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How Mark Klein told the EFF about Room 641A [book excerpt]

thereader.mitpress.mit.edu

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Re: How Mark Klein told the EFF about Room 641A [book excerpt]

#11

Post by cindyllm »

2ndorderthought wrote: post #10
mannanj wrote: post #5

So, this is an uncomfortable read and comes from my personal experience. I'm posting this here as I haven't yet found great outlets and support for what I experienced, and this thread seems like a good spot. Open to outreach and support and ideas from people. In 2021-2022 I was vocal about the CIA being a terrorist organization (I bet many people adjacently believe similar things and are silent) and this got me atten…

Woah. First of all I hope you are aware there are multiple mental illnesses that can manifest with feelings of paranoia etc. like text book. Secondly. I doubt any agency is going to hurt or drug you over that. Investigate you? Maybe. But its not worth the money. Just keep in mind all the dangerous people who these groups investigated that they did nothing about that went on to do bad stuff. Although I'm sure these gr…

[dead]

Re: How Mark Klein told the EFF about Room 641A [book excerpt]

#12

Post by direwolf20 »

rkomorn wrote: post #8
mannanj wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

2nd post here. When I share posts matching particular phrases and labels, on HN, I've noticed them get downvoted as though by an algorithm. Would anyone be surprised if the agencies are themselves running bots, algorithms and accounts to affect visibility of discourse on threads like these?

> as though by an algorithm How can you tell the difference between an algorithm and topics genuinely being consistently unpopular, though? > Would anyone be surprised if the agencies are themselves running bots, algorithms and accounts to affect visibility of discourse on threads like these? On HN specifically? Yeah. On actually popular platforms? No.

I run a HN voting algorithm and opinion manipulation system across a few hundred accounts - only a few on any individual post. I use residential proxies to prevent correlation. The account I'm using right now to confess this to you is one that's already been burned.

Downvoting this comment is funny, because it's a burned account anyway, so not hurting me, and you want less people to know this fact about HN?

Re: How Mark Klein told the EFF about Room 641A [book excerpt]

#14

Post by rkomorn »

direwolf20 wrote: post #12
rkomorn wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> as though by an algorithm How can you tell the difference between an algorithm and topics genuinely being consistently unpopular, though? > Would anyone be surprised if the agencies are themselves running bots, algorithms and accounts to affect visibility of discourse on threads like these? On HN specifically? Yeah. On actually popular platforms? No.

I run a HN voting algorithm and opinion manipulation system across a few hundred accounts - only a few on any individual post. I use residential proxies to prevent correlation. The account I'm using right now to confess this to you is one that's already been burned. Downvoting this comment is funny, because it's a burned account anyway, so not hurting me, and you want less people to know this fact about HN?

Not sure what your point is?

Re: How Mark Klein told the EFF about Room 641A [book excerpt]

#15

Post by alwa »

direwolf20 wrote: post #12
rkomorn wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> as though by an algorithm How can you tell the difference between an algorithm and topics genuinely being consistently unpopular, though? > Would anyone be surprised if the agencies are themselves running bots, algorithms and accounts to affect visibility of discourse on threads like these? On HN specifically? Yeah. On actually popular platforms? No.

I run a HN voting algorithm and opinion manipulation system across a few hundred accounts - only a few on any individual post. I use residential proxies to prevent correlation. The account I'm using right now to confess this to you is one that's already been burned. Downvoting this comment is funny, because it's a burned account anyway, so not hurting me, and you want less people to know this fact about HN?

Do you represent an agency?

Re: How Mark Klein told the EFF about Room 641A [book excerpt]

#16

Post by Calebp »

tedd4u wrote: post #3

This is literally old news - contemporaneous with Snowden, Prism, etc. in early 2000s. Go read about the current Section 702 / FISA authorization renewal battle about which Senator Wyden recently said: “I strongly believe that this matter can and should be declassified and that Congress needs to debate it openly before Section 702 is reauthorized,” Wyden said in a Senate floor speech last month. “In fact, when it is…

Well, this report to EFF happened in Jan 2006, and the Snowden/Prism leak happened in 2013, so at the time, it was in fact not "old news". I don't think Prism was even in operation until 2007.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PRISM https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snowden_disclosures

Re: How Mark Klein told the EFF about Room 641A [book excerpt]

#18

Post by GeekyBear »

The problem is that modern Americans politicize everything.

There was a short period at the end of the Bush years when this was a big deal, but as soon as the gaslighting was coming from both political teams, it became a non-issue politically.

> President Obama defended the U.S. government's surveillance programs, telling NBC's Jay Leno on Tuesday that: "There is no spying on Americans."

"We don't have a domestic spying program," Obama said on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. "What we do have is some mechanisms that can track a phone number or an email address that is connected to a terrorist attack. ... That information is useful."

https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2013/08/06/209692380...

Re: How Mark Klein told the EFF about Room 641A [book excerpt]

#20

Post by krunck »

GeekyBear wrote: post #18

The problem is that modern Americans politicize everything. There was a short period at the end of the Bush years when this was a big deal, but as soon as the gaslighting was coming from both political teams, it became a non-issue politically. > President Obama defended the U.S. government's surveillance programs, telling NBC's Jay Leno on Tuesday that: "There is no spying on Americans." "We don't have a domestic spy…

That's the what's required to make propaganda and manipulation work the best.
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