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Do you think three-letter agencies are now actively trying to shape public opinion of themselves and their doings by astroturfing popular tech blogs?

I strongly suspect that they do. I think there have even been some published articles about various govt. agencies developing (or looking to develop) technology for this kind of manipulation. I don't have a citation handy, but if I can scare up one of the articles I think I'm remembering, I'll post it.

Edit: Here you go, they they definitely have the technology, but - as you might expect - they claim it isn't used on Americans. But in light of everything else we've learned the past few weeks, would anybody be surprised to find out that they are, indeed, using this on Americans?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/mar/17/us-spy-oper...



Well there we are. Maybe submit that to HN? I'd love to see discussion on it, and how we can resist these doings.

edit: I see it here now -- https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5925001 -- thanks


It was discussed here at least once before, but I submitted it again, as it may be more topical now than it was then, in some ways.


Here it is on HN https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5298125

I agree with clicks that it's something worth being aware of.


4chan could destroy popular tech blogs and fora. The main difference is that the people in the government have more pubes and slightly less porn.

They're both gangs of people who have personal motivations but a mob mentality.




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