Dr. Kiracofe and the trolls

"Per NS Saloman, haven't followed his postings with the same attention as those of the late "ms." NSS some time back claimed he lived in Europe, Portugal I think it was. I recall he claimed to be a US citizen as well at one point. His last comment alone on another thread being prickly/defensive about his use of English and insolent in tone could indicate you have "him"/"them" pinned. As I recall he has been rather consistent in promoting a defeatist line with respect to the US. His disagreeable insolence I should think would disqualify him from SST presence. MS got increasingly insolent as "he" began to melt down. For all the software available out there -- spell checks, translators, and the like -- these hackers still present clumsy posts. The attempts at using US slang and dialect as ms did, for example...very shoddy. "Highlander" was a more skilled poseur/hacker. "MS" would pick up on something like your use of the term "sub rosa." Then, he would google to check the meaning of this term, then shoot something (incoherent) back to attempt to establish some knowledge. I noticed he did this when Sidney Smith mentioned Tony Rice. Ms googled to find Tony Rice and some musical composition of his and then came back with the line that it was "gut-wrenching" to live in Europe and not be able to hear Tony Rice and how he longed for home in the US...blah blah blah. He did this with my mention of Cafe Deux Magots in Paris and botched that. The hackers work to ingratiate themselves into the discussion group, build up a presence, then work toward introducing disinformation and propaganda. Also I note attempts at provocation. From this they sometimes move toward more open disruption of the targeted website as ms did. They could also introduce some coded signals to others working with them and monitoring the targeted site. Perhaps an SST reader who has some professional knowledge of these types of foreign directed cyber operations could give us some leads to open source articles on this threat. "  Clifford Kiracofe

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Cliff has this just right.  He understands the methodology.  The infiltration activities of propagandists are not really a problem but they are a nuisance.  The use of such targeted disinformation and disruption is a growing phenomenon on the part of governments and para-governmental support groups.  The Middle East is an obvious focal point for much of this activity but there are other concentrations of trollish behavior as well.

Be advised that comments will be examined closely for indications of information operations.  pl

Comments

[91B]

Wow, this is some high drama.
Is there really that much at stake in a comments section?

[ServingPatriot]

Charles I said: Knowledge is armour.

Well said and Amen friend!

Amen.

There are many, many unarmored out there these days. Almost like zombies.

SP

[ServingPatriot]

@Clifford Kirrofe,

You may want to take some time to read about Smith-Mundt Act and its prohibitions against boomeranging propaganda back against the American people.

Matt Armstrong over at MountainRunner blog has an extensive number of entries regarding the uses/abuses of Smith-Mundt. Very interesting reading. Its clear in principle, but this old legislation needs some updating to reflect today's highly connected, high-speed and always-on media world.

As to the influencing operations conducted on behalf of foreign governments against American citizens, I believe pointed, detailed and fulsome enforcement of FARA would greatly help in combating these activities. At a minumum, the sunlight thrown on these operations by public FARA enforcement would greatly "up-armor" the average citizen. Of course, this course of action requires action by the Federal government -- something sorely missing when it comes to the activities of several of our putative "allies."

SP

[jr786]

The owner of a blog I used to frequent once wrote me to say he would be happy to print the truth but the Megaphonists just would flood his email with hundreds of complaints. So he stopped blogging.

Even so, I think the tide is turning against the Israel Firsters. They scream so loudly because they know that no open minded person of even the slightest discernment could possibly support their crimes.

Here's a good site to pass on:

http://www.ifamericansknew.org/

[Charles I]

Gee Clifford, I'm a Pagan. Though my faith lies elsewhere your Ephesians cite is comfortingly apt.

I think your Rocky Mountain News Editor has crossed my radar previously. I shall follow up HonestReporting, thanks.

The notorious self hating Jew Norman Finklestein is coming to Toronto in Mid November to speak about Gaza. The campaign against him is well underway here so I'm busy deconstructing that at the moment.

[MRW.]

Clifford,

The Rabbi who runs jewsonfirst.org takes on Aish Hah Torah. I believe, but dont hold me to it, Sheldon Adelson (Vegas casino owner) has huge chunks of dough into it. The org is secretive about its finances. [I want to know just how much of our annual emptying of our taxpayer pockets to Israel gets funneled into these groups overseas. I suspect a lot.]

They've got their tentacles into John Hagee's CUFI organization as well via the Republican Jewish Coalition for whom Ari Fleischer is a guiding light.

[MRW.]

Look what happened at the University of Chicago two days ago when Ehud Olmert tried to talk.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgN02ZTe5AU

How are the trolls and armchair IDF hasbarists in Tel Aviv going to counter this in every university across the country? It is said that support for Israel is a mile wide and an inch deep in this country. But after the web let ordinary folk, in real time, see what the Israelis did in Lebanon 2006 and Gaza 2008, support for their Spartan regime is paper thin. Only the Armageddon Brigade backs them 100% because they're lusting to convert them all.

Real Americans, raised on separation of church and state, and equal rights, and fair play -- Yankee imperialism and exceptionalism a la pre-emptive wars, racism, etc notwithstanding -- aren't going to buy the third time around for Israel, whether that's more Gaza strifing or bombing Iran. I shudder to think what will happen in this country if Israel bombs Iran, or 'sends ground troops in January 2010' as was reported yesterday. [BTW, that's a good one: Israel sending ground troops into Iran to take out their nuclear facilities and "assassinate scientists." Those 19-year-old IDF studs have never crossed a body of water to fight in their lives. They're never more than a local call away from calling mommy. If they think harassing and murdering cornered civilians is sufficient training to counter the Iranian/Persian Revolutionary Guard, they're in for a big surprise. Big Big surprise. Then, of course, the Revolutionary Guard will become the 'greatest ant-semitic army ever in the world' and they will whine and cry for the Americans to annihilate them. Pussies.]

