US Government Software Creates “Fake People” on Social Networks to Promote Propaganda…
iACORN.
(Examiner) — The US government is offering private intelligence companies contracts to create software to manage “fake people” on social media sites and create the illusion of consensus on controversial issues.
The contract calls for the development of “Persona Management Software” which would help the user create and manage a variety of distinct fake profiles online. The job listing was discussed in recently leaked emails from the private security firm HBGary after an attack by internet activist last week.
Click here to view the government contract.
According to the contract, the software would “protect the identity of government agencies” by employing a number of false signals to convince users that the poster is in fact a real person. A single user could manage unique background information and status updates for up to 10 fake people from a single computer.
The software enables the government to shield its identity through a number of different methods including the ability to assign unique IP addresses to each persona and the ability to make it appear as though the user is posting from other locations around the world.
Facebook as a way to convey government messages. The document reads:
- “Those names can be cross-referenced across Facebook, twitter, MySpace, and other social media services to collect information on each individual. Once enough information is collected this information can be used to gain access to these individuals social circles.
- Even the most restrictive and security conscious of persons can be exploited. Through the targeting and information reconnaissance phase, a person’s hometown and high school will be revealed. An adversary can create a classmates.com account at the same high school and year and find out people you went to high school with that do not have Facebook accounts, then create the account and send a friend request. Under the mutual friend decision, which is where most people can be exploited, an adversary can look at a targets friend list if it is exposed and find a targets most socially promiscuous friends, the ones that have over 300-500 friends, friend them to develop mutual friends before sending a friend request to the target. To that end friend’s accounts can be compromised and used to post malicious material to a targets wall. When choosing to participate in social media an individual is only as protected as his/her weakest friend.”
Other documents in the leaked emails include quotes from HBGary CEO Aaron Barr saying, “There are a variety of social media tricks we can use to add a level of realness to all fictitious personas… Using hashtags and gaming some location based check-in services we can make it appear as if a persona was actually at a conference and introduce himself/herself to key individuals as part of the exercise, as one example.”
Posted by ZIP on Saturday, February 19, 2011, at 8:36 pm | 
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Federal Trolling Agents
OMG….Make this go Viral in every way possible ASAP!
“geographacilly”
That’s how the Obama Administration spells it.
I’m pretty sure we’ve already seen a few.
Umm…isn’t this spamming?
And where does this activity fall in the budget?
Wait a minute. I thought Michelle didn’t like Facebook.
Fuckers.
Saw a photo in the ChiTrib or WSJ recently at the goverment “techcon” where all these bastards (Jobs, Zuckerberg, asswipe from Google) are toasting each other, with vampire Valerie Jarrett at the table, and I said to my husband, “This is the new axis of evil. That’s the totalitarian cabal, right there.”
We’re seeing it even now.
All of these fake people will be registered Democratic voters in 2012.
“illusion of consensus”
J-Mac is right. I smell a reelection campaign, with a whiff of peer pressure and entrapment.
We don’t deserve freedom if people are voting and making decisions based on what their facebook friends’ statuses are.
I could agree with you but then we’d both be wrong.
Good nite! How can this be construed as anything other than propaganda? When this admistration hits an all time low, I wonder how they can possible go any lower……and then they do. At what point do their actions become illegal?
Good show Anonymous, that bust against those HG bastards outed more than anyone could have dreamed.
Yeah pretty sure I came across one today at a” home schooling group website for locals. A person is trying to promote Michael Moores New Teen News Paper. In part reads :
Join My High School Newspaper …a note to students from Michael Moore
Friday, February 18th, 2011
Dear High School Students:
How inspired are you by the thousands of students from Wisconsin high schools who began walking out of class four days ago and have now occupied the State Capitol building and its grounds in Madison, demanding that the governor stop his assault on teachers and other government workers? I have to say it’s one of the most exciting things I’ve seen in years.
We are, right now, living in an amazing moment of history. And this moment has happened because the youth around the world have decided they’ve had enough. Young people are in revolt — and it’s about time.
You, the students and young adults, from Cairo, Egypt to Madison, Wisconsin, are now rising up, taking to the streets, organizing, protesting and refusing to move until your voices are heard. Effing amazing!!
