Why DOES our military need so many fake internet personas?

Ernie · #1 02/20/11, 08:27 PM

http://www.jrdeputyaccountant.com/20...-500-fake.html

Stumbled across this blog today. Yes, I know it's a blog, but it does contain all the references to the actual information so you can fact check it.

Apparently the military bought 500 "fake personas" from a defense contractor. These are internet "people" who come with their own emails, facebook pages, twitter accounts, friends lists, and forum posts. Who "friends" these people on Facebook? Other fake personas?

Too bizarre. What in the world is going on that the military needs this? And how does it impact my OWN internet persona?

Shrarvrs88 · #2 02/20/11, 08:49 PM

oh man....

Sonshine · #3 02/20/11, 09:20 PM

Never heard of that.

naturelover · #4 02/20/11, 09:34 PM

Quote:

Who "friends" these people on Facebook? Other fake personas?

Too bizarre. What in the world is going on that the military needs this? And how does it impact my OWN internet persona?

I'd never heard of military doing this kind of thing but it doesn't surprise me. Actually it kind of makes sense. I can see that the military might be doing it to set up a spy network, using the fake personas as bait for terrorists, anarchists, revolutionaries, international spies, traitors etc. to draw in the confidences and secrets of those kind of people that may be considered a threat to national security. I do know that there are paid investigators now who spend all their time surfing the net, going through forums, blogs and blog commentaries, other kinds of websites looking to acquire the confidences of people and organizations who are promoting human trafficking, child porn, that kind of thing. So it makes sense to me it could get extended into the military to build up a spy network designed for entrapment.

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seedspreader · #5 02/20/11, 10:08 PM

The whole truth of the subversiveness of our government and military would probably shock us all.

Pam6 · #6 02/20/11, 10:41 PM

It is EASY to get complete strangers to be your friend on FB! Play a game they play and then friend request them asking to be their neighbor!

Shine · #7 02/20/11, 11:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by naturelover

I'd never heard of military doing this kind of thing but it doesn't surprise me. Actually it kind of makes sense. I can see that the military might be doing it to set up a spy network, using the fake personas as bait for terrorists, anarchists, revolutionaries, international spies, traitors etc. to draw in the confidences and secrets of those kind of people that may be considered a threat to national security.
.

If you read the Patriot Act, anyone can be considered a "terrorist" if they speak ill of any standing government. The description of who should be considered a "terrorist" is so nebulous as to include you and I, unless of course, you only espouse what the government spews out to the people through their mouthpieces, Main Stream Media.

Fat Charlie · #8 02/21/11, 09:19 AM

What do you want to bet that half of the budget for that comes from intel agencies and the rest from recruiting?

7thswan · #9 02/21/11, 12:43 PM

The Libs have to be everywhere to promote their propaganda.

ryanthomas · #10 02/21/11, 01:05 PM

They had to buy fake personas? Why not make their own? I'm sure they have plenty of people who would rather play around on facebook than go into combat.

But I think it's great if they only target genuine international terrorists. Will they restrain themselves from trying to trap good freedom-loving Americans. Maybe at first, but that won't last.

If there are any fake personas here working for the government, I just want to say that I love Obama and everything he's doing.

Ernie · #11 02/21/11, 01:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ryanthomas

If there are any fake personas here working for the government, I just want to say that I love Obama and everything he's doing.

WAY too late for you, bud. You're on the list!

kirkmcquest · #12 02/21/11, 01:08 PM

Sounds like an excellent propaganda tool, and also a way to identify those who are using their constitutional right to criticize or resist tyranny.

ryanthomas · #13 02/21/11, 01:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ernie

WAY too late for you, bud. You're on the list!

Darn.

naturelover · #14 02/21/11, 01:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fat Charlie

What do you want to bet that half of the budget for that comes from intel agencies and the rest from recruiting?

I hadn't thought of that but that makes even more sense, doesn't it, that they'd be doing it for recruiting purposes too, or for tracking down possible traitors already within the ranks. Makes me think of all the instances on other discussion boards where I've seen newbies sign up out of the blue and immediately start asking leading questions all about the military and intel. Sometimes it's seemed like some of the newbies already knew a lot more than they were letting on, otherwise they shouldn't have even known to ask some of the leading types of questions they did.

