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February 11, 2011

Plot Exposed to Target Opponents of U.S. Chamber of Commerce 
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The website Think Progress.org has revealed details of a plot to
undermine political opponents of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. According
to leaked emails, three private security firms were asked to propose a
strategy for weakening progressive and labor groups that have challenged
the Chamber's lobbying for some of the nation's biggest corporations.
The groups include the labor coalition Change to Win, the Service
Employees International Union, U.S. Chamber Watch, Stop The Chamber.com,
and Think Progress itself. One proposal called for entrapping a Chamber
target by providing them with a document containing false information
about the Chamber and then exposing the document as a fake once the
group publicized its contents. The firms also proposed creating a "fake
insider persona" to communicate with Change to Win. The three security
companies—Palantir Technologies, HBGary Federal and Berico
Technologies—were also implicated this week in a plot to target
the online whistleblower Wiki Leaks and some of its prominent
supporters.



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