General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsOne thing is for sure, that message allegedly from Anonymous about Ohio and Rove
will give anyone thinking about tinkering with the elections on computers real pause in the future. Just the thought that there are people out there with those kind of stunning computer skills that are watching the net should make anyone wonder if screwing around and breaking the law for political power is worth years in prison.
On the other hand, I would think the FBI and CIA would have even more capabilities to catch that kind of thing. At least if they are on the side of the people.
Whoever Anonymous is if it was them, they have some serious cash and power behind them if they were able to out do the FBI and CIA.
OhZone
(3,212 posts)that the CIA aren't part of Anon?
Dun Dun Dun!
Quixote1818
(28,930 posts)UtahLib
(3,179 posts)Quixote1818
(28,930 posts)Glad you are keeping an eye over the world Robert!
UtahLib
(3,179 posts)villager
(26,001 posts)IDemo
(16,926 posts)Or am I thinking of the wrong movie?
BlueMan Votes
(903 posts)but I think that it's Afghanistan Banana Stand.
MADem
(135,425 posts)That's why they only catch the REAL jerks....
InsultComicDog
(1,209 posts)Zorra
(27,670 posts)for the candidates of their employers, like Rove, but they will go after the 'good guys' who protect the democratic interests of the people.
Anonymous only has the brains, heart, and will of thoughtful, committed citizens behind it.
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."
Margaret Mead
rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)Quixote1818
(28,930 posts)thinking of playing with the elections in the future. Anonymous is invaluable to society for this reason.
Great quote by the way!
ReRe
(10,597 posts)... has stuck in my mind all my life. And it is so true.
defacto7
(13,485 posts)as it is the ignorance and lack of purpose of intelligence agencies that make security an easy play. It is true that the Anonymous network have certain talents, specialties you might say, that allow them to make "adjustments" here and there that seem amazing to most. But the government as well as most major corporations have not taken the warnings of security and hardware vulnerabilities seriously enough to protect the citizens interests.
If the government won't do the job, someone else will. The losses could be catastrophic. Maybe there is a purpose in neglect, I don't know. But neglect and/or apathy is rampant whether purposeful of sheer arrogance.
Let us hope that while the inner workings of government and the military are sleeping, that the Anons remain on our side.
Both are subject to high level political influence. It depends on the integrity of who's leading them which way they lean. They pretend to project impartiality. Petreaus & his drones, human and otherwise, should give the lie to this fantasy.
HiPointDem
(20,729 posts)they seem to be on the surface.
most opposition groups are funded by someone. it wouldn't be the first time an apparent opposition group was funded a/o peopled by their supposed opposition.
not saying they are; just saying we shouldn't be too idealistic and romantic.
politics is a dirty business. which is why most normal people who just want to live ordinary lives stay away.
arely staircase
(12,482 posts)anyone who says they are anonymous on any given day?
HiPointDem
(20,729 posts)just saying we don't really know.
donco
(1,548 posts)is that pancake has two sides.
crazy homeless guy
(80 posts)their knowledge of how computer systems work not from donors and definetly, most definetly not anything from the CIA.
Think of anonymous as a rouge group of hackers who are out to level the playing field for against those who do bad or mislead others.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anonymous_(group)
Jackpine Radical
(45,274 posts)Who knew?
johan helge
(1,157 posts)Source here:
THE DEATH OF MICHAEL CONNELL
(Republican Dirty Tricks-boss) Karl Roves chief IT consultant, (the "Web wizard" Mike Connell (..) mysteriously died in a private plane crash in (December) 2008. The day after Connell was killed, the election protection organization VR wrote:
" A) person close to Mr. Connell has recently been discussing with a VR investigator how Mr. Connell can tell all about his work for George (W.) Bush. Mr. Connell told a close associate that he was afraid that (..) George (W.) Bush and (then Vice-President) Dick Cheney would 'throw ((him) under the bus (i.e. sacrifice him, probably because of his role in a case about election irregularities in the swing-state Ohio in 2004).' A tipster close to the McCain (2008) campaign disclosed to VR in July (2008) that Mr. Connells life was in jeopardy (..). VRs attorney (in the case about Ohio 2004), Cliff Arnebeck, notified (among others) the United States Attorney General (..) about these threats and insisted that Mr. Connell be placed in protective custody (as a witness)."