***
You can read the rest of this slop at his site. I wont add the link , I dont want to give him props’.
Add it to the ever growing list of impeachable offenses.
All liberals are fake people since they live in another universe.
Glad I de-activated my FB account.
This is one way to make it appear more people agree with the Left’s agenda thereby making conservetives think they are in the minority.
@FloridaGirl, that sure does sound like the kind of message this program would send. BTW I am also a Florida Girl
Orlando
So this is why they want to vote over the internet as well, I’ll bet.
Isn’t this flat out GOVERNMENT propaganda – they must have hired Josef Goebbels ghost. obama really believes we are his enemies, and he continues to prove it.
This is very disturbing.
“The software enables the government to shield its identity through a number of different methods including the ability to assign unique IP addresses to each persona and the ability to make it appear as though the user is posting from other locations around the world.”
Yeah, but they’ll still write the same way. Call them out. People have been trying that trick on a small scale on forumboards for years, usually for marketing purposes. Oftentimes with a proxy as well, but their writing gives them away.
As one commenter noted, this was the reason Obama met with the internet gurus in California, strategise for re-election 2012.
What a charlatan, investigation should take place.
Go back to that document and click on the “interested vendor list”..its a whole story by itself
Am a black man …and I have a problem knowing that there is a government code for black owned business to get special privilege on contracts.This black history ,minority owned bullshit has to stop
Morgan Freeman nailed it in this clip http://www.thatvideosite.com/video/morgan_freeman_isnt_a_fan_of_black_history_month
And what the hell is a company in Kabul doing bidding on gov contracts..
Its called “SOCIAL ENGINEERING” and its been happening since the begining of civilization. Its main purpose is to instill subjective consensus of the populace so those who are “weak minded” will be absorbed into the manufactured consensus.
I have 400 friends on facebook and as far as I know most appear to be bots already.
Good thing fake people can’t vote…
Oh, wait..
1) mandate photo ID
2) dip a finger to (attempt to) prevent multiple voting
3) educate people that liberal BS is just that – B frigging S…
Shocking! /s
Who knew? /ms
Just e mailed by two liberal senators from Virginia about this. I am sure they are in support of it, but I think they should know we are on to them. Kudos to whomever discovered this at the Examiner.
you racists!!! iPeople are people too. Do you hate them just because they are formless and don’t exist? you hatemongers! iPeople have rights too… the right to exist on a server somewhere, not bound by meaningless national borders….the rights to expand hard drive space usage as they get ‘older’ and voice their opinions on controversial topics. Rights to free memory space… you just want to round up all of the iPeople, put them behind a firewall somewhere, and start hitting the delete button…you Nazis!!!!
“… find out people you went to high school with that do not have Facebook accounts, then create the account and send a friend request. ”
Uh, this IS identity theft. This SHOULD BE illegal. Even if done for non-monetary reasons. But, more than illegal, this is truly scary EVIL.
This should be illegal for the gov’t.
But it’s all part of Communist Propaganda tactics.
And Zero and co. have enough web trolls already.
dagblog.com/
I sent Russell Beasley the head of this outfit an e mail and all I said was “BUSTED”
@johnny p
check out this realted story on this:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/02/16/945768/-UPDATED:-The-HB-Gary-Email-That-Should-Concern-Us-All
http://blogs.forbes.com/parmyolson/2011/02/11/anonymous-ready-to-dump-more-hbgary-e-mails-launch-anonleaks/
Joseph Goebbels’ wet dream
Calm down, folks. Scroll to the bottom of the contract (at the link) and check out out the contracting organization. This is a military contract intended for use against terrorists overseas. (“Place of performance”: MacDill AFB, Kabul, Afghanistan, Baghdad, Iraq.)
I was stationed at CENTCOM HQ for two years. The address at MacDill (listed in the contract) is the headquarters activity building. I’m guessing the point of contact works for the 6th Contracting Squadron. The soliciting unit is probably CENTCOM or SOCCENT, both of which are hosted at MacDill.
The idea of this software certainly raises theoretical questions about the integrity of social media. But this contract is unrelated to the well-documented attempts of Obama’s associates to skew elections.