by Glenn Greenwald

One of the many pressing stories that remains to be told from the Snowden archive is how western intelligence agencies are attempting to manipulate and control online discourse with extreme tactics of deception and reputation-destruction. It’s time to tell a chunk of that story, complete with the relevant documents.

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  1. On a related topic, here’s a scholarly yet accessible book from Cambridge U Press, on the topic of online media “grassroots” advocacy:

    “This book pulls back the curtain to reveal a lucrative industry of consulting firms that incentivize public activism as a marketable service. Edward Walker illustrates how, spurred by the post-sixties advocacy explosion and rising business political engagement, elite consultants have deployed new technologies to commercialize mass participation. Using evidence from interviews, surveys and public records, Grassroots for Hire paints a detailed portrait of these consultants and their clients. Today, Fortune 500 firms hire them to counter-mobilize against regulation, protest or controversy. Ironically, some advocacy groups now outsource organizing to them. Walker also finds that consultants are reshaping both participation and policymaking, but unethical ‘astroturf’ strategies are often ineffective. This pathbreaking book calls for a rethinking of interactions between corporations, advocacy groups, and elites in politics.”

    http://www.amazon.com/Grassroots-Hire-Consultants-American-Democracy/dp/1107619017

    Defensive online media literacy needs to be taught as early as possible, preferably by role-playing both attacker and defender.

    1. Rich:

      I ordered it. The “invention of reality” gets every more bizarre. Thanks for the recommendation!

      Also thanks so much for your suggestion on the blog – big improvement!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

      Catherine

  2. Just posted a comment to someone about the Databeast:

    I always believed that all of the federal data was being combined with the bank/PROMIS data and securities data with the telecommunications date and harvested both by sector and place with artificial intelligence to:

    MARKET RETAIL
    – retail consumer products
    – retail financial products – particularly subprime loans and credit cards
    – narcotics

    INSIDE TRADE
    – including the precious metals and stock market

    RIG PRICES
    – the oil card, etc

    In part, it is the knowledge infrastructure necessary to produce the flows of activities and market management that are happening.

    I think they have combined this with the ability to harvest the Internet for what people are paying attention to in ways that they think will allow them to anticipate, predict and manipulate the future. Their models may or may not be correct – but they believe them.

    They are now combining this with Hollywood production companies whose job is to manipulate and frame people to create news via non consenting (and not truthful) reality “TV shows” – the human population has become the equivalent of media lab rats to be rounded up and used to create entertainment in the form of fake news and that is combined with manipulating elections, markets, etc.

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