And the plot thickens! HB Gary Federal in more trouble

[sgreger1]

Quick recap:

*HB Gary is a bad security company that was doing bad stuff for bank of america to shut down wikileaks. (bad stuff like tracking down people who donated to wikileaks and intimidating them etc)
*Hackers took them down and published their emails for all the world to see
*Those emails are shining light on a lot of stuff that is going on behind the scenes that people always assumed was real but could never really prove



Anyways, so here is the latest iteration. Turns out the government started soliciting companies who could provide "persona management software."


Here's the article: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/02/1...irtual-people/

The long and the short of it is this:

The government wanted the capability to sit 10 guys in a room and have each of them command dozens of fake online profiles. This way, a small room of people could simulate mobs of thousands or millions of people. This virtual army would allow them to do stuff like alter public opinion polls in favor of the government or to spread disinformation around the internet by using fake acounts on snuson and yahoo answers etc.

You know how we have always said the government probably pays people to post propaganda online and stuff, turns out it's true. We knew it happened in the past, as that info is now declassified, but this was a recent contract.


Very disturbing that they would want to command an army of fake online profiles. They even went so far as to think of setting up ISP's in various locations so that each fake account looked entirely real. The fake account would log on from a static IP address tied to a certain location every time, it would be near impossible to know if a message board was populated by hundreds of real people or just 1 guy controlling hundreds of unique profiles.




And of course, HB Gary Federal was one of the bidders... Someone at HB Gary is crying themselves to sleep every night I bet, lol.

[lxskllr]

It's pretty interesting what all the government's involved in. I'd love to see it all laid out, without any redactions, and go into detail exactly what they did. I think I'd be surprised, yet somehow not surprised :^D

[sgreger1]

It's pretty interesting what all the government's involved in. I'd love to see it all laid out, without any redactions, and go into detail exactly what they did. I think I'd be surprised, yet somehow not surprised :^D

Someday we will uncover enough pieces of the puzzle to get a relatively coherant picture. What does give me hope is that we seem to have entered the age of the "leak", where people are ready and willing to whistle blow on people doing bad things. I am glad we are encouraging a culture where people call something out when they see it, and I hope the government doesn't suppress outlets like wikileaks any further.

Unfortunately, the internet kill switch bill is back and is now ironically titled internet freedom bill or some shit, so Obama will soon have the power to shut all of this down. Actually, I don't think Obama has the spine to use it, what scares me more is that THE GOVERNMENT will have this new power long after Obama is gone. We are facing a situation where all it takes is for us to elect one super evil guy on accident one time and he may piece together all of the draconian legislation from over the years (patriot act, Internet Killswitches etc) and use it all at once to assume absolute power. We've been passing laws allowing the government little powers here and there for decades, all it takes is for the right evil genius to piece it all together and use it all at once. I think a president could legally justify shutting down the country under his control for at least a short period of time using nothing but existing laws. Between the patriot act, FEMA, the ability to shut off the internet etc, a bad president could really do a number on us pretty quick without having to pass any new laws. That is what scares me. Luckily, Obama is too weak to ever do that, but what worries me is the next guy.

[lxskllr]

My investment in canned goods has already paid off. All I need to do is invest in string, and I'll be able to beat any potential communication blockade :^D

[sgreger1]

My investment in canned goods has already paid off. All I need to do is invest in string, and I'll be able to beat any potential communication blockade :^D

Lol, I think to prepare I am going to start communicating ONLY via one-time pads, like a russian spy

[GoVegan]

Someday we will uncover enough pieces of the puzzle to get a relatively coherant picture. What does give me hope is that we seem to have entered the age of the "leak", where people are ready and willing to whistle blow on people doing bad things. I am glad we are encouraging a culture where people call something out when they see it, and I hope the government doesn't suppress outlets like wikileaks any further.

Unfortunately, the internet kill switch bill is back and is now ironically titled internet freedom bill or some shit, so Obama will soon have the power to shut all of this down. Actually, I don't think Obama has the spine to use it, what scares me more is that THE GOVERNMENT will have this new power long after Obama is gone. We are facing a situation where all it takes is for us to elect one super evil guy on accident one time and he may piece together all of the draconian legislation from over the years (patriot act, Internet Killswitches etc) and use it all at once to assume absolute power. We've been passing laws allowing the government little powers here and there for decades, all it takes is for the right evil genius to piece it all together and use it all at once. I think a president could legally justify shutting down the country under his control for at least a short period of time using nothing but existing laws. Between the patriot act, FEMA, the ability to shut off the internet etc, a bad president could really do a number on us pretty quick without having to pass any new laws. That is what scares me. Luckily, Obama is too weak to ever do that, but what worries me is the next guy.

but what if shutting down the internet helps in our war against terrorism?

[lxskllr]

:^D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGZVL24rGY0