Guide to Covert Manipulation on the Internet

[snot]

It's widely believed that COINTELPRO-type activity continues to take place on the internet as well as elsewhere, and one helpful soul has posted a gentleperson's guide such techniques, here. (Of course, such techniques could be in use by groups not employed by governments, too.) I believe I've personally observed such techniques being used on DU and elsewhere, and I think the more of us who are aware of them, the better. Here's an excerpt:

COINTELPRO Techniques for dilution, misdirection and control of a internet forum.

There are several techniques for the control and manipulation of a internet forum no matter what, or who is on it. We will go over each technique and demonstrate that only a minimal number of operatives can be used to eventually and effectively gain a control of a 'uncontrolled forum.'

Technique #1 - 'FORUM SLIDING'
If a very sensitive posting of a critical nature has been posted on a forum - it can be quickly removed from public view by 'forum sliding.' In this technique a number of unrelated posts are quietly prepositioned on the forum and allowed to 'age.' Each of these misdirectional forum postings can then be called upon at will to trigger a 'forum slide.' The second requirement is that several fake accounts exist, which can be called upon, to ensure that this technique is not exposed to the public. To trigger a 'forum slide' and 'flush' the critical post out of public view it is simply a matter of logging into each account both real and fake and then 'replying' to prepositined postings with a simple 1 or 2 line comment. This brings the unrelated postings to the top of the forum list, and the critical posting 'slides' down the front page, and quickly out of public view. Although it is difficult or impossible to censor the posting it is now lost in a sea of unrelated and unuseful postings. By this means it becomes effective to keep the readers of the forum reading unrelated and non-issue items.

Technique #2 - 'CONSENSUS CRACKING'
A second highly effective technique (which you can see in operation all the time at www.abovetopsecret.com) is 'consensus cracking.' To develop a consensus crack, the following technique is used. Under the guise of a fake account a posting is made which looks legitimate and is towards the truth is made - but the critical point is that it has a VERY WEAK PREMISE without substantive proof to back the posting. Once this is done then under alternative fake accounts a very strong position in your favour is slowly introduced over the life of the posting. It is IMPERATIVE that both sides are initially presented, so the uninformed reader cannot determine which side is the truth. As postings and replies are made the stronger 'evidence' or disinformation in your favour is slowly 'seeded in.' Thus the uninformed reader will most like develop the same position as you, and if their position is against you their opposition to your posting will be most likely dropped. However in some cases where the forum members are highly educated and can counter your disinformation with real facts and linked postings, you can then 'abort' the consensus cracking by initiating a 'forum slide.'

Technique #3 - 'TOPIC DILUTION'
Topic dilution is not only effective in forum sliding it is also very useful in keeping the forum readers on unrelated and non-productive issues. This is a critical and useful technique to cause a 'RESOURCE BURN.' By implementing continual and non-related postings that distract and disrupt (trolling ) the forum readers they are more effectively stopped from anything of any real productivity. If the intensity of gradual dilution is intense enough, the readers will effectively stop researching and simply slip into a 'gossip mode.' In this state they can be more easily misdirected away from facts towards uninformed conjecture and opinion. The less informed they are the more effective and easy it becomes to control the entire group in the direction that you would desire the group to go in. It must be stressed that a proper assessment of the psychological capabilities and levels of education is first determined of the group to determine at what level to 'drive in the wedge.' By being too far off topic too quickly it may trigger censorship by a forum moderator.

Much more at the link; please read and share.

In case you're not familiar with COINTELPRO, per Wikipedia,

COINTELPRO (an acronym for Counter Intelligence Program) was a series of covert, and often illegal,[2] projects conducted by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) aimed at surveilling, infiltrating, discrediting, and disrupting domestic political organizations.

* * * * *
The FBI engaged in political repression almost from the time of the agency's inception in 1908, and antecedents to COINTELPRO operated during the FDR and Truman administrations. Centralized operations under COINTELPRO officially began in 1956 with a program designed to "increase factionalism, cause disruption and win defections" inside the Communist Party U.S.A. (CPUSA). However, the program was soon enlarged to include disruption of . . . the entire New Left social/political movement, which included antiwar, community, and religious groups (1968). . . . Official congressional committees and several court cases[14] have concluded that COINTELPRO operations . . . exceeded statutory limits on FBI activity and violated constitutional guarantees of freedom of speech and association.[2]

Since the conclusion of centralized COINTELPRO operations in 1971, . . . allegations of improper political repression continue.[15][16]

(Links omitted.)

[snot]

1. This post may be experiencing "forum slide," so pls K&R -- thanks!

[Romulox]

2. Technique #1 - 'FORUM SLIDING', and Technique #3 - 'TOPIC DILUTION' are common here.

This is aided where, as here, the forum's Statement of Purpose is loosely enforced, if at all.

[Raster]

3. K&R

[HiPointDem]

4. kr.

[Mika]

5. I like the part about pot smoking and drinking while posting.

I'd post the paragraph but I'm too drunk and stoned to find it again.

[freshwest]

6. Always good to be aware of WAZZUP.

[snot]

7. It's making me think about . . .

. . . bear with me . . .

Our current powers that be like to pretend that existing ant-trust, anti-monopoly laws suffice to protect from the harms that might come from excessive consolidation of ownership of the media.

But those laws are designed to protect against excessive consolidation of segments of the material economy and are not well-suited to protect against excessive consolidations w.r.t. information. I.e., the factors considered in anti-trust -type laws have to do with whether Company A is putting Company B out of business; and the remedies those laws provide have to do with restraining Company A from unfairly underpricing or the like, and with awarding damages to Company B. Neither the factors considered nor the remedies provided are particularly appropriate re- excessive control of or anti-competitive practices w.r.t. information.

But I think having a free marketplace of ideas is if anything even more important than having an economic free market.

Similarly, we have laws to restrict speech to the extent it constitutes defamation or fraud; but do we have legal protection from the deliberate dissemination of falsehoods when they don't defame individuals and they don't directly cause any monetary loss? E.g., you can win a case for damages for fraud if a lie deprived you of something having a specific monetary value. But you can't sue Fox News or most other individuals for lying about the reasons for invading Iraq.

The only protections we've got that I can think of off-hand are the kinds of Constitutional protections that were supposed to have shut COINTELPRO down.

Now whether and how all such laws are actually enforced is a whole 'nother question; but putting that aside for now . . . what I'm driving at is . . .

Maybe we need more legal protections against attempts to wrongly mislead the public or obstruct its access to information, regardless of whether there's any actual or intended economic harm?

[me b zola]

8. K&R

[LAGC]

9. Not this shit again.

Off to the dungeon with you!

[patrice]

10. Does it appear that there are those who don't want us to talk about this topic?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=1004633