Scrapped justdropped data, patched:and then:
+++ b/cia-2010-covert-communication-websites/cdx-post.sh
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
#!/usr/bin/env bash
# Post process the output of cdx.sh to enrich IDs even further, and reconstruct easier to Web Archive inspect domain names.
-grep -P -e '([^,)]+)\)\/\1\.swf|\)/[^/]+.jar|([^,)]+),([^,)]+),([^,)]+)\)/cgi-bin/[^/]+\.cgi' "$1" |
- sed -r 's/\).*//' | awk -F, '{ printf("%s.%s\n", $2, $1) }' | uniq -c | awk '$1 == 1{ print $2 }' | tee $1.post
+grep -P -e '([^,)]+)\)\/\1\.swf|\)/[^/]+.jar|([^,)]+),([^,)]+),([^,)]+)\)/cgi-bin/[^/]+\.cgi' "$1"|
+ sed -r 's/\).*//' | awk -F, '{ printf("%s.%s\n", $2, $1) }' | uniq -c | awk '{ print $2 }' | tee $1.post
./hupo-cdx-tor.sh out 'news|headline|internationali|mondo|mundo|mondi|iran|today' 2006 2022
web.archive.org/web/20110203041325/http://financecentraltoday.com/
- viewdns.info/iphistory/?domain=financecentraltoday.com
- 208.91.197.27 British Virgin Islands CONFLUENCE-NETWORK-INC 2013-11-08
- 69.90.163.85 Canada COGECO-PEER1 2013-09-26
- 69.90.160.75 Canada COGECO-PEER1 2011-06-22 viewdns.info/reverseip/?t=1&host=69.90.160.75 says small virtual. Checked all but no hits.
- securitytrails.com/domain/financecentraltoday.com/history/a
- 69.90.160.75 Aptum Technologies 2010-04-04 (15 years) 2010-04-27 (15 years) 23 days
- 69.42.58.70 Aptum Technologies 2009-01-07 (16 years) 2009-01-28 (16 years) 21 days. Near health-men-today.com.
web.archive.org/web/20110202221328/http://thenewsofpakistan.com/
- viewdns.info/iphistory/?domain=thenewsofpakistan.com
- 50.22.27.227 Dallas - United States SOFTLAYER 2013-06-30
- 174.133.70.18 United States SOFTLAYER 2012-11-12. In range.
- securitytrails.com/domain/thenewsofpakistan.com/history/a
web.archive.org/web/20110201184753/http://shadesofnews.com/
- viewdns.info/iphistory/?domain=shadesofnews.com
- 64.6.225.2 United States WEBINT 2013-11-29 viewdns.info/reverseip/?t=1&host=64.6.225.2 mid virtual.
- securitytrails.com/domain/shadesofnews.com/history/a
web.archive.org/web/20050424123432/http://www.pokernewsweb.com/ likely legit in the intended emulated style
web.archive.org/web/20101226225311/http://world-news-online.net/ domainsbyproxy.com registered 2006-06-14T21
- viewdns.info/iphistory/?domain=world-news-online.net
- 199.187.208.12 Miami - United States PERFORMIVE 2013-12-02 viewdns.info/reverseip/?t=1&host=199.187.208.12 is small virtual, checked all in there and 199.187.208.5 - 199.187.208.15
- 63.247.81.241 United States NTHL 2011-09-07 viewdns.info/reverseip/?t=1&host=63.247.81.241 searching 63.247.81.249
- 63.247.81.241 web.archive.org/web/20110202210855/http://motornstyle.com/ off
- 63.247.81.244 web.archive.org/web/20110106222053/http://puzzlesgalore.net/ under construction
- 63.247.81.245 web.archive.org/web/20110202102921/http://chairyogavideo.com/ under construction
- 63.247.81.247 web.archive.org/web/20110207131727/http://pccubeservice.com/indexPage.jsp
- securitytrails.com/domain/world-news-online.net/history/a
web.archive.org/web/20100923090646/http://mideasttoday.net/
- viewdns.info/iphistory/?domain=mideasttoday.net says:
- 208.91.197.27 British Virgin Islands CONFLUENCE-NETWORK-INC 2013-12-09
- 65.98.118.97 United States FORTRESSITX 2013-12-02
- 65.98.118.101 United States FORTRESSITX 2013-05-20. viewdns.info/reverseip/?t=1&host=65.98.118.101 empty
- securitytrails.com/domain/mideasttoday.net/history/a says:
web.archive.org/web/20110209045123/http://dryterrainnews.com/
- viewdns.info/iphistory/?domain=dryterrainnews.com says:
- 50.22.27.227 Dallas - United States SOFTLAYER 2013-11-29
- 174.133.70.18 United States SOFTLAYER 2012-11-12
- securitytrails.com/domain/dryterrainnews.com/history/a
web.archive.org/web/20100206221718/http://euronewsonline.net/
- viewdns.info/iphistory/?domain=euronewsonline.net says:
- 74.220.207.94 United States UNIFIEDLAYER-AS-1 2013-12-09
- 184.168.221.55 United States AS-26496-GO-DADDY-COM-LLC 2013-11-25
- 74.220.207.94 United States UNIFIEDLAYER-AS-1 2013-09-23. viewdns.info/reverseip/?t=1&host=74.220.207.94 says medium virtual.