ELECTION FRAUD IN OHIO IN 2004?
"A lifelong Republican, (Stephen Spoonamore) is (..) one of the world's acknowledged experts on cybersecurity, with a resume that includes work for the U.S. armed forces and the FBI."
" I)n Ohio's 2004 presidential election (..) there was a sudden and unexpected shift in votes for George W. Bush. (..) Spoonamore concluded from the architectural maps of the Ohio 2004 election reporting system that, 'SmarTech (a firm controlled by Republicans) was a man in the middle'" "Spoonamore further testified that the only purpose for such man in the middle architecture is to commit crime." "A 'man in the middle' is a deliberate computer hacking setup, which allows a third party to sit in between computer transmissions and illegally alter the data." "'(T)here were three points on election night when SMARTech's computers took over from the secretary of state' says (the abovementioned VRs attorney) Arnebeck. 'It is during that period that we believe votes were manipulated.'"
" A)t an IT conference in London (approximately in late 2006), Spoonamore confronted the pro-life Connell about the Ohio election (in 2004): '(Connell) said, 'I'm afraid that in my zeal to save the babies (from abortion by getting Bush re-elected in 2004), the system I built may have been abused.'
Three days later, in the back of a cab (..), Spoonamore asked Connell if he would be willing to talk to a Congressional judiciary committee about what he knew. 'I actually took Mike's hand and said, 'If I can arrange for a private meeting for you to sit down with the committee and explain what you think may have happened in 2004 and how your systems may have been abused, will you do it?' And he said, 'Yes.'' Connell never did talk to the judiciary committee."
MORE ABOUT CONNELL'S DEATH
"In September 2009, an anonymous letter was sent to (among others) the FBI (..). 'Enclosed is a document that is not meant to exist,' begins the anonymous writer. Included is what purports to be an 'afteraction report' by a black ops agent. ('A black operation or black op is a covert operation by a government, a government agency, or a military organization.') All names have been redacted, but the report provides a detailed time log of actions taken to install an AMD (microprocessor) in (..) Connell's plane (..) the night before he made his fatal last flight. (..) (A) number of experts from the intelligence community who have seen the document believe it to be genuine."
"Former CIA operative John Perkins wrote about such (assassins) in his book, 'Confessions of an Economic HitMan', and says: It wouldn't surprise me a bit (if Connell was murdered). They've certainly assassinated a lot of people in this country. The Kennedys were assassinated. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. It's entirely possible that (liberal Senator) Paul Wellstone was assassinated. We've had a long, long history of assassinations.
Berlum
(7,044 posts)Coyotl
(15,262 posts)johan helge
(1,157 posts)I think he was, but what we think, is not so interesting, because we don't know. But what we do know, makes it very plausible that he was murdered. So why do you react as if it's implausible?
Coyotl
(15,262 posts)That alone makes it seem like the person saying it would happen is either guilty or involved. Otherwise, how would they know, right?
There is a cover-up going on, that much is obvious, or the BULLSHIT would not be this deep.
That's some serious "Clinton Death List" crap right there.
johan helge
(1,157 posts)I think he was, but what we think, is not so interesting, because we don't know. But what we do know, makes it very plausible that he was murdered. So why do you react as if it's implausible?
RomneyLies
(3,333 posts)It's tinfoil CT nonsense.
johan helge
(1,157 posts)But my question was, how can you be so sure?
RomneyLies
(3,333 posts)johan helge
(1,157 posts)Politics is very asymmetric. On the right, there is a lot more power and cynicism, than on the left.
RomneyLies
(3,333 posts)And shouting "false equivalence" every time it's pointed out how much like the wingnuts some on the left can be only serves to make the term meaningless.
roguevalley
(40,656 posts)nadinbrzezinski
(154,021 posts)And a computer connection and 600 dollars worth of gear...
Read some cyberpunk, it is no longer fiction. We used to call them net runners.
As to the FBI, DOD and CIA, they actually get penetrated regularly, why they hire white hats to fight the black hats.
