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US Military Commissions Sock Puppet Program

Posted by timothy on from the and-I'm-learning-chinese-says-werner-von-braun dept.

chrb writes "The Guardian and The Telegraph are reporting that US based Ntrepid Corporation has been awarded a $2.76 million contract to develop software aimed at manipulating social media. The project aims to enable military personnel to control multiple 'sock puppets' located at a range of geographically diverse IP addresses, with the aim of spreading pro-US propaganda. The project will not target English speaking web sites (yet) but will be limited to foreign languages, including Arabic, Farsi, Urdu and Pashto. The project will be funded as part of the $200 million Operation Earnest Voice program run by US Central Command."

5 of 217 comments (clear)

  1. Unbellythinkful by Errol+backfiring · · Score: 5, Funny

    Really, calling propaganda "Operation Earnest Voice"? I think a few braincells just exploded.

    --
    Nae king! Nae laird! Nae yurrupiean pressedent! We willna be fooled again!
    1. Re:Unbellythinkful by coinreturn · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Really, calling propaganda "Operation Earnest Voice"? I think a few braincells just exploded.

      Actually, the name is perfect, since the name is also propaganda.

  2. Re:I, for one, salute our new sock-puppet overlord by August_zero · · Score: 5, Insightful

    As distasteful as it is, this is hardly a new thing. Pretty much everyone in history has done this to some degree. The only real "news" is that a new mechanism is going into place, but the machinery has been there all along.

    --
    On Wall Street they say "buy low, sell high" On the pad we say, "buy high, sell high" Isn't that somehow better?
  3. Budget problems? What budget problems? by osgeek · · Score: 5, Insightful

    There's $200 million that should come directly out of the defense budget.

    I know that this kind of shit can be done. I know that it could be useful to "win".

    But jesus fraggin' christ... do we have to go there first? Do we have to piss on our own credibility at every turn?

    --
    Why are you letting these clowns ruin our country?
  4. Re:I, for one, salute our new sock-puppet overlord by cayenne8 · · Score: 5, Funny
    Well, I'd say it would have been a good idea....if they could have kept it fscking SECRET....

    Now..wouldn't any pro-USA comments on any ME message board or whatever now be suspected of being a sockpuppet?

    I guess we now have a new meme: On the internet...

    All the men are men

    All the women are men

    All the kids are FBI agents

    And...all the pro-USA guys in foreign forums are CIA agents.

    --
    Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........