- securitytrails.com/domain/euronewsonline.net/history/a also says
web.archive.org/web/20110208063146/http://news-and-sports.com/ Hit.
- viewdns.info/iphistory/?domain=news-and-sports.com says:
- 204.11.56.25 British Virgin Islands CONFLUENCE-NETWORK-INC 2014-07-05
- 208.91.197.19 British Virgin Islands CONFLUENCE-NETWORK-INC 2013-05-20
- 66.104.175.42 United States XO-AS15 2012-06-29 In range.
web.archive.org/web/20110202054628/http://intoworldnews.com/ hit.
- viewdns.info/iphistory/?domain=intoworldnews.com says:
- securitytrails:
web.archive.org/web/20110207171340/http://mydailynewsreport.com/ hit
- viewdns.info/iphistory/?domain=mydailynewsreport.com says
- 208.91.197.132 British Virgin Islands CONFLUENCE-NETWORK-INC 2014-03-15
- 74.52.51.139 United States SOFTLAYER 2012-06-29 viewdns.info/reverseip/?t=1&host=74.52.51.139 says small virtual
On that same IP...- web.archive.org/web/20110208004005/http://networkconnectionsite.com/ Hit. viewdns.info/iphistory/?domain=networkconnectionsite.com says only at that IP.
- web.archive.org/web/20110207103008/http://soccerguidesite.com/ Korean site, would be unusual given a splash page. Has a JAR at: web.archive.org/web/20110207103045/http://soccerguidesite.com/tools.jar but everything else unarchived. JAR is atypical.
Around checked 74.52.51.133 - 74.52.51.149- viewdns.info/reverseip/?t=1&host=74.52.51.136 large virtual
- securitytrails.com/domain/mydailynewsreport.com/history/a says
- 74.52.51.139 SoftLayer Technologies Inc. 2011-03-06 (14 years) 2011-03-21 (14 years) 15 days
- 174.123.39.202 SoftLayer Technologies Inc. 2010-12-08 (14 years) 2011-03-05 (14 years) 3 months
- 75.125.247.170 SoftLayer Technologies Inc. 2010-02-20 (15 years) 2010-05-22 (15 years) 3 months
- 205.178.189.129 Network Solutions, LLC 2010-02-10 (15 years) 2010-02-20 (15 years) 10 days. viewdns.info/reverseip/?t=1&host=205.178.189.129 is large virtual.
web.archive.org/web/20050508220858/http://www.asianewsupdate.com/ this looks like the exact format of legitimate site the CIA was emulating. Copyright 2005, a CGI link to as: www.asianewsupdate.com:80/cgi-sys/FormMail.cgi There's a phone there 01 647-0910 so seems less likely?
2010. JAR unarchived. rss, split image
- viewdns.info/iphistory/?domain=newsdelivered.net says:
- 192.96.218.41 United States 123NET 2013-06-10
- 196.40.84.210 Costa Rica RADIOGRAFICA COSTARRICENSE 2013-05-20
- 50.63.202.40 United States AS-26496-GO-DADDY-COM-LLC 2013-04-08
- 74.220.207.158 United States UNIFIEDLAYER-AS-1 2013-03-11. viewdns.info/reverseip/?host=74.220.207.158&t=1 says large virtual.
- securitytrails:
2010. JAR. Split header.
- viewdns.info/iphistory/?domain=latinamericanewsbeat.com says:
- 184.168.221.34 United States AS-26496-GO-DADDY-COM-LLC 2013-03-23
- 74.91.172.195 United States INTERNAP-BLOCK-4 2012-11-12
- 76.162.90.179 United States WINDSTREAM 2011-09-08. viewdns.info/reverseip/?host=76.162.90.179&t=1 says small virtual? Explored 76.162.90.174 - 76.162.90.183.
