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Approximately 35 Million voter registration records from 20 states have appeared for sale online. These records include Full Name, Phone, Address, Voting History and 'other' data. There have been other larger leaks and breaches of voter registration records in the past (for example, in 2015 191 Million were found to be freely accessible online)
Details including the affected states are available here: https://www.anomali.com/blog/estimated-35-million-voter-records-for-sale-on-popular-hacking-forum
Why is our voting history retained beyond the current election? This is especially worrisome if you vote in the wrong primaries in an area that has a prevailing opinion that differs sharply from your own.
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35 Million Voter Records For Sale on Popular Hacking Forum
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(Score: 2, Redundant) by Unixnut on Wednesday October 17 2018, @09:12AM (22 children)
I don't know about this. I don't live in the USA, but based on the news reports I have seen coming out, there are a sizable minority of extremists that will go out and harass people. To those accosted at restaurants, to those attacked for wearing a hat, to those who block roads and those who attack people verbally (via social media or in person), etc...
It seems to me the US is heavily polarised, to the point that extremists on both sides now openly profess that there needs to be another civil war to get rid of the "evil side" that is getting in the way of building their utopia. In such a social environment, I sure don't want anyone knowing which way I voted. You only need one maniac from the "other side" to find you for you to have problems.
And this excludes the more subtle things, from people being denied promotion due to their political views, to possibly being fired because of them, people being silenced, to even being made a social outcast in your neighbourhood.
And the thing is, even if there is no discrimination intended, people can feel discriminated against. Imagine you find your voting record on this leaked data, then a couple of months later you lose your job, or are passed up for promotion. Was it just a co-incidence, or did your bosses see how you voted? How can you be sure they didn't see the data? It can really make things messy.
Personally, I am shocked they actually keep "voting history" at all. I would have expected that once the votes were counted, all individual vote information would be destroyed. After the election all you need to know is the number of people per voting area that voted a particular way, not what the individual voted.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 17 2018, @09:38AM (8 children)
Where did you get this impression? From forum/comment trolls and the news?
(Score: 2) by Unixnut on Wednesday October 17 2018, @10:03AM (1 child)
> Where did you get this impression? From forum/comment trolls and the news?
Pretty much. From social media / twitter and random news websites. I have also talked to a lot of Americans who come here (many with plans to permanently leave the US), so they might be painting a biased picture. Not actually living in the US, I can't say I have first hand data. Either you have a big problem with trolling, or you have a problem with extremists. Fact is, even if 95% of people are cordial and polite to one another regardless of political affiliation, the 5% can be a thorn in the side.
Also, I know that you don't need the majority to be violent or extremists. Only a hardcore minority can cause serious problems, and start a cycle of violence that ends up nasty.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 17 2018, @11:11AM
Id doubt its even 5%. Maybe 0.5%. Look up the q thing, the news would have you think its violet white supremacists when really its primarily a bunch grandmas and grandpas whom are fed up with the DNC/RNC scams and just really hope the ringleaders get arrested. On the other side what the news shows is mostly just "vulnerable" (poor, etc) people being paid by george soros to protest.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Wednesday October 17 2018, @11:10AM (5 children)
When Gibson lead a rally in Portland a while back, the Antifa showed up all wearing black clothes and black helmets. Rifle-armed Patriot Prayer members climbed up on the roofs of neighboring buildings, however they didn't fire any shots.
The Portland Police Bureau fired a flash-bang grenade directly at an Antifa member which embedded itself in his helmet and sent him to the hospital with a serious head injury. Had he not been wearing that helmet without a doubt that grenade would have killed him.
Whenever the right and the left protest and counterprotest the police confiscate lots of stuff like brass knuckles and knives.
Republican Senator Rand Paul has been voicing concern that the widespread polarization in the US could lead to political assassinations. I share the same concerns.
Now I ask you to contemplate a truly terrifying thought:
President Trump's effectiveness is somewhat limited because he makes plain that he's an idiot.
What would happen to America would someone intelligent win election but who was otherwise just like Trump?
Fascism is on the rise all over the world, it's not just in the US.
What will happen in either 2020 or 2024 if Trump refuses to step down from office? The US military is sword to "uphold the Constitution" - but Trump is their Commander-In-Chief.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Unixnut on Wednesday October 17 2018, @11:42PM (3 children)
> When Gibson lead a rally in Portland a while back, the Antifa showed up all wearing black clothes and black helmets. Rifle-armed Patriot Prayer members climbed up on the roofs of neighboring buildings, however they didn't fire any shots.
Wow, that is quite a tense situation. Imagine if you will, that there was a third party on a roof nearby, someone not on either side, perhaps a paid agitator with a rifle. They could start firing on the Antifa members, and the Patriot Prayer members would be blamed. That would kick off one hell of shitstorm. If the courts placed the blame on the Patriot Prayer group, with no evidence any of the members in particular were the culprits, the right side would be incensed, "opression without evidence, they are trying to silence us!" they would yell. If the courts did not place the blame on the group, the left would be incensed, "They are killing us in the streets" they would yell. You would be screwed no matter what you did, and then the situation on the streets could get very explosive.
> Republican Senator Rand Paul has been voicing concern that the widespread polarization in the US could lead to political assassinations. I share the same concerns.
Sounds like you two are wise to the dangerous way things are unfolding. It is a shame most others seem to be sleepwalking into it
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 17 2018, @11:50PM (1 child)
This is called a false flag, most people are well aware of them by now... sorry but you are responding to a troll.
