June 14, 2013

trollthensa
Credit: Operation Troll the NSA

"Operation Troll the USA" was launched earlier this week in response to revelations of a vast secret surveillance program operated by the National Security Agency (NSA)made by Edward Snowden.

The plan was to 'test' the system by sending an email full of terrorist buzz words on Wednesday at 7p.m. EST.

The website was set up in response to the accusations at the U.S. government is collecting and looking at data from Internet companies like Google, Facebook and Apple through a secretive program codenamed PRISM.

From the trollthensa.com website:

"If millions of us, all at the same exact time, call or email someone with our keywords-of-terror-filled script, we can give our nation’s impressive surveillance apparatus the kind of test it deserves. They say they don’t read or listen to the contents of our messages. Why not test it out? It’ll be fun."

The creators of the website have written a seemingly innocent email about a bad job and travel plans addressed from a disgruntled employee to a friend.

But words designed to catch the scanner's interest litter the script, including famous American landmarks such as 'Manhattan,' 'Golden Gate Bridge', 'Brooklyn Bridge',' Verrazano Narrows Bridge' and 'Financial District.'

The hope was that the scanner would pick up the words and consequently get jammed from the overload.

While it appeared to be the work of the hacktivist collective Anonymous,the stunt was actually arranged by two BuzzFeed employees.

Chris Baker and Mike Lacher, creative directors at the news site, say they hope millions of people will take part.

"It would be amazing if we actually did screw with their systems a little bit," said Baker.

"But the ultimate goal is that the site itself will get enough attention ... that NSA becomes aware of it on some level and gives them a moment to reflect on their duties," he told the Daily Beast.

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