US Military Commissions Sock Puppet Program

What's old is new again

http://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/03/18/023239/us-military-commissions-sock-puppet-program

"The Guardian and The Telegraph are reporting that US based Ntrepid Corporation has been awarded a $2.76 million contract to develop software aimed at manipulating social media. The project aims to enable military personnel to control multiple 'sock puppets' located at a range of geographically diverse IP addresses, with the aim of spreading pro-US propaganda. The project will not target English speaking web sites (yet) but will be limited to foreign languages, including Arabic, Farsi, Urdu and Pashto. The project will be funded as part of the $200 million Operation Earnest Voice program run by US Central Command."

http://www.ntrepidcorp.com/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/mar/17/us-spy-operation-social-networks
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/8388603/US-military-creates-fake-online-personas.html