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June 6th, 2007

Mike Ruppert responded to my post about Armorware. As I expected, he didn’t address any of the several concerns I raised. He confirms what we already knew: He’s virtually clueless about computer security and is promoting something he doesn’t understand because it looks “elegant” to him. * sigh * He did, however, mention Alex Jones.

In his response, to my post, Mike Ruppert wrote, “I get slammed for promoting one prouduct. [sic] How many paid advertisers are there on Alex Jonesâ€™ sites?”

I didn’t know if Alex Jones was promoting/endorsing/offering any computer security or anonymity products. I’d never heard of him doing do, but since Ruppert mentioned it, I thought I’d look into the matter, just to make sure.

Uhhhhhhgh. I feel ill.

Before you read about what I found, this is what I wrote about proxy services in my Ugly Truth About Online Anonymity essay:

Many technologies that amateur anonymity fetishists are attracted to are actually designed to harvest information. Put yourself in the shoes of the NSA. If you wanted a concentrated haul of the most interesting information what would you do? You would establish a honeypot: a service (free or paid) that purported to provide an anonymous web browsing/email capability. Who knows what people might get up to if they thought nobody was looking? That, of course, is the idea with honeypots. If youâ€™re relying on a proxy server, how will you know that itâ€™s not simply recording your entire session for examination by acreages of the Homelandâ€™s supercomputers that are running advanced statistical Magic 8 Ball algorithms? Because the company or individual providing your proxy service says that they donâ€™t keep logs? HA

Now, here’s what I just found over at Prison Planet, an Alex Jones site:

New Prison Planet.tv Member Feature: Anonymous Surfing and E Mailing Prison Planet | June 13 2005 We are offering our Prison Planet.tv members two exclusive new features which come completely free at no extra charge. Anonymous surfing and e mailing options are now available to our great members! The anonymous surfer allows to you to safely traverse the web while been protected against malicious tracking cookies and government surveillance. Your online privacy is guaranteed. Also available is the anonymous e mailer option which allows you to send private, anonymous e mails. Prison Planet.tv members can access these two great new features at no extra charge right now. Click here to access the anonymous surfer. Click here to access the anonymous emailer. Not a Prison Planet.tv member? These features barely scratch the surface of what members receive. All of Alex Jones documentary films, Alex Jones’ weekly television reports, all major audio interviews from the Alex Jones Show, Alex Jones’ book Descent Into Tyranny, Paul Joseph Watson’s book Order Out of Chaos. There is already a comprehensive library of material online just waiting for members going back over a year. Click here to subscribe, it’s just 15 cents a day if you subscribe for a year or $5.95 a month.

I searched back through my archives, and do you know when I first warned people about this kind of thing?

2002.

In 2002, I wrote the following to a Cryptogon reader:

Few people have “clean,” that is anonymous Internet access. The people who “think” they have it are paying extra for it, and may just be supporting a NSA honeypot. I get a good chuckle when I see webwasher and anonymiser hits in my log. Read Sun Tzu’s, “Art of War.” If he wanted people to think they were anonymous online, so he could learn their maneuvers and tactics, how would he go about it? He’d set up an ISP offering “anonymous” surfing and post ads for it all over the dissident backwaters of the Internet. He might even require clients to run an executable in order to access the “anonymous” browsing system. That way, he gets every keystroke, in addition to all Internet activity.

In 2005, both Alex Jones and Mike Ruppert began promoting possible honeypot email and web anonymity services…

I feel ill. I’m literally sitting here, holding my head in my hands.

In mindwar, which is what this is, the battlespace is littered with bullshit and honeypots. Getting outside the boxes lands you inside other boxes. It is like planning an ambush far in advance. When the enemy (you and me) walks along the path and starts taking fire, we leap into the bushes for cover… and land in a mine field.

Another analogy. The Internet is like a safety valve on a pressure cooker. If the thing is getting dangerous, dissidents and activists of EVERY possible description can meet up with the handfull of other people who share similar interests, sit in front of their computers, and spend a lot of time accomplishing nothing. In the meantime, valuable intelligence may be gleaned about us via the methods I discuss above, and probably techniques we can’t begin to imagine.

When I studied information warfare in college, this now long forgotten essay was a big deal, but twelve years later, have we learned anything?

The Internet could also be used offensively as an additional medium in psychological operations campaigns and to help achieve unconventional warfare objectives. Used creatively as an integral asset, the Internet can facilitate many DoD operations and activities.

Strategic Assessment: The Internet

Prepared by Mr. Charles Swett

Assistant for Strategic Assessment

Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Low-Intensity Conflict

July 1995

What about some of the most prominent dissidents and activists?

Oh, they’re busy writing books, making documentaries and selling computer “security” products and services to the people who listen to them. This would be hilarious if it wasn’t so sad.

Related: Remember My Warnings About Closed Source Computer Security Products and Services?

COINTELPRO, Surveillance, Technology | Posted in Coincidence? Top Of Page