Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by simonsarris 65 days ago
Presumably, those have influenced elections, though I guess it depends what you count as an attack.

Plenty of bots try to modify public opinion. Someone hacked the DNC in 2015/16, the result of which also alleged attempted manipulation in 2008:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_National_Committee_...

Since we (as old Rummy said) do not know what we do not know, we cannot be certain about the extent of cyber attacks and what they might have influenced, and may not know these things until discoveries decades later, if ever.

3 comments

Note the RNC was also hacked but the data was not leaked. Presumably used to influence the election and policies in other ways.
I believe the popular sentiment is that when they hacked the DNC they found a handful of things that would provide bad optics for the party. But the RNC? They found so much evidence of criminality that near to the entire party flipped positions on issues related to Russia. So we have 2x successful hacks, one of which yielded some bad press for the Dems, and yielded an entirely compromised party in the Repubs who now are being actively blackmailed.
All of that applies equally to PRISM and any internal propaganda campaigns that was feeding into, no?
Yes... they might have influenced elections and now, as a result, the world must cope with the Trump regime.

Let's now fool ourselves.... Trump is probably the best, most successful attempt at world de-stabilisation all those rogue states ever achieved.

Maybe Americans should take responsibility for electing a maniac as their President. In the end, the buck stops with Americans.
~1/3rd of US citizens voted for him. Don’t lump us all in.
Some of you are just guilty of negligence yes.
Or maybe it's that our archaic system was designed so that some people's votes literally matter more than others, and more than half the country does not have a meaningful voice in our Federal elections.
The number of people who can vote, but don't, is staggering.
This is negligence with extra steps.

> more than half the country does not have a meaningful voice in our Federal elections

There is almost certainly an election on your ballot every time that is meaningful. Relinquishing that civic duty is how we get Trump. People to lazy, stupid or proud to vote absolutely bear responsibility for this mess.

I vote in local, state, and federal elections. I have volunteered with multiple campaigns and causes, and given substantial time/labor to the EFF. I have been harassed by Trump supporters while filming protests and other civic action. Please do not presume to know me.

I get you’re angry but you’re swinging at the wrong person.

It wasn’t personal.
Good. But the parent was blaming Trump on disinformation propaganda, and it is important to point out that the remaining 1/3-rd of the country is not some kind of idiot army that replaced their brains with FB propaganda. They voted for this actively.

Also, in a democracy you don't get to disavow 1/3rd of the population that didn't vote with you.

2/3rd’s* that didn’t vote with you.
Clearly you do, since Donald Trump has been aggressively doing this for his whole political career. I agree that it's a morally problematic thing to do, and it can be bad tactically depending on the situation. Practically, it does happen without consequences.
Not if the election was stolen. There was a smattering of evidence after the election but the speed with which is disappeared was truly something to behold.