NEW..Hacking Online Polls and Other Ways British Spies Seek to Control the Internet

[Ichingcarpenter]

Last edited Tue Jul 15, 2014, 05:02 AM - Edit history (1)

The secretive British spy agency GCHQ has developed covert tools to seed the internet with false information, including the ability to manipulate the results of online polls, artificially inflate pageview counts on web sites, “amplif[y]” sanctioned messages on YouTube, and censor video content judged to be “extremist.” The capabilities, detailed in documents provided by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, even include an old standby for pre-adolescent prank callers everywhere: A way to connect two unsuspecting phone users together in a call.

The tools were created by GCHQ’s Joint Threat Research Intelligence Group (JTRIG), and constitute some of the most startling methods of propaganda and internet deception contained within the Snowden archive. Previously disclosed documents have detailed JTRIG’s use of “fake victim blog posts,” “false flag operations,” “honey traps” and psychological manipulation to target online activists, monitor visitors to WikiLeaks, and spy on YouTube and Facebook users.

https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2014/07/14/manipulating-online-polls-ways-british-spies-seek-control-internet/

[muriel_volestrangler]

1. With hacking and malware, GCHQ is the complete hackers' paradise

with immunity from prosecution.

Google engineer accuses NSA and GCHQ of subverting 'judicial process'

A British engineer who works on anti-hacking systems at Google has furiously accused the UK and US spying agencies of "industrial scale subversion of the judicial process" by tapping the company's internal networks.

Mike Hearn, who says he worked for two years on the networks that replicate Google data between its different computing centres, says that "GCHQ turns out to be even worse than the NSA ". He added that he joined an American colleague, Brandon Downey, "in issuing a giant fuck you to the people who made these slides".

His complaint follows the revelation by the Washington Post of slides leaked by Edward Snowden which show that GCHQ tapped the private networks between Google's centres in order to monitor traffic.

Hearn, a senior engineer at Google since 2010, complains that "nobody at GCHQ or the NSA will ever stand before a judge and answer for this industrial-scale subversion of the judicial process".

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023989096

GCHQ's spy malware operation faces legal challenge

GCHQ, the government's monitoring agency, acted illegally by developing spy programs that remotely hijack computers' cameras and microphones without the user's consent, according to privacy campaigners.

A legal challenge lodged on Tuesday at the investigatory powers tribunal (IPT) calls for the hacking techniques – alleged to be far more intrusive than interception of communications – to be outlawed. Mobile phones were also targeted, leaked documents reveal.

The claim has been submitted by Privacy International following revelations by the whistleblower Edward Snowden about the mass surveillance operations conducted by GCHQ and its US counterpart, the National Security Agency (NSA).

The 21-page submission details a host of "malware" – software devised to take over or damage another person's computer – with such esoteric names as Warrior Pride, Gumfish, Dreamy Smurf, Foggybottom and Captivatedaudience.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10886000

[Aerows]

2. Oh, well, if everyone else does it, it is bad

if the "good guys" do it, it was necessary.

Ugly things that have long been suspected are coming out.

[sabrina 1]

4. And to think, when people expressed their suspicions, they were called 'CTS' that old

label we found out, they use to deliberately try to discredit anyone who begins to see signs of their malfeasance. All this exposure may necessitate them abandoning some of their deceptive tactics but I'm sure they are working on more. At least now whenever I see the accusation 'CT' I have a reference point after reading about the deliberate use of it by those with so much to hide.

[Aerows]

7. Conspiracy Theorists

That ugly name you drag out of the closet when somebody questions your authority. It's like the "resisting arrest" of the online community.

[sabrina 1]

8. I know, that's what I think of whenever I see it. 'What are YOU trying to hide'?

[Enthusiast]

3. Kicked and recommended!

[Electric Monk]

5. k&r, with a link to Octafish's similar thread

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025241916

[Aerows]

6. I'm totally shocked

Not really.

This shit has been going on for years, but nice to put a name to the agency doing it. If you don't use a secured OS, browser and search engine, folks, you have already experienced it.

[snot]

9. K&R'd. People doing this and their bosses should be in jail.