Government Troll Training Programme.

[karl 12]

"Intelligence officials should infiltrate online forums and chat rooms focusing on 'conspiracy theory' communities"

Cass Sunstein - Lawyer / Whitehouse 'Office of Information'

Realize the topic of CoIntelpro has been brought up a fair few times in relation to the UFO subject but when discussing potential nefarious government actions I still get amazed when some folks say their government 'wouldn't do that sort of thing'.

When it comes to officially sanctioned distortion, deflection, suppression or just plain BS then thought the vid below made some very good refresher points about the 'psychological building blocks of deception' and the manipulative techniques employed:







Also, seeing as this is the conspiracy section of the forum then suppose the files below dealing with intel operatives being in active, open play on 'conspiracy forums' are pretty relevant.

Government Troll Training Programme

Government plans to monitor and influence internet communications, and covertly infiltrate online communities in order to sow dissension and disseminate false information, have long been the source of speculation.

Harvard Law Professor Cass Sunstein, a close Obama adviser and the White House’s former head of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, wrote a controversial paper in 2008 proposing that the US government employ teams of covert agents and pseudo-”independent” advocates to “cognitively infiltrate” online groups and websites, as well as other activist groups.

Sunstein also proposed sending covert agents into “chat rooms, online social networks, or even real-space groups” which spread what he views as false and damaging “conspiracy theories” about the government.

PDF Files:

HOW COVERT AGENTS INFILTRATE THE INTERNET TO MANIPULATE, DECEIVE, AND DESTROY REPUTATIONS

The ART of DECEPTION C. IGCHO. TRAINING FOR A NEW GENERATION OF ONLINE COVERT OPERATIONS.



Along with 'public relations' it now looks like the term 'cognitive infiltration' is the new catch all phrase for 'active propaganda' so there are some handy hints for spotting it in this vid:

Basic tips for spotting and side-stepping government web-goons.

 

[nivek]

There's government trolls and shills all over social media and not just the US government puppets either...

...

 

[karl 12]

There's government trolls and shills all over social media and not just the US government puppets either...
...

Could not agree more mate - pretty shitty way to earn a living lol.

Some extemely disturbing content in that training video though - most probably an extremely sizable budget for the taxpaying public as well.

Lots of speculation about the active agendas in play but suppose claims of 'cultural destablization' and 'precision propaganda' don't look as ridiculous now as they did 20 years ago.

Am sure there are plenty of examples of it throughout history but when it comes to the modern day fashioning of psychological tools used to 'manufacture consent' then a good place to look would be the (Rockefeller funded) Tavistock institute concerned the creation of 'permanent social turbulence' and 'Reducing society to a blank state' (tabula rasa).

Also looks like the Pentagon likes to engage in psychological mass manipulation of its taxpaying employers.

Pentagon used psychological operation on US public, documents show

..In a January 2005 memorandum to active members of both offices from then-Pentagon press office director, Navy Captain Roxie Merritt, who now leads the community relations office, emphasized the necessary “synergy of outreach shop and media ops working together” on the military analyst program.

Merritt recommended that both the press and community relations offices develop a “hot list” of analysts who could dependably “carry our water” and provide them with ultra-exclusive access that would compel the networks to “weed out the less reliably friendly analysts” on their own.

“Media ops and outreach can work on a plan to maximize use of the analysts and figure out a system by which we keep our most reliably friendly analysts plugged in on everything from crisis response to future plans,” Merritt remarked. “As evidenced by this analyst trip to Iraq, the synergy of outreach shop and media ops working together on these types of projects is enormous and effective. Will continue to examine ways to improve processes.”

link

And may or may not be relevant but for what it's worth there are excerpts below from a Slate article (published in September 2005) concerning 'Psy-ops Propaganda going mainstream' involving psychological warfare, public diplomacy, influence operations etc..

"You Can’t Handle the Truth"

Srategic Communication Laboratories, a small U.K. firm specializing in “influence operations” made a very public debut this week with a glitzy exhibit occupying prime real estate at Defense Systems & Equipment International, or DSEi, the United Kingdom’s largest showcase for military technology. The main attraction was a full-scale mock-up of its ops center, running simulations ranging from natural disasters to political coups..

Then again, it’s hard to know exactly what else to call it. (Company literature describes SCL’s niche specialties as “psychological warfare,” “public diplomacy,” and “influence operations.”) The smallpox scenario plays out in excruciating detail how reporters would be tapped to receive disinformation, with TV and radio stations dedicated to around-the-clock coverage. Even the eventual disclosure is carefully scripted..

The company, which describes itself as the first private-sector provider of psychological operations, has been around since 1993. But its previous work was limited to civil operations, and it now wants to expand to military customers..

Government deception may even be justified in some cases, according to Michael Schrage, a senior adviser to the security-studies program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “If you tell the population that there’s been a bio-warfare attack, hospital emergency rooms will be overwhelmed with people who sincerely believe they have all the symptoms and require immediate attention,” Schrage says.

The problem, he adds, is that in a democracy, a large-scale ruse would work just once.

link

Cheers.