Easy way to figure out if 'disinfo agents' exist and their identities

In response to the thread here I've devised a simple solution to figure out if there's such a thing as a 'disinfo agent' and if so, who they are.

If there is such a thing as a disinfo agent, then common sense tells me they would be active in several forum communities under different aliases, not just one. All a mod/admin would have to do is collaborate with some mods/admins of other forums discussing alternative topics. An admin from each forum will, in private only among the group of admins, provide an IP list of everyone who's ever posted on the forum. You can use PHPMyAdmin to query the posts table for IP's and export the result set.

Each IP list will go into a separate table in a new database, then a cartesian product will be created by cross-joining the tables and storing the result in a view. Then that view can be queried where any two columns have the same value. (In other words, cross-reference every IP on every list to see who posts multiple places.) Very simple to do.

Those posters can then be looked up, to see if their information is consistent across boards. If they provide inconsistent information (for example, on one forum their identity is very different than on another) and they dedicate themselves to only trying to debunk threads, then you've caught a disinfo agent.

reply to post by SilentKoala


The ones who work for the government can have multiple IDs each with IPs from apparently different ISPs even different countries.

Oh and, the government has had the top scientists and psych pros working these psyop/disinfo problems/tactics for decades. They have their act together. They make mistakes sometimes, but their mistakes are on a level that most people would not know what they are seeing. Then the clean up crew comes in before it gets outta hand.

reply to post by SilentKoala


The best part was then the Mods took it seriously and bothered to waste their time catching the nefarious bad guy posing as innocent joe tea towel on the internet.

I laughed for days at that!

reply to post by Numbers33four


Yeah but I would think they would only need to have separate IP's on the same board. I don't think they would have thought it a necessity to use a separate IP for every board in addition to every account on each. As far as I know this hasn't been done before (after all it requires this rare thing called cooperation) and maybe they haven't thought of it.

reply to post by SilentKoala


Most people are idiots.

A majority of the people who frequent this website, are gullible idiots.

There is absolutely no reason whatsoever for anyone to get paid, to do a job, when there are already so many idiots performing the same task for free.

reply to post by mainidh


Skeptics ought to be supportive of this too, after all if there is no such thing as a 'disinfo agent' then this would reveal that fact.

Well as already mentioned, it wouldn't work because it's easy to mask your real IP by using a proxy or VPN or some other method... which I'm sure they do. You couldn't get any conclusive results from such an effort, nor would the admin ever do such a thing. It would probably breach some sort of privacy agreement if they were to share such details with 3rd parties.

reply to post by SilentKoala


You really underestimate the intel community. You cannot out think them. Just think about it without chains for a moment. We deal with the fact that we are in a cage by refusing to believe that we are in a cage. The NAZIs did not lose WW2; that is what you need to start with. It is all fake.

reply to post by ChaoticOrder


Yes but if they used those things, they would use them each place, so even if it's a fake IP, it would be a consistent fake IP across boards, and cross-referencable.

It doesn't violate any laws for entities to cross-reference eachothers data. If it did, Facebook, Amazon, and Google would all be illegal.

reply to post by SilentKoala

If there is such a thing as a disinfo agent, then common sense tells me they would be active in several forum communities under different aliases, not just one. All a mod/admin would have to do is collaborate with some mods/admins of other forums discussing alternative topics. An admin from each forum will, in private only among the group of admins, provide an IP list of everyone who's ever posted on the forum. You can use PHPMyAdmin to query the posts table for IP's and export the result set.

So what you're saying is, you want the Mods to conspire with Mods from other sites to spy on you and discover your true identity? This would be good for everyone how,exactly?

reply to post by SilentKoala


They compartmentalize people per project. They also generally use contrators with a specific focus. They will not be making stupid mistakes as a rule.

These people are at the top of their game. Think about it like this: Steve Jobs had a top secret clearance. This is because he built hardware and software that in part included government specifications. But he was also a consultant to agencies like NSA. These people control it all and they will not be out gamed. They are the game masters.

Originally posted by DJW001
So what you're saying is, you want the Mods to conspire with Mods from other sites to spy on you and discover your true identity? This would be good for everyone how,exactly?

I explained exactly how it would be good for everyone, but you already knew that.

Originally posted by SilentKoala
reply to post by ChaoticOrder

 

Yes but if they used those things, they would use them each place, so even if it's a fake IP, it would be a consistent fake IP across boards, and cross-referencable.

