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The Guardian has a story detailing the firing of Christopher Krebs, who served as the director of the Department of Homeland Security's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (Cisa)
President Trump made the announcement on Twitter on Tuesday, saying Krebs "has been terminated" and that his recent statement defending the security of the election was "highly inaccurate".
CISA last week released a statement refuting claims of widespread voter fraud. "The November 3rd election was the most secure in American history," the statement read. "There is no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was in any way compromised."
Krebs, is a former Microsoft executive, and was appointed by President Trump after allegations of Russian interference with the 2016 election.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 19 2020, @03:40PM (25 children)
"There is ***no*** evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, ***changed votes***, or was in any way compromised."
Really? What about the glitches that were noted where a certain manufacturer's voting machine switched a not-insignificant number of votes from Trump to Biden and this had to be corrected? Not just once.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday November 19 2020, @03:46PM (6 children)
That depends. Did these glitches exist? Did this certain manufacturer exist?
(Score: 2) by zocalo on Thursday November 19 2020, @04:19PM (5 children)
Besides, lets use Occam's razor here. If the DEMs actually did stuff some ballots in some of the swing states, then why would some of those states collectively vote Biden for President but a GOP candidate for either Senate and/or Congressional races? If you're going to all that risk and trouble to steal an election, it would be a bit of an oversight NOT to ensure you had all three houses in the bag and as close to carte blanche as you can get for the next four years, no?
UNIX? They're not even circumcised! Savages!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 19 2020, @04:41PM
Where do you stop? Do you make it suddenly now there were folks who voted all republican on local politics/issues, but Biden/Democrat federally? That'd look even more suspicious. But if you start changing entire tickets then you're going to leave *huge* glaring statistical abnormalities. By contrast here they can try to claim there just a whole bunch of anti-Trump republicans which is 100% contradicted by polling, but it's a datum that's less optically absurd.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 19 2020, @04:52PM (1 child)
Have to understand historical election fraud in the US. It's very hard to prove election fraud in court.
But if you stuff ballots for every race you open yourself to more potential damaged parties and lawsuits. If you stuff ballots with one candidate only one candidate will have proper standing in the courts that will be taken seriously. It makes it harder to be challenged but is a red flag for something wrong.
Note that there are huge discrepancies in Biden only ballots in only a few states that are contested. There are no such discrepancies for Trump across the States that I am aware of.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 19 2020, @09:09PM
Yeah, well, no [washingtonpost.com].
When you move off of conservative media and into the courtroom where you have to put up or shut up, there's nothing there.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Friday November 20 2020, @05:14AM (1 child)
Perhaps because neither Trump or Biden has coattails, and Trump has performed so terribly that he lost a bunch of Republican voters this time around.
(Score: 2) by zocalo on Friday November 20 2020, @09:36AM
UNIX? They're not even circumcised! Savages!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 19 2020, @03:47PM
So, you're saying "the voting system" corrected itself, producing accurate results.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 19 2020, @03:47PM
You mean the glitches that didn't actually happen? Not even once?
(Score: 5, Touché) by meustrus on Thursday November 19 2020, @03:50PM (6 children)
Really? If you have proof that happened, you should give it to Trump. I'm serious. He really needs the help right now. He's got a hotline for it. His lawyers just can't seem to prove that even one vote was wrong or fraudulent.
Don't give him money though, he's a highly successful businessman, he really shouldn't need a GoFundMe for his legal expenses.
If there isn't at least one reference or primary source, it's not +1 Informative. Maybe the underused +1 Interesting?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 19 2020, @04:18PM (4 children)
You are a very poor reflection of how propagandized the American media machine has become. There have already been numerous 'irregularities' discovered with ongoing audits and investigation. By the mainstream media is currently colluding to avoid giving it any coverage, whatsoever. Most recently, in the audit that's ongoing in Georgia a 9,626 vote error was discovered by an election monitor. For some reason a basket of votes was labeled as 10,707 for Biden and 13 for Trump. Turns out it was 1081 for Biden and 13 for Trump. This egregious mistake had been signed off on by two election officials. This comes after multiple memory cards that were never scanned during the election were also discovered - all cards were net +Trump votes. A recurring theme is that every single 'mistake' seems to favor Biden.
Some search terms for the story for your DuckDuckGoing convenience: 'dekalb county 9626'
(Score: 2) by meustrus on Thursday November 19 2020, @07:17PM
Again, if you have proof, take it to someone that can do something with it. I'm just a lowly internet person. What do you want me to do, go out and start rioting and looting over the election?
It's not about the American media machine. It's about the courts. And according to Trump's own lawyers, there is not a single shred of evidence of anything you are talking about. They've been asked directly. They've given direct answers. Either Trump needs better lawyers - and I would think he'd know who are the best lawyers because he's probably seen all of them in court at some point - or it's not possible to prove his case.
