The Real Net Effect: The Strange Cases of The Cyber-Hoaxers in Syria and Uzbekistan (Doherty & Kendzior)

Tom MacMaster, the real "Gay Girl in Damascus"On July 28, 2011, a 32-year-old Uzbek woman studying in Munich named Gulsumoy Abdujalilova joined Facebook, except she didn't. Then, earlier this month, after horrific abuses from the Uzbekistan government, she tragically and spectacularly took her own life, except she didn't, because she had never existed in the first place.

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Terrorism Weekly: How Britain's Police Infiltrated the Environmental Movement (and Why It Will Continue)

In Britain this week the story of an eco-warrior and professional mountain climber was front-page news. We learned of Mark Stone was a keen supporter of environmental causes and active in a variety of protest movements. Even better, he owned a van allowing him to transport his comrades to various gatherings.

So far, a tale of a dedicated activist. But Stone actually had a different job and a different name. Mark Kennedy was a policeman who had grown his hair long, left behind his wife and children, and gone deep undercover for seven years, travelling to 22 different countries, to infiltrate the environmental movement and solve the problem of domestic extremism". He had spied on all those who thought he was a keen protector of the environment, leaving behind a profound sense of betrayal when the truth of his identity emerged.

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