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FourDeuce · #15 02/21/11, 02:28 PM

"Who "friends" these people on Facebook? Other fake personas?"

Is there any other kind of Facebook?

Just kidding. I realize some people really get into that stuff. I had to open an account on Facebook about 2 years ago for another website, so I did. I didn't go back until recently and found out I had some "friends" on there, even though I hadn't been back in all that time. When I hear people bragging about how many friends they have on Facebook I think of that.

Fat Charlie · #16 02/21/11, 05:38 PM

Bradley Manning got busted after he told someone online what he had done. I'm sure the Pentagon wants to seed some chatrooms with ears/provocateurs and you just know that recruiting has been astroturfing for years with cool kids who can't wait to enlist.

oregon woodsmok · #17 02/22/11, 02:19 AM

I get so irritated by their disregard for my taxpayer money. They bought identities.

For pete's sake.

On the other hand. I wonder how much they pay? Is it like $10,000 hammers? I can make up names and get email addresses for them all day long, if they want to pay me $15,000 a pop for them.

Bearfootfarm · #18 02/22/11, 02:51 AM

Quote:

They had to buy fake personas? Why not make their own?

I think what they bought was the programming to run up to 10 fakes per computer

Ernie · #19 02/22/11, 08:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by oregon woodsmok

I get so irritated by their disregard for my taxpayer money. They bought identities.

For pete's sake.

On the other hand. I wonder how much they pay? Is it like $10,000 hammers? I can make up names and get email addresses for them all day long, if they want to pay me $15,000 a pop for them.

No, you really can't.

These are complete internet "people". They have chat room histories, forum posts across dozens of special interests, blogs dating back years, and real human records to go along with them. Driver's licenses, library cards, the works.

Let's say you're running a resistance cell. A new recruit named John Boyd is introduced to you. First thing you do is run a Google search. You find that JBoyd has posted hundreds of messages critical of the government on an internet forum for survivalists. You find JBoyd has a blog where he espouses many of your same viewpoints, and his last entry states: "Something has got to be done!" You call your brother-in-law the sheriff's deputy and he states that a John Boyd was arrested in Tuskegee last year for protesting against the government.

John Boyd looks pretty real to you. Only John Boyd isn't. Right now he's a name in an internet chat room being run by an E-3 out of Fort Huachuca, or perhaps a government contractor working at a fusion center in Iowa. Through a string of emails you and John Boyd agree to meet and plan an operation and then you get to meet a Department of Homeland Security agent posing as John Boyd, or an FBI agent, so forth and so on.

Time to step up the game. They've been planning things in back rooms for a very long time.

Wayne02 · #20 02/22/11, 02:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ernie

Through a string of emails you and John Boyd agree to meet and plan an operation and then you get to meet a Department of Homeland Security agent posing as John Boyd, or an FBI agent, so forth and so on.

Yep, I would think the fake internet personas would be one of the tools used by the .gov Fusion centers to build profiles on people as they churn through data to find those possible, 'persons of interest'.

Google fusion centers for more info if interested.

Quote:

Due to past examples of fusion centers vastly overstepping their original mandates, including monitoring political events, bumper sticker preferences and even constitutionally-protected protest activities, many civil-rights organizations have worked to monitor fusion centers and their activities. However, public scrutiny has proved difficult in most cases as the majority of fusion centers operate in a highly secretive manner without revealing who works for them, what government agencies they work with or what their basic capabilities are.

Many lack websites or any sort of public presence and information about their activities is often unavailable from official sources. There is no national authority overseeing their activities and many fusion centers even lack basic privacy policies concerning the collection of information on law-abiding citizens. Some states have even worked to exempt fusion center activities from public records requests. In fact, the majority of fusion centers have failed to even identify their most basic attribute: their physical location. Instead, many fusion centers simply provide a mailing address that leads to a post office box or generic government building. Some fusion centers do not even provide an address.

http://publicintelligence.net/fusion...ions-revealed/