How the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Used 'Terror Tools' for Disinfo against Citizens

[G_j]

what private contractors can do with intelligence,

http://www.bradblog.com/?p=8354
From 2011

U.S. Chamber of Commerce Thugs Used 'Terror Tools' for Disinfo Scheme Targeting Me, My Family, Other Progressive U.S. Citizens, Groups

And why they are likely to get away with it...

By BRAD FRIEDMAN on 2/14/2011, 6:05am PT

"[W]ho better to develop a corporate information reconnaissance capability than companies that have been market leaders within the DoD and Intelligence Community."
- 'Team Themis', from their 11/3/10 "Corporate Information Reconnaissance Cell" proposal delivered to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's law firm Hunton & Williams.


As I learned late last Thursday, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the most powerful Rightwing lobbying group in the country, was revealed to have been working with their law firm and a number of private cyber security and intelligence firms to target progressive organizations, journalists and citizens who they felt were in opposition to their political activism, tactics and points of view.

As I went on the air Thursday night --- my fifth in a six-day guest hosting stint on the nationally syndicated Mike Malloy Show --- revelations about the planned multi-million dollar political hit job by the security/intelligence firms working to develop a scheme for the U.S. Chamber (and another one, almost identical to it, on behalf of Bank of America) were just beginning to come to light. Both plots were being developed by the Chamber and BofA by the very same law firm, Hunton & Williams and with the cyber intelligence firms HBGary Federal, Berico Technologies & Palantir Technologies.

..more..

[think]

1. Un real

or at least it should be.



Trying to cuss less but things like this make it difficult....

[think]

2. Update 3: Palantir Technologies apologizes to Glenn Greenwood for targeting him:

Firm targeting WikiLeaks cuts ties with HBGary - apologizes to reporter
by Steve Ragan - Feb 11 2011, 01:55

[Note: Due to privacy concerns, Mathew Steckman's name was witheld in the original story. The following statement however was provided to The Tech Herald Monday evening, and is being posted in it's entirety due to the nature of the statement. - Steve]

Palantir is a data integration software company based in Silicon Valley. We make data integration software that is as useful for fighting food borne illness as it is to fighting fraud and terrorism. Palantir does not make software that has the capability to carry out the offensive tactics proposed by HBGARY. Palantir never has and never will condone the sort of activities recommended by HBGARY. As we have previously stated, Palantir has severed all ties with HBGARY going forward. To ensure that we are in complete compliance with our company’s ethics and standards we have decided to place Matthew Steckman, 26 year old engineer, on leave pending a thorough review of his actions. Palantir was not retained by any party to develop such recommendations and indeed it would be contrary to Palantir’s ethics, culture and policies to do so....

~Snip~

Dr. Alex Karp, the Co-Founder and CEO of Palantir Technologies, one of three data intelligence firms who worked to develop a systematic plan of attack against WikiLeaks and their supporters, has severed all ties with HBGary Federal and issued an apology to reporter Glenn Greenwald.

~Snip~

It is unlikely that Anonymous would forge thousands and thousands of emails or attachments. Yet, the complete severance of ties by Palantir Technologies, and the public apology to Greenwald, leaves little room for doubt that the information seen by The Tech Herald, Crowdleaks.org, and many others is legitimate....

Full article:

http://www.thetechherald.com/articles/Firm-targeting-WikiLeaks-cuts-ties-with-HBGary-apologizes-to-reporter/12767/

[dreamnightwind]

3. DOJ helped BofA fight Wikileaks

After the tip from Crowdleaks.org, The Tech Herald learned that Palantir Technologies, HBGary Federal, and Berico Technologies, worked together with law firm Hunton and Williams to develop a proposal for Bank of America in order to deal with the “WikiLeaks Threat.”

Hunton and Williams were recommended to Bank of America’s general counsel by the Department of Justice, according to the email chain viewed by The Tech Herald. The law firm was using the meeting to pitch Bank of America on retaining them for an internal investigation surrounding WikiLeaks.

“They basically want to sue them to put an injunction on releasing any data,” an email between the three data intelligence firms said. “They want to present to the bank a team capable of doing a comprehensive investigation into the data leak.”

I'm barely even capable of surprise anymore that our Justice Department works to protect banksters from having their crimes exposed. It's always helpful, though, to get those rare confirmations, such as this, of whose side they're really on.