The NSA has been granted access to manipulate Facebook chat messages in the event of flash mobs or spontaneous demonstrations that have been “prohibited”.
Heise.de report:
Facebook manipulated on behalf of the US government critical of the government Event info and direct messages between participating users in order to prevent demonstrations. As can be seen from an internal NSA document from the archive Edward Snowden, Facebook developed the method apparently for over three years. Meanwhile, it is also true in other messengers used, but it has been tested and applied on Facebook – with success.
A document dated December 2012 draws a first, very satisfied balance. In the year after the protest movement Occupy Wall Street could therefore be prevented already several governmental and non-critical capitalism protests. The eruption of protests in the financial district of New York in the fall of 2011 had seen to it that the hitherto rather small “Operation SPORA” internally became a priority. So the secret to infiltrate protests targeted. Access to the SPORA interface now have all the intelligence services alliance “Five Eyes” . The development will resume as NSA cooperation with a small team on Facebook.
Sprinkle instead of block
When it comes SPORA according to the documents not about simply to prevent appointments for flash mobs and demonstrations by messages are delivered too late or not. Much more effective is an algorithm with a subtle and non-perfidious approach: the deliberate falsification of time and place. This happens both in Facebook “events” themselves, as well as direct messages in which potential participants exchange ideas and agree on the event. The communicants get so each display different data from the apps or websites and then appear at different times in different places for alleged demo.
The manipulations are used now not only in communication through Facebook, but also on several other platforms including WhatsApp and Google Hangouts. Only for users, of which the NSA knows that they write each other of not yet cracked Messenger, the manipulations are turned off in the infiltrated platforms. This is to prevent the intervention may be revealed. For this precise assessment of user contacts have access to their various surveillance databases NSA and Co..
Should be almost perfect SPORA for inhibiting flash mobs or protests, in which the number of participants is foreseeable small. Facebook began the process then not only against Occupy generic one, but apparently manipulated arbitrarily selected flash mob planning worldwide to test the algorithms “live”. That such often have no political goal, but held only for pleasure, the developers is doing well located. Thus no direct suspicion falls on Facebook. Instead, the participants explain the failure with too small interest of the public. The psychological effect of this experience was a resounding from the organizers so that they refrain after two failures of future plans.
An early example of the falsification of such rather harmless protests for testing purposes is the internal track record, according maue participation in the protest against the discriminatory RTL coverage of PC gamers . So then reported back to the participants Martin T. that he in a group chat arrival had planned to demonstrate with five Facebook contacts – and afterwards stood with three other participants, he has never seen before. They would also only wanted the movies.
Photo News safer
The surest way to still make appointments to protests or flash mobs via Facebook is currently a relatively simple trick – namely, to photograph and write down the dates. Intervene in image files, is considerably more complicated and the results of appropriate NSA efforts often miserable, so disregard the developer of it. Furthermore, manipulations of image files can be relatively easy to prove.
