http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...ted-paid-pro-government-shills-in-chat-rooms/
The Obama administration is reportedly proposing Cass Sunstein as a member of a panel to review the surveillance practices of the National Security Agency (NSA), among other former White House and intelligence staffers. Sunstein was the head of the White Houses Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs until last year, when he returned to teaching at Harvard Law School.
As one of our intrepid commenters pointed out yesterday, while at Harvard in 2008, Sunstein co-authored a working paper that suggests government agents or their allies "cognitively infiltrate" conspiracy theorist groups* by joining "chat rooms, online social networks or even real-space groups" and influencing the conversation.
Sunstein's paper defined a conspiracy theory* as "an effort to explain some event or practice by reference to the machinations of powerful people, who have also managed to conceal their role," and acknowledges that some conspiracy theories have turned out to be true. It also specifically notes that his plan of "cognitive infiltration" should only be used against false conspiracy theories that could be harmful to the government or society.