US Army Corps of Engineers Caught Interfering with Hurricane Katrina Activists Online
December 19th 2008 05:59
It has recently been revealed that a blogger who owns the website Levees.org has been attacked by personnel from the US Army Corps of Engineers posing as average commenters on her web site.
Sandy Rosenthal is the founder of Levees.org, a site dedicated to raising questions about the Government's handling of the New Orleans flood that occurred after Hurricane Katrina. They are demanding a new and thorough investigation into all aspects of the catastrophe; from the structural integrity of the levees to the evacuation and aftermath.
Sandy began to notice a flood of comments on her blog attacking her as well as the citizens of New Orleans. The comments said that the confusion and devastation should be blamed on the people living in New Orleans, and not on the engineers or the government. Most of the comments seemed to be coming from the same two screen names.
Suspecting that there was some sort of a connection, Sandy began to do some research, and was able to track the comments back to computers owned by the government, and from the employees of the U.S. Army Information System Command and US Army Corps of Engineers.
Whether or not one agrees with the information and opinion supplied on Levees.org, it is quite disturbing to read the comments that have been tracked to these members of the government.
One of the comments read: "Sure, blame the Corps for the floodwall failures, but who do you blame for your own stupidity for putting your families in such a situation?"
Another comment said: "you have chosen Corps bashing...to persuade enough under informed people that Katrina was a Federal flood, the the rest of the nation will pour even more money into that sinkhole of New Orleans."
In these cases, it can be argued that tax payer money is used to harass and intimidate average citizens using their right to Free Speech on the internet. It has even been discovered that at least one of the posters attacked Levees.org supporters by saying that the Army Corps of Engineers punishes those who speak out about their activities.
I think everyone should be concerned about these revelations, as it affects each person who is interested in voicing their opinions online. We should not have to be concerned that the government will interfere directly with our online activities.
It makes me very uneasy, to say the least. See video of a news report on the incident below.
Sandy Rosenthal is the founder of Levees.org, a site dedicated to raising questions about the Government's handling of the New Orleans flood that occurred after Hurricane Katrina. They are demanding a new and thorough investigation into all aspects of the catastrophe; from the structural integrity of the levees to the evacuation and aftermath.
Sandy began to notice a flood of comments on her blog attacking her as well as the citizens of New Orleans. The comments said that the confusion and devastation should be blamed on the people living in New Orleans, and not on the engineers or the government. Most of the comments seemed to be coming from the same two screen names.
Suspecting that there was some sort of a connection, Sandy began to do some research, and was able to track the comments back to computers owned by the government, and from the employees of the U.S. Army Information System Command and US Army Corps of Engineers.
Whether or not one agrees with the information and opinion supplied on Levees.org, it is quite disturbing to read the comments that have been tracked to these members of the government.
One of the comments read: "Sure, blame the Corps for the floodwall failures, but who do you blame for your own stupidity for putting your families in such a situation?"
Another comment said: "you have chosen Corps bashing...to persuade enough under informed people that Katrina was a Federal flood, the the rest of the nation will pour even more money into that sinkhole of New Orleans."
In these cases, it can be argued that tax payer money is used to harass and intimidate average citizens using their right to Free Speech on the internet. It has even been discovered that at least one of the posters attacked Levees.org supporters by saying that the Army Corps of Engineers punishes those who speak out about their activities.
I think everyone should be concerned about these revelations, as it affects each person who is interested in voicing their opinions online. We should not have to be concerned that the government will interfere directly with our online activities.
It makes me very uneasy, to say the least. See video of a news report on the incident below.
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Comment by skoop
Comment by New Orleans Ladder
There is more today on WWL Radio.
Garland Robinette interviews Sandy Rosenthal for 30 Minutes and she gets out even more details of other blogs that have been smitten by the Exquisite Corps.
They also came onto the Ladder and we screen shot them too!
Y'all check your own IP addresses. She gives out how she did that too btw.
Believe it or not, he is even angrier at the Corps than old Editilla! And, Ms Rosenthal comes off brilliantly.
Thanks y'all for hanging with this,
Editilla~New Orleans Ladder