More Invasive Internet Fascism

The heroic Glenn Greenwald catalogs more invasive tactics and practices by fascistic authorities. They include:

• “Change outcome of online polls” (UNDERPASS)

• “Mass delivery of email messaging to support an Information Operations campaign” (BADGER) and “mass delivery of SMS messages to support an Information Operations campaign” (WARPARTH)

• “Disruption of video-based websites hosting extremist content through concerted target discovery and content removal.” (SILVERLORD)

• “Active skype capability. Provision of real time call records (SkypeOut and SkypetoSkype) and bidirectional instant messaging. Also contact lists.” (MINIATURE HERO)

• “Find private photographs of targets on Facebook” (SPRING BISHOP)

• “A tool that will permanently disable a target’s account on their computer” (ANGRY PIRATE)

• “Ability to artificially increase traffic to a website” (GATEWAY) and “ability to inflate page views on websites” (SLIPSTREAM)

• “Amplification of a given message, normally video, on popular multimedia websites (Youtube)” (GESTATOR)

• “Targeted Denial Of Service against Web Servers” (PREDATORS FACE) and “Distributed denial of service using P2P. Built by ICTR, deployed by JTRIG” (ROLLING THUNDER)

• “A suite of tools for monitoring target use of the UK auction site eBay (www.ebay.co.uk)” (ELATE)

• “Ability to spoof any email address and send email under that identity” (CHANGELING)

• “For connecting two target phone together in a call” (IMPERIAL BARGE).

Commenters on this story raised an interesting question:

“How’s this for a conspiracy theory? Once the implications and possibilities of the digital communications age were understood by government control freaks, specifically the ability to exercise total information control, they bided their time as print media slowly died with the headlong rush to instant news and digital media.

“When remaining print media sources were few and largely unfunded, the control freaks then took total control of digital communications networks . . . . much, much easier than trying to control all of that largely independent print media.

“It would take several years for users to understand that the Internet was no longer an open communications channel.

“The internet was invented by and for the Military/Industrial/Research Industry. The Feds created this medium, spent billions of dollars and years on projects that convinced us to use it for everything. They convinced us it was anonymous and cool. Print media is boring. “Snail mail” is unhip. Landline phones are for dolts; only cell phones are cool. Each newly improved and ever more invasive technology is “the next big thing” that should be anxiously purchased by anyone who is anyone. “But the entire platform had been designed from the start to control or at least greatly influence the public and to monitor our every thought, emotion and action.”