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U.S. Offers Reward of $10M for Info Leading to Discovery of Election Meddling:
The U.S. government is concerned about foreign interference in the 2020 election, so much so that it will offer a reward of up to $10 million for anyone providing information that could lead to tracking down potential cybercriminals aiming to sabotage the November vote.
The U.S. Department of State’s Rewards for Justice (RFJ) program, overseen by the Diplomatic Security Service, will pay for info that can identify or locate someone workingwith[sic] or for a foreign government “for the purpose of interfering with U.S. elections through certain illegal cyber activities,” according to a release posted on the department’s website.
The reward covers anyone seeking to interfere with an election at the federal, state or local level by violating or even aiding the violation of a U.S. law against computer fraud and abuse, according to the department.
“The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, 18 U.S.C. § 1030, criminalizes unauthorized computer intrusions and other forms of fraud related to computers,” according to the release. “Among other offenses, the statute prohibits unauthorized accessing of computers to obtain information and transmit it to unauthorized recipients.”
The department is encouraging anyone with information on foreign interference in U.S. elections to contact them via their website or contact a U.S. Regional Security Officer at the nearest U.S. embassy or consulate.
[...] [Voting machine-maker Election Systems & Software ] ES&S said that its formally released policy applies to all digital assets owned and operated by ES&S – including corporate IT networks and public-facing websites.
No word on rewards for non-foreign interference.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Phoenix666 on Friday August 07 2020, @02:30PM (2 children)
Black Box Voting [blackboxvoting.org] has been tackling this issue for 20 years. They initially focused on electronic voting machines that are easily hackable and which have no audit trail. Now they cover the issue more broadly.
It is not a new problem, though. Republicans famously questioned Kennedy's election, saying dead voters in Chicago had somehow risen from the grave to cast their ballots for him. Further back, Democrats used all kinds of tricks like literacy tests to turn away black voters in the South.
What has changed is how systemic and instantaneous the cheating can now be. It's pretty certain that behind the scenes, in dark rooms somewhere, there is an arms race to see which side can cheat better and make the outcome stick.
It presents an existential threat to democracy, because if nobody accepts the outcome of an election, then nobody can rule. That leads to civil war, cold or hot.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by Reziac on Saturday August 08 2020, @02:48AM
“As long as I count the Votes, what are you going to do about it?”
-- attributed to William M. “Boss” Tweed in Thomas Nast cartoon, 7 October 1871
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 08 2020, @08:12PM
Oh look, another partisan post from the "ex democrat" lol what a tool.