No serious, anon does not need that much cash.
aandegoons
(473 posts)It may cause the Republicans to think that Anonymous tampered with the vote.
Man you would see some investigations and what not then.....
global1
(25,245 posts)with the election - but - it's too risky as they might implicate themselves in the process.
Like a game of chess - we're in check. Next time however, if Rove or anyone else for that matters tries to tamper with an election - it might be checkmate.
Coyotl
(15,262 posts)reusrename
(1,716 posts)Obviously someone/something prevented them from continuing on with the electronic vote flipping.
What do you think caused them to stop?
Coyotl
(15,262 posts)Obviously this has to be true since the aliens are not in command of the planet.
Obviously someone/something prevented them.
What do you think caused them to stop?
reusrename
(1,716 posts)You think it's all some kind of fucking joke?
People have faught and died for the right to vote and you think it's a fucking joke.
Can you say something more ignorant and offensive? Go ahead, try. I don't think you can.
Coyotl
(15,262 posts)Yes, I think it is funny when an obvious ruse is believed.
This has absolutely zero to do with dying for the right to vote.
No, you try to say something more ignorant and offensive? Go ahead, try.
reusrename
(1,716 posts)You might think you are being so clever, but scientific truth does not become an obvious ruse merely because a person is too stoopid to comprehend its meaning. That is not how logic or reason works.
You still have not identified any single flaw in logic, science, or mathematics. That's because none exist.
mrsadm
(1,198 posts)It doesn't take cash and power ... it takes a smart 14-year old in his bedroom.
Remember Steve Wozniak and the phone phreaks? They would break into the phone system. Skill and determination, and a boyish sense of fun and "getting away with it", are what it takes, not money nor power.
liberal N proud
(60,334 posts)HiPointDem
(20,729 posts)remember the details anymore but what i recall was that there was some involvement of cash and power in the mix.
and wozniak/jobs got the basic idea/information from an article in esquire. written by a guy who writes a lot about intelligence & other spooky stuff.
the information was in the air, so to speak:
In October 1971, phreaking was introduced to the masses when Esquire Magazine published a story called "Secrets of the Little Blue Box"[5][6][7] by Ron Rosenbaum. This article featured Engressia and John Draper prominently, synonymising their names with phreaking. The article also attracted the interest of other soon-to-be phreaks, such as Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs, who went on to found Apple Computer.[8]
1971 also saw the beginnings of YIPL (Youth International Party Line), a publication started by Abbie Hoffman and Al Bell to provide information to Yippies on how to "beat the man," mostly involving telephones. In 1973, Al Bell would move YIPL over and start TAP (Technological American Party[9]). TAP would develop into a major source for subversive technical information among phreaks and hackers all over the world. TAP ran from 1973 to 1984, with Al Bell handing over the magazine to "Tom Edison" in the late 70's. TAP ended publication in 1984 due mostly to a break-in and arson at Tom Edison's residence in 1983.[10] Cheshire Catalyst then took over running the magazine for its final (1984) year.
A controversially suppressed article "How to Build a 'Phone Phreaks' box" in Ramparts Magazine (June, 1972) touched off a firestorm of interest in phreaking. This article published simple schematic plans of a "black box" used to make free long distance phone calls, and included a very short parts list that could be used to construct one. Bell sued Ramparts which forced the magazine to pull all copies from shelves, but not before numerous copies were sold and many regular subscribers received them.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phone_phreak
RomneyLies
(3,333 posts)reusrename
(1,716 posts)They have a couple of members over there who really understand this stuff, and have actually verified and validated the results and conclusions of the technical papers, and they are being shouted down by a pack of clueless morans that have absolutely no understanding of what they are criticizing. It's exactly like freeperville without the racism.
treestar
(82,383 posts)Republicans prove over and over again they are undaunted. They keep it up no matter what.
randome
(34,845 posts)I think it's the most laughable situation in the world that so many people on DU think they 'know' who and what an anonymous organization is and wants.
It's beyond ludicrousness, actually.
Say it with me, everyone: we won the election because of who we are, not because some super-hero swooped in at the last moment and saved us.
Get real. We have real work to do for 2014.