[LINK] astroturfing

[kim holburn]

I find this article creepy.  Astroturfing has been around for ages and
it is on the rise.

What is fairly recent are sites where people can actually communicate
and work together and say things.  Wikipedia, twitter, reddit,
facethingy, slashdot etc.etc.  This is free speech surely.

Somehow I am seeing a subtle growing pressure that only corporations
have a legitimate voice on the internet.  Like with radio or TV only
the "broadcasters" are real, consumers should only consume not answer
back.  If they do, they are "astroturfers".

You would have to be very careful that it was indeed astroturfing. I
can't imagine that sites like the one mentioned in China could make a
direct cultural translation to the west.

Kim

On Mon, Jan 9, 2012 at 8:54 AM, Jan Whitaker <jwhit at janwhitaker.com> wrote:
>
>
> New kinds of dark forces are being unleashed online
>
> Gareth Cook
> January 9, 2012 - 6:46AM
>
> Until now, the story of the internet wars has been a tale of
> escalating software. Shadowy criminals (or bored teenagers) design
> code that infects a computer, or spits out spam, or steals credit
> card numbers. They get better and better.
>
> Our protectors, meanwhile, struggle to keep up, designing programs
> that build protective walls around our computers, and filter the
> lottery notifications and Nigerian petroleum appeals from our inbox.
>
> But the crucial ingredient of a novel form of attack, recently
> detailed by computer scientists in California, is not software, but
> people. Growing numbers of mercenaries are being hired to help twist
> the landscape of social media - to write rave reviews of products,
> post convincing spam, set up accounts on social networks, or perform
> other tasks.
>
> This gives their employers new ways to do everything from legally
> questionable marketing to outright theft.
>
> China appears to be the epicentre of this new black market, which is
> running to the millions there annually, but it has also arrived on
> American shores, according to Ben Zhao, an associate professor at the
> University of California, Santa Barbara, whose detective work has
> shed light on what is happening.
>
> What Zhao and his team have found is darkly fascinating. It's a
> reminder of the forces being unleashed as the world, with its massive
> economic disparities, is connected by the internet.
>
> It also serves as a warning. As we hurdle headlong into a world
> shaped by social media, profits and power will accrue to those who
> know how to play the puppet master.
>
> Zhao tells me he gained his first look into this world while doing
> research on RenRen, a Chinese version of Facebook. RenRen provided
> him with a large set of accounts it had shut down for abuse, such as
> spreading spam or viruses.
>
> As Zhao and his graduate students looked through the blocked RenRen
> profiles, though, they found that many looked quite convincing,
> nothing like the usual computer-generated nonsense.
>
> People just glancing at one of the profiles would probably think it
> came from a real person; they might read the opinions, and perhaps
> click on a link or two.
>
> ''They looked too real,'' said Zhao, ''to be machine generated.''
>
> The accounts were the product of what Zhao has dubbed
> ''crowdturfing'' - a combination of ''astroturfing'' and
> ''crowdsourcing''. Astroturfing is an older term that refers to fake
> grassroots efforts, such as secretly paying people to send notes to
> their senator in favour of a bill.
>
> Crowdsourcing is outsourcing to a crowd - a form of mass
> collaboration in which someone puts out a public request for help
> with a large number of well-defined tasks.
>
> Combine the two and you get websites such as one called Zhubajie in
> China, which publishes offers for work like singing the praises of a
> particular dress on social media.
>
> The pay for each of these jobs is measured in pennies, but Zhao says
> there are some people earning several thousand dollars a year, a
> living in China. And the activity is growing quickly. Zhao's computer
> surveillance found about 100 crowdturfing campaigns advertised a
> month on Zhubajie in 2007, and recently it was nearly 10,000.
>
> Crowdturfing operations are starting up in India, where there are
> plenty of people with English skills, and the lack of economic
> opportunities, to make working in American social media practical.
>
> The rise of this new technique means that any web service with user
> accounts - from eBay to Twitter - can be readily invaded in large numbers.
>
> It will also make it easier for criminals to spread malicious
> software. Being on Facebook or Twitter can lull you into complacency.
> You have a sense that you are among friends. But one of your new
> friends could be a teen on another continent, working for pennies in
> the hope that you'll make one false click.
>
> Gareth Cook is a columnist with The Boston Globe.
>
>
> This story was found at:
> http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/new-kinds-of-dark-forces-are-being-unleashed-online-20120108-1pq2f.html
>
>
>
>
> Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
> jwhit at janwhitaker.com
> blog: http://janwhitaker.com/jansblog/
> business: http://www.janwhitaker.com
>
> Our truest response to the irrationality of the world is to paint or
> sing or write, for only in such response do we find truth.
> ~Madeline L'Engle, writer
>
> _ __________________ _
> _______________________________________________
> Link mailing list
> Link at mailman.anu.edu.au
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-- 
Kim Holburn
IT Network & Security Consultant
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