They can't tell you when their own government goes fishing in their pond so they talk about Iran instead.

Those are actions with judicial oversight. I believe OP was referring to NSLs and other IC actions.

NSLs are counted here, and ones without non-disclosure obligations have the actual letter published.

https://transparencyreport.google.com/user-data/us-national-...

Should have specified NSLs that cannot be disclosed but the IC activity is far more significant.

It appears even NSLs that cannot be disclosed are still counted in the published numbers. IC is Intelligence Community? I would assume google would warn users of phishing attacks by the NSA just as they would warn users of phishing attacks by Iran.

At this point I'm actually less worried about the NSA and their friends then the NRA and theirs.

As someone who is - or has been - a member of all of: the NRA, Gun Owners of America, Citizens Committee For The Right To Keep And Bear Arms, the Second Amendment Foundation, and Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership, I have to ask "why?" What exactly about NRA members and associates scares you?

I remember several years ago the NRA publicly declared they would become more active in conservative politics, that's when they went downhill in my book. They used to be single issue and not partisan, but they decided the 2nd amendment was a "conservative" issue. Maybe that's when the Russians got involved, I don't know.

HN rules don't ask you not to make political statements, but please don't do political flamewars here, and especially not add personal swipes into the mix.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

@dang, I understand your complaint but wish to explain my original comment and response:

Firstly, the United States is under "cyber attack" by State actors seeking to influence our elections. This topic should definitely be appropriate to HN, yes?

@mindcrime asked of me why I hated him and other citizens (in the most leading and disingenuous manner possible). His comments were flagged.

I posted a newsworthy clip (this got a lot of attention in the press) that demonstrated what they were doing and why it was worrisome.

My only "personal swipe" was to tell him that if he was ok with propaganda that was designed to dehumanize the opposition, then he scared me. That is not a personal attack, per se.

Lastly, I think it's important to note that the tech community is party to a lot things that have huge social impacts and to deny that is, shall we say, not entirely honorable.

Flamewars don't belong here, but adult conversation does. I stand by my words and intent to have such a conversation.

> Technical data associated with these actors is strongly linked to the official IRIB IP address space.

I've always been under the impression that IP addresses aren't always reliable indicators of identity, has this changed?

Far more reliable for large organizations/governments, less reliable for ISPs that hand out dynamic IPs.

I should have been more clear, I'm wondering if it is technically possible to spoof an IP address?

Interesting that the Russians chose to use Microsoft instead of Google[1].

[1] https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2018/08/microsoft-shuts-...

The number of channels and accounts identified strikes me as low.

One can delete the 'amp/' suffix on the URL to get a version which works just fine without JavaScript: https://www.blog.google/technology/safety-security/update-st...

You forgot the part where that “political content” was disguised as domestic opinion. Reducing the amount of astroturfing on the internet is a good thing.

Is there any evidence it’s working? Seems to mostly piss people off.

Anyway, most astroturfing is done by american companies and is more harmful. Will google stop them too? Highly doubtful.

> Is there any evidence it’s working?

Yes.

> Seems to mostly piss people off.

While some of it has other purposes, as well, destabilizing America by exacerbating and radicalizing existing internal political divisions is clearly a central purpose of the effort, so “seems to mostly piss people off” is actually a sign that it is working (especially when you consider the details of who is pissed off and what they direct that anger at.)

I hope google is not trying to destabilize america, which it sounds like you are arguing is a good thing.

I read “it” in the question as referring to the false-flag propaganda that Google is targeting, not Google's response.

That reading does depend on trying to ascertain which of the two sentences in the precedinh comment was being referenced without an explicit indicator, and that certainly could be wrong.

duck and cover

How many Googlers are drawing a second paycheck from a foreign or domestic spy agency? The root of that equation is assuredly greater than 1. How much greater?

It would be interesting to see how the US government treated any Googlers that had a foreign state paymaster, as foreign influence has been a bit of a controversy for the government too.

Not that I know anything but a thought experiment: How many Googlers have access to production data?

Don't be evil -> Do the right thing -> At least we are not dropping bombs on schools in Yemen

> three email accounts

three. email. accounts. I'm feeling safer already!

Truthfully, it's disconcerting that this is being presented with a straight face. Although thinking positively, maybe the larger campaign is a sign that the four standard horsemen - "terrorists", "pedophiles", "drugs", and "money laundering" - are getting tired.

It's also interesting how quickly the sabre-rattlers got this to play with the political team that is usually less jingoistic.

There were the three YouTube and three Google+ accounts too, although I’d argue that the Google+ ones come pre-disabled.

Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. This tepid references to we can't disclose anything 'because security' is circular logic. Casting aspersions without evidence is a fundamental abuse of due process and basic standards of jurisprudence. It is a witch hunt.

Are we to assume only Russia, China and Iran are running ops and others are innocent sheep? This is like 'villain of the month'. If they truly have the capability bring out all the evidence and identify all patterns of such behavior so people are aware of astroturfing not only by other governments but also their own government and other vested interests.

This is a dangerous game of spreading FUD and poisons the well. Without ironclad evidence it demonizes dissent, diversity, alternative opinions and with it informed discussion. And legitimizes censorship.