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REDDIT'S ALEXIS OHANIAN SHOOTS DOWN RUMORS HE CONSULTED FOR INTELLIGENCE FIRM
The Daily Dot
August 26, 2013 Monday 6:36 PM EST
Controversy erupted today on Reddit[1] after an email exchange[2]
between the company's co-founder, Alexis Ohanian and the intelligence
contractor Stratfor[3] emerged on WikiLeaks[4].
A 2011 Anonymous hack[5] of Stratfor, a contractor for the Department
of Homeland Security and the Defense Intelligence Agency, ended with
millions of the company's internal emails released by WikiLeaks as the
"Global Intelligence Files."
Redditors searching through that data dump discovered an email exchange
between Ohanian and Stratfor employees, dating from January 2011. It
was apparently initiated by Ohanian, who used the subject line:
'reddit cofounder consulting for Stratfor to bring in the social
media dollars.'
'I have never worked for Stratfor,' he told the Daily Dot, though
the subject line of his email implies he did make an effort to do so.
In a 2011 email to Stratfor's vice president of communications, he
wrote, 'It was so fortuitous to meet you and your husband!...I can
let you know when I'll be free to come by the office.'
Dozens of Reddit threads popped up Monday accusing Ohanian of being
in bed with a company that's extremely unpopular with Redditors. The
rumors grew so loud that Ohanian eventually issued a public denial. He
tweeted screenshots of messages he'd exchanged with Stratfor, including
one revealing his proposal, a relatively benign-sounding offer[6]
to audit Stratfor's social media presence for $25,000.
Ohanian also tweeted screen shots of his final exchange[7] with the
intelligence company. The vice president of communications thanked
him for his proposal and told them they'd be in touch. There is no
evidence of any further correspondence.
Apparently, the conversation began after Ohanian met the vice president
at Stratfor's Austin, Texas, office during South by Southwest. 'I have
never worked for Stratfor...they asked me for a quote to consult, so I
gave it to them, but it went nowhere. We hadn't talked since.' Ohanian
told the Daily Dot.
According to Ohanian, the closest he has ever come to working for an
intelligence contractor is being on a paid speaking panel in 2007.
The timing of the leak is unfortunate for Ohanian. The idea of
collaborations between Internet companies and the U.S. government
has been hotly debated since former U.S. National Security Agency[8]
contractor Edward Snowden[9] disclosed the agency's massive Internet
surveillance operations this summer.
With one particular program, codenamed PRISM[10], the NSA obtains user
information from Google, Facebook, Microsoft and other Silicon Valley
tech companies. The program, along with others, collects users emails,
messages, chats, photos and video.
In the days before PRISM was disclosed, it is doubtful that the world
would have made much of a collaboration between a Reddit cofounder
and an intelligence contractor. Indeed, Ohanian was likely unaware
of any major link between these intelligence firms and large-scale
government surveillance.
'I'd been a big fan because no one else reported on Caucasus as well
and I was living in Armenia at the time,' Ohanian told the Daily Dot.
There is no indication Ohanian would have even considered a making
his proposal in light of Snowden's leaks, and Reddit's General
Manager, Erik Martin, has revealed that Reddit was never asked to
participate[11] in the PRISM program.
"When the WikiLeaks revelation happened years later, I did not renew
my subscription [to Stratfor]," Ohanian added.
From: A. Papazian
The Daily Dot
August 26, 2013 Monday 6:36 PM EST
Controversy erupted today on Reddit[1] after an email exchange[2]
between the company's co-founder, Alexis Ohanian and the intelligence
contractor Stratfor[3] emerged on WikiLeaks[4].
A 2011 Anonymous hack[5] of Stratfor, a contractor for the Department
of Homeland Security and the Defense Intelligence Agency, ended with
millions of the company's internal emails released by WikiLeaks as the
"Global Intelligence Files."
Redditors searching through that data dump discovered an email exchange
between Ohanian and Stratfor employees, dating from January 2011. It
was apparently initiated by Ohanian, who used the subject line:
'reddit cofounder consulting for Stratfor to bring in the social
media dollars.'
'I have never worked for Stratfor,' he told the Daily Dot, though
the subject line of his email implies he did make an effort to do so.
In a 2011 email to Stratfor's vice president of communications, he
wrote, 'It was so fortuitous to meet you and your husband!...I can
let you know when I'll be free to come by the office.'
Dozens of Reddit threads popped up Monday accusing Ohanian of being
in bed with a company that's extremely unpopular with Redditors. The
rumors grew so loud that Ohanian eventually issued a public denial. He
tweeted screenshots of messages he'd exchanged with Stratfor, including
one revealing his proposal, a relatively benign-sounding offer[6]
to audit Stratfor's social media presence for $25,000.
Ohanian also tweeted screen shots of his final exchange[7] with the
intelligence company. The vice president of communications thanked
him for his proposal and told them they'd be in touch. There is no
evidence of any further correspondence.
Apparently, the conversation began after Ohanian met the vice president
at Stratfor's Austin, Texas, office during South by Southwest. 'I have
never worked for Stratfor...they asked me for a quote to consult, so I
gave it to them, but it went nowhere. We hadn't talked since.' Ohanian
told the Daily Dot.
According to Ohanian, the closest he has ever come to working for an
intelligence contractor is being on a paid speaking panel in 2007.
The timing of the leak is unfortunate for Ohanian. The idea of
collaborations between Internet companies and the U.S. government
has been hotly debated since former U.S. National Security Agency[8]
contractor Edward Snowden[9] disclosed the agency's massive Internet
surveillance operations this summer.
With one particular program, codenamed PRISM[10], the NSA obtains user
information from Google, Facebook, Microsoft and other Silicon Valley
tech companies. The program, along with others, collects users emails,
messages, chats, photos and video.
In the days before PRISM was disclosed, it is doubtful that the world
would have made much of a collaboration between a Reddit cofounder
and an intelligence contractor. Indeed, Ohanian was likely unaware
of any major link between these intelligence firms and large-scale
government surveillance.
'I'd been a big fan because no one else reported on Caucasus as well
and I was living in Armenia at the time,' Ohanian told the Daily Dot.
There is no indication Ohanian would have even considered a making
his proposal in light of Snowden's leaks, and Reddit's General
Manager, Erik Martin, has revealed that Reddit was never asked to
participate[11] in the PRISM program.
"When the WikiLeaks revelation happened years later, I did not renew
my subscription [to Stratfor]," Ohanian added.
From: A. Papazian