Hackers target fact-checking site after Clinton endorses it

[riversedge]

Source: cnet.com





Verrit was hacked almost immediately after Hillary Clinton tweeted about it.

4 September 2017 9:31 pm AEST
@rich_trenholm


Hillary Rodham Clinton invited followers to try fact-checking site Verrit.
Monica Schipper
...............................
A political fact-checking site has been hacked almost immediately after it was endorsed by Hillary Clinton.

Clinton invited followers to sign up to Verrit on Sunday, but within an hour of her tweet a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack prevented the site from loading. It's now up and running again..................................


The site is aimed at "the 65.8 million", a reference to the higher number of US voters who picked Clinton in last year's Presidential Election over the eventual winner Donald Trump...................................

Read more: https://www.cnet.com/au/news/hillary-clinton-verrit-backs-fact-check-site-targeted-by-hackers-donald-trump-fake-news/

---

Good on Hillary. She said long ago she is part of the resistance. This is one way to be productive and resist.

Link to tweet

https://verrit.com/sixty-five-point-eight-million/

Link to tweet

[dalton99a]

1. Kick.

[GatoGordo]

2. Does the fact that it is endorsed by Clinton

and political partisans make it seem that such a site isn't neutral?

Allow me for a moment to be the Devil's Advocate, but if Ted Cruz offered up his support for a "fact check" website, I wouldn't give it a second thought about being "neutral".

[Laurian]

3. It can promote accuracy and serve to counter the rampant untruths

that swamp social media. I think that's important whether it's viewed as partisan or not. There's noting wrong with making the views of our side more visible.

[TheBlackAdder]

4. If Clinton endorsed FOX News, half of the rubes would jump ship to somewhere else.

She should say something like, "I often watch Fox & Friends too! So, take comfort when watching it, that I am sharing the experience with the rest of you."

[lostnfound]

6. That is a great idea. Nt

[SharonClark]

9. Love it!

I wonder if that would work with some of the Trumpettes at work who keep changing the break room tv to Faux.

[GoCubsGo]

10. It mighty be a great way to track down hackers in real time, too.

Assuming that's possible. Get Hillary to endorse a site, and then sit back and wait for them...

[TheBlackAdder]

12. The same thought crossed my mind earler too. The ones doing it might have already exposed themselves

[m-lekktor]

7. Only people who like Hillary Clinton will take it seriously now that she has endorsed it. nt

[mcar]

5. Cowards

[muriel_volestrangler]

8. Calling it a fact-checking site is pushing definitions beyond reasonable boundaries

It's an opinion site. Maybe one day it will be a fact-checking site, but putting "Verrit.com authentication code" on each article does not turn it into a fact-checking site.

I can't actually see a claim on the site itself that it's about "fact-checking". Maybe cnet has just misunderstood? Or there was some silly bit of PR marketing?

[csziggy]

11. Verrit does NOT claim to be a "fact checking site"

It does claim to provide verified sources of information:

ABOUT

Verrit collects and contextualizes noteworthy facts, stats, and quotes for politically engaged citizens. Each “verrit” is a verified item of information marked with a 7-digit identification code. To authenticate a verrit, enter the code in the search bar and match it to our database.

Note: External links and site comments do not necessarily reflect Verrit’s views.

https://verrit.com/

To find the information I posted, click on the small circled "i" at the top right of their front page.

This is in opposition to the Fox News and Sinclair "alternative fact" stories.

I just accessed their site for the first time and what I see are tidy little memes with linkage to the sources from which they were taken. Given the prevalence of Twitter and Facebook and the reluctance of many to read more than a sentence or two, this is a good way for the left to easily spread their ideas.

[Hortensis]

13. Yes, but I'm very excited about it. We need this, and the site will develop.

Study: Mainstream Media Acted as Trump’s Mouthpiece, Clinton’s Foe

A study from Harvard’s Berkman Klein Center provides overwhelming evidence that the mainstream media were instrumental in electing Donald Trump. The key takeaway: “Donald Trump succeeded in shaping the election agenda. Coverage of Trump overwhelmingly outperformed coverage of Clinton. Clinton’s coverage was focused on scandals, while Trump’s coverage focused on his core issues.”
The chart below illustrates the staggeringly disproportionate focus on Hillary Clinton’s emails.