ICYMI - Did Russian hackers elect the U.S. president? Dont believe the hype.

[yallerdawg]

Washington Post, Ryan C. Maness and Brandon Valeriano

*****

Two material facts have combined to create this latest cyber hysteria. First, we know that just over half of voters were disappointed at the results of the Nov. 8 election. Second, Russia hacked personal and campaign emails over the summer, along with voter rolls in some states, apparently to erode confidence in the American electoral system.

*****

Suggestions that Russia hacked the U.S. presidential election are unhelpful, as Russian capabilities do not extend that far. Hacking voting precincts would take physical manipulation of machines. Hackers would have to open and physically reprogram each voting machine in each targeted precinct, or swap in malware-infested voting cards to replace the original ones. This would take a legion of Russian spies betting on not getting caught — not a risk that a calculating Russian President Vladimir Putin would be likely to take.

We do know that the U.S. government warned the Kremlin before the election and made it clear that any meddling would be met with retaliation. Russia apparently stopped its email-hacking activities before the election. Some analysts argued that this move reflected a realization in Moscow that the election of Trump might not be at all helpful to Putin’s international ambitions. It’s also likely that U.S. actions, such as closing off WikiLeaks’ Internet access, were proportional responses that demonstrated U.S. resolve.

*****

Research by an Israeli team led by Michael Gross suggests that people’s fears of cyberterrorism are not significantly different from their fears about conventional terrorism. In fact, the threat of cyber violations provokes a biological reaction, as measured by increased stress. This suggests that the impact of cyber violations weighs more heavily in people’s minds and bodies than in reality.

That an election theoretically could be hacked does not mean that it was. The hypothetical possibilities inherent in digital attacks often far outweigh the actual extent of digital aggression.

*****

Read it all at: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2016/11/24/did-russian-hackers-elect-the-u-s-president-dont-believe-the-hype/?utm_term=.ecbb79dacef2

[Freethinker65]

1. Current uproar is not about hacking the actual voting machines

[yallerdawg]

2. Hillary talked about Russia working for Trump during debates.

In front of millions of viewers.

What is this uproar about?

[bettyellen]

9. Hacking the emails. Seriously- this is NEW to you? Doubtful.

[yallerdawg]

11. This is NEW to you?

It didn't change anything before the election.

Now it should?

I know it hurts bad. Hillary said it would, for a long time.

[bettyellen]

12. The endless stream of Wiki tweeting crap out of context- pretending to be unbiased? Sorry but a lot

Of lefties bought those crap insinuations too. Made a non-story into an endless scandal. Useful idiots were all over the place.

[yallerdawg]

15. Gather the evidence - not speculation and innuendo.

A lot of us around here are well aware of how damaging speculation and innuendo can be - decades of it.

If the evidence leads to a criminal charge, we know how to proceed.

A sitting president resigned when the facts came to light.

[bettyellen]

17. Discussing reports of the investigation ordered by POTUS is a problem for you?

Then don't partake in the discussion of news reports. Obviously others will.

[yallerdawg]

19. I have no problem discussing what was said.

It is discussing what wasn't said that I find to be non-productive.

[triron]

3. Could extend to that.

There is some circumstantial evidence to that effect;
that being the statistical improbability of the actual vote count given exit polls and pre-election polls.

[marybourg]

4. No, I didn't take it that way either.

But - disinformation, what we are now calling false news. Clinton is dying, Clinton is running a pedophile ring, she killed Vince Foster, abused a rape victim, gave classified secrets away, etc. etc. THIS is interfering with our election and is classic Kremlin modus operandi.

[yallerdawg]

7. This is classic rightwing Republican MO.

If things work, no one cares where it may have originated last century.

[KittyWampus]

5. Actually, that is a possibility.

[KittyWampus]

6. The article is categorically false about Russian capabilities and hacking voting machines

and tabulators. It's hard to even take this seriously.

[uponit7771]

8. Thank you, its the tabulators ... the red herring is the "voting machines" and they can be hacked

... too and it was one of the things the Obama admin tried to protect against where Turtle McFuckLips said no

[yallerdawg]

13. The "tabulators."

Not the voters, the "tabulators."

Which have repeatedly been shown to be more accurate counting ballots than humans.

[triron]

14. that's a non sequitir

not when they've been hacked.

[yallerdawg]

16. They've been hacked?

That is not fact.

That is speculation.

The Obama administration has said they have found no evidence of hacking on Election Day.

[triron]

18. Also not fact

that they weren't hacked.

[yallerdawg]

20. Are you suggesting...

we can never prove they were not hacked?

[HoneyBadgerDontCare]

10. Cyberterrorism terrorism?

Soon, we may consider cyberterrorism to be more of a threat than traditional terrorism (bombs, extremists), given how connected to the Internet we are. If you think about it, a terrorist can hurt a few people, maybe a thousand, unless they do something truly outrageous. While a cyberterrorist can hurt millions, with little more effort than it takes to hurt a hundred.

[JTFrog]

21. YOU BETTER BELIEVE IT!!!%(#)%*@@!! nt

[yallerdawg]

22. "A magician's greatest skill...

is to keep your eyes off his other hand."

Belief is thinking something is true absent fact and proof. Enjoy!

But keep your eye on what is really going on.