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【原文标题】Revealed: US spy operation that manipulates social media
【中文标题】爆料：美国情报机构操纵舆论的伎俩
【登载媒体】英国卫报
【来源地址】http://www.guardian.co.uk/techno ... ion-social-networks
【声 明】本翻译供Anti-CNN使用，未经AC或译者许可，不得转载。
【译 文】
Military's 'sock puppet' software creates fake online identities to spread pro-American propaganda 军方“袜子木偶”软件可以创建虚假网络身份来散布亲美国的言论
Nick Fielding and Ian Cobain
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 17 March 2011 13.19 GMT
Gen David Petraeus has previously said US online psychological operations are aimed at 'countering extremist ideology and propaganda'. Photograph: Cliff Owen/AP
The US military is developing software that will let it secretly manipulate social media sites by using fake online personas to influence internet conversations and spread pro-American propaganda.
A Californian corporation has been awarded a contract with United States Central Command (Centcom), which oversees US armed operations in the Middle East and Central Asia, to develop what is described as an "online persona management service" that will allow one US serviceman or woman to control up to 10 separate identities based all over the world.
Gen David Petraeus曾经说过，美国的网络心理战的目标是极端主义思想和言论
美国军方正在开发一种软件，该软件可以通过使用虚假的网络身份来影响网上对话，散布亲美国言论，从而达到秘密操纵社会舆论站点的目的。
一家加利福尼亚的公司已经从中央司令部获得一份合同，来开发一种被描述为“在线个人管理服务”的软件，可以允许一个男兵或者女兵同时操作多达十个基于全球的个人 IP地址。
The project has been likened by web experts to China's attempts to control and restrict free speech on the internet. Critics are likely to complain that it will allow the US military to create a false consensus in online conversations, crowd out unwelcome opinions and smother commentaries or reports that do not correspond with its own objectives.
The discovery that the US military is developing false online personalities – known to users of social media as "sock puppets" – could also encourage other governments, private companies and non-government organisations to do the same.
The Centcom contract stipulates that each fake online persona must have a convincing background, history and supporting details, and that up to 50 US-based controllers should be able to operate false identities from their workstations "without fear of being discovered by sophisticated adversaries".
这项过程却被专家认为控制和限制网上自由言论的行为，就和中国的行为类似。批评人士抱怨说，这会让美国军方创造一种网上谈话的假象，排挤不受欢迎的言论，消除与自己意志不符的报道或者评论。
而被人们知道的这种称为“袜子木偶”的网上媒体是由美国军方开发的，而发现这一行动后，会促使其它政府，私人公司或者非政府组织开发同样的系统。
中央司令部的合同上规定，每一个虚假的身份必须要有令人信服的背景，历史或者其它细节，而五十个美国的操作者在他们的工作站上操作这些虚假地址时候不比担心被精密的侦察者发现。
Centcom spokesman Commander Bill Speaks said: "The technology supports classified blogging activities on foreign-language websites to enable Centcom to counter violent extremist and enemy propaganda outside the US."
He said none of the interventions would be in English, as it would be unlawful to "address US audiences" with such technology, and any English-language use of social media by Centcom was always clearly attributed. The languages in which the interventions are conducted include Arabic, Farsi, Urdu and Pashto.
Centcom said it was not targeting any US-based web sites, in English or any other language, and specifically said it was not targeting Facebook or Twitter.
中央司令部的发言人 Bill Speaks说，这项技术支持国外网站分类的博客活动，以保证中央司令部打击在美国之外的暴力极端分子和敌人的宣传人员。
他表示，干涉不会使用英语，因为使用这个技术对美国人也这样太过糟糕，而且中央司令部使用的所有英语类的这种技术手段将是严格规定好的。使用该技术干涉的对象包括使用阿拉伯语，波斯语，马尔杜语和朴实图语。
中央司令部表示，它不针对任何美国的网站， 英语的或者其它语言的，而且特备声明它不针对脸谱或推特。
Once developed, the software could allow US service personnel, working around the clock in one location, to respond to emerging online conversations with any number of co-ordinated messages, blogposts, chatroom posts and other interventions. Details of the contract suggest this location would be MacDill air force base near Tampa, Florida, home of US Special Operations Command.
Centcom's contract requires for each controller the provision of one "virtual private server" located in the United States and others appearing to be outside the US to give the impression the fake personas are real people located in different parts of the world.
It also calls for "traffic mixing", blending the persona controllers' internet usage with the usage of people outside Centcom in a manner that must offer "excellent cover and powerful deniability".
一旦开发了，这种软件可以让美国军人夜以继日地在一个地点通过不计其数的信息，博客，帖子或者其它的干预方式。该合同的细节暗示，这个地点将是麦克道尔空军基地，这是在佛罗里达坦巴市的一个基地，是美国特种作战司令部所在。
该合同要求，对于每个这样的操作者，必须有一个币被盗呃“真实的用户”在美国，而其它的地址必须是远离美国的，来给人这些虚假人物是真的，而且分布在全世界的印象。
The multiple persona contract is thought to have been awarded as part of a programme called Operation Earnest Voice (OEV), which was first developed in Iraq as a psychological warfare weapon against the online presence of al-Qaida supporters and others ranged against coalition forces. Since then, OEV is reported to have expanded into a $200m programme and is thought to have been used against jihadists across Pakistan, Afghanistan and the Middle East.
