2 stories are posted here: both use a wide range of tactics to manipulate public opinion, and to create new narratives that aim to disrupt the current political debate.
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2 Operation Earnest Voice is an astroturfing campaign by the US government. The aim of the initiative is to use sockpuppets to spread pro-American propaganda on social networking sites based outside of the US.
HERE'S THE TRANSCRIPT:
The campaign is operated by the United States Military Central Command (CENTCOM).
According to CENTCOM, the US-based Facebook and Twitter networks are not targeted by the program because US laws prohibit US state agencies from spreading propaganda among US citizens as according to the Smith-Mundt Modernization Act of 2012. However, according to the Smith-Mundt Modernization Act of 2012, dissemination of foreign propaganda to domestic audiences is expressly allowed over the internet including social media networks. Isaac R. Porche, a researcher at the RAND corporation, claims it would not be easy to exclude US audiences when dealing with internet communications.
The US government signed a $2.8 million contract with the Ntrepid web-security company to develop a specialized software, allowing agents of the government to post propaganda on "foreign-language websites".
Main characteristics of the software, as stated in the software development request, are:
> 50 user "operator" licenses, 10 sockpuppets controllable by each user.
Sockpuppets are to be "replete with background, history, supporting details, and cyber presences that are technically, culturally and geographically consistent".
Sockpuppets are to "be able to appear to originate in nearly any part of the world."
> A special secure VPN, allowing sockpuppets to appear to be posting from "randomly selected IP addresses," in order to "hide the existence of the operation."
> 50 static IP addresses to enable government agencies to "manage their persistent online personas," with identities of government and enterprise organizations protected which will allow for different state agents to use the same sockpuppet, and easily switch between different sockpuppets to "look like ordinary users as opposed to one organization."
> 9 private servers, "based on the geographic area of operations the customer is operating within and which allow a customer's online persona(s) to appear to originate from." These servers should use commercial hosting centers around the world.
> Virtual machine environments, deleted after each session termination, to avoid interaction with "any virus, worm, or malicious software."
USCC commander David Petraeus, in his congressional testimony, stated that Operation Earnest Voice would "reach regional audiences through traditional media, as well as via Web sites and regional public-affairs blogging."
However, his successor, James Mattis, altered the program to have "regional blogging" fall under general USCC public-affairs activity.
On how they would operate on these blogs, Petraeus explained:
"We bring out the moderate voices. We amplify those. And in more detail, we detect and we flag if there is adversary, hostile, corrosive content in some open-source Web forum, we engage with the Web administrators to show that this violates Web site provider policies."
1 Operation Earnest Voice https://operationearnestvoice.co.uk/
Operation Earnest Voice is an online influencing agency. During 10th – 13th we’re setting up our Brexit Division office on the third floor of The Photographers' Gallery in central London. Our office will be accessible to both Gallery visitors and a live online audience.
The mission of our Brexit Division office is to reverse Brexit.
Part installation, part performance, part working think tank, Operation Earnest Voice aims to explore and interrogate the numerous tools, methods and strategies used to influence public opinion online, from the generation of fake followers to the fabrication of images.
2 Operation Earnest Voice is an astroturfing campaign by the US government. The aim of the initiative is to use sockpuppets to spread pro-American propaganda on social
networking sites based outside of the US
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1 Our Story
We take our name and inspiration from Operation Earnest Voice, the US-sponsored campaign, whose purpose is to spread pro-American propaganda on social networking sites.
The campaign relies on sockpuppets to comment and derail online conversations, with the goal of influencing and swaying the public opinion in any particular topic or theme.
China has a similar operation called The 50th Party and Russia's is called The Internet Research Agency. Our office uses similar tools and strategies to influence and sway the public.
Streamed live 13 hours ago
Over 4 days in January, the artist Jonas Lund will be transforming the 3rd Floor of the Gallery into an influencing office tasked with reversing Brexit.
Following an open recruitment call, twelve appointed staff members alongside guest experts will use their skills to collaboratively create a campaign using tactics that manipulate public opinion, and creating new narratives to disrupt the current political debate.
The office will be staffed between 10 – 6pm each day and open to the public.
On offer will be a daily programme of events, strategy meetings and workshops critically reflecting on and subverting the strategies used by both the ‘Leave’ and ‘Remain’ campaigns as a way of exposing the machinations regularly deployed to sway opinion.
Following an open recruitment call, twelve appointed staff members alongside guest experts will use their skills to collaboratively create a campaign using tactics that manipulate public opinion, and creating new narratives to disrupt the current political debate.
The office will be staffed between 10 – 6pm each day and open to the public.
On offer will be a daily programme of events, strategy meetings and workshops critically reflecting on and subverting the strategies used by both the ‘Leave’ and ‘Remain’ campaigns as a way of exposing the machinations regularly deployed to sway opinion.
_________________________________________________________________________________
2 Operation Earnest Voice is an astroturfing campaign by the US government. The aim of the initiative is to use sockpuppets to spread pro-American propaganda on social networking sites based outside of the US.
HERE'S THE TRANSCRIPT:
The campaign is operated by the United States Military Central Command (CENTCOM).
According to CENTCOM, the US-based Facebook and Twitter networks are not targeted by the program because US laws prohibit US state agencies from spreading propaganda among US citizens as according to the Smith-Mundt Modernization Act of 2012. However, according to the Smith-Mundt Modernization Act of 2012, dissemination of foreign propaganda to domestic audiences is expressly allowed over the internet including social media networks. Isaac R. Porche, a researcher at the RAND corporation, claims it would not be easy to exclude US audiences when dealing with internet communications.
The US government signed a $2.8 million contract with the Ntrepid web-security company to develop a specialized software, allowing agents of the government to post propaganda on "foreign-language websites".
Main characteristics of the software, as stated in the software development request, are:
> 50 user "operator" licenses, 10 sockpuppets controllable by each user.
Sockpuppets are to be "replete with background, history, supporting details, and cyber presences that are technically, culturally and geographically consistent".
Sockpuppets are to "be able to appear to originate in nearly any part of the world."
> A special secure VPN, allowing sockpuppets to appear to be posting from "randomly selected IP addresses," in order to "hide the existence of the operation."
> 50 static IP addresses to enable government agencies to "manage their persistent online personas," with identities of government and enterprise organizations protected which will allow for different state agents to use the same sockpuppet, and easily switch between different sockpuppets to "look like ordinary users as opposed to one organization."
> 9 private servers, "based on the geographic area of operations the customer is operating within and which allow a customer's online persona(s) to appear to originate from." These servers should use commercial hosting centers around the world.
> Virtual machine environments, deleted after each session termination, to avoid interaction with "any virus, worm, or malicious software."
USCC commander David Petraeus, in his congressional testimony, stated that Operation Earnest Voice would "reach regional audiences through traditional media, as well as via Web sites and regional public-affairs blogging."
However, his successor, James Mattis, altered the program to have "regional blogging" fall under general USCC public-affairs activity.
On how they would operate on these blogs, Petraeus explained:
"We bring out the moderate voices. We amplify those. And in more detail, we detect and we flag if there is adversary, hostile, corrosive content in some open-source Web forum, we engage with the Web administrators to show that this violates Web site provider policies."