- securitytrails.com/domain/latinamericanewsbeat.com/history/a
2011. JAR unarchived. Split header.
- viewdns.info/iphistory/?domain=inkfreenews.com says:
- 68.178.232.100 United States AS-26496-GO-DADDY-COM-LLC 2012-09-21
- 128.121.9.46 United States NTT-LTD-2914 2012-06-29. Reverse empty. Checked: 128.121.9.43 - 128.121.9.53
- securitytrails.com/domain/inkfreenews.com/history/a
2011. JAR. a.newslink, a.newslinkalt.
- viewdns.info/iphistory/?domain=profile-news.com says:
- 68.178.232.100 United States AS-26496-GO-DADDY-COM-LLC 2012-06-29
- 199.204.248.105 United States WEBINT 2012-01-11. viewdns.info/reverseip/?host=199.204.248.105&t=1 says large virtual.
- 205.214.86.38 United States DATABANK-LATISYS 2011-08-11. viewdns.info/reverseip/?host=205.214.86.38&t=1 says small virtual.
- securitytrails.com/domain/profile-news.com/history/a
2011. Arabic. RSS.
- viewdns.info/iphistory/?domain=nejadnews.com says: 208.254.38.56 United States COLO-PREM-VZB 2012-06-29.
- viewdns.info/reverseip/?host=208.254.38.56&t=1 says single domain and we see that todaysengineering.com was not too far confirming a new range
web.archive.org/web/20110129115400/http://kmirano.com/ shallow but off style? Has a kmirano.sfw... viewdns.info/iphistory/?domain=kmirano.com says 211.1.224.71 Japan NTT SmartConnect Corporation 2012-01-11
2011. JAR. Copyright 2008. Split header and other images. They are obsessed about CDMA (2G).
- viewdns.info/iphistory/?domain=wiredworldnews.com says:
- 69.89.237.152 United States RINGSQUARED 2012-01-11. Empty.
- 67.213.209.10 Atlanta - United States UK-2 Limited 2011-04-04. Virtual.
- securitytrails.com/domain/wiredworldnews.com/history/a
- 69.89.237.152 RingSquared 2011-06-25 (14 years) 2011-07-30 (14 years) 1 month
- 69.89.237.152 RingSquared 2011-06-14 (14 years) 2011-06-24 (14 years) 10 days
- 67.213.209.10 UK-2 Limited 2008-12-03 (16 years) 2009-02-10 (16 years) 2 months
- 69.4.225.2 SoftLayer Technologies Inc. 2008-09-01 (17 years) 2008-09-09 (17 years) 8 days. viewdns.info/reverseip/?t=1&host=69.4.225.2 empty.
2011. JAR. split header, RSS.
- viewdns.info/iphistory/?domain=the-news-scene.com says 74.81.69.194 United States NTHL 2012-01-11. viewdns.info/reverseip/?host=74.81.69.194&t=1 says virtual.
- securitytrails.com/domain/the-news-scene.com/history/a says
- 74.81.69.194 NETWORK TRANSIT HOLDINGS LLC 2009-12-24 (15 years) 2010-03-23 (15 years) 3 months
- 209.51.136.178 QuickMeg Inc 2008-09-01 (17 years) 2009-12-24 (15 years) 1 year. viewdns.info/reverseip/?t=1&host=209.51.136.178 says small virtual and in there we obtain:Explored viewdns.info 209.51.136.170 - 209.51.136.185 empty.
2010. Suspicious. But no clear fingrenprint. Also not as shallow as others. Also Joomla based which would be novel.
- viewdns.info/iphistory/?domain=eqranews.com says:
- 69.64.147.243 United States RIGHTSIDE 2012-03-03
- 67.228.81.180 Seattle - United States SOFTLAYER 2011-04-04. viewdns.info/reverseip/?t=1&host=67.228.81.180 says virtual.
- securitytrails.com/domain/eqranews.com/history/a says
- 69.64.147.243 Amazon.com, Inc. 2011-04-28 (14 years) 2012-01-19 (13 years) 9 months
- 67.228.81.180 SoftLayer Technologies Inc. 2011-04-18 (14 years) 2011-04-28 (14 years) 10 days
- 174.37.172.68 SoftLayer Technologies Inc. 2011-04-13 (14 years) 2011-04-18 (14 years) 5 days
- 67.228.81.180 SoftLayer Technologies Inc. 2011-03-19 (14 years) 2011-04-13 (14 years) 25 days
- 74.220.215.62 Unified Layer 2010-03-18 (15 years) 2011-03-19 (14 years) 1 year
2010. JAR.
- viewdns.info/iphistory/?domain=magneticfieldnews.com says 173.205.124.151 United States IMH-IAD 2012-01-11. viewdns.info/reverseip/?host=173.205.124.151&t=1 says large-ish virtual.
