pentagon!

 

My illusions are cruelly shattered one again

[X-13]

Side note: The article was edited to remove references to Facebook and Twitter, as the company say "they aren't targeting them"

 

 

I call bullshit.

 

 

What!! You mean that some identities on facebook etc. may not be genuine!

 

Does this mean that some of the beautiful young foreign woman that have become my friends might really be overweight good ol' boys at the Pentagon!

 

My illusions are cruelly shattered one again

 

Don't worry.

 

I'm a nigerian prince and I have £100,000,000,000 I need to get out of the country. If you provide me with your bank details, I will give 10% as payment for helping me.

Edited March 18, 2011 by X-13

[CAM]

Я - российский шпион

 

[X-13]

Я - российский шпион

 

 

What's that?

 

Jimmy's stuck in a well?

[Admiral208]

The $2.76 million (£1.71 million) project, spearheaded by the US Central Command, will involve the creation of an “online persona management service” that allows one US serviceman to control ten “persona” — or fake identities — each.

 

Are you kidding me!! I could have set up a few fake facebook accounts and twitter accounts for £50. They've been ripped off!!

[Flakes]

O say, can you see, by the dawn's early light,

What so proudly we hail'd at the twilight's last gleaming?

Whose broad stripes and bright stars, thro' the perilous fight,

O'er the ramparts we watch'd, were so gallantly streaming?

And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,

Gave proof thro' the night that our flag was still there.

O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

 

On the shore dimly seen thro' the mists of the deep,

Where the foe's haughty holt in dread silence reposes,

What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,

As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?

Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,

In full glory reflected, now shines on the stream:

'Tis the star-spangled banner: O, long may it wave

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

 

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore

That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion,

A home and a countrv should leave us no more?

Their blood has wash'd out their foul footsteps' pollution.

No refuge could save the hireling and slave

From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave:

And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

 

O thus be it ever when free-men shall stand

Between their lov'd home and the war's desolation;

Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the heav'n-rescued land

Praise the Pow'r that hath made and preserv'd us a nation!

Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,

And this be our motto: "In God is our trust!"

And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave

O'er the land of the free und the home of the brave!

 

huh? o sorry dont know what came over me there

[ButterflyMoon]

Hahahahaha you guys are mental and gave me a good laugh this afternoon!!!

[teejay]

козел застрял в яме

[LeMarchand]

I can imagine the results in this country!

 

Persona #1: Gor blimey guvner! Fank gawd oi've got vis new Facebook page for when oi get me break from cleanin chimernees. Moi missus says that we's got to go t'see some bloke corled a dentist or summat cos weev orl gort bad teef, unlike them gnashers that the loverly yank fellas av. There's a bit of a pea-souper out at ver moment, though, so we're stayin in wiv a nice bit orf blood puddin.

 

Persona #2: I say chaps! What ho! Just got back from tea and crumpets with her majesty. We all agreed that it was a jolly good thing that America was helping us out in our latest altercation with Johnny Foreigner. Thank God for the Yanks, eh? Imagine the pickle we'd have been in if they hadn't helped us out in the two World Wars. Well, must go, Higgins failed to polish my boots sufficiently so I will be administering a sound trashing!