Lewis - The Mammoth Book of Conspiracies

Jon E. Lewis is a historian and writer, whose books on history and military history are sold worldwide. He is also the editor of many The Mammoth Book of anthologies, including the best-selling Cover-Ups .

Other titles by Jon E. Lewis

The Mammoth Book of Antarctic Journeys

The Mammoth Book of Cover-Ups

The Mammoth Book of Native Americans

The Mammoth Book of How It Happened

The Mammoth Book of On the Edge

The Mammoth Book of Pirates

The Mammoth Book of True War Stories

The Mammoth Book of Wild Journeys

London: The Autobiography

Rome: The Autobiography

World War II: The Autobiography

Survivor: The Autobiography

SAS: The Autobiography

Spitfire: The Autobiography

Constable & Robinson Ltd
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First published in the UK by Robinson,
an imprint of Constable & Robinson Ltd, 2012

Copyright J. Lewis-Stempel, 2012

The right of Jon E. Lewis to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs & Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out or otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

A copy of the British Library Cataloguing in Publication
Data is available from the British Library

UK ISBN: 978-1-84901-363-5 (paperback)
UK eISBN: 978-1-84901-730-5 (ebook)

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First published in the United States in 2012 by Running Press Book Publishers,
A Member of the Perseus Books Group

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US ISBN: 978-0-7624-4271-3
US Library of Congress Control Number: 2011930502

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Digit on the right indicates the number of this printing

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Printed and bound in the UK

These are, of course, theories . If they were proven beyond all doubt they would be conspiracy facts .

This book, a companion to The Mammoth Book of Cover-Ups , is a guide to the weirdest, wackiest and the most dangerous conspiracy theories around. I have, hopefully, steered a path between the Scylla of outright scepticism and the Charybdis of wide-open gullibility, the latter constantly boosted by the Internet, a self-referring universe where one bloggers claim becomes one researchers proof. As a measuring stick of a theorys veracity, I have included an ALERT guide, with a 1 to 10 rating, with 1 being No way, Jose and 10 being Its a cert. A small number of cases have appeared in Cover-Ups , but reappear here in the light of more and new information.

There are conspiracy theories that cross the edge of madness David Ickes reptilian-humanoid takeover and Vril-powered UFOs driven by Nazis come hurtling to mind but there are plenty out there that raise real issues about the abuse of power by secretive groups of politicos, CEOs, medicos and military honchos. Everyone should sleep a little less easy and be a little more vigilant after reading about the US Armys Operation Northwoods (which proposed false-flag terrorist outrages on the American people and the sticking of the blame on Cuba) and you may want to give the bio-research facility at Plum Island a wide, wide detour.

As they say: just because you are paranoid, it doesnt mean that they arent out to get you

Jon E. Lewis

Ever wonder how two tech geeks like Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak made their billions?

Conspiracists know the answer. Jobs and Wozniak built the first Macintosh computer in a California garage and when it failed to raise interest they did a deal with the devil, selling their souls in exchange for success on earth. The proof was on the price tag of the first Mac: $666.66. The mark of the Beast. Rounding off the evidence is the Apple logo. Theres a bite taken out of the apple, the forbidden fruit.

Alternatively, Apple did a deal with Big Brother. Take a look at an iPhone. It plays, unknown to its owner, iSpy on you. A secret file stores latitude and longitude, complete with a dater. The file is unencrypted and is transferred to any device the iPhone syncs with. Thus anyone with access to the owners computer can track his or her movements. Invasion of privacy anyone? Apples snooping habit doesnt end with the locator file. The Hackintosh hacker alleged that Apple has stuck a code into the iPhone that tracks keyboard use, so every time the user taps in information this is relayed to Apple HQ. The claim has never been verified but Apples appetite for gathering personal information is infamous; in 2010 the company applied for a patent (Systems and Methods for Identifying Unauthorized Users of an Electronic Device) that could record the heartbeat of iPhone users, as well as covertly photograph them and their surroundings. If Apple collects information, as sure as God made little green apples, law enforcement agencies will one day come calling to use it. All of which has made dark rooms full of pale conspiracy theorists wonder if Apple is not doing the CIA/FBIs job for them.

Apple justified the patent application as a security measure to prevent thieves using stolen phones, but as the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EEF) watchdog pointed out the technology also enabled Apple to cut off customers who pimped (quite lawfully) their devices. Improper use would also be reported to the Orwellian sounding proper authorities. The EEF christened the patent traitorware. Apples inclination to control is almost as great as its inclination to spy. On prudishly deciding that cartoonist Mark Fiores NewsToons app was too satirical for its taste Apple rejected it. When Fiore won a Pulitzer though they installed the app. Never one to miss a commercial opportunity, Apple.

Of course, Apple likes to keep its own secrets very close to its chips: the company is heavily controlling of image and market share. When Consumer Reports had the brazen gall to say it couldnt recommend the iPhone 4 until the antenna was improved, threads discussing the issue on Mac.com forums mysteriously disappeared overnight. And only an absolute cynic would claim that Apples 2010 litigious spat with internet mag Gizmodo about its review of an iPhone 4 prototype left in a bar and passed on to the website was a staged publicity stunt, what with the new phone getting oodles of free publicity, and security at Apple HQ being Fort Knox tight.

Byte into an Apple. Indeed.

Further Reading