I noticed for years that people have been going into my message boards - particularly around the time of elections - and posting right-wing propoganda - and one guy ADMITTED that he's being paid by Conservative organizations to do this. But it appears that the Chamber of Commerce may be up to something much more nefarious using fake internet identities.
Earlier this year - ThinkProgress obtained hacked emails from the defense contractor HB Gary Federal - that suggest that - with the help of other security firms - HBGF was working with the Chamber of Commerce to sabotage Progressive organizations like ThinkProgress and the union SEIU.
It appears their strategy was to use fake online personas - complete with fake Twitter - Facebook - and Linked-in accounts - to infiltrate and gather private data and intimidate people who work for organizations critical of the Chamber of Commerce.
For example - meet Holly Weber - born in 1984 - attended Reynold High School - worked for Lockheed Martin - served time in the Air Forice and...is completely made up. Holly Weber is not real - she's one of the fake online personas created by HB Gary Federal. And it looks like the guy who created so-called Holly Weber - an executive at Gary Federal - Aaron Barr - apparently drew his inspiration from Maxim magainze - and this model whose name IS ACTUALLY Holly Weber - and WAS ACTUALLY born in 1984. So...what is going on here?