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Ethanol-fueled [soylentnews.org] writes:

The GCHQ, however, doesn't care much [soylentnews.org] for donuts.

The Intercept reports [firstlook.org] (paraphrased here) that the GCHQ have developed covert tools to seed the internet with false information, including the ability to manipulate the results of online polls, artificially inflate pageview counts on web sites, "amplify" sanctioned messages on YouTube, and censor video content judged to be "extremist."

Included in those capabilities is an old standby for pre-adolescent prank callers everywhere: A way to connect two unsuspecting phone users together in a call. [ Submitter's note: This item is especially troubling because it allows the GCHQ to "force" a connection between two individuals, manufacturing an association and the scrutiny with which it comes ]

A partial list of the insidious capabilities is given here:

• "Change outcomes of online polls" (UNDERPASS)
• Mass delivery of email messaging to support an Information Operations campaign (BADGER) and mass delivery of SMS messages to support an Information Operations campaign (WARPARTH)
• Disruption of video-based websites hosting extremist content through concerted target discovery and content removal. (SILVERLORD)
• Targeting Skype users/conversations in real time
• Finding private photographs of targets on Facebook
• A tool that will permanently disable a target's account on their computer (ANGRY PIRATE)
• Ability to artificially increase traffic to a website (GATEWAY) and ability to inflate page views on websites (SLIPSTREAM)
• Targeted Denial Of Service against Web Servers (PREDATORS FACE) and Distributed denial of service using P2P. (ROLLING THUNDER)

All this as the UK seeks to strengthen [vice.com] their surveillance powers, citing the usual reasons such as "terrorism" and "national security."

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Original Submission