A popular co-founder of the social news site Reddit previously attempted to gain employment as a consultant for Stratfor, a shadowy private geopolitical intelligence firm, despite his reputation as an open internet activist.<\/p>\n
With help from Anonymous hackers, the anti-secrecy group
\nWikiLeaks has published more than five million emails from
\nStratfor since 2011 as part of its \u201cGlobal Intelligence Files\u201d
\ncampaign. The internal messages have revealed that the company
\nnot only purports to disclose classified \u201cglobal intelligence\u201d to
\nthe highest bidder, but also sells information that is poorly
\nsourced. Stratfor clients include Lockheed Martin, Dow Chemical,
\nthe US Department of Homeland Security, Department of Defense,
\nthe Marines, Raytheon defense contracting, and a slew of
\nothers.<\/p>\n
Along with criticisms that the Texas-based intelligence company
\nis adding to the military industrial complex (with little
\ncontribution, to boot), other intelligence executives have
\nasserted that Stratfor is guilty of fraud, breach of contract,
\nand a variety of other potentially illegal activities, including
\nnefarious relationships between Stratfor employees and government
\nofficials.<\/p>\n
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange wrote on his website that
\nStratfor is made up of a \u201cglobal network of informants who are
\npaid via Swiss bank accounts and pre-paid credit cards \u2014 which
\nincludes government employees, embassy staff and journalists
\naround the world<\/i>.\u201d<\/p>\n
The newest iteration of the \u201cGlobal Intelligence Files,\u201d which is
\nbeing disclosed intermittently, reveals that Alexis Ohanian
\nexpressed interest in a position with Stratfor back in 2011.
\nOhanian is best known as a Reddit co-founder but has gone onto to
\ninvest in more than 50 internet start-ups en route to becoming
\none of The Daily Dot\u2019s most influential activists of 2012 and
\nForbes magazine\u2019s so-called \u201cMayor of the Internet,\u201d in part
\nbecause of his anti-secrecy message.<\/p>\n
The discussion, while never leading to any kind of employment,
\nbegan when Ohanian met Stratfor Chairman George Friedman at
\nBloomberg TV. A series of emails followed, in which Stratfor
\ncommunications vice president Meredith Friendman wrote that
\nOhanian is \u201ca huge Stratfor fan<\/i>\u201d and the two parties
\n\u201cmet and talked about doing something with Reddit for social
\nmedia<\/i>.\u201d<\/p>\n
Soon after, Ohanian emailed a proposal that, had the intelligence – Audit of the <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n – This includes <\/span><\/span> – Audit of Stratfor <\/span><\/span> – Audit of another <\/span><\/span> – Three potential <\/span><\/span> – Five Moving forward, assuming you love our Ohanian then emailed: \u201cIf you\u2019d like to call me up for a Skype The revelations were quickly noticed by the Reddit community, \u201cReddit is just like any other mega-popular website. It sold Ohanian has posted much of the relevant material on his Twitter \u201cLet me say this unequivocally: I have never consulted for
\nexecutives accepted, would have paid Ohanian $25,000 for \u201cthe
\nfollowing discovery phase<\/i>:\u201d<\/p>\n
\nEconomist in social media & online<\/p>\n
\ntwitter, facebook, youtube, blogs, forums, social news,
\npodcasts, etc.<\/p>\n
\nin social media & online<\/p>\n
\ncompetitor (if you so desire) in social media & online<\/p>\n
\ncampaigns for going forward based on our analysis<\/p>\n
\nrecommendations concerning your existing profiles (e.g., top 5
\nways to improve how you’re using twitter right
\nnow)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\nexpertise as much as we think you will, we’d be open to
\ndiscussing consulting services on retainer.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\nconsulting session I run $1,000\/hour<\/i>.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nwhere forum-members are famous for advocating transparency and
\nauthenticity above all. Some openly wondered whether Ohanian had
\nsomehow manipulated the site to benefit Stratfor. Multiple links
\nposted on Reddit that redirected users to WikiLeaks\u2019 page were
\nmysteriously deleted throught the day Monday.<\/p>\n
\nout, and then it became a lackey for the government<\/i>,\u201d posted
\nuser BankerShanker. \u201cNow you can be sure that every comment
\nyou make is being stored in a machine somewhere, ready to be dug
\nup and used against you; without context, and with prejudice.
\nThey made a back-door deal with the devil, and many Redditors are
\nunaware of this fact<\/i>.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nfeed and took to Reddit to explain the situation to angry
\nusers.<\/p>\n
\nStratfor<\/i>,\u201d he wrote. \u201cI have never worked for Stratfor —
\nthey invited me to their office during South by Southwest, I got
\na tour and they asked me for a quote to consult, so I gave it to
\nthem, but it went nowhere. We hadn’t talked since<\/i>.\u201d<\/p>\n