Sockpuppets Sockpuppets Sockpuppets Sockpuppets Sockpuppets

[onehandle]

From Daily Kos:

As I wrote yesterday , there is a leaked email that has gotten surprisingly little attention around here. It's the one where Aaron Barr discusses his intention to post at Daily Kos - presumably something negative about Anonymous, the hacking group. But that's not the email I'm talking about here.

As I also mentioned yesterday, in some of the emails, HB Gary people are talking about creating "personas", what we would call sockpuppets. This is not new. PR firms have been using fake "people" to promote products and other things for a while now, both online and even in bars and coffee houses.

But for a defense contractor with ties to the federal government, Hunton & Williams, DOD, NSA, and the CIA - whose enemies are labor unions, progressive organizations, journalists, and progressive bloggers, a persona apparently goes far beyond creating a mere sockpuppet.

According to an embedded MS Word document found in one of the HB Gary emails, it involves creating an army of sockpuppets, with sophisticated "persona management" software that allows a small team of only a few people to appear to be many, while keeping the personas from accidentally cross-contaminating each other. Then, to top it off, the team can actually automate some functions so one persona can appear to be an entire Brooks Brothers riot online.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/02/16/945768/-UPDATED:-The-HB-Gary-Email-That-Should-Concern-Us-All

[Blue Owl]

1. The mighty Wurlitzer's newest smoke & mirrors option

Sounds like Karl Rove's wet dream...

[onehandle]

4. It's not new, but now it's high tech. Started most effectively on Nader forums in 2000.

With GOP paid operatives encouraging Naderites to 'stay the course.'

Since then they've paid professionals and interns to disrupt and discourage.

They're here too.

[Bobbie Jo]

19. +1000

Nailed it.

Kickin' your thread while I'm at it. :kick:

[Major Hogwash]

13. What's this Wurlitzer you're talking about?

A pipe organ?
What?

[Canuckistanian]

16. Here you go

The Mighty Wurlitzer takes its name from the theater organs of the 1920s that told people how to feel about the movie on the screen.

Nowadays, it stands for a many-headed disinformation network starting with purveyors of Internet gossip and right-wing talk-radio jocks and partisan outlets like FOX, and expanding to include “legitimate” news outlets like CBS and the Washington Post.

The Mighty Wurlitzer has so many pipes and ranks that it sometimes seems the truth has no chance against it.

http://mfinley.com/list-wurlitzer.htm

[Major Hogwash]

17. Thank you so much, kind Canuckistanian

I wasn't sure that was what it was.

[northoftheborder]

2. Yes, I saw that. The ramifications of that are horrifying.

[Mnemosyne]

3. K&R for more visibility and disgust. They're hereeee! n/t

[gratuitous]

5. The confirmation may be new, but the tactic isn't

We've seen our share of them here at DU, and if you plumb the comments sections of other blogs you can find them there. The monotonous dimbulb who posts the same thoughts over and over again (e.g., "No difference between the parties"). The more creative ones test the boundaries of the envelope, some of them quite successful for long periods of time (a couple of operational handles here come to mind of this crime), sailing right up to the edge of being exposed before submerging again.

Their M.O. is pretty much the same: Derail substantive discussion with minutiae or irrelevancies ("Sure he was assaulted, but was he really brutalized?"). These poor fools actually get paid to do this because they don't really have any other prospects, and it suits them to be thralls to the overclass, braying away their existence for a mess of pottage or 30 silver coins, polluting the world with their mean little squirts of bile. It's really quite a sad existence.

[Generic Other]

6. Jaw dropper!!

Brooks Brother's Riot???

The GOP's lardass flunky flash mob?

Just playing us like violins.

Flying under the radar if they are any good.

Kinda creepy. And they get paid to do this.

Working for a private security company.

Leaves a nasty taste in the mouth.

And a vile smell in the air.

[lib2DaBone]

8. It's waay past time to call the Repukes out on this criminal behavior...

This picture is a frame from the television broadcast of the event. The people in the picture have all been identified as Republican Party loyalists from outside of Miami.

1. Tom Pyle, policy analyst, office of House Majority Whip Tom DeLay (R-Tex.).
2. Garry Malphrus, majority chief counsel and staff director, House Judiciary subcommittee on criminal justice.
3. Rory Cooper, political division staff member at the National Republican Congressional Committee.
4. Kevin Smith, former House Republican conference analyst and more recently of Voter.com.
5. Steven Brophy, former aide to Sen. Fred D. Thompson (R-Tenn.), now working at the consulting firm KPMG.
6. Matt Schlapp, former chief of staff for Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-Kan.), now on the Bush campaign staff in Austin.
7. Roger Morse, aide to Rep. Van Hilleary (R-Tenn.).
8. Duane Gibson, aide to Chairman Don Young (R-Alaska) of the House Resources Committee.
9. Chuck Royal, legislative assistant to Rep. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.).
10. Layna McConkey, former legislative assistant to former Rep. Jim Ross Lightfoot (R-Iowa), now at Steelman Health Strategies

[TalkingDog]

7. I think this might be trouble, don't you agree?

[madinmaryland]

9. It'll backfire when the sockpuppets ask to be tombstoned RIGHT FUCKING NOW.

[felix_numinous]

10. We need a sockpuppet smiley

I looked but there's not a good one out there yet...just this lame one

http://www.emofaces.com/smilies/sock-puppet-smile

[Stinky The Clown]

11. Sockpuppets, moles, and zombies . . . . . . we gottem all right here in River City

Maybe the mods can take a look at this "campfire".

http://www.conservativecave.com/index.php/topic,55439.0.html

SGT Snuggle Bunny
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How many hearts does your mole have?
« on: February 15, 2011, 11:50:36 am »

1 for me so far.

Gotta beat last year's total of 6.

>snip<

[KurtNYC]

12. Nigerians have been doing that on Craigslist for years

They all claim to be missionaries with houses for rent or people that will send someone else with a cashiers check to pay for an item and then will need change in cash (for the extra amount on the bogus check). But they give themselves away in little errors and repetition.

Not exactly new or high tech. They are trying to sell their clients the online equivalent of old mass media propaganda. It can't be done.

[TalkingDog]

14. Hey! I've gotten some awesome money order forgeries out of those scams!

I give them away as presents. At $100 a pop, it looks impressive. You just have to make sure the person knows NOT to try and cash them.

[Bobbie Jo]

15. Again, I Believe It.

Especially since '08.

Recommended. :kick:

[Ikonoklast]

18. You better believe it they are here.

[kristopher]

20. See also

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x457259