U.S. Military Launches Spy Operation Using Fake Online Identities

[Agorism]

U.S. Military Launches Spy Operation Using Fake Online Identities

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/17/online-persona-management_n_837153.html


The U.S. Military has purchased software designed to create and control false online personas in an attempt to use social media and other websites to counter anti-U.S. messaging.

According to the contract between US Central Command (Centcom) and California company Ntrepid, the software would let each user control 10 personas, each "replete with background, history, supporting details, and cyber presences that are technically, culturally and geographically consistent." The software would also be able to let personas "appear to originate in nearly any part of the world" and interact through "conventional online services and social media platforms," while using a static IP address for each persona to maintain a consistent online identity.

These false online personas, also known as "sock puppets," would be equipped to seem like real people while entering online discussion through blogs, message boards, chats, and more. With a false persona, a user could discredit opponents, or create the semblance of consensus.

...continued

[jkr]

wEE r tHe BoRg blah blah blah...

[anaconda]

I don't see how this is much different from some spooks simply registering on blog sites. Someone from Israel could register with the Ron Paul Forums and list their location as Cleveland, Ohio, right?

[Agorism]

Or register 10 names to do some "war blogging."

[HOLLYWOOD]

Yeah, easy to follow the trail back to Washington DC. contracted company, Abraxas
http://ceinquiry.us/2011-03-17-abraxas-ntrepid-corp-sock-puppet

From Abraxas to Ntrepid: Tracking the Pentagon’s “sock puppet” operation contractor
Posted on Thu, 17 Mar 2011 by Andrew (http://ceinquiry.us/2011-03-17-abraxas-ntrepid-corp-sock-puppet)
A piece in today’s Guardian reveals a US military “sock puppet” operation (http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/mar/17/us-spy-operation-social-networks) that involves “using fake online personas to influence internet conversations and spread pro-American propaganda.” The article name the California-registered Ntrepid Corporation (http://www.ntrepidcorp.com/) as a recipient of a contract for the project. The California corporate registry (http://kepler.sos.ca.gov/) lists an office in Tysons Corner, Virginia as the physical location of the company. A search for the company’s name on Virginia’s corporate registry turns up an entry (ID: F184248-5) with a listing of its director and officers (screenshot here (http://i.imgur.com/KoUoo.png)). The names are as follows:
Richard H. Helms (director and officer)
Wesley R. Husted (officer)
Margaret A. Lee (officer)
As it turns out, Richard Helms was previously the founder and CEO (http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/gi_0199-6001427/Abraxas-Corporation-s-Richard-H.html) of the Virginia-based Abraxas Corporation (http://www.abraxascorp.com/). Wesley Husted was at one point its CFO (http://www.crunchbase.com/person/wesley-r-husted). So, what is the Abraxas Corporation and what do they do? Its web site (http://www.abraxascorp.com/solutions.php) declares itself to be primarily concerned with a information security and risk assessment. A June 2004 article in the International Herald Tribune identified it (http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0621-03.htm) as a “small compan[y] made up almost entirely of former senior CIA officers [...] in McLean, Virginia.” It further named one of its experts, Mary Nayak, as a former head of the Directorate of Intelligence’s South Asia group who had recently been hired as a consultant to the CIA’s 9/11 review group. According to an extensive profile of the company (http://articles.latimes.com/2006/sep/17/nation/na-abraxas17) published in the LA Times in September 2006:
But Abraxas has also been tapped for unusual assignments. Several former CIA officials said Abraxas... continued




http://amorphia-apparel.com/img450/taxdollars.gif

[Anti Federalist]

Umm, somewhere I recall that this is a federal felony, to have the US military engage in propaganda efforts directed in whole or in part against the American people.

[lynnf]

auto-trolls!

barf!

lynn