Quote Originally Posted by Seraph View Post
Maybe some of these boys have been hard at work trying to shape opinions....
Revealed: US spy operation that manipulates social media | Technology | The Guardian
The need to protect the internet from 'astroturfing' grows ever more urgent | George Monbiot | Environment | guardian.co.uk
Washington's Blog
I think that maybe some of them have been on the MR forums too.
Wow, I had no idea that was happening! How super-creepy!
Please read the Guardian article at the very least.

And who's doing it, if not the US military and multinational corporation.
It's propaganda at the creepiest possible level.....

Can you really get a bot to act like a human and participate in debates?

Apparently these "fake" users have a full online "persona" with email address, facebook account, and unique IP address in the city they are supposed to be living in.

Occassionally the odd person on this forum appears so truly brainwashed that it's hard to believe they are for real. Unfortunately I think they are...

And following from the BBC article that Seraph links to: In my childhood, the US carried out some psy-ops in Sweden. Basically they did things that upset the public, and made out that it was being done by the USSR, to make people scared of the USSR. It gradually started working. However in the early 00s it was revealed, using modern science, that these things were done by the US, and not the USSR. I just couldn't believe it, but there the evidence was completely clear. It's just absolutely disgusting to be subjected to such manipulation.

Quote Originally Posted by BBC
Perhaps the most startling aspect of the roadmap is its acknowledgement that information put out as part of the military's psychological operations, or Psyops, is finding its way onto the computer and television screens of ordinary Americans.
"Information intended for foreign audiences, including public diplomacy and Psyops, is increasingly consumed by our domestic audience," it reads.
"Psyops messages will often be replayed by the news media for much larger audiences, including the American public," it goes on.
The document's authors acknowledge that American news media should not unwittingly broadcast military propaganda. "Specific boundaries should be established," they write. But they don't seem to explain how.
"In this day and age it is impossible to prevent stories that are fed abroad as part of psychological operations propaganda from blowing back into the United States - even though they were directed abroad," says Kristin Adair of the National Security Archive.
Translation: The bullshit lies and propaganda that we spread in faraway countries to suit our purposes must be prevented from being picked up by our own national media.

This makes me wonder if I can trust ANYTHING I read in any media. If even bloggers and people can be faked, not to mention the news you get in newspapers and on TV because they are simply too outrageous.