The CIA Secretly Ran a Star Wars Fan Site (404media.co) 61
alternative_right writes: The site looks like an ordinary Star Wars fan website from around 2010. But starwarsweb.net was actually a tool built by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to covertly communicate with its informants in other countries.
Of course they where (Score:4, Funny)
How could they be so stupid (Score:3, Insightful)
Assuming "US pop culture" to be an adequate facade for secret US informants in typically anti-US countries is at a level of arrogance orignorance that one would call criminally negligent.
Re:How could they be so stupid (Score:5, Informative)
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Of course Star Wars is popular but that's still very suspicious. If you'd have to point at possible US spies, where would you look? "Fans of the US" would be top of my list. In fact the site was uncovered and tens of informants were executed. The logical thing would be to create a website about a mundane topic with no particular connection to a foreign country.
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Different environments and different covers have different needs.
Broad cultural phenomenon like "Star Wars" is something I would expect to work well in a lot of contexts. Lots of people lots of places spend a lot of time reading and chatting about Star Wars and adjacent topics. Plus it is a rich enough stew of things that will seem innocuous but could be use as signals. Ie star a new thread arguing Han shot first should not be seen as cannon, on an even number hour means - cease fire talks are serious, odd
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visiting a Star Wars website is reasonably plausible.
They're not getting a fair trial where a plausible excuse is enough to go free. They're getting onto a watch list, intelligence agencies do their metadata crossing thing, identify a few dozen which get questioned or worse.
Say if you intend to commit murder, you don't want to have an alibi, you want to end up on a suspect list at all, the risk is too high.
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If they aren't getting a fair trial, then nothing matters does it.
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What matters is to stay alive. Entering a first level suspect list is the end of it. Even totalitarian governments cannot monitor tens of millions of residents. But if they have a watch list with some thousand names, they'll do the necessary to find out who is a spy. That's how it works.
Re: How could they be so stupid (Score:2)
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They're not getting a fair trial where a plausible excuse is enough to go free. They're getting onto a watch list
Yes, but for that you've gotta do something suspicious first. And that's the point - visiting a Star Wars fan site is not suspicious. Getting e-mails from someone@cia.gov is.
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I'd say you've just demonstrated a huge level of both arrogance and ignorance. US media is popular basically everywhere. It's by far the biggest reason why most countries set quotas for domestic content for e.g. streaming services, broadcast TV, cable, movie theaters, radio, etc. This is also perhaps the largest reason why Hollywood has an insane preference for content being internationally focused, even when it really doesn't make sense at all for the IP, like when they changed GI Joe to be some stupid acr
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I know it's popular, I was a Star Wars fan as a kid like everyone else. Still it's a terrible choice for a cover. The fact that the site was uncovered and informants using it were executed was an expected result for such an unprofessional choice
Re:How could they be so stupid (Score:4, Interesting)
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So what do you think it would have been a better choice? A softcore porn site? A heavy metal one? Cat pictures? What?
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Something that is averagely popular locally; but without having "USA" in big fat letters. I'm not saying I have the solution, I say their proposals had an obvious flaw. Their choice of Star Wars site reminds of the clown disguise and quote in Family Guy "they’re gonna be lookin for army guys".
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I file this one under "If it looks stupid but works, then it's not stupid".
Then ask yourself why 4chan actually came back online after several days after it was being taken down due to a considerable security issue.
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"If it looks stupid but works
Except we got to know about it because it didn't work that well.
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> why 4chan actually came back online after
> several days after it was being taken down due to
> a considerable security issue
Does 4chan even have collect and keep any PII that could be compromised? Part of the whole point of the site is that everything (and everyONE) is anonymous. I think the codebase that the site runs on does allow logins. But I don't think I ever saw a logged-in user there. So really, what "security issue" could come from the site getting pwned? Someone who was, for a time,
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I saw Star Wars for the first time as a kid in communist Romania, which was at the time typical anti-US... guess what? It was an instant hit and impacted at least one generation. So not stupid at all.
Silly (Score:2)
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One of the less nefarious operations they ran (Score:1)
All of your counter points are less nefarious.... (Score:5, Insightful)
At least that's something, right? It could be worse. They could still be running operations where they drug unwitting US citizens with LSD for "research". Or extrajudicial killings, torture and/or "renditions". Or flooding US ghettos with crack cocaine to fund nefarious operations abroad. JFK had the right idea for the CIA: "splinter it into a thousand pieces and scatter it to the winds".
...than what the Soviet Union or even Britain did. The more I learn about other countries, the more I realize this anti-USA bullshit spewed by self-loathing middle-class and upper-middle-class Americans is ignorant and foolish. Did the CIA do shitty things?...most likely....but nothing compared to what the KGB and FSB did and still do today.
Everything has to be evaluated in context and relative to peers, not in isolation. No country will be perfect, but the USA is better than it's peers and it's legacy will state so clearly.
It's like bitching about Apple...fair...there's plenty to bitch about if you look at them in isolation...compare them to...who...Microsoft? Google? HP?...then you start to appreciate them.
Would you rather be Gaum under US rule or India under British rule? Haiti under French rule? how about Bulgaria in the Soviet Union?...maybe Ukraine today?....yeah...the CIA sucks...until you compare them to the KGB/FSB, MOIS/VAJA, etc. They're quite angelic when compared to their peers both today and in history.
By your logic, Africa would be the most peaceful (Score:3, Insightful)
Nice false dilemma fallacies. How about the US, British, and everyone else leave other sovereign nations the f alone!?
Learn more history...when's the last time someone in power left everyone alone? The USA is currently leading in the ethics dept...a very low bar...but again. Show me a nation that has gained the level of power the USA has and been more ethical.
Also, how certain are you Afghanistan and South America would be peaceful if the USA did nothing? The USA has no interest in most of Africa. It must be a bastion of peace! When the USA takes an interest in a region, people get upset...when the USA doesn't, the
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Wow, you're dead center in th target audience for the propaganda mavens in the establishment. Take a step back from the MSM and look around. We've become the Evil Empire that we always accused the others of being. Hell, in the last election our only two allowed choices were between the senile mega-corp sponsored genocide-aiding incumbent and the mega-corp sponsored narcissist who wanted to aid a genocide.
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At least that's something, right? It could be worse. They could still be running operations where they drug unwitting US citizens with LSD for "research". Or extrajudicial killings, torture and/or "renditions".
How do you know they aren't? We know that at least three US citizens [pbs.org], including Anwar al-Awlaki, were killed by a drone strike under the direct authority of President Obama on September 30, 2011, violating their rights [westpoint.edu] under the Fifth Amendment (and maybe the Sixth). al-Awlaki's 16-year-old son Abdulrahman was killed by another drone strike on October 14, in, officially, an "accident". Have they stopped?
Would you rather be Gaum under US rule or India under British rule? Haiti under French rule?
How about Iran under the Shah Reza Pahlavi? The US did that: helped the UK to overthrow the parliamentar
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At least that's something, right? It could be worse. They could still be running operations where they drug unwitting US citizens with LSD for "research". Or extrajudicial killings, torture and/or "renditions".
How do you know they aren't?
Excellent point. They most likely haven't changed at all.
How about Iran under the Shah Reza Pahlavi? The US did that: helped the UK to overthrow the parliamentary government in 1953 and the supported the Shah for 25 years, until he was overthrown.
And 'muricans wonder why the Iranians hate the US?!
And then supported Saddam Hussein while he was using poison gas against Iran, until suddenly someone decided he was Totally Evil and Had to Go
Two reasons for that.
1. Just like nearly every war in the Middle East, Netanyahu. He promised Congress "If you take out Saddam, Saddam's regime, I guarantee you that it will have enormous positive reverberations on the region."
2. Saddam had the audacity to sell oil in Euros instead of US dollars. Any threat to the US dollar will get you killed. Look at Gadaffi's murder for example.
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Saddam had the audacity to sell oil in Euros instead of US dollars. Any threat to the US dollar will get you killed. Look at Gadaffi's murder for example.
Good point. The whole popular uprising and NATO bombing in Libya makes more sense under that assumption.
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slight diversion, but I hope you dont mind...
Remember a year or so ago when that stupid supreme court dec
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Remember a year or so ago when that stupid supreme court decision granting presidents an almost complete immunity from criminal prosecution, and folks used the example of what could go wrong of "So a president can now just assasinate political rivals without consequence?".
Well thats the thing, that isn't new at all. Thats exactly what obama droning Anwar al-Awlaki was.
Very interesting point. I would guess that most US citizens aren't familiar with the full text of the Declaration of Independence, but it includes a list of grievances against King George: "they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation."
Re: All of your counter points are less nefarious. (Score:1, Insightful)
Probably where they recruited... (Score:2)
Re: Probably where they recruited... (Score:3)
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Talk in code, we will! (Score:2)
And of course, the Bad Guys (tm) won't be able to figure it out...
Jedi Mind Tricks (Score:5, Funny)
This is not the site you're looking for...
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Anything with more than two slashes and more than one dot is also suspicious.
Misdirection and Redirection (Score:2)
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I like that if you visit the domain now, you get redirected to cia.gov.
Even the CIA is afraid of Disney.
I mean is it going to be subtle? (Score:2)
That explains those weird "fans" (Score:1)
Agent 1: "Pssst, Mr. Vader, how's the Death Star"?
Agent 2: "Robin Tango Alpha Slash Peter Bot Snot"...
What are they doing now? (Score:2)
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The way to do it is post time. Convert the numbers in the time to letters, using a pre-defined key.
For example, hours range from 00 to 23. So those 24 values almost line up perfectly with A-Z.
Minutes range from 00 to 59. So those line up with A-Z twice, with some left over. Arbitrarily assign the extra values to particular letters as needed.
Same for seconds.
So every post from a certain user can give you a certain number of letters for your message.
Add complexity as needed to make it a viable mechanism.
So ... (Score:2)
True fans are going to know that it's a fake.
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You mean that deepfake of Princess Amidala getting it on with Jar Jar Binks had some super secret CIA meaning?
PAYWALL (Score:1)
The 404 media link is a paywall.
Why would you send millions of slashdotters to a paywall. Did you not check out the link? /smdh incompetent
Oh yeah, Slasdhot on a holiday weekend.
Star Wars Morse Code (Score:3, Funny)
Greedo Shot First = "dot"
No He Didn't = "dash"
Example Transmission, disguised as SW forum posts:
Fan1: Greedo Shot First!
Fan2: Yes, Greedo Shot First!
Fan3: Hell yeah he did @Fan2, Greedo Shot First!!!
Fan4: No He Didn't!
Fan4: @Fan2 No He Didn't!!!
Fan5: @Fan4 you're so right, No He Didn't
Fan1: Stop it you guys @Fan4 @Fan5, of course Greedo Shot First!
Fan2: Greedo Shot First! Greedo Shot First!
Translation of hidden message SOS (The Russians have me cornered, extraction required ASAP)
Was it a cool Star Wars site? (Score:2)
...well then it was tax dollars well spent