- dnshistory.org/dns-records/magneticfieldnews.com empty
- securitytrails.com/domain/magneticfieldnews.com/history/a
2011. JAR. RSS, Split header images.
- viewdns.info/iphistory/?domain=segomonews.com 204.13.11.6 United States KATTARE 2012-01-11. viewdns.info/reverseip/?host=204.13.11.6&t=1 says virtual.
- dnshistory.org/historical-dns-records/a/segomonews.com same
- securitytrails.com/domain/segomonews.com/history/a same
newspapergateway.com/ web.archive.org/web/20110208070309/http://newspapergateway.com/ hard to tell but generally off. Has both JAR and SWF.
- viewdns.info/iphistory/?domain=newspapergateway.com says:
- 63.251.171.80 United States INTERNAP-BLOCK-4 2011-11-13
- 66.115.138.101 United States PERFORMIVE 2011-09-08
2011 Farsi. JAR. RSS.
- dnshistory.org/dns-records/pondernews.net nothing
- viewdns.info/iphistory/?domain=pondernews.net. privatesystems.net.
- 68.178.232.100 United States AS-26496-GO-DADDY-COM-LLC 2011-11-28
- 67.222.6.108 Atlanta - United States PRIVATESYSTEMS 2011-10-31. Virtual. Also here on very quick look at promising names:
- web.archive.org/web/20100517070603/http://middle-east-newstoday.com/ Only at that IP. JS.
- securitytrails.com/domain/pondernews.net/history/a
2011. English. Split header, RSS.
- viewdns.info/iphistory/?domain=internationalnewsworthiness.com says 216.86.153.116 United States STEADFAST 2011-04-04. Checking 216.86.153.106 - 216.86.153.125
- viewdns.info/reverseip/?host=216.86.153.114&t=1 big virtual
- viewdns.info/reverseip/?host=216.86.153.116&t=1 says it became a medium virtual
- dnshistory.org/dns-records/internationalnewsworthiness.com empty
- securitytrails.com/domain/internationalnewsworthiness.com/history/a
sandstormnews.com 2011, SWF Arabic.
ul.rss-items > li.rss-item
, split header- viewdns.info/iphistory/?domain=sandstormnews.com
- 68.178.232.99 United States AS-26496-GO-DADDY-COM-LLC 2011-04-04. viewdns.info/reverseip/?t=1&host=68.178.232.99 says big virtual.
- securitytrails.com/domain/sandstormnews.com/history/a
zerosandonesnews.com 2011. SWF Split header,
ul.rss-items > li.rss-item
- viewdns.info/iphistory/?domain=zerosandonesnews.com empty
- dnshistory.org/dns-records/zerosandonesnews.com empty
- securitytrails.com/domain/zerosandonesnews.com/history/a says 62.22.61.200 which is in range
differentviewtoday.com: web.archive.org/web/20110202185635/http://differentviewtoday.com/ split header images JAR archived at: web.archive.org/web/20110202185659/http://differentviewtoday.com/bwm.jar
lasthournews.com web.archive.org/web/20100513182623/http://lasthournews.com/. Urdu. JAR at: web.archive.org/web/20100513182724/http://lasthournews.com/recent.jar. Split header images.
- viewdns.info/iphistory/?domain=lasthournews.com no relevant IPs
- dnshistory.org/historical-dns-records/a/lasthournews.com mentions 2010-02-27 -> 2010-08-07 216.93.248.194
- securitytrails.com/domain/lasthournews.com/history/a says
mynepalnews.com, split header images,
ul.rss-items > li.rss-item
, Unarchived jar:- viewdns.info/iphistory/?domain=mynepalnews.com
- 5.9.240.230 Falkenstein - Germany Hetzner Online GmbH 2014-01-31
- 142.4.222.67 Canada OVH SAS 2013-12-20
- 72.9.137.7 Nepal WorldLink Communications Pvt Ltd 2013-06-30. Big virtual.
