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February 25, 2014

Greenwald: Spy Agencies Manipulate Information, Attack Reputations of Targets Online 
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A new report based on leaks by Edward Snowden reveals new details of how
Western spy agencies manipulate information online. Writing at The
Intercept.org, Glenn Greenwald describes the tactics of a secret unit
inside Britain's top spy agency called JTRIG, or Joint Threat Research
Intelligence Group. JTRIG's self-identified goals are to discredit
targets by posting fake material — including, for example, fake
blog posts purporting to be by a target's victim — and to
manipulate online discourse. A newly revealed document titled
"Disruption: Operational Playbook" lists tactics like "false flag
operation," or posting material online, then falsely attributing it to
someone else. The targets appear to include those suspected of
"hacktivism," meaning online acts of political protest. "The broader
point," Greenwald writes, "is that ... these surveillance agencies have
vested themselves with the power to deliberately ruin people's
reputations and disrupt their online political activity even though
they've been charged with no crimes, and even though their actions have
no conceivable connection to terrorism or even national security
threats."

 

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