A secret cabal of high level executives from top entertainment firms coalescing in secret, put together a plan to overthrow the freedom of the internet by lobbying to internet service providers in an attempt to block sites they deem problematic. That sounds like some sort of sub-plot out of a bad Hollywood movie, doesn’t it? Well, what if I told you that the conversation is real and Wikileaks has proof of it?

Kotaku in Action spotted a new entry over on the Wikileaks website where e-mails from the Sony hack from late last year revealed that Sony, Warner Bros Entertainment, Disney, Fox, the Movie Picture Association of America, Viacom and NBC Universal want to attempt to influence internet service providers from blocking web access to certain websites.

Sounds too nefarious to be true, doesn’t it? Well, read the e-mail for yourself below (and here’s a backup of the e-mail archive… just in case). The e-mail was titled “RE: Site Blocking Confab | October 8, 2014, 8:30am to 12:30pm PT | PRIVILEGED & CONFIDENTIAL”

“The objective of the session is to put us in the best position possible to make a decision as to whether we should proceed to the next steps in seeking site blocking in the US. * The first step is a pre-phase in which we will get prepared and try to create a more favorable environment for site blocking. This would involve multiple parallel tracks. Without attempting to be exhaustive, those tracks include:

* Outreach to respected technologists to begin to forge agreement on technical facts and site blocking efficacy — and, where possible, garner policy support for site blocking (or at least dampen opposition to it).

* Continued research and record building on the effectiveness of site blocking.

* Outreach to academics, think tanks and other third parties to foster the publication of research papers, white papers and other articles that tell the positive story of site blocking: e.g., it is commonplace around the world and working smoothly; it has not broken the internet; it is not incompatible with DNSSEC; it is effective; legitimate sites/content have not been blocked; etc.

* Building the record (and telling the story) that the sorts of sites at issue are dangerous. It is not just copyright infringement. Kids are one-click away from identity theft, graphic porn, malware, etc. Parent groups, consumer protection groups and other third parties can be cultivated to speak out against such predatory sites.

* Telling the positive story of the widespread availability of legitimate content. * At the right time, we would quietly approach ISPs with which we have good relationships and which we believe might consider cooperating with us to test US site blocking. “If any US ISPs are prepared to cooperate — and we can create a track record of effective site blocking in the US — the environment for US site blocking more broadly will become significantly more favorable. “We do not need to decide in advance how to proceed if no US ISP is prepared to work with us cooperatively. We recommend that we cross that bridge only if and when we need to, in context of the landscape we face at that point in time.”

I don’t usually like to blockquote so much content, but by all accounts all of that was absolutely necessary to convey.

The interesting part about the e-mail is that they appear to want to setup a contingency for ISPs that don’t want to work with them.

This fits in line with what other interest groups have been rallying to do around the GamerGate hashtag. It was mentioned previously that some interest groups were going to social media services and internet service providers in an attempt to get them to alter how “hate groups” can be defined in order to shutdown their speech. Various groups working together wanted to reach out to the ISPs and social media services before heading to Congress. Back in November it was already mentioned that lobbyist would be reaching out to gain the ear of state Senators and with the current developments, it appears as if the groups have already made headway to Congress, as reported by Game Skinny.

One thing that people should find striking in this is not simply that there are movements from collusive groups to restrict internet free speech or shutdown consumer revolts without the inclusion of consumers, it’s that they’re doing so while blatantly – and in their own secret cabals, of course – making it known that they are spinning a narrative to convince the ISPs. To reiterate what was mentioned in the e-mail that Wikileaks exposed….

“Building the record (and telling the story) that the sorts of sites at issue are dangerous. It is not just copyright infringement. Kids are one-click away from identity theft, graphic porn, malware, etc. Parent groups, consumer protection groups and other third parties can be cultivated to speak out against such predatory sites.”

As they admit within the discussion bulletpoint, they are literally “building the record” and “telling the story”. It’s also known as sculpting a narrative. The e-mails on Wikileaks never point to any facts or sources on these supposed dangers.

We’ve recently witnessed this exact same behavior from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation who admitted to the same thing. We’ve witnessed this with the American Broadcasting Corporation admitting to the same thing. We’ve witnessed this with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation admitting to the same thing. We’ve witnessed this with the Game Journo Pros and the websites they work for, admitting to the same thing.

Just recently an infrequent contributor to the Guardian dropped into a comment section to explain how to fabricate a backlash against someone by misconstruing information. This incident was chronicled in a short post on Kotaku in Action, and a link to the comment by writer Kate Bevan can be found here.

It’s literally specific groups attempting to control society through information control proxies. We call these proxies “media outlets”. However, they’re nothing more than propaganda machines for interests groups, as revealed through the blatant lies and purposeful misinformation surrounding #GamerGate. They can use smaller outlets to fester an unchallenged lie (i.e., the “Gamers are Dead” articles from gaming media). They can use major outlets to push the lie to the masses (i.e., ABC News, PBS, Colbert Report et al., rolling with the narrative from smaller outlets). They can then use popular media or pop culture to consummate that lie (i.e., Law & Order: SVU bringing the topic matter to the masses outside of the news loop). And finally, they can attempt to enact change through laws based on those lies.

What’s sad is that this all sounds like conspiracy theory just until the conspiracies have facts to back them up. As Edward Snowden pointed out in his interview with John Oliver, these kind of conversations need to happen… but what the general public does with the information thereafter is up to them.

(Main image courtesy of The Washington Post)