The problem is proxies are used by hundreds and even thousands of people at the same time. There's no possible way to conclusively know who is who.

reply to post by SilentKoala


But who cares? Why would someone who gives their time freely engage in such a meaningless task?

If you mean to weed out self supporting people, well they already do that. You can't have more than one account. They don't need a full time investigative service just to appease you however.

So what if american dad is on here as stan somethingelse.. Who cares? As BC said above people are gullible. If they're going to fall for it.. well, it keeps us safe from abstract stupidity.

Go go flee with the nwo, you there with your tin foil hat.

I'll sit here with my world goggles on and watch the show.

Let it be.

Originally posted by ChaoticOrder
Well as already mentioned, it wouldn't work because it's easy to mask your real IP by using a proxy or VPN or some other method... which I'm sure they do. You couldn't get any conclusive results from such an effort, nor would the admin ever do such a thing. It would probably breach some sort of privacy agreement if they were to share such details with 3rd parties.

Most if not all public proxies are well known to the staff on ATS. So they would be aware of that.

They're not all suits and pants up there, don't be fooled. some of them are hats too!

reply to post by SilentKoala

If they provide inconsistent information (for example, on one forum their identity is very different than on another) and they dedicate themselves to only trying to debunk threads, then you've caught a disinfo agent.

And then what? What if it turns out that they are a champion of your favorite cause? What if it turns out that you, yourself, have posted on other boards using a different handle and contradictory personal information to throw the gummint off your trail? What would you want the Mods to do to you if they believe, however incorrectly, that you are a "disinfo agent?"

my mind is blown,first two threads I opened here today are both asking for more spying and control.pot calling the kettle black.

reply to post by SilentKoala


Ok, well first you need to understand something...

There ARE people who come here that don't believe what you believe and, like you, feel the need to express their views.

There ARE people who come here specifically to spread crap

There ARE sockpuppets. Fake online identities controlled by a person or a group of people, making it appear to be many separate individuals.

Your idea would work for the first two groups, but those aren't paid disinfo agents, they are just people like you. Your method will do nothing to address the sockpuppets.

This is how I would run a sockpuppet. I'd either buy access to, or create my own, botnet. The more infected machines the better, this way I can route my traffic around and you'll never be able to pin point the origin, all you would find is randomly distributed IPs from across the globe, all of them unsuspecting victims in my campaign.

You need to define "disinfo agents" because most of the people being called that here are just people with different views.

If a disinfo campaign was being run against a site like ATS, it would more than likely involve a group of accounts spreading the same talking points over most threads on a subject, or a similar group of accounts attempting to get threads derailed or shutdown.

ATS does generate some content, but this is mostly from a handful of people and the quality of the content speaks for itself. True disinfo works closer to the source of what we are trying to discuss. A lot of those questionable blogs? That's disinfo. The people spreading the links though, might not actually be part of it knowingly.

Let me tell you this, from cleverbots and chatbots, and my recent experience with a compromised MSN account... some of these scripts can hold a convincing conversation for a little bit. And that's chatting in real time, when you are talking forum posts, well, with the right coding it would be hard to detect.

Forget IPs. That's worthless for various reasons if you understand networking.

You want to spot the true disinfo? You need some type of pattern analyzing algorithm to parse all ATS posts as well as other top conspiracy forums and blogs. You need something that can see the patterns in the content, posting times of the content, and the way the content is being presented.

Think along the lines of the FBI being able to tell things about you by your handwritting, but instead, this is directed at a massive amount of data to see if patterns emerge, this still won't lead you to the source directly, but this would allow you to identify the disinfo as it becomes available. You'd be able to notice the patterns as they start to develop. You could isolate the accounts promoting and distributing the BS.

OK disinfo agents, disillusioned alien lovers, and just plain weird people. How do you the know difference? Does it really matter. If in fact any of the bizarre but interesting reading events described here take place, what the hell would you do anyhoot.

The truly amazing and 1 undisputable fact is that the world is going to hell. The other truth is that all what is occurring is clearly foretold in the Bible. You figure out what to believe in.

We value your privacy on ATS and would never collaborate in a manner such as you suggest.
While this leaves room for such people to come and post disinformation such is price of protecting the identities of our members which I can assure is something we take very seriously as staff.
That's one of the biggest reasons I decided I wanted to join staff here; I feel they have very high ethical standards and that is something I can wholeheartedly support.

Not saying your idea is a bad one, just that it wouldn't be "ATS style" to conduct such an investigation.
You are always free to visit other sites and begin compiling information on posting habits and styles of those you think might be using the internet in that fashion.

Cheers,
Asktheanimals