Michael Hastings Dies in Suspicious Car 'Crash'.....

[Peter Lemkin]

In a May 18, 2012, article on propaganda efforts by the State Department, Hastings referred to a "program being developed by the Pentagon [that] would design software to create "sock puppets" on social media outlets." The HBGary emails are littered with references to this type of "persona management" technology.
Principal among these was a June 2010 United States Air Force (USAF) contract from the 6[SUP]th[/SUP] Contracting Squadron at MacDill Air Force Base in Florida. It sought providers of "persona management software" that would allow 50 users to control up to 500 fictional personae.
These sock puppets were required to be "replete with background, history, supporting details, and cyber presences that are technically, culturally, and geographically consistent." In other words, avatars so convincing they could fool the people with whom they were interacting into believing they were real.
MacDill Air Force Base is home to the United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM), the section of the military that oversees and coordinates all special-forces activity globally. USSOCOM lists under its "core activities" the employment of psychological operations (PSYOPS) and information operations (IO)exactly the type of activity this "sockpuppeting" technology would be employed in.
To put it another way: a clone army for future psywars.

Are there reasons to believe that this technology has been successfully trialed and is now in regular use, both overseas and domestically -- and aimed at the public as well as perceived state enemies?

I think it highly likely.

Hearts and minds and control thereof...

Oh, you said it...and I won't speak for you, but I think I've 'interacted' with and 'met' some of 'them' already......sadly. Most here are very savvy, and after a few posts can spot them easily; but most persons - especially on very large forums would be fooled, again sadly.