OEV is seen by senior US commanders as a vital counter-terrorism and counter-radicalisation programme. In evidence to the US Senate's armed services committee last year, General David Petraeus, then commander of Centcom, described the operation as an effort to "counter extremist ideology and propaganda and to ensure that credible voices in the region are heard". He said the US military's objective was to be "first with the truth".
This month Petraeus's successor, General James Mattis, told the same committee that OEV "supports all activities associated with degrading the enemy narrative, including web engagement and web-based product distribution capabilities".
该项多个伪装地址的合同被认为是真实声音行动的一部分，这个行动最初在伊拉克开展，作为一个间谍软件武器来反对在线的塔利班支持者和其它的部族成员。从那时起， OEV已经发展成为拥有20亿预算的计划，而且别认为参与了巴基斯坦，阿富汗和中东的反圣战运动。 OVE被美国高级将领认为是对付恐怖主义和民族主义的强力武器。在去年美国参议院的三军委员会的证据表明，当时的中央司令部司令David Petraeus将军描述该行动是打击极端思想和宣传，保证在那些地方可靠的声音的一种有力手段。他说，美国的目标是“第一时间与真理同在”。 David Petraeus的继任者James Mattis将军在本月告诉该委员会，OEV支持所有瓦解敌人言论的手段，包含网上管理和基于网络的产品分配能力。
Centcom confirmed that the $2.76m contract was awarded to Ntrepid, a newly formed corporation registered in Los Angeles. It would not disclose whether the multiple persona project is already in operation or discuss any related contracts.
Nobody was available for comment at Ntrepid.
In his evidence to the Senate committee, Gen Mattis said: "OEV seeks to disrupt recruitment and training of suicide bombers; deny safe havens for our adversaries; and counter extremist ideology and propaganda." He added that Centcom was working with "our coalition partners" to develop new techniques and tactics the US could use "to counter the adversary in the cyber domain".
According to a report by the inspector general of the US defence department in Iraq, OEV was managed by the multinational forces rather than Centcom.
中央司令部证实 276万美元的合同给予了Ntrepid公司，这个新成立的位于洛杉矶的公司。而它不愿回答是否该系统已经使用或者相关的细节问题。 而Ntrepid公司也米有人对此发表看法。 在Mattis呈递给委员会的证据中，他表示:“OVE寻求瓦解征集或者训练自杀袭击者，否认我们敌人所说的安全港，压制极端思想和言论”。他补充说，中央司令部在致力于我们的伙伴开发新技术和策略，美国可以使用它们压制我们在网上的敌人。
根据美国国防部的检察长的报告， OEV是由多国部队操作，而不是中央司令部。
Asked whether any UK military personnel had been involved in OEV, Britain's Ministry of Defence said it could find "no evidence". The MoD refused to say whether it had been involved in the development of persona management programmes, saying: "We don't comment on cyber capability."
OEV was discussed last year at a gathering of electronic warfare specialists in Washington DC, where a senior Centcom officer told delegates that its purpose was to "communicate critical messages and to counter the propaganda of our adversaries".
Persona management by the US military would face legal challenges if it were turned against citizens of the US, where a number of people engaged in sock puppetry have faced prosecution.
Last year a New York lawyer who impersonated a scholar was sentenced to jail after being convicted of "criminal impersonation" and identity theft.
在被问及是否有英国军人参与到 OEV中来，英国国防大臣说，没有发现证据。国防大臣拒绝就是否参与该行动发表看法，只是说，我们不对网络战发表看法。 OEV在去年在华盛顿举办的电子战会议上被提及，当时有个中央司令部的高级官员告诉与会者，它的目的是“传达批评言论，压制敌人的宣传”。
有美军方控制的这套系统如果用来反对美国人民的话，将会面临法律挑战，而美国也已经有相当多的人士因为参与袜子木偶行动而受到起诉。
去年，纽约一位律师因为伪装为学者而被判入狱，因为他被认定“非法伪装”，偷窃身份。
It is unclear whether a persona management programme would contravene UK law. Legal experts say it could fall foul of the Forgery and Counterfeiting Act 1981, which states that "a person is guilty of forgery if he makes a false instrument, with the intention that he or another shall use it to induce somebody to accept it as genuine, and by reason of so accepting it to do or not to do some act to his own or any other person's prejudice". However, this would apply only if a website or social network could be shown to have suffered "prejudice" as a result.
目前还不知道这样的伪装身份的做法是否违反英国法律。法律专家说，这和 1981年的《伪造货币法案》冲突，该法规定，一个人伪造了一个仪器，而且让人们认为这是真的，这就犯了伪造罪，而且以如此的接受或者不接受基于个人损害的一些行为为原因。当然，这只有当网站或者社交网络可以证明已经遭受损失才行。 | 
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