What do you think is really going on? Let's get a little political here.

I assume you've all heard of the recent Vermont power grid "hacking" story. A few days ago a Vermont utility company found a russian virus on some guy's computer and (part of) the press extrapolated the fact, turning it into a so-called proof of a Russian conspiracy to hack the US power grid... That title was a fucking clickbait, and I just knew it. But not just your average buzzshit clickbait, a serious fucking one this time. When you read the article it became clear: pure bullshit. No evidence whatsoever, all that happened is that they found a regular virus on a random guy's computer, which happens a million times a day everywhere in the world. A few hours later they retracted, a lot of other sites and agencies stated that there was no such thing as a power grid hack attempt. Those media outlets jumped to conclusions to serve their own agenda, it seems.

Now regarding the "hacking" of the US election. Several US government agencies are claiming it's real. Are we being lied to? Are the FBI and homeland security and others all following orders of a higher instance or do they have actual evidence?
So far, they haven't shared much with the general public. Last week they released a document, which I read, but if you read it too you will find that it's absolutely empty of evidence. All it states is "we found some IP addresses in the logs" and "we found a bit of code that was used before". That amounts to nothing at all.

So why do they keep going on about this?
Do you think these agencies have insights they cant share with the public? could they have informants within the russian goverment? that's one of the few things I can think of that they would never be able to reveal. Or maybe it is just more political bullshit... but what's the point? Trump will take office soon and all this Russia crap isn't working. Apparently Trump has something to say on the subject that he will reveal on tuesday or wednesday. I wonder what that may be.

 

[Deleted member 333767]

Yep. And this is probably just the beginning of even more bullshit they'll be making up.

They are sore losers in every definition of the term. Just rollover and admit defeat guys! You had a good 8 year run. But the murican people have spoken!

 

[Prans]

nope if you aren't happy just dont read it. Or leave the site if you prefer.
because there will be more in the future.

I think it's refreshing to have such news sporadically to remind ourselves that we're living in a real world (unless we're part of a simulation, but that's another matter) and having the opinion of gamers on such matters can be insightful as well.

As for the topic under discussion, it just seems like people (and the general attention-seeking media) will just throw every conspiracy theory possible to shirk the election results, often contradicting themselves, as pointed out by other readers before. Also, countries have been influencing other countries' elections for like always but unsupported claims of hacking might be a new low (unless they have a really good reason not to provide one).

Disclaimer to prevent butthurt responses:
I added this meme only because it's funny, even if it might not be 100% relevant. No offense meant, or meant, whatever.​

 

[Shadowfied]

I think it's refreshing to have such news sporