APRIL2006
Plus: The Pentagon's War on the Internet
"Mark S Bilk" wrote: AOL is politically censoring the e-mails addressed to its customers.
There is no way for AOL users to turn off the censorship (e.g. by adjusting their "nanny filter" or whatever) and receive all of their e-mails. The censored messages are simply thrown away (bounced) as soon as AOL receives them.
If you are using AOL as your Internet service provider [ISP], web host, or mailing-list server, you should switch to a different company immediately!
If you are worried about missing e-mails if you switch to a different ISP, because the address people know for you is whatever@aol.com, you should get your own Internet domain, which you can then point to any mail address (and any web host) you want (and you can change them at any time). Thereafter you can change ISPs and web hosts with impunity (after sending your new address: YourName@yournewdomain.com once to all your friends and lists you're subscribed to). Your domain mail address will then be independent of your ISP and will never change; I am mark@cosmicpenguin.com no matter what ISP I'm using.
A domain only costs about $10/year (note: you must pay that every year or you will lose the domain), and e-mail forwarding only about $2 or $3/month. Do a Google search for "email forwarding" for instructions.
See below for details of AOL's political censorship:
On Tue, Mar 14, 2006 at 10:49:27AM -0500, RAMillegan@aol.com wrote: >Subject: [cia-drugs] RoadsEnd's is always bouncing ... >My posting to lists is being very much hampered. Even though I am >owner, none of my post have shown up for several days to my yahoo >groups even my CTRL@aol group.
Note that Millegan (RAMillegan@aol.com, roadsend@aol.com) is using AOL as his ISP, and also as his mailing-list server (for his list CTRL@LISTSERV.AOL.COM).
For at least a year, AOL has been discarding all e-mails containing -- in the text of the e-mail -- URLs of websites about which AOL has "received complaints". Presumably these "complaints" come from Bush supporters, the U.S. government, zionists, internal AOL political censors etc. I often get bounce messages from the lists I run, saying that
particular e-mails have been thrown away and not delivered to any of the AOL recipients on the list. These bounce messages contain a code 554.
I've included an example bounce message below, from Jan 3, 2006, featuring Millegan and another AOL customer. The AOL web page -- 554hvub1.html -- mentioned in the bounce messages says, "There is at least one URL in your email that is generating substantial complaints from AOL members." There is no way for AOL users to turn off this political censorship and receive the e-mails addressed to them. AOL deletes the messages as soon as it receives them. AOL's billionaire CEO Steve Case is a known fascist. The second Google hit on him is this article from a fascist/zionist propaganda site, proudly telling how he donated money to an anti-gay church, and lamenting that people are angry at him for it:
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=21284
No one should use AOL as their ISP, mailing-list server, or website host. If you are doing so, you should switch to another company immediately! AOL should not be used by anyone for any purpose. A telemarketer from AOL called me up last year and said I should use their service. I told him about AOL's political censorship. He said to me, "AOL is a family Internet service. Our customers don't need to know about political websites."
Here is an example AOL censorship bounce message; I have hundreds of them. Radio4houston.org is the server for the mailing-lists that I run; it doesn't censor anything. That server is reporting to me the rejection messages that AOL sent to it when it tried to send a perfectly good list e-mail to AOL users who are list members.
] Hi. This is the qmail-send program at radio4houston.org. I'm afraid I wasn't able to deliver your message to the following addresses. ] This is a permanent error; I've given up. Sorry it didn't work out. ] ] RoadsEnd@aol.com:
] 205.188.159.217 failed after I sent the message. ] Remote host said: 554-: (HVU:B1) http://postmaster.info.aol.com/errors/554hvub1.html
] 554 TRANSACTION FAILED
]
] gus1time@aol.com: ] 64.12.137.249 failed after I sent the message.
] Remote host said: 554-: (HVU:B1) http://postmaster.info.aol.com/errors/554hvub1.html
] 554 TRANSACTION FAILED
]
Mark
The Pentagon’s War on the Internet
By Mike Whitney www.Informationclearinghouse.com
NEWS YOU WON'T FIND ON CNN
02/13/06 "ICH' -- -- The Pentagon has developed a comprehensive strategy for taking over the internet and controlling the free flow of information. The plan appears in a recently declassified document, “The Information Operations Roadmap”, which was provided under the FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) and revealed in an article by the BBC.
The Pentagon sees the internet in terms of a military adversary that poses a vital threat to its stated mission of global domination. This explains the confrontational language in the document which speaks of “fighting the net”; implying that the internet is the equivalent of “an enemy weapons system."
The Defense Dept. places a high-value on controlling information. The new program illustrates their determination to establish the parameters of free speech.
The Pentagon sees information as essential in manipulating public perceptions and, thus, a crucial tool in eliciting support for unpopular policies. The recent revelations of the military placing propaganda in the foreign press demonstrate the importance that is given to co-opting public opinion.
Information-warfare is used to create an impenetrable cloud around the activities of government so that decisions can be made without dissent. The smokescreen of deception that encompasses the Bush administration has less to do with prevaricating politicians than it does with a clearly articulated policy of obfuscation. “The Information Operations Roadmap” is solely intended to undermine the principle of an informed citizenry.
The Pentagon’s focus on the internet tells us a great deal about the mainstream media and its connection to the political establishment.
Why, for example, would the Pentagon see the internet as a greater threat than the mainstream media, where an estimated 75% of Americans get their news?
The reason is clear; because the MSM is already a fully-integrated part of the corporate-system providing a 24 hour per day streaming of business-friendly news. Today’s MSM operates as a de-facto franchise of the Pentagon, a reliable and sophisticated propagandist for Washington’s wars of aggression and political subterfuge.
The internet, on the other hand, is the last bastion of American democracy; a virtual world where reliable information moves instantly from person to person without passing through the corporate filter. Online visitors can get a clear picture of their governments’ depredations with a click of the mouse. This is the liberalization of the news, an open source of mind-expanding information that elevates citizen awareness of complex issues and threatens the status quo.
The Pentagon program is just one facet of a broader culture of deception; a pervasive ethos of dishonesty that envelopes all aspects of the Bush White House. The “Strategic Intelligence” Dept is a division of the Defense establishment that is entirely devoted to concealing, distorting, omitting and manipulating the truth.
In what way is “strategic intelligence” different from plain intelligence?
It is information that is shaped in a way that meets the needs of a particular group. In other words, it is not the truth at all, but a fabrication, a fiction, a lie.
Strategic intelligence is an oxymoron; a tidy bit of Orwellian doublespeak that reflects the deeply rooted cynicism of its authors.
The internet is a logical target for the Pentagon’s electronic warfare. Already the Downing Street memos, Bush’s bombing-threats against Al Jazeera, the fraudulent 2004 elections, and the leveling of Falluja, have disrupted the smooth execution of Bush’s wars. It is understandable that Rumsfeld and Co. would seek to transform this potential enemy into an ally, much as it has done with the MSM.
The Pentagon’s plans for engaging in “virtual warfare” are impressive. As BBC notes: “The operations described in the document include a surprising range of military activities: public affairs officers who brief journalists, psychological operations troops who try to manipulate the thoughts and beliefs of an enemy, computer network attack specialists who seek to destroy enemy networks.” (BBC)
The enemy, of course, is you, dear reader, or anyone who refuses to accept their role as a witless-cog in new world order. Seizing the internet is a prudent way of controlling every piece of information that one experiences from cradle to grave; all necessary for an orderly police-state.
The Information Operations Roadmap (IOR) recommends that psychological operations (Psyops) “should consider a range of technologies to disseminate propaganda in enemy territory: unmanned aerial vehicles, "miniaturized, scatterable public address systems", wireless devices, cellular phones and the internet.” No idea is too costly or too far-fetched that it escapes the serious consideration of the Pentagon chieftains.
The War Dept. is planning to insert itself into every area of the internet from blogs to chat rooms, from leftist web sites to editorial commentary. The objective is to challenge any tidbit of information that appears on the web that may counter the official narrative; the fairytale of benign American intervention to promote democracy and human rights across the planet.
The IOR aspires to "provide maximum control of the entire electromagnetic spectrum" and develop the capability to "disrupt or destroy the full spectrum of globally emerging communications systems, sensors, and weapons systems dependent on the electromagnetic spectrum". (BBC)
Full spectrum dominance.
The ultimate goal of the Pentagon is to create an internet-paradigm that corresponds to the corporate mainstream model, devoid of imagination or divergent points of view. They envision an internet that is increasingly restricted by the gluttonous influence of industry and its vast “tapestry of lies”.
The internet is the modern-day marketplace of ideas, an invaluable resource for human curiosity and organized resistance. It provides a direct link between the explosive power of ideas and engaged citizen involvement. (aka; participatory democracy)
The Pentagon is laying the groundwork for privatizing the internet so the information-revolution can be transformed into an information-tyranny, extending to all areas of communications and serving the exclusive interests of a few well-heeled American plutocrats.
Information Clearing House
from Joe Bryant