[alnval]

Col. Lang:

On getting manipulated and not knowing it:

Zanzibar cites Yves Smith’s post on MSM Reporting as Propaganda.

If you’ve ever wondered how your favorite family member went shopping and came home with ‘THAT,’ Andrew Sullivan today cites the Gruen Transfer.

The Gruen Transfer was named after the 20th century Austrian born architect Victor Gruen. Gruen based his practice in Los Angeles, is famous for developing the shopping mall, and denied that his designs were meant to manipulate the public. The GT concept has been popularized by media theorist Douglas Rushkoff.

In shopping mall design, the Gruen Transfer refers to the moment when a consumer enters a shopping mall, and, surrounded by an intentionally confusing layout, loses track of their original intentions. Spatial awareness of their surroundings play a key role, as does the surrounding sound and music. The effect of the transfer is marked by a slower walking pace and glazed eyes. (Wikipedia)

One more thing we didn't know. The list is long.

[Cold War Zoomie]

Hi Cliff...this is OT, but have you still got that sweet Ducati 900? I saw pics of it on your Flicker account.

Here's a stock pic of my bike:

Yamaha FZ1

Been wanting to get down your way for a few days of riding. Roads look much better than up here in DC!

[optimax]

alnval, Another marketing tool stores use is to place merchandise to block you from moving from the front to the back of the store in a straight line,exposing you to more merchandise. I've also noticed the lack of exit signs and the disappearance of clocks in stores. Then there's guerilla marketing: two supposedly average citizens talking loudly in public about the benefits of brand x, placing boxes of brand x on the sidewalk outside a the door of a luxury apartment, as if it's being delivered to someone.

Now I know why I've always hated shopping malls and physically feel that sense of disorientation: hard to focus the eyes, body feels like it has weights on it.

[Kevin K]

I've seen in the blogosphere a phenomena when a blogger is discussing the PR of China or Chinese people in general, a commenter will show up and make a long, clumsy response and then another commenter will argue with a long, clumsy responses. Both of the comments will just be a mass of random facts and half-baked nonsense. And this will repeat till all discussion of the topic dies. Both of the commenters have the exact same writing style, so its pretty obvious that its someone arguing with him (or her)self.

I don't know if this just a bitter person that goes around doing this or what, but I've seen it at more than one site.

[William P. Fitzgerald III]

Pat Lang,

On the general subject of manipulation of opinion through control of media, I've been wondering about a specific occurrence. Clifford brought it to mind when I read his comment about not being able to get his book published over here. In ca. 1994 I checked out, from the Chicago Public Library, a novel in the aviation/military/international intrigue category. To roughly summarize the plot: A recently retired USAF Colonel, an authority on air to air combat, is hired by Saudi Arabia to manage their air force and is given carte blanche and the necessary financial resources. His plan was to equip the force with the F-20 Tigershark , but not to incorporate the electronic warfare capability. A combination of stealth and keep it simple tactics. A crisis lead to an Israeli air assault on Saudi Arabia, the good colonel's idea worked, the Israeli Air Force was decimated and they fell back on the nuclear option. The United States then reined in the Israelis and imposed a peace settlement.

The point of all this is that, while the book was well-written, indeed, better than most of that genre, I was never able to find it again, having fully expected it be published in paperback and to appear in booksellers shops in hardcover. It didn't demonize either side, though it portrayed the crisis and war as largely a consequence of Israeli actions and policies. I wasn't able to recall the title or author when I looked for it a couple of years later. I've since then wondered whether it was deliberately withdrawn from publication. As I said, it was a good story.

WPFIII

[rjj]

WPF III - Warriors by Barrett Tillman?

[Dan M]

"Warriors" Bantam Books (1991) by Barrett Tillman.

"Commander John Bennett values flesh-and-blood fighter pilots over high technology - and he gets a chance to put his theories to the test. Invited by the Saudi king to build a secret ari wing capable of matching the elite Israeli air force, Bennett recruits American and British top guns to train a corps of young Saudi pilots - the "Tiger Force". It's strategist's to launch Bennett's brand of young warriors into military history. but now, as fierce Arab-Israeli war breaks out, thundering confrontations high above the desert will determined the fate of nations - and give John Bennett's Tigers the fight of their lives"
http://tinyurl.com/yf62npg

Have no idea what became of the book and had never heard of Tillman before. He's apparently an aviation warfare buff and has published extensively, both history and fiction. One of his books about navy aviation in vietnam is apparently on the USAF and Marine reading lists, according to this.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barrett_Tillman

[Dan M]

Oh, yeah. Amazon lists it as a "mass market paperback."
http://www.amazon.com/Warriors-Barrett-Tillman/dp/0553287354

[steve]

Since I believe anyone can sign up to work for the Megaphone Project, I suggest people do just that--that is, if they have the time and inclination to play counterintelligence on the internet. I don't, but it's a thought.

[optimax]

I don't want a program from the Megaphone Project on my computer for the same reason I don't surf porn sites--fear of STDs, Software Transmitted Diseases.