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The '''Internet brigades''' or '''Web brigades''' ({{lang-ru|Веб-бригады}} {{zh-ts|t=網特|s=网特；}})<ref name="China">, by Jonathan Watts in Beijing, ], ], ]</ref><ref name="Polyanskaya"/> are governmental teams of on-line commentators that participate in ]s and ] to promote ] and prevent free discussions of undesirable subjects. Such teams are allegedly affiliated with Russian state propaganda department and ] and with Chinese government<ref name="Bagryansky"> {{ru icon}} by ] and Vladimur Bagryansky, publication of the Russian Center for Extreme Journalism </ref>. They are known as ] in China. The state-sponsored "web brigades" exist along with other organized teams of information fighters that may push private ]s,<ref> , by Samvel Martirosyan, ], ],</ref> be involved in ],<ref>], ''The Guardian'' (UK) (posted by Norfolk Genetic Information Network), ], ],</ref> or participate in ]s.<ref>Jeffrey H. Birnbaum, '']'', ], ].</ref>
The '''web brigades''' ({{lang-ru|Веб-бригады}} )<ref name="Polyanskaya"/> are allegedly, in the view of some Russian liberal intellectuals), online teams of commentators linked to ] that participate in ]s and ] to promote ] and prevent free discussions of
undesirable subjects. Allegations of the existence of web brigades were made in a 2003 article "The Virtual Eye of the ]"<ref name="Polyanskaya"/>


==Teams of governmental bloggers in mainland China==
An article "Conspiracy theory" published in in 2003 criticized the theory of web brigades as an attempt at creating myths by Russian liberal thinkers in a response to the massive sobering up of the Russian people. A point was made that the observed behaviour of forum participants may be explained without a theory of FSB-affiliated brigades.<ref name="Usup"/>
It has been reported<ref name=China/> that in 2005, departments of provincial and municipal governments in ] began creating teams of Internet commentators from propaganda and police departments and offering them classes in ], ] techniques, and the ]. They are reported to guide discussion on public bulletin boards away from politically sensitive topics by posting opinions anonymously or under false names. "They are actually hiring staff to curse online," said ], a Chinese student who was arrested for posting her comments in ].


Chinese Internet police also erase anti-Communist comments and posts pro-government messages. Estimates of the number of personnel varies, and has been reported as 30000 <ref> by ], ], ]</ref> though this number was disputed.<ref> ]</ref><ref>It is alleged that the number was originally reported as rumor in 2002 and slowly promoted to «fact».</ref> ] leader ] has declared the party's intent to strengthen administration of the online environment and maintain the initiative in online opinion.<ref>, ], ], ]</ref>
As mentioned in 2007 sociological research of large groups in Russian society by the , the belief in the existence of web-brigades is widespread in RuNet. Authors say "it's difficult to say whether hypothesis of existence of web-brigades corresponds to reality", but acknowledge that users professing views and methods ascribed to members of web-brigades may be found at all opposition forums of RuNet. <ref>, by RIO-Center. (in Russian)</ref>


==Internet brigades in Russia==
The expression "red web-brigades" (Красные веб-бригады) used by Anna Polyanskaya as a title to her article is a pun with "]".
===First publication===
This alleged phenomenon in ] was first described in ] by ] Anna Polyanskaya <ref name=Pol1>, MAOF publishing group</ref> (a former assistant to assassinated ] politician ]<ref>{{ru icon}} , by Anna Polyanskaya</ref>), ] Andrey Krivov and political activist Ivan Lomako. They claimed the appearance of organized and fairly professional "brigades", composed of ideologically and methodologically identical personalities, who were working in practically every popular ] and pro-] Internet forums and Internet newspapers of RuNet. Prior to ]-] about 70% of audience of Russian Internet were people of liberal views, composed of Russian ] and people in emigration; but already in ] according to authors there were about 60-80% of "totalitarian" posts at Russian forums. They ascribe the phenomenon to activity of Internet teams which allegedly appeared in ] and were organized by ]. <ref name="Bagryansky"/><ref name="Polyanskaya"> by Anna Polyanskaya, Andrei Krivov, and Ivan Lomko, Vestnik online, ], ] ()</ref>


===Behavior===
Similar approach is used in China, where such teams are known as ].
According to Polyanskaya and her colleagues, the behavior of people from the Internet brigades has distinct features, some of which are the following:<ref name="Polyanskaya"/>

*Propaganda of the ], and constant attempts to present in a positive light the entire history of Russia and the ], minimizing the number of people who died in repressions.
==Polyanskaya's article==
This alleged phenomenon in ] was described in 2003 by ] Anna Polyanskaya (a former assistant to assassinated ] politician ]<ref>{{ru icon}} , by Anna Polyanskaya</ref>), ] Andrey Krivov and political activist Ivan Lomako. They described organized and professional "brigades", composed of ideologically and methodologically identical personalities, who were working in practically every popular ] and pro-] Internet forums and Internet newspapers of RuNet.

The activity of Internet teams appeared in 1999 and were organized by the ], according to Polyanskaya. <ref name="Bagryansky"> {{ru icon}} by ] and Vladimur Bagryansky, publication of the Russian Center for Extreme Journalism </ref><ref name="Polyanskaya"> by Anna Polyanskaya, Andrei Krivov, and Ivan Lomko, Vestnik online, ], ]</ref> According to authors, about 70% of audience of Russian Internet were people of generally liberal views prior to 1998&ndash;1999, however sudden surge (about 60-80%) of "antidemocratic" posts suddenly occurred at many Russian forums in 2000.

According to Polyanskaya and her colleagues, the behavior of people from the web brigades has distinct features, some of which are the following:<ref name="Polyanskaya"/>
*Any change in Moscow's agenda leads to immediate changes in the brigade's opinions.
*Boundless loyalty to ] and his circle. *Boundless loyalty to ] and his circle.
*Respect and admiration for the ] and ]. *Respect and admiration for the ] and ]. The key word which "will force them to reveal their true colors is ]"; the brigade will cry out in a choir about "bloody repressions by democratic murderers" and "witch hunts" after mentioning this word.
*Nostalgia for the ] and propaganda of the ], and constant attempts to present in a positive light the entire history of Russia and the ], minimizing the number of people who died in repressions.<ref name="Polyanskaya"/>
*Anti-liberal, ], anti-Chechen, ] and anti-western opinions. ], ], approval of skinheads and ].<ref name="Polyanskaya"/>
*Accusation of ] against everyone who disagrees with them.
*Hatred of ] and ] organizations and activists, ]s and ]s, especially ], ], ], ], ], and ]. *Hatred of ] and ] organizations and activists, ]s and ]s, especially ], ], ], ], ], and ].
*] and anti-Westernism.
*Emigrants are accused of being traitors of the motherland. Some members will claim that they live in some Western country and tell stories about how much better life is in Putin's Russia.
*Accusation of ] against everyone who disagrees with them.
*Before the ], the brigade's anti-U.S. operations reached unseen scale. The original publication describes: "it sometimes seemed that the U.S. was not liberating the Iraqi people from Saddam Hussein, but at a minimum had actually launched an attack on Russia and was marching on the Kremlin." However, it fell silent suddenly after Putin announced that Russia was not opposed to the victory of the coalition forces in Iraq.<ref name="Polyanskaya"/>
*Tendency to accuse their opponents of being ] during arguments.
*Round-the-clock presence on forums. At least one of the uniform members of the team can be found online at all times, always ready to repulse any “attack” by a ].
Polyanskaya's article<ref name="Polyanskaya"/> describes the "tactics" of the alleged web brigades:

===Tactics===
*'''Frequent changes of pseudonyms'''.<ref name="Polyanskaya"/>
*'''Round-the-clock presence''' on forums. At least one of the uniform members of the team can be found online at all times, always ready to repulse any “attack” by a ].<ref name="Polyanskaya"/>
*'''Intentional diversion of pointed discussions'''. For instance, the brigade may claim that ] never had any connection with Communism or that not a single person was killed in ] in 1968 by Soviet tanks.
*'''Individual work on opponents.''' "As soon as an opposition-minded liberal arrives on a forum, expressing a position that makes them a clear "ideological enemy”, he is immediately cornered and subjected to “]” by the unified web-brigade. Without provocation, the opponent is piled on with abuse or vicious “arguments” of the sort that the average person cannot adequately react to. As a result, the liberal either answers sharply, causing a scandal and getting himself labeled a “boor” by the rest of the brigade, or else he starts to make arguments against the obvious absurdities, to which his opponents pay no attention, but simply ridicule him and put forth other similar arguments."<ref name="Polyanskaya"/> *'''Individual work on opponents.''' "As soon as an opposition-minded liberal arrives on a forum, expressing a position that makes them a clear "ideological enemy”, he is immediately cornered and subjected to “]” by the unified web-brigade. Without provocation, the opponent is piled on with abuse or vicious “arguments” of the sort that the average person cannot adequately react to. As a result, the liberal either answers sharply, causing a scandal and getting himself labeled a “boor” by the rest of the brigade, or else he starts to make arguments against the obvious absurdities, to which his opponents pay no attention, but simply ridicule him and put forth other similar arguments."<ref name="Polyanskaya"/>
*'''Accusations that opponents are working for “enemies”'''. The opponents are accused of taking money from ], the ], the ], ], the ], or the ] rebels. *'''Accusations that opponents are working for “enemies”'''. The opponents are accused of taking money from ], the ], the ], ], the ], or the ] rebels.
*'''Making personally offensive comments''', especially of sexual nature.
*'''Remarkable ability to reveal personal information''' about their opponents and their quotes from old postings, sometimes more than a year old.
*'''Making personally offensive comments'''. Tendency to accuse their opponents of being ] during arguments.
*'''Remarkable ability to reveal personal information''' about their opponents and their quotes from old postings, sometimes more than a year old.
*'''Teamwork'''. "They unwaveringly support each other in discussions, ask each other leading questions, put fine points on each other’s answers, and even pretend not to know each other. If an opponent starts to be hounded, this hounding invariably becomes a team effort, involving all of the three to twenty nicknames that invariably are present on any political forum 24 hours a day."<ref name="Polyanskaya"/> *'''Teamwork'''. "They unwaveringly support each other in discussions, ask each other leading questions, put fine points on each other’s answers, and even pretend not to know each other. If an opponent starts to be hounded, this hounding invariably becomes a team effort, involving all of the three to twenty nicknames that invariably are present on any political forum 24 hours a day."<ref name="Polyanskaya"/>
*'''Appealing to the Administration'''. The members of teams often "write mass collective complaints about their opponents to the editors, site administrators, or the electronic “complaints book”, demanding that one or another posting or whole discussion thread they don’t like be removed, or calling for the banning of individuals they find problematic."<ref name="Polyanskaya"/> *'''Appealing to the Administration'''. The members of teams often "write mass collective complaints about their opponents to the editors, site administrators, or the electronic “complaints book”, demanding that one or another posting or whole discussion thread they don’t like be removed, or calling for the banning of individuals they find problematic."<ref name="Polyanskaya"/>
*'''Destruction of inconvenient forums'''. For example, on the site of the ], all critics of ] and the FSB "were suddenly and without any explanation banned from all discussions, despite their having broken none of the site’s rules of conduct. All the postings of this group of readers, going back a year and a half, were erased by the site administrator."<ref name="Polyanskaya"/> *'''Destruction of inconvenient forums'''. For example, on the site of the ], all critics of ] and the FSB "were suddenly and without any explanation banned from all discussions, despite their having broken none of the site’s rules of conduct. All the postings of this group of readers, going back a year and a half, were erased by the site administrator."<ref name="Polyanskaya"/>


==Criticism== ===Criticism===
Alexander Usupovski, head of the analytical department of the ] (Russian Parliament) claimed Web brigades are ] in his article published in "]".<ref name="Usup"> , by Alexander Usupovsky, Russian Journal, ], ]</ref>

Alexander Yusupovskiy, head of the analytical department of the ] (Russian Parliament) published in 2003 an article "Conspiracy theory" in ] with criticism of theory of web brigades. <ref name="Usup"> , by Alexander Yusupovskiy, Russian Journal, ], ]</ref>


Yusupovskiy's points included: Yusupovskiy's points included:
*He supposed, that officeers of ] or ] have more topical problems, than "comparing virtual penises" with liberals and emigrants.

*There is difference between "dislike of hegemonic policy of the United States" at Russian forums and "quite friendly attitude towards usual Americans". Aggression and xenophobia doesn't characterize one side but is a common place of polemics, well met not only among Russian patriots, but also Russian emigrants from US, Israel, or other countries.
*According to Yusupovskiy, an active forum participant, it's not the first time he's faced an unfair method of polemics, when a person with "liberal democratic views" accused one's opponent of being an FSB agent as a final argument. Yusupovskiy himself didn't take Web brigades theory seriously, "naively" considering that officers of GRU or FSB have more topical problems than "comparing virtual penises" with liberals and emigrants. His own experience at forums also did not give him a reason proving the theory.
*Change of attitude of virtual masses in 1998-1999 could be caused by ] which "crowned liberal decade", rather than "mysterious bad guys".
*Yusupovskiy considered Polyanskaya's article an interesting opportunity to draw a line of demarcation between analytics and its imitation. According to Yusupovskiy, authors of the article are obsessed with "a single but strong affection": to find a "Big Brother" beyond any phenomena not fitting their mindsets. Yusupovskiy called an article a classic illustration of reverted "]".
*Although Yusupovskiy himself has a list of claims against Russian security services and their presense in virtual world (as "according to statements of media every security service is busy in the Internet tracking terrorism, extremism, narcotic traffic, human trafficking and child pornography"), his claims are of different nature than those of Polyanskaya.
*Criticising Polyanskaya's point that Russian forums after 9/11 show "outstanding level of malice and hatred of the USA, gloat, slander and inhumanity" as "undifferentiated assessment bordering lie and slander", Yusupovskiy noted that there is a difference between "dislike of hegemonic policy of the United States" at Russian forums and "quite friendly attitude towards usual Americans". Aggression and xenophobia don't characterize one side but are a common place of discussion (as Yusupovskiy suggested, illusion of anonymity and absence of censorship allows such stuff to be taken from subconsciousness that won't let to be spoken aloud by an internal censor otherwise). According to Yusupovskiy,
{{Quotation|There's no lack of gloat of other kind — e.g. over Russian losses in Chechnya — or manifestations of brutal malice against "commies", "under men", Russians, Russia in posts of some our former compatriots from Israel, USA and other countries. And in a discussion of Palestineans or Arabs, "beasts", "not people", etc. are perhaps the most decent definitions given by many (not all) western participants of forums. It's specially touching to observe "briefings of hatred" (such things happen too), when Russian, Israeli and American patriots unanimously blame "Chechen-Palestinean-Islamic" terrorists...<ref name="Usup"/>}}
*Commenting on the change of attitude of virtual masses in 1998-1999 authors evade any mention of the 1998 ] which "crowned liberal decade", preferring to blame "mysterious bad guys or Big Brother" for that change.
{{Quotation|"''About 80% of authors at all web forums very aggressively and uniformly blame the USA''" as authors note, making a conclusion at the same time: "''at a moment amount of totalitarian opinions at Russian forums became 60%-80%''". Try to feel semantics of "extremal journalism" mindset and its logics of antithesises: either apology of Bush'es America while spitting on one's own country, either — totalitarian agentry. To illustrate "protective totalitarian" mindset, authors quote several malicious posts from masses of forum flapjaw: "''Security services existed in all times, all democratic states of the West had, have and will be having them.''" Or: "''FSB is the same security service like FBI in the USA or Mossad in Israel or Mi-6 in Great Britain''". And etc. I understand that I risk of being called "totalitarian", but quite honestly I'm having difficulties to recognize signs of totalitarianism in the above quotes. As authors continue, "''there are quite less real people with totalitarian views than one may consider after having a casual look on posts in any forum''". Here one can only sigh: would they look on ] or opinion polls results, how Stalin's popularity doesn't diminish and even rises, how meaning and emotional connotations of the word "democrat" changed (from positive to negative), and would they seriously consider these tendencies of development of social consciousness...<ref name="Usup"/>}}
*Authors exclude from their interpretation of events all other hypotheses, such as internet activity of a group of some "skinheads", ]s or simply unliberal students; or hackers able to get IP addresses of their opponents. *Authors exclude from their interpretation of events all other hypotheses, such as internet activity of a group of some "skinheads", ]s or simply unliberal students; or hackers able to get IP addresses of their opponents.
*According to Yusupovskiy, authors treat "independence of public opinion" in spirit of irreconcilable antagonism with "positive image of Russia".<ref name="Usup"/> *According to Yusupovskiy, authors treat "independence of public opinion" in spirit of irreconcilable antagonism with "positive image of Russia".<ref name="Usup"/>


Usupovski concluded: "We would never make our country's military organizations and security services work under the rule of law and legal control, if won't learn to recognize rationally and objectively their necessity and usefulness for the country, state, society and citizens. Sweeping defamation and intentional discreditation with the help of "arguments", which are obviously false, only contribute to the extrusion of security services outside of rule of law and instigates them to chaos". <ref name="Usup"/>
Yusupovskiy finally commented on Polyanskaya's article:
{{Quotation|"We would never make our country's military organizations and security services work under the rule of law and legal control, if won't learn to recognize rationally and objectively their necessity and usefulness for the country, state, society and citizens. Sweeping defamation and intentional discreditation with the help of "arguments", which are obviously false, only contribute to the extrusion of security services outside of rule of law and instigates them to chaos".<ref name="Usup"/>}}


===Support===
=="LiveJournal fighters"==
The findings of Polyanskaya and her colleagues have been supported by writer ] and psychologist Vladimir Bagryansky.<ref name="Bagryansky"/> They claimed that "the Internet brigade led by Alexander Usupovski is probably the most incompetent team of Russian state security services in RuNet".<ref name="Bagryansky"/>
A member of ] Roman Sadykhov claimed that he secretly infiltrated pro-Kremlin organizations of "] fighters", allegedly directed and paid from the Kremlin and instructions given to them by ], a close aide of ] <ref>{{ru icon}} , grani.ru, ], ]</ref> Surkov allegedly called Livejournal "a very important sector of work" <ref name="Surkov">, '']'', ], ]</ref> and said that people's brains must be "]".


Russian intelligence expert ] made the following points when asked by ] about "web brigades" <ref> , a talk show by ] at the ], January 22, 2006; interview with ] and others </ref>:
==See also==
*Russian state security teams actively disrupt work of certain political ];
*]
*One of the teams, who called themselves ] officers, was actively involved in a disinformation campaign prior to ];
*]
*The teams are also involved in ] attacks, and they have probably attacked his own web site during the ];
*Some of the "web brigades" are coordinated by the Russian ], which is currently a part of the ] and has been formerly a part of 16th ] department;
*There are also such teams from the ].

===Discussion===
The discussion began in the ] of the "Russian Journal", just a few days after the first publication by Polyanskaya and others, and it lasted for two months.<ref name="Bagryansky"/> Bloggers claimed that Usupovsky and his supporters ''are'' the governmental "Internet brigade", "] agents", and "bastards of ]". A discussion was also conducted on the Internet forum of ]<ref name="Bagryansky"/> . Usupovsky supporters suggested to sue Ivan Lomko for libels and defamation and issued various threats.

In 2007 sociological analysis of big groups in Russian society published at Russian resource , it's mentioned that idea of existence of web-brigades is a widespread point of view in RuNet. Authors say "it's difficult to say whether hypothesis of existence of web-brigades corresponds to reality", but claim that users professing views and methods that are ascribed to members of "web-brigades" may be found in vast amounts at various opposition forums. <ref>, by RIO-Center. (in Russian)</ref>

===Brigades on the Polish Internet===
Russian "Internet brigades" reportedly appeared in ] in 2005. According to claims of anonymous "Polish experts on Russian affairs", reported by the Polish newspaper ], "at least a dozen active Russian agents work in Poland, also investigating the Polish Internet. They are claimed to scrutinize Polish websites (like those supporting ]ian opposition), and also to perform such actions, as&mdash;for instance&mdash;contributing to Internet forums on large portals (like Gazeta.pl, Onet.pl, WP.pl). Labeled as Polish Internet users, they incite anti-Semitic or anti-Ukrainian discussions or disavow articles published on the web."<ref name="Tygodnik"> , ], 13/2005</ref>

===LiveJournal fighters===
A member of ] Roman Sadykhov worked as a "spy" in a recently created organization "Russia the young", directed and paid from the Kremlin. He reported, among other things, that "] fighters" are sponsored by "Russia the young".<ref>{{ru icon}} , grani.ru, ], ]</ref> Roman Sadykhov described a "secret speech" of ], who among other things called Livejournal "a very important sector of work" <ref name="Surkov">, '']'', ], ]</ref> and said that people's brains must be "]" (]:"Надо мозги национализировать"). He cited ] who allegedly said the following about nationalistic ], addressing activists of "Russia the young":

''"We are losing in the Internet in that respect. It is always easier to break down things than to do something positive. It's jokes and minor infractions. Not only methods, but also goals must be radical. We must blow this romantics out of them. It is important not only to protect the authorities - this is understood, but we need to attract young people who can work creatively in the Internet. This is an important communication place of young people. Make them interested in conversations with you."''<ref name="Surkov"/>

===Internet brigades in Russian literature===
The alleged ] activities on the Internet have been described in the short story "Anastasya" by Russian writer ], who was interested in the moral aspects of their work.<ref name="Svirsky>" ] </ref> He wrote: ''"It seems that offending, betraying, or even "murdering" people in the virtual space is easy. This is like killing an enemy in a video game: one does not see a disfigured body or the eyes of the person who is dying right in front of you. However, the human soul lives by its own basic laws that force it to pay the price for the virtual crime in his real life"''.<ref name="Bagryansky"/>

==Netherlands==
It was reported that ] have set up an Internet Brigade to fight cybercrime. Among its planned actions are to infiltrate internet newsgroups and discussion forums for intelligence gathering, to make pseudo-purchase and to provide services.<ref>, by Jelle van Buure, ], ], ]</ref>.

==Internet brigades in Misplaced Pages?==
A number of publications suggested that ] may have infiltrated Misplaced Pages to remove undesirable information <ref> , by Ludwig De Braeckeleer, ], 2007-07-26. </ref> The design and application of ] technology proved such suspicions to be well founded, although it remains unknown how many agents from around the world operate in Misplaced Pages <ref> by ]</ref>
<ref>, by Rhys Blakely, ], August 16, 2007 </ref>
<ref> By Jonathan Fildes, ] </ref>
<ref>, by ]</ref>
<ref> By Paul Willis</ref>


==References== ==References==
{{reflist}} {{reflist}}


==See also==
]
*]
]
*]
*]
*]
*]
*]
*]


See also discussions of existence of web-brigades in RuNet:
* at Nnov.Ru (in Russian)
* with ] at Moscow-based radio channel ]. (in Russian)

]
]
] ]
] ]
] ]
] ]
]

] ]
] ]
] ]
] ]
]


] ]

Revision as of 22:18, 11 January 2009

The Internet brigades or Web brigades (Template:Lang-ru simplified Chinese: 网特；; traditional Chinese: 網特) are governmental teams of on-line commentators that participate in political blogs and Internet forums to promote disinformation and prevent free discussions of undesirable subjects. Such teams are allegedly affiliated with Russian state propaganda department and security services and with Chinese government. They are known as 50 Cent Party in China. The state-sponsored "web brigades" exist along with other organized teams of information fighters that may push private political agendas, be involved in astroturfing, or participate in election campaigns.

Teams of governmental bloggers in mainland China

It has been reported that in 2005, departments of provincial and municipal governments in mainland China began creating teams of Internet commentators from propaganda and police departments and offering them classes in Marxism, propaganda techniques, and the Internet. They are reported to guide discussion on public bulletin boards away from politically sensitive topics by posting opinions anonymously or under false names. "They are actually hiring staff to curse online," said Liu Di, a Chinese student who was arrested for posting her comments in blogs.

Chinese Internet police also erase anti-Communist comments and posts pro-government messages. Estimates of the number of personnel varies, and has been reported as 30000 though this number was disputed. Chinese Communist Party leader Hu Jintao has declared the party's intent to strengthen administration of the online environment and maintain the initiative in online opinion.

Internet brigades in Russia

First publication

This alleged phenomenon in RuNet was first described in 2003 by journalist Anna Polyanskaya (a former assistant to assassinated Russian politician Galina Starovoitova), historian Andrey Krivov and political activist Ivan Lomako. They claimed the appearance of organized and fairly professional "brigades", composed of ideologically and methodologically identical personalities, who were working in practically every popular liberal and pro-democracy Internet forums and Internet newspapers of RuNet. Prior to 1998-1999 about 70% of audience of Russian Internet were people of liberal views, composed of Russian middle class and people in emigration; but already in 2003 according to authors there were about 60-80% of "totalitarian" posts at Russian forums. They ascribe the phenomenon to activity of Internet teams which allegedly appeared in 1999 and were organized by FSB.

Behavior

According to Polyanskaya and her colleagues, the behavior of people from the Internet brigades has distinct features, some of which are the following:

Tactics

  • Individual work on opponents. "As soon as an opposition-minded liberal arrives on a forum, expressing a position that makes them a clear "ideological enemy”, he is immediately cornered and subjected to “active measures” by the unified web-brigade. Without provocation, the opponent is piled on with abuse or vicious “arguments” of the sort that the average person cannot adequately react to. As a result, the liberal either answers sharply, causing a scandal and getting himself labeled a “boor” by the rest of the brigade, or else he starts to make arguments against the obvious absurdities, to which his opponents pay no attention, but simply ridicule him and put forth other similar arguments."
  • Accusations that opponents are working for “enemies”. The opponents are accused of taking money from Berezovskiy, the CIA, the MOSSAD, Saudi Arabia, the Zionists, or the Chechen rebels.
  • Making personally offensive comments, especially of sexual nature.
  • Remarkable ability to reveal personal information about their opponents and their quotes from old postings, sometimes more than a year old.
  • Teamwork. "They unwaveringly support each other in discussions, ask each other leading questions, put fine points on each other’s answers, and even pretend not to know each other. If an opponent starts to be hounded, this hounding invariably becomes a team effort, involving all of the three to twenty nicknames that invariably are present on any political forum 24 hours a day."
  • Appealing to the Administration. The members of teams often "write mass collective complaints about their opponents to the editors, site administrators, or the electronic “complaints book”, demanding that one or another posting or whole discussion thread they don’t like be removed, or calling for the banning of individuals they find problematic."
  • Destruction of inconvenient forums. For example, on the site of the Moscow News, all critics of Putin and the FSB "were suddenly and without any explanation banned from all discussions, despite their having broken none of the site’s rules of conduct. All the postings of this group of readers, going back a year and a half, were erased by the site administrator."

Criticism

Alexander Usupovski, head of the analytical department of the Federation Council of Russia (Russian Parliament) claimed Web brigades are conspiracy theory in his article published in "Russian Journal".

Yusupovskiy's points included:

  • He supposed, that officeers of GRU or FSB have more topical problems, than "comparing virtual penises" with liberals and emigrants.
  • There is difference between "dislike of hegemonic policy of the United States" at Russian forums and "quite friendly attitude towards usual Americans". Aggression and xenophobia doesn't characterize one side but is a common place of polemics, well met not only among Russian patriots, but also Russian emigrants from US, Israel, or other countries.
  • Change of attitude of virtual masses in 1998-1999 could be caused by Russian financial collapse which "crowned liberal decade", rather than "mysterious bad guys".
  • Authors exclude from their interpretation of events all other hypotheses, such as internet activity of a group of some "skinheads", nazbols or simply unliberal students; or hackers able to get IP addresses of their opponents.
  • According to Yusupovskiy, authors treat "independence of public opinion" in spirit of irreconcilable antagonism with "positive image of Russia".

Usupovski concluded: "We would never make our country's military organizations and security services work under the rule of law and legal control, if won't learn to recognize rationally and objectively their necessity and usefulness for the country, state, society and citizens. Sweeping defamation and intentional discreditation with the help of "arguments", which are obviously false, only contribute to the extrusion of security services outside of rule of law and instigates them to chaos".

Support

The findings of Polyanskaya and her colleagues have been supported by writer Grigory Svirsky and psychologist Vladimir Bagryansky. They claimed that "the Internet brigade led by Alexander Usupovski is probably the most incompetent team of Russian state security services in RuNet".

Russian intelligence expert Andrei Soldatov made the following points when asked by Yevgenia Albats about "web brigades" :

Discussion

The discussion began in the Internet forum of the "Russian Journal", just a few days after the first publication by Polyanskaya and others, and it lasted for two months. Bloggers claimed that Usupovsky and his supporters are the governmental "Internet brigade", "FSB agents", and "bastards of SMERSH". A discussion was also conducted on the Internet forum of Moscow News . Usupovsky supporters suggested to sue Ivan Lomko for libels and defamation and issued various threats.

In 2007 sociological analysis of big groups in Russian society published at Russian resource RIO-Center, it's mentioned that idea of existence of web-brigades is a widespread point of view in RuNet. Authors say "it's difficult to say whether hypothesis of existence of web-brigades corresponds to reality", but claim that users professing views and methods that are ascribed to members of "web-brigades" may be found in vast amounts at various opposition forums.

Brigades on the Polish Internet

Russian "Internet brigades" reportedly appeared in Poland in 2005. According to claims of anonymous "Polish experts on Russian affairs", reported by the Polish newspaper Tygodnik Powszechny, "at least a dozen active Russian agents work in Poland, also investigating the Polish Internet. They are claimed to scrutinize Polish websites (like those supporting Belarusian opposition), and also to perform such actions, as—for instance—contributing to Internet forums on large portals (like Gazeta.pl, Onet.pl, WP.pl). Labeled as Polish Internet users, they incite anti-Semitic or anti-Ukrainian discussions or disavow articles published on the web."

LiveJournal fighters

A member of National Bolshevik Party Roman Sadykhov worked as a "spy" in a recently created organization "Russia the young", directed and paid from the Kremlin. He reported, among other things, that "LiveJournal fighters" are sponsored by "Russia the young". Roman Sadykhov described a "secret speech" of Vladislav Surkov, who among other things called Livejournal "a very important sector of work" and said that people's brains must be "nationalized" (Russian:"Надо мозги национализировать"). He cited Vladislav Surkov who allegedly said the following about nationalistic Movement Against Illegal Immigration, addressing activists of "Russia the young":

"We are losing in the Internet in that respect. It is always easier to break down things than to do something positive. It's jokes and minor infractions. Not only methods, but also goals must be radical. We must blow this romantics out of them. It is important not only to protect the authorities - this is understood, but we need to attract young people who can work creatively in the Internet. This is an important communication place of young people. Make them interested in conversations with you."

Internet brigades in Russian literature

The alleged FSB activities on the Internet have been described in the short story "Anastasya" by Russian writer Grigory Svirsky, who was interested in the moral aspects of their work. He wrote: "It seems that offending, betraying, or even "murdering" people in the virtual space is easy. This is like killing an enemy in a video game: one does not see a disfigured body or the eyes of the person who is dying right in front of you. However, the human soul lives by its own basic laws that force it to pay the price for the virtual crime in his real life".

Netherlands

It was reported that Dutch police have set up an Internet Brigade to fight cybercrime. Among its planned actions are to infiltrate internet newsgroups and discussion forums for intelligence gathering, to make pseudo-purchase and to provide services..

Internet brigades in Misplaced Pages?

A number of publications suggested that intelligence agents may have infiltrated Misplaced Pages to remove undesirable information The design and application of WikiScanner technology proved such suspicions to be well founded, although it remains unknown how many agents from around the world operate in Misplaced Pages

References

  1. ^ China's secret Internet police target critics with web of propaganda, by Jonathan Watts in Beijing, June 14, 2005, Guardian Unlimited
  2. ^ Commissars of the Internet. The FSB at the Computer by Anna Polyanskaya, Andrei Krivov, and Ivan Lomko, Vestnik online, April 30, 2003 (English translation)
  3. ^ Template:Ru icon Eye for an eye by Grigory Svirsky and Vladimur Bagryansky, publication of the Russian Center for Extreme Journalism
  4. Internet as a field of information war against Armenia, by Samvel Martirosyan, 18 October, 2006,
  5. George Monbiot, "The Fake Persuaders. Corporations are inventing people to rubbish their opponents on the Internet," The Guardian (UK) (posted by Norfolk Genetic Information Network), May 14, 2002,
  6. Jeffrey H. Birnbaum, "For Activist Constituents, Click Here," The Washington Post, September 19, 2005.
  7. War of the words by Guardian Unlimited, February 20, 2006
  8. Ｗho are China's Top Internet Cops? China Digital Times
  9. It is alleged here that the number was originally reported as rumor in 2002 and slowly promoted to «fact».
  10. China's Hu vows to "purify" Internet, Reuters, January 24, 2007
  11. Articles by Anna Polyanskaya, MAOF publishing group
  12. Template:Ru icon "They are killing Galina Starovoitova for the second time", by Anna Polyanskaya
  13. ^ Conspiracy theory, by Alexander Usupovsky, Russian Journal, 25 April, 2003
  14. State control over the internet, a talk show by Yevgenia Albats at the Echo of Moscow, January 22, 2006; interview with Andrei Soldatov and others
  15. Big groups in Russian society: analysis of prospects of organization of collective actions., by RIO-Center. (in Russian)
  16. Operation "Disinformation" - The Russian Foreign Office vs "Tygodnik Powszechny", Tygodnik Powszechny, 13/2005
  17. Template:Ru icon Interview with Roman Sadykhov, grani.ru, 3 April, 2007
  18. ^ Military wing of Kremlin (Russian), The New Times, 19 March, 2007
  19. " Grigory Svirsky Anastasya. A story on-line (Full text in Russian)
  20. Internet Brigade gets fit for fighting Cyber Crime, by Jelle van Buure, August 26, 2001, Heise Online
  21. Misplaced Pages and the Intelligence Services, by Ludwig De Braeckeleer, OhmyNews, 2007-07-26.
  22. CIA, FBI computers used for Misplaced Pages edits by Reuters
  23. Wal-Mart, CIA, ExxonMobil Changed Misplaced Pages Entries, by Rhys Blakely, The Times, August 16, 2007
  24. Misplaced Pages 'shows CIA page edits' By Jonathan Fildes, BBC News
  25. See Who's Editing Misplaced Pages - Diebold, the CIA, a Campaign, by Wired
  26. CIA and Labour Party 'edit' Misplaced Pages entries By Paul Willis

See also

See also discussions of existence of web-brigades in RuNet:

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