{"id":162719,"date":"2015-06-29T21:33:43","date_gmt":"2015-06-29T21:33:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/?p=162719"},"modified":"2015-06-29T21:33:43","modified_gmt":"2015-06-29T21:33:43","slug":"gchq-unit-involved-manipulating-citizens-behavior-via-internet-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/sicence-technology\/gchq-unit-involved-manipulating-citizens-behavior-via-internet-report\/","title":{"rendered":"GCHQ unit involved in manipulating citizens’ behavior via internet – report"},"content":{"rendered":"

(RT<\/a>) –\u00a0When not busy with counterterrorism operations, a secretive unit of the UK\u2019s GCHQ spy agency reportedly helps traditional law enforcement and is engaged in manipulating public opinion via the internet, new documents reveal.<\/p>\n

Documents published<\/a> by the Intercept demonstrate the
\nway the Joint Threat Research Intelligence Group (JTRIG), whose
\nexistence only came to be revealed by the former NSA contractor
\nEdward Snowden, has been “involved in efforts against
\npolitical groups it considers ‘extremist’, Islamist activity in
\nschools, the drug trade, online fraud and financial scams.”<\/em><\/p>\n

According to the Intercept\u2018s Glenn Greenwald and Andrew Fishman,
\n“particularly revealing”<\/em> is a 2011 42-page report<\/a> document entitled \u2018Behavioral
\nScience Support for JTRIG\u2019s Effects and Online HUMINT [Human
\nIntelligence] Operations\u2019 and detailing JTRIG\u2019s activities.<\/p>\n

Among them is \u201cProviding spoof online resources such as
\nmagazines and books that provide inaccurate information (to
\ndisrupt, delay, deceive, discredit, promote distrust, dissuade,
\ndeter or denigrade [sic]\/degrade)\u201d; \u201csetting up spoof trade sites
\n(or sellers) that may take customer’s money and\/or send customers
\ndegraded or spoof products (to deny, disrupt, degrade\/denigrade
\n[sic], delay, deceive, discredit, dissuade or deter\u201d; \u201csending
\nspoof e-mails and text messages from a fake person or mimicking a
\nreal person (to discredit, promote distrust dissuade, deceive,
\ndeter, delay or disrupt.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

The report states that the surveillance unit \u201ccurrently
\ncollaborates with other agencies,\u201d<\/em> including the
\nMetropolitan police, Security Service (MI5), Serious Organised
\nCrime Agency (SOCA), Border Agency, Revenue and Customs (HMRC),
\nand National Public Order and Intelligence Unit (NPOIU). The key
\nJTRIG objectives, cited in the report, range from \u201cproviding
\nintelligence for judicial outcomes\u201d<\/em> and monitoring of
\n\u201cdomestic extremist groups such as the English Defence League
\nby conducting online HUMINT<\/em>\u201d to \u201cdeterring, disrupting
\nor degrading online consumerism of stolen data or child porn.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Although the British spy unit has been purported by officials to
\nbe involved in international intelligence in places like Iran,
\nAfghanistan and Argentina, \u201cthe closest the group seemed to
\nget to home was in its targeting of transnational \u2018hacktivist\u2019
\ngroup Anonymous,<\/em>\u201d the Intercept reported.<\/p>\n

An August 2009 JTRIG memo entitled \u2018Operational Highlights\u2019 and
\ncited by the Intercept reportedly \u201cboasts of ‘GCHQ\u2019s first
\nserious crime effects operation’ against a website that was
\nidentifying police informants and members of a witness protection
\nprogram.<\/em>\u201d Another operation, according to the site, focused
\non an online forum which allegedly \u201cused to facilitate and
\nexecute online fraud.<\/em>\u201d GCHQ’s support has also been credited
\nwith helping \u201cto assist the UK negotiating team on climate
\nchange,\u201d according to the report.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeyond JTRIG\u2019s targeting of Anonymous, other parts of GCHQ
\ntargeted political activists deemed to be \u201cradical,\u201d even
\nmonitoring the visits of people to the WikiLeaks website,\u201d<\/em>
\nThe Intercept reported, adding that \u201cGCHQ also stated in one
\ninternal memo that it studied and hacked popular software
\nprograms to ‘enable police operations’ and gave two examples of
\ncracking decryption software on behalf of the National Technical
\nAssistance Centre, one ‘a high-profile police case’ and the other
\na child abuse investigation.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Documents leaked by Snowden revealed that JTRIG’s<\/a> secretive activities descended to
\nsome particularly \u2018dirty tricks\u2019 like deploying sexual \u2018honey
\ntraps\u2019 to discredit targets, launching denial-of-service attacks
\nto shut down internet chat rooms, pushing veiled propaganda onto
\nsocial networks and warping online discourse, just to name a few.
\n<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

This piece was reprinted by RINF Alternative News<\/a> with permission or license.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(RT) –\u00a0When not busy with counterterrorism operations, a secretive unit of the UK\u2019s GCHQ spy agency reportedly helps traditional law enforcement and is engaged in manipulating public opinion via the internet, new documents reveal. Documents published by the Intercept demonstrate the way the Joint Threat Research Intelligence Group (JTRIG), whose existence only came to be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":162720,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[487,13,18,1615],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-162719","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-breaking-news","8":"category-sicence-technology","9":"category-latest-news","10":"category-uk-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162719","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=162719"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162719\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/162720"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=162719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=162719"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=162719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}