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Thursday October 18 2018, @04:22AM
Both Judge Kavanaugh and Dr. Ford were getting death threats.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 2) by legont on Thursday October 18 2018, @12:39AM
The most effective would be to fire at the police preferably from/through the crowd. I bet it will happen soon.
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 18 2018, @07:13AM
Back when Hawaii was an independent country, sort of, they had a name for this: a "Bayonet Constitution". The US military did not use force to impose a constitution, it practiced national self-defense against bloody poms to allow a constitution to be adopted. Get the difference? So now we reallly need to arrest the siwash son of a bitch that leads the "Prayer Whatthefuckevers" and force him to realize the futility of trying to bring about political change through the use of force and Large Samoans. Most of whom are Mormon, by the way! Named "Ammon"! No shit! Look it up! Fascists, who just recently apologized for being racist all these years: Mormon Newsroom [facebook.com]
(Score: 2, Insightful) by shrewdsheep on Wednesday October 17 2018, @09:40AM (5 children)
The statement about "voting history" is most likely false. Probably they mean "registration" history (not from the US either).
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 17 2018, @02:20PM
At least here, it is a flag: 0 not registered, 1 registered, 2 registered and voted. It doesn't show whom you voted for, but it can show how old you are, when you moved to the area, and how politically interested you are. But your date of birth and party affiliation is already included elsewhere in the record.
(Score: 3, Informative) by requerdanos on Wednesday October 17 2018, @08:00PM (3 children)
The voter's "History" indicates whether the voter voted in a given election. In the U.S. voter registration records, which include demographic information, disclosed party affiliation if any, and, yes, "voting history", are public records. You can order them on magnetic or optical media as well as on paper, and search them online.
For example, here's my state's online search form: https://vt.ncsbe.gov/RegLkup/ [ncsbe.gov]
If you don't know someone in North Carolina to look up, you could search for Governor Roy A. Cooper, born in 1957.
There's a section in the results for "Voter History" (31 results for Gov. Cooper) that is what's being oohed and aahed over--for elections the person voted in, you can see HOW THEY VOTED!!!11!! (absentee or in-person), what county they voted in, even what "party" whatever that means.
If you want to download, not just search, the state board of elections has you covered: https://dl.ncsbe.gov/index.html?prefix=data/ [ncsbe.gov]
If someone puts all this on a "hacking forum", that makes them a salesman, not a hacker.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Fluffeh on Wednesday October 17 2018, @09:04PM (2 children)
*picks jaw up off the ground*
Wow. And people have no problem with this sort of information being online for ANYONE to comb through?
(Score: 2) by requerdanos on Wednesday October 17 2018, @11:50PM
I have mixed feelings about it. The salient point here is that some hacker or hacker forum didn't suddenly make available something that's been available all along.
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Thursday October 18 2018, @04:29AM
... for those who are concerned about stalkers, one has to visit a certain web page.
But by default one's registration info is all public record.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 2) by NotSanguine on Wednesday October 17 2018, @05:01PM (2 children)
Where I live, they do not ever have such information.
I sign in and am given a ballot. That ballot is then filled out and scanned. There is no id number or other identifying information on the ballot.
The only thing anyone could tell from voter info about me is party affiliation. And the only reason I even have one of those is because 80% of voters in my area are of that party. As such, for most offices, winning the party's primary is often tantamount to winning in the general election.
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
(Score: 2) by requerdanos on Wednesday October 17 2018, @08:01PM (1 child)
No. From voter info, your voting history (list of which elections you voted in) is also available.
(Score: 2) by NotSanguine on Wednesday October 17 2018, @09:30PM
You are, of course, quite correct. My apologies. I thought that was implied. But apparently not.
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Wednesday October 17 2018, @05:45PM (3 children)
It seems to me the US is heavily polarised, to the point that extremists on both sides now openly profess that there needs to be another civil war to get rid of the "evil side" that is getting in the way of building their utopia.
No, that's a false equivalency.
The right is the only side talking about a civil war.
The right is the only side that committed 60% or terrorist attacks in the US in 2017. [go.com]
The right is the only side that murdered Heather Heyer for excersizing her free speech.
The left did take that guy's hat, though.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 17 2018, @07:34PM (1 child)
I see the left is taking the high road at limiting themselves to 40% of terrorist attacks.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 17 2018, @11:54PM
Is 40% statistically significantly less than 60%? How many attacks are included in this count, we can use the poisson distribution to determine the importance of this info.
(Score: 2) by Unixnut on Wednesday October 17 2018, @11:16PM
> No, that's a false equivalency.
How so? I have seen posts from both sides saying as such. Maybe they are trolls, maybe not, but the very fact it is being openly discussed by both sides as a solution should concern you.
> The right is the only side that committed 60% or terrorist attacks in the US in 2017. [go.com]
so who committed the other 40%? Also it seems that the entire report was made by one group, which makes it a bit suspect to me. I Would prefer multiple sources.
However, the fact that there is some percentage of domestic terrorism proves my point, no? Even if only one side has started taking action from their threats, eventually the other side will have to respond. I already heard about Antifa, and the clashes they have against the others, I know how it went from protests, to fistfights, to fighting with with batons and other melee weapons. From my perspective, I already see a cycle of violence, with escalation, even if still simmering under the surface.
Currently things are relatively quiet because most people are too busy trying to survive in the economy. However if that falters, and things start going south, more and more people may turn to extremism on both sides of the divide. Especially if they blame "the other side" for stalling their attempts at reform.