{"id":10862,"date":"2015-08-09T17:50:41","date_gmt":"2015-08-09T22:50:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=10862"},"modified":"2015-08-09T17:50:41","modified_gmt":"2015-08-09T22:50:41","slug":"psychologists-work-for-gchq-deception-unit-inflames-debate-among-peers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=10862","title":{"rendered":"Psychologist’s Work for GCHQ Deception Unit Inflames Debate Among Peers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Psychologist’s Work for GCHQ Deception Unit Inflames Debate Among Peers<\/a><\/h3>\n

A British psychologist is receiving sharp criticism from some professional peers for providing expert advice to help the U.K.\u00a0surveillance agency GCHQ manipulate people online.<\/p>\n

The debate brings into focus the question of how or whether psychologists should offer their expertise to spy agencies engaged in deception and propaganda.<\/p>\n

Dr. Mandeep K. Dhami, in a 2011\u00a0paper<\/a>, provided the controversial GCHQ spy unit JTRIG with advice, research pointers, training recommendations, and thoughts on psychological issues, with the goal of improving the unit\u2019s performance and effectiveness. JTRIG\u2019s\u00a0operations<\/a>\u00a0have been referred to as \u201cdirty tricks<\/a>,\u201d and Dhami\u2019s paper notes that the unit\u2019s own staff characterize their work using \u201cterms such as \u2018discredit,\u2019 promote \u2018distrust,\u2019 \u2018dissuade,\u2019 \u2018deceive,\u2019 \u2018disrupt,\u2019 \u2018delay,\u2019 \u2018deny,\u2019 \u2018denigrate\/degrade,\u2019 and \u2018deter.\u2019\u201d The unit\u2019s targets go beyond terrorists and foreign militaries and include groups considered \u201cdomestic extremist[s],\u201d criminals, online \u201chacktivists,\u201d and even \u201centire countries.\u201d<\/p>\n

After\u00a0publishing<\/a>\u00a0Dhami\u2019s paper for the first time in June,\u00a0The Intercept\u00a0<\/em>reached out to several of her fellow psychologists, including some whose work was referenced in the paper, about the document\u2019s ethical implications.<\/p>\n

One of the psychologists cited in the report criticized the paper\u00a0and GCHQ\u2019s ethics. Another psychologist condemned Dhami\u2019s recommendations\u00a0as \u201cgrossly unethical\u201d and another called them\u00a0an \u201cegregious violation\u201d of psychological ethics. But two other psychologists cited in the report did not express concern when contacted for reaction, and another psychologist, along with Dhami\u2019s current employer, defended her work and her ethical standards.<\/p>\n

A British law firm hired to represent Dhami maintained that any allegations of unethical conduct are \u201cgrossly defamatory and totally untrue.\u201d<\/p>\n

The divergent views on\u00a0the paper highlight how the profession of psychology has yet to resolve key ethical concerns around consulting for government intelligence agencies. These issues take on added resonance in the context of the uproar\u00a0currently roiling<\/a>\u00a0the American Psychological Association over the\u00a0key role it played<\/a>\u00a0in the CIA torture program during the Bush administration.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Psychologist’s Work for GCHQ Deception Unit Inflames Debate Among Peers A British psychologist is receiving sharp criticism from some professional peers for providing expert advice to help the U.K.\u00a0surveillance agency GCHQ manipulate people online. The debate brings into focus the question of how or whether psychologists should offer their expertise to spy agencies engaged in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[6788,7094,7955,7956,658,746,765,5567,820],"class_list":["post-10862","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-liberty","tag-debate","tag-ethics","tag-gchq-deception-unit","tag-mandeep-dhami","tag-psychology","tag-spying","tag-surveillance","tag-the-intercept","tag-uk"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10862","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10862"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10862\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10863,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10862\/revisions\/10863"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10862"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10862"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10862"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}