Submission + - Obama Czar: Infiltrate conspiracy theory groups 1
megamerican writes: President Barack Obama's appointee to head the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs advocated in a recent paper the "cognitive infiltration" of groups that advocate "conspiracy theories" like the ones surrounding 9/11 via "chat rooms, online social networks, or even real-space groups and attempt to undermine" those groups. Sunstein admits that, "some conspiracy theories, under our definition, have turned out to be true." Sunstein has also recently advocated banning websites which post "right-wing rumors" and bringing back the Fairness Doctrine. You can find a PDF of his paper here.
For decades the FBI under COINTELPRO (1956-1971) focused on disrupting, marginalizing and neutralizing political dissidents, most notably the Black Panthers. More recently CENTCOM announced it would be "[engaging] bloggers who are posting inaccurate or untrue information, as well as bloggers who are posting incomplete information." In January 2009 the USAF released a flow-chart for "counter-bloggers" to "counter the people out there in the blogosphere who have negative opinions about the U.S. government and the Air Force,"
For decades the FBI under COINTELPRO (1956-1971) focused on disrupting, marginalizing and neutralizing political dissidents, most notably the Black Panthers. More recently CENTCOM announced it would be "[engaging] bloggers who are posting inaccurate or untrue information, as well as bloggers who are posting incomplete information." In January 2009 the USAF released a flow-chart for "counter-bloggers" to "counter the people out there in the blogosphere who have negative opinions about the U.S. government and the Air Force,"
