Operation Earnest Voice

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Operation Earnest Voice is a planned astroturfing campaign by the US government. The aim of the initiative is to use sockpuppets to spread pro-American propaganda on social networking sites based outside of the US.[1][2][3][4] According to the United States Military Central Command (CENTCOM), the US-based Facebook and Twitter networks are not targeted by the program because US laws prohibit US state agencies from spreading propaganda among US citizens.[1] However, Isaac R. Porche, a researcher at the RAND corporation, claims it would not be easy to exclude US audiences when dealing with internet communications.[4]

Details of the program

The US government signed a $2.8m contract with the Ntrepid web-security company to develop a specialized software, allowing agents of the government to post propaganda on "foreign-language websites".

The main characteristics of the software, as stated in the software development request,[5] are:

  • 50 users, with 10 sockpuppets controllable by each user.[1]
  • The sockpuppets are to be "replete with background, history, supporting details, and cyber presences that are technically, culturally and geographically consistent". The sockpuppets are to "be able to appear to originate in nearly any part of the world."[2]
  • It will generate false IP addresses to disguise their connection to the US military.[4]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Fielding, Nick; Cobain, Ian (17 March 2011). "Revealed: US spy operation that manipulates social media". The Guardian. Retrieved 22 June 2013. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Lee, Amy (17 March 2011). "U.S. Military Launches Spy Operation Using Fake Online Identities". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 22 June 2013. 
  3. ↑ Spillius, Alex (17 March 2013). "Pentagon buys social networking 'spy software'". The Telegraph. Retrieved 22 June 2013. 
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Smithson, S. (1 March 2011). "U.S. Central Command ‘friending’ the enemy in psychological war". The Washington Times. p. 2. Retrieved 22 June 2013. 
  5. ↑ The request for web-brigade software development by US government, June 2010
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