I'm not interested in hearing about allegations of illegal behavior when I know that the issue is already being litigated, meaning that soon I'll have a better answer from the courts than I could expect out of any media organization. Or internet rando.
If there isn't at least one reference or primary source, it's not +1 Informative. Maybe the underused +1 Interesting?
(Score: 2) by sjames on Thursday November 19 2020, @07:32PM
And you know about it because it was caught and corrected. So after burning a couple million dollars trying to salve Trump's bruised ego, nothing changed. Note, the Secretary of State in Georgia is in charge of running the election and any audits of the process. He is a Republican, as is the Governor.
These kind of errors happen and get caught and corrected in every election. They happen any time we try to count millions of anything.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Thursday November 19 2020, @07:46PM
Numerous, but not enumerated or detailed. Reported by AC but not backed up by anybody standing in front of a judge. Hearsay, but not evidence.
Yawn.
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end
(Score: 1) by khallow on Friday November 20 2020, @03:23PM
And you are a very poor reflection of reasoning and evidence. Fix your reflection first.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 19 2020, @05:10PM
If you have proof, go to the Lt. Governor of Texas. I think he's still offering one million dollars/pesos. Still no takers.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by cmdrklarg on Thursday November 19 2020, @04:02PM (7 children)
The errors were found and corrected, yes?
Even so, the numbers from the glitches were not significant enough for Trump to win Michigan.
Answer now is don't give in; aim for a new tomorrow.
(Score: 0, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 19 2020, @04:12PM (6 children)
How many more "glitches" have not been uncovered? I would think a tech site would know that if you find one issue. Probably a fluke or user error. If you find the same problem recurring. You have a problem with the software.
Most secure as in blind trust and didn't look when issues keep coming up in GA recount that mirror Antrim county MI.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by The Mighty Buzzard on Thursday November 19 2020, @04:31PM (5 children)
I would think that a tech site would remember that until Trump ran we were all shouting how horribly flawed and completely unreliable electronic voting was. I mean, shit, it's not like it was a long time ago.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 3, Informative) by canopic jug on Thursday November 19 2020, @04:56PM (1 child)
... we were all shouting how horribly flawed and completely unreliable electronic voting was.
Yep. I still remember. I still shout. The fraud would be only in a subset of the states where the so-called voting and tabulating machines were used. I notice that a lot of the real election security experts have been terribly quiet for about a year though.
That asshole microsofter was just fired after having done his job (for M$ not the government) perfectly. That job was to cover for M$ by releasing some perfectly timed, extremely caged statements:
If he had been doing more than just covering for M$, he could have stated that the election was secure and that they have irrefutable evidence that the tallies are actually valid.
Money is not free speech. Elections should not be auctions.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 19 2020, @05:33PM
How do explain that they are about to do recounts? If there are no ballots?
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Thursday November 19 2020, @06:49PM (1 child)
See elsewhere in this topic where the few states that DON'T have paper trails are all states that voted for Trump.
I don't know of anyone who suddenly thinks that electronic (paperless) voting is a good idea. But it's funny that only red states use that. The states I would LEAST trust to run a fair election use paperless voting, oh my.
It's funny that with all the crying about the election being rigged, nobody can seem to come up with any actual evidence. In fact, quite the contrary. Even Republicans are saying how well run this election was. Republican judges throwing out Trump's baseless suits for lack of any actual evidence.
Would a Dyson sphere [soylentnews.org] actually work?
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 19 2020, @07:50PM
BUT THAT'S THE PROOF! The fact that those state went for Trump shows the fraud in paperless voting machines! No one in their right mind would vote for that dumbass, so THOSE are the areas you need to focus your attention on for fraud.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 19 2020, @08:33PM
Dumb fuck conservative-who-thinks-he-is-liberal accidentally argues that GOP is cheating. Fucking hilarious, thanks jackass!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 19 2020, @11:57PM
Citation please because I've heard lots of "oh we saw it happening!" and zero actual proof. Show me the tech demo where this happens.
For Diebold machines - you know, the ones which somehow only were used in states where Trump ended up winning? - we have lots of tech demos of vulns. Find them on youtube. It's a popular target at hacker cons.
For these claims of Trump's, there have been no demos presented. Why is that? Is that because it can't be reproduced? Almost as if the bug rep is spurious?
All of us who work in QA have got these calls before. "My file! Your software ate my file!" and it turns out the person is looking under the wrong path.
TL;DR: Steps to duplicate - as we have with the Diebold machines which gave states to Trump - or GTFO.
(Score: 1) by pTamok on Thursday November 19 2020, @07:13PM (7 children)
XKCD: Voting Software [xkcd.com]
Pencil & paper, counted manually by humans is best. I could be convinced certain types of pen and ink might be better than pencil.