- 64.71.179.79 United States HURRICANE 2012-11-12. Nothing else on 64.71.179.71 - 64.71.179.89.This IP address also shows up on web.archive.org/web/20110204095753/http://mynepalnews.com/cgi-bin/check.cgi/
SERVER_ADDR = 64.71.179.79
There we also see:which appears to be the crawler's IP: github.com/duy13/vDDoS-Protection/issues/29REMOTE_ADDR = 204.236.235.245
- securitytrails.com/domain/mynepalnews.com/history/a
- 5.9.219.166 Hetzner Online GmbH 2013-12-31 (11 years) 2014-01-08 (11 years) 8 days
- 142.4.222.67 OVH SAS 2013-12-02 (11 years) 2013-12-31 (11 years) 29 days
- 72.9.137.7 WorldLink Communications Pvt Ltd 2013-01-24 (12 years) 2013-04-02 (12 years) 2 months
- 64.71.179.79 Hurricane Electric LLC 2008-09-01 (17 years) 2008-10-21 (16 years) 2 months
- web.archive.org/web/20111008211517/http://elgintoday.com/ wordpress so unlikely
- 50.63.202.88 United States AS-26496-GO-DADDY-COM-LLC 2014-02-21
- 97.74.249.128 United States AS-26496-GO-DADDY-COM-LLC 2014-01-11 big virtual
Announcements and updates by self:
- 2023-06-10: initial announcements
- twitter.com/cirosantilli/status/1667532991315230720. Follow up when more domains were found: twitter.com/cirosantilli/status/1717445686214504830
- www.reddit.com/r/OSINT/comments/146185r/i_found_16_new_cia_covert_communication_websites/. Marked as SPAM 5 by mods days later. After reaching 92 votes, a very positive reply for that niche sub, and being obviously on topic. Weird. Anyways, did its job and likely kicked off hackernews.
- www.facebook.com/cirosantilli/posts/pfbid04KvRbEXghJakcD4AQz4379L5oVjPZ6vrBF1Eak3p81VnqRSXuXdvvYonCWPhGfQXl
- 2023-10-26 twitter.com/cirosantilli/status/1717445686214504830: announcement by self after finding 75 more sites
- Shared by others soo after:
- www.reddit.com/r/conspiracy/comments/14705gp/cia_2010_covert_communication_websites/ failed attempt with bad link unfortunately
- 2024-01-15: twitter.com/cirosantilli/status/1747742453778559165 Oleg Shakirov's findings
- 2024-01-23: mastodon.social/@cirosantilli/111807480628392615 ipinf.ru gives 4 hits and 4 new suspects, announced at:
- 2024-09 Aratu Week 2024 Talk by Ciro Santilli: My Best Random Projects
- 2025-03-13: 44 new domains found: Section "44 new CIA websites"
- 2025-04-14: cqcounter screenshots used to confirm many new hits: Section "60 new CIA website screenshots discovered on CQ Counter"
- 2025-05-23: Section "Backing up CIA website archives for research and posterity"
Pings by self:
- 2025-03-13:
- x.com/cirosantilli/status/1900278353065894324 pings x.com/JackRhysider Jack Rhysider, host of the Darkent Diaries podcast
- x.com/cirosantilli/status/1900828210578727276 pings x.com/JennaMC_Laugh Jenna McLaughlin and x.com/zachsdorfman Zach Dorfman, authors of the 2018 Yahoo articles
- 2025-03-31 going to find random interested people on Twitter:
- 2025-05-05:
- inteltoday.org/2021/07/31/us-national-whistleblower-day-july-30-2021-i-john-reidy-declare-cia-debacle-in-iran-china/#comment-46375 pings the author Dr. Ludwig De Braeckeleer. Besides his interest in intelligence, the dude actually also won a Breakthrough Prize in Physics, holy fuck it's mind boggling.
- x.com/cirosantilli/status/1919391488422662245 pings x.com/marisaataylor Marisa Taylor, author of the 2014, McClathy DC article
- x.com/cirosantilli/status/1919859345593880812 and x.com/cirosantilli/status/1919846838850499002 pings x.com/billmarczak Bill Marczak and x.com/thezedwards Zach Edwards, technical analysts for the Reuters article
- x.com/cirosantilli/status/1919860643408007644 pings x.com/joel_schectman Joel Schectman and x.com/bozorgmehr Bozorgmehr Sharafedin authors of the Reuters article
- x.com/cirosantilli/status/1919870831758365113 pings x.com/zachsdorfman Zach Dorfman (protected account) author of the Foreign Policy article
- x.com/cirosantilli/status/1920073080363241727 pings x.com/markmazzettinyt Mark Mazzetti, x.com/nytmike Michael S. Schmidt and x.com/mattapuzzo Matt Apuzzo authors of the 2017 New York Times article. Could not find a Twitter for the fourth author Adam Goldman.
