Hacked Emails Show U.S. Chamber Targeted VR, Other Progressives w/ Massive Disinfo Campaign

[BradBlog]

Source: BRAD BLOG

Hacked Emails Show U.S. Chamber of Commerce Targeted VelvetRevolution.US, Other Progressive Groups With Massive Disinfo Campaign

It looks like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce --- the Rightwing lobbying firm now allowed to accept hundreds of thousands, if not millions, in secret funding from corporations likely subsidized with your tax dollars --- has been caught in the act of creating a $2 million disinformation campaign to attack progressive organizations such as VelvetRevolution.us and its StopTheChamber.com initiative. (Since we believe in disclosure, unlike the Chamber: VR was co-founded by The BRAD BLOG.)

After the disinfo campaign targeted "Anonymous", the online "hacktivist" organization which had been working to disrupt those who companies who had attacked WikiLeaks (See our December '10 report: "'ALL-OUT CYBER WAR' OVER WIKILEAKS"), "Anonymous" struck back by hacking one of the "intelligence security firms" retained by the Chamber and posting thousands of their emails online.

Coverage from ThinkProgress' Lee Fang just an hour or two ago, includes a snippet from one of the proposals given to the Chamber on November 29, 2010 mentioning Velvet Revolution and a plan to "create a false document", "fake insider personas" and do whatever they needed to do to "discredit" the organization by planting misinformation....

FULL STORY: http://www.bradblog.com/?p=8351


Read more: http://www.bradblog.com/?p=8351

[Kingofalldems]

1. Special Prosecutor needed--subpoena all records

[Vinnie From Indy]

2. How is Bradblog the "source" of this info?

It would seem to me that Lee Fang and Think Progress deserve that honor.

[Wilms]

5. I don't see Brad claiming to be the "source".

He comes right out and references Lee Fang and Think Progress in the piece. Links and all.

Brad's pretty efficient. And he tends to dot I's and cross T's, and such.

[Vinnie From Indy]

7. Hardly!

Look up at the top for the words "SOURCE:BRADBLOG". Brad does NOT link to the Lee Fang Think Progress ORIGINAL source in this posting. You have to go to Bradblog to find any link to the original source. The OP is not dotting the i's and crossing the t's on this post.

Also, this is not LBN.

Cheers!

[Wilms]

8. I'm pretty sure that's the etiquette for indicating the source of the link.

You'll see posters adding them; NY Times, WaPo, etc.

[Vinnie From Indy]

9. It is still incorrect and Brad knows it!

Cheers!

[Name removed]

10. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Wilms]

12. In that case, back to the story.

This is astonishing...or not.




They were gonna Dan Rather you all. :grr:

[pacalo]

13. There's a lot of justice in having acquired that screenshot, & I love justice.

[Wilms]

14. Thanks for labeling it.

There is a lot of justice in that acquisition.

[malaise]

20. It is astonishing

K & R

[Arctic Dave]

11. You are kind of strange in the fact that the issue goes in one ear and out the other

but you will fly off the handle because something doesn't fit into how you think they should be.

Have fun screaming at your house plants.

[indepat]

3. This is tantamount to an all-out war on every thing not adhering to right-wing core values

which, in their entirely, constitute a relentless attack on virtually every bedrock principle that guided the founding fathers. :patriot:

[Doremus]

4. Amazing the information one can glean from simple emails.

Thank you, Wikileaks, and your defenders.

[Disintermedia8]

6. This is now standard operating procedure

undertaken by our owners, against us. They no longer have any credibility on policy, on results, on vision, and so in order to retain their massive portion of wealth and power, they will become as criminal as our system of Justice allows. So far I do not know whether their is a crime that is serious enough for the DOJ to prosecute, besides streaming sports on line.

[Rex]

15. And it turned out to work perfectly for them and the GOPukers.

Last Nov. proved it. You can lie and win. Just like in 2000 and then in Ohio in 2004. Lies are okay now and will lead to victory. That is the Rs playbook as working and the best policy, the only policy available.

[spanone]

16. if they can't steal it at the ballot box, they will steal it with disinformation

[BradBlog]

17. UPDATE: CHAMBER'S THUGS TARGETED ME & MY FAMILY, NOW BRAD BLOG IS DOWN

A quick update...

During tonight's Mike Malloy Show (which I've been guest hosting all week) I received confirmation from Think Progress that the thugs working on the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's disinfo attacks were specifically targeting me and my family.

TP's report, including one of the emails specifically naming me (with personal and family details) is now posted here:
http://thinkprogress.org/2011/02/10/chamberleaks-target-families/

I reported on this during the Malloy Show, as I was getting the details, and shortly after the show ended, The BRAD BLOG went down entirely. It cannot currently be accessed, though I'm trying to reach the server admin and hope it can be restored soon.

For the moment then, the Malloy Show audio archives -- and the posted linked in the OP above -- cannot be accessed at the blog. Podcast subscribers to the Malloy Show should be able to get them as usual via MikeMalloy.com

Hopefully we'll be back up as early as possible tomorrow.

My thanks also to Marcy Wheeler at Emptywheel for covering the Chamber thugs attacks on me tonight as well:
http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2011/02/10/palantir-tries-to-preserve-their-government-contracts/

Have I mentioned lately how despicable the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is?

[dmr]

19. Looks like the same thugs that BOA used to go after Salon & Glenn Greenwald:

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/02/data-intelligence-firms-proposed-attack-wikileaks/

Three data intelligence firms concocted a plan to attack WikiLeaks on behalf of Bank of America, according to a published report.

The three firms, Palantir Technologies, HBGary Federal and Berico Technologies, planned to "disrupt" Salon.com columnist Glenn Greenwald's support of WikiLeaks, create a disinformation campaign to discredit the secrets outlet, sow discord among WikiLeaks volunteers, and use cyber attacks to target the website's infrastructure.

More at link

[Matariki]

18. Maybe that funding will now dry up and DU will lose some of its members.

:rofl:

[librechik]

22. I'll drink to that

:hangover:

[DirkGently]

21. The "false document strategy" sounds mighty Dan Rather-ish.

This tactic of trying to trick progressives into appearing to have done wrong, then quickly destroying them before the truth can come out, has become a conservative cottage industry ever since it worked with ACORN.

[Liberal In Texas]

23. This looks to be EXACTLY what they did to Rather. n/t

[DirkGently]

24. Doesn't seem quite so tinfoil-hat-like now, eh?

[dkofos]

25. Go after them.