Indubitably, fraud and mistakes occur. However, the issue is whether they are sufficient to change the result. As far as I can tell, for the Presidential election, that is not proven, and shows little prospect of being proven. As the Brexit campaigners say: You lost. Get over it.
The Republicans can take heart that there is another Presidential election in 4 years, unlike the Brexit referendum, and given the redistricting where the Republicans have an advantage, it will be difficult for the Democrats to prevail again. Spending that time assuring that voting software is taken out of the loop will remove possibilities of mistake and fraud. Providing more polling stations so that people are not pressured into mail-in voting will also help. There is a lot the Republicans can do to make the next election even more secure and suffer from fewer instances of fraud and mistakes.
Give up fighting lost battles.
(Score: 4, Touché) by DannyB on Thursday November 19 2020, @08:00PM (6 children)
Trump's claims of voter fraud could be proven if the silly Republican judges would quit requiring there to be actual evidence of fraud.
Would a Dyson sphere [soylentnews.org] actually work?
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday November 20 2020, @01:50AM (5 children)
You can have perfect accountability or you can have perfect anonymity, you can't have both. We require anonymity, so we have no way whatsoever for a person to check if their vote was properly counted. If nobody can do that, the count is no more trustworthy than the people doing the counting. And they're the people who came out and said "I'd really like to be in charge of making sure other people's votes get recorded properly". In a nation that's astoundingly polarized and has lost all capacity for supporting the rule of law or even plain old fairness when it conflicts with their worldview.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Friday November 20 2020, @09:54AM (3 children)
You want to be careful making such absolute blanket statements. Perfect accountability or perfect anonymity? You sure those are mutually exclusive?
One way hashes can provide both. You generate a cryptographic hash of your vote, and so do election workers. The personal info that connects you to your vote should already be hashed, before it is attached to the ballot. If your vote has been altered, the hash won't match. It's basically the same principles used in password authentication that allows system administrators to manage the system and the system to verify (or reject) a login, all without exposing the users' passwords.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Sunday November 22 2020, @01:40AM (2 children)
The key space is too small for hashes to be worth anything. You have less than 350 million possible values. It's the same reason we don't bother upgrading the hashing algorithm for IPv4 addresses here. A GPU could get you the hash for any person in the US in under a second.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Sunday November 22 2020, @04:09AM (1 child)
> The key space is too small
That's what salt is for.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Sunday November 22 2020, @03:01PM
Wouldn't help. Not even if every voter had their own salt. You don't need to build a rainbow table. If you have the salt you can compute all possible values of salt+value quicker than you can blink with that small a keyspace.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Friday November 20 2020, @02:50PM
I accept the idea that there could be pockets of corruption and fraud here and there. But not on a massive scale. Like faking the moon landings. And be able to keep it a secret. And have no actual evidence (so far). Speculation is fine. But there needs to be some proof before we overturn the election on the conjecture that there might be a few corrupt vote counters somewhere.
I would repeat that statement. Because it works both ways. Trust no one. That's why we have poll watchers at every voting place. And where votes are counted. The only complaint I've heard so far is that a few watchers somewhere were not located such that they could read the ballots as they were counted. Which is NOT their purpose.
I would rewind to four years ago. I was highly disappointed with the outcome. I naturally had suspicions that something crooked might have happened. But when plenty of people on both sides said everything was in order, I was able to accept the disappointing outcome. I didn't have to like the result. But I accepted it as reality. I didn't conjure up conspiracy theories.
Would a Dyson sphere [soylentnews.org] actually work?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 19 2020, @08:47PM (3 children)
https://www.infowars.com/posts/dominion-servers-seized-in-germany-findings-will-shake-the-globalists-to-their-core/ [infowars.com]
https://www.infowars.com/posts/releasing-the-kraken-trump-lawyers-go-scorched-earth-in-press-conference-outlining-path-to-victory/ [infowars.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 19 2020, @09:52PM
Of course it's stolen! I voted 50 times for Trump and he still lost!! MAGAAA!!!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 19 2020, @09:57PM (1 child)
Please stop linking these useless, pill-pushing faggots from alternate-reality? Thanks
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 20 2020, @12:44AM
Faggots, no matter which definition you choose, are a million times more respectable than Alex Jones' cum rag of a news site.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 19 2020, @09:17PM
He's standing on 5th Avenue and shooting the messenger.
(Score: 2) by jb on Friday November 20 2020, @03:52AM
Pretty simple really. Anybody gullible enough to trust a Microsoft executive (even a "former" one) in the first place clearly deserves to lose the election, regardless of whether anybody actually tampered with it or not.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 20 2020, @02:54PM
I'm no Trump supporter but that claim smells like bullshit. I'd like to see evidence it was the most secure in American history.
What next? Is Krebs going to claim Windows 10 is the most secure OS in computing history? ;)