- x.com/PeteWilliamsNBC Pete Williams author of the 2018 NCB News artricle: he's retired and not active on Twitter, not going to bother pinging
Reactions by others:
- 2023-06-19: www.reddit.com/r/numberstations/comments/14dexiu/after_numbers_stations_vanished/ (30 points) off topic on that sub, but thankfully was not deleted, interesting sub topic
- 2023-10-26: Google Analytics backlink from lms.fh-wedel.de/ path unknown. Some shitty German university: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fachhochschule_Wedel_University_of_Applied_Sciences LMS stands for Learning management system, apparently a Moodle instance. Maybe they have some Open educational resources, but all in German so pointless
- Second wave:
- 2023-12-01: news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38492304 (65 points). Second submission but pointing to OurBigBook.com rather than cirosantilli.com: ourbigbook.com/cirosantilli/cia-2010-covert-communication-websites We take those. Reached only 65 points as of January 2024.
- 2023-12-02: buttondown.email/grugq/archive/december-2-2023/. "grugq" is the handle of a zero day dealer whose received some scrutiny in 2012 after a Forbes protile was written about him: archive.ph/7mUG5. He comments:presumably referring to DNS Census 2013.
I don’t think anyone anticipated that databases leaked by hackers would enable OSINT researchers to conduct counterintelligence investigations that rival the state security services.
- 2024-01-12: twitter.com/jeremy_wokka/status/1745657801584656564 (40k followers, mid of thread)
- 2025-04-02: www.reddit.com/r/wikipedia/comments/1kd7rzo/comment/mqoocu7/?context=3 user Gilda1234_ mentions this project in a comment to "Between 2010 and 2012, China identified and killed at least 30 CIA informants in the country" by idlikebab
- 2025-05-26 The CIA Secretly Ran a Star Wars Fan Site by Joseph Cox from 404 media, an upstart publication covering edgy digital subjects. This was likely a result of Ciro publicly pinging x.com/zachsdorfman Zach Edwards, one of the analysts for the Reuters article, at x.com/cirosantilli/status/1919846838850499002, as he is cited in the article as having done a technical review. This had a massive knowdown effect and several other media picked the story up. Ciro announcing it at:Forum threads spawned from it:Other media that picked it up:
- Reddit
- www.reddit.com/r/StarWars/comments/1kvtzwm/the_cia_secretly_ran_a_star_wars_fan_site/
- www.reddit.com/r/StarWarsEU/comments/1kvu5g8/the_cia_secretly_ran_a_star_wars_fan_site/
- www.reddit.com/r/nottheonion/comments/1kxtpw4/the_cia_secretly_ran_a_star_wars_fan_site/
- www.reddit.com/r/nottheonion/comments/1kxtpw4/comment/muu531n/A source: www.thesun.co.uk/sport/33904606/putin-spies-cristiano-ronaldo-youtube-videos-messages/
They aren’t the only ones who do stuff like this, Russian agents were using Ronaldo highlight vids on YouTube to communicate 😭
- www.reddit.com/r/nottheonion/comments/1kxtpw4/comment/muu531n/
- www.reddit.com/r/Games/comments/1kye0pj/the_cia_operated_a_network_of_gaming_sites_and/
- www.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/1kvvx48/the_cia_secretly_ran_a_star_wars_fan_site_the/
- www.reddit.com/r/realtech/comments/1kvwigb/the_cia_secretly_ran_a_star_wars_fan_site_the/
- www.reddit.com/r/conspiracy/comments/1kw991t/the_cia_secretly_ran_a_star_wars_fan_site/
- www.reddit.com/r/LowStakesConspiracies/comments/1kwbf2y/the_cia_run_a_star_wars_fansite/
- www.reddit.com/r/andor/comments/1kw587c/very_andor_the_cia_secretly_ran_a_star_wars_fan/
- www.reddit.com/r/BrasildoB/comments/1kw6qah/um_brasileiro_acaba_de_publicar_detalhes_sobre_os/
- www.reddit.com/r/mexico/comments/1kwhuqg/la_incre%C3%ADble_web_de_star_wars_que_us%C3%B3_la_cia_para/
- www.reddit.com/r/KotakuInAction/comments/1kwoch5/the_cia_ran_a_star_wars_fan_site_to_secretly/
- www.reddit.com/r/starwarscanon/comments/1kwoxoq/til_the_cia_secretly_ran_a_star_wars_fan_site/
- www.reddit.com/r/TrueAnon/comments/1kwhxmj/cia_ran_star_wars_fan_site/
- www.reddit.com/r/MauLer/comments/1kxqim9/figures/
- www.reddit.com/r/Intelligence/comments/1kwybso/cia_uses_star_wars_website_to_communicate_with/
- www.reddit.com/r/StarWarsCirclejerk/comments/1kwzeto/in_my_mind_all_last_jedi_haters_are_feds/
- www.reddit.com/r/memes/comments/1kw5x9n/the_cia_really_gets_creative_sometimes/
- www.reddit.com/r/BurnNotice/comments/1kw4b5k/the_cia_secretly_ran_a_star_wars_fan_site_for/
- www.reddit.com/r/BurnNotice/comments/1kw4b5k/comment/muemkhk/ brings up
europeangoldfinch.net
first described in Season 2 of Prison Break in 2007.Europeangoldfinch.net was a website used by Michael Scofield that allowed the Fox River Eight to communicate with each other on its online message board
- www.reddit.com/r/BurnNotice/comments/1kw4b5k/comment/muemkhk/ brings up
- Decent tweets:
- x.com/CultureCrave/status/1927119278047727908 600k followers
- x.com/val_reloaded/status/1927349417306161165 Argentinian Twitcher 400k followers
- news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44098274 failed unfortunately
- knockout.chat/thread/72492/1
- fanlore.org/wiki/2009-2013_CIA_communications_websites
- YouTube
Video 1. . Source. 2025-05-27. 180k subs. This one focuses on talking about the games and uses this article as the mainreference. He makes that nice note that the game Star Wars Battlefront II reached all time highs in the days following the CIA releasejThe articles apparenty coincided with the reelase of Star Wars Battlefront III alpha to lukewarm reception. Video 2. Star Wars Fan Sites Are Run by THE FEDS?! by Clownfish TV. Source. 2025-05-27. 600k subs. Video didn't take off however. The channel seems to be semi dead. But it is cool to see an American with YouTube-worth eloquence going over it.Video 3. . Source. 2025-05-28. 2M subs. He's basically reading the techspot article: www.techspot.com/news/108062-cia-used-star-wars-fan-site-secretly-communicate.html. Video 5. . Source. Seytonic had previously covered Reuters article at this other video:Video 8. . Source. 2025-06-13. 12k subs. This video draws on some research from this article, citing it on the source list: docs.google.com/document/d/1k7-YoOMRTL8qKE_FoRnyvR1QDa0JTBJo_a-SRwVMEu4/edit?tab=t.0 and using some of the screenshots.This video has some good mentions of the details of Jerry Chun Shing Lee's story which Ciro Santilli was not aware of. - other voice media:
- Meneame, a Spanish Reddit: 2025-05-27 www.meneame.net/m/tecnolog%C3%ADa/increible-web-star-wars-uso-cia-espiar-espana-mexico-otros/standard
Starting on that same day someone made starwarsweb.net redirect to cia.gov at 2025-05-26T13:28:02Z: www.whois.com/whois/starwarsweb.net- "mainstream":
- www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14752155/CIA-fake-websites-Star-Wars-communicate-spies.html Also announcing that:
* mastodon.social/@cirosantilli/114580297330915997
* x.com/cirosantilli/status/1927373757829583344
* www.linkedin.com/posts/cirosantilli_the-cia-secretly-ran-a-star-wars-fan-site-activity-7333140418504646656-eRzq/
* www.facebook.com/cirosantilli/posts/pfbid026kssQcXm7TwAHDJ4BQ73RKFCmJRLJsT1dfRpEmZ5GZdmsp8DukaqrbefFuGDqNZvl - www.themirror.com/news/us-news/cia-uses-star-wars-website-1174874
- www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14752155/CIA-fake-websites-Star-Wars-communicate-spies.html Also announcing that:
- "mainstream" non-English:
- www.france24.com/fr/%C3%A9co-tech/20250528-star-wars-bourse-ou-football-les-etranges-sites-pour-les-informateurs-de-la-cia (French)
- francais.rt.com/international/121266-espionnage-cia-utilisait-sites-fans-star-wars-pour-communiquer-secretement-avec-ses-agents-etrangers RT in French, God
- www.derstandard.at/consent/tcf/story/3000000271640/die-cia-hat-heimlich-eine-star-wars-fanseite-betrieben Der Standard (Austria)
- tw.news.yahoo.com/玩家可能都用過?原來「美國中情局」cia曾營運過遊戲媒體網站掩護行動-070742215.html (Yahoo Taiwan)
- www.abc.es/internacional/cia-empleo-sitios-web-inofensivos-paginas-star-20250528171402-nt.html (Spain)
- "non-mainstream":
- www.dexerto.com/entertainment/the-cia-secretly-used-a-star-wars-fan-site-to-talk-to-spies-report-3199318/ and x.com/Dexerto/status/1927000891963363406 large-ish publication
- www.thegamer.com/star-wars-fan-website-cia-usa-government-spies-controlled/
- www.techspot.com/news/108062-cia-used-star-wars-fan-site-secretly-communicate.html This was one of the biggest hits on Google Analytics actually.
- gigazine.net/news/20250527-starwars-fan-sites-made-by-cia/ Japanese
- Wired:
- www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/the-cia-operated-a-network-of-gaming-sites-and-even-a-star-wars-fanpage-that-were-part-of-one-of-its-worst-ever-intelligence-catastrophes/
- www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/the-cia-secretly-ran-a-star-wars-fan-site-to-communicate-with-spies/ar-AA1FASFY
- www.gamespot.com/articles/the-cia-once-ran-a-star-wars-fan-site-as-part-of-a-global-intelligence-effort/1100-6532045/
- www.darkhorizons.com/how-u-s-spies-used-a-star-wars-fan-page/
- gigazine.net/news/20250527-starwars-fan-sites-made-by-cia/
- Reddit
- 2025-08-01 saw another mini-trend due to The CIA Built Hundreds of Covert Websitesby Alan Macleod: www.mintpressnews.com/cia-secret-network-885-fake-websites/290325/
This then spawned some sindicated posts:and forum threads:- www.sott.net/article/500997-The-CIA-built-hundreds-of-covert-websites-Heres-what-they-were-hiding
- scheerpost.com/2025/08/02/the-cia-built-hundreds-of-covert-websites-heres-what-they-were-hiding/
- 2025-08-02 alethonews.com/2025/08/02/the-cia-built-hundreds-of-covert-websites-heres-what-they-were-hiding/ (Greek)
- 2025-08-02 popularresistance.org/the-cia-built-hundreds-of-covert-websites/
- 2025-08-04 cz24.news/alan-macleod-cia-vytvorila-stovky-tajnych-webu-globalni-spionazni-terminaly-co-vlastne-skryvaly/ (Czech)
Notable reactions to the websites themselves:
- 2022-09-29 www.reddit.com/r/soccer/comments/xrgua4/the_cia_used_a_message_board_on_a_fake_soccer/ "The CIA used a message board on a fake soccer website called "Iraniangoals.com" to communicate with Iranian spies, dozens of whom were arrested after the website was discovered." by user Carlos-Dangerzone
The third one from Cambridge after:
This is going to be the most important application of generative AI. Especially if we ever achieve good text-to-video.
Image generators plus human ranking:
- pornpen.ai/ a bit too restrictive. Girl laying down. Girl sitting. Penis or no penis. But realtively good at it
- civitai.tv/. How to reach it: civitai.tv/tag/nun/2/
www.pornhub.com/view_video.php?viewkey=ph63c71351edece: Heavenly Bodies Part 1: Sister's Mary First Act. Pornhub title: "AI generated Hentai Story: Sexy Nun alternative World(Isekai) Stable Diffusion" Interesting concept, slide-narrated over visual novel. The question is how they managed to keep face consistency across images.
The fundamental insight of Git design is: a SHA represents not only current state, but also the full history due to the Merkle tree implementation, see notably:
This makes it so that you will always notice if you are overwriting history on the remote, even if you are developing from two separate local computers (or more commonly, two people in two different local computers) and therefore will never lose any work accidentally.
It is very hard to achieve that without the Merkle tree.
Consider for example the most naive approach possible of marking versions with consecutive numbers:
Subset generators:
- github.com/mf1024/ImageNet-datasets-downloader generates on download, very good. As per github.com/mf1024/ImageNet-Datasets-Downloader/issues/14 counts go over the limit due to bad multithreading. Also unfortunately it does not start with a subset of 1k.
- github.com/BenediktAlkin/ImageNetSubsetGenerator
Unfortunately, since ImageNet is a closed standard no one can upload such pre-made subsets, forcing everybody to download the full dataset, in ImageNet1k, which is huge!
There are unlisted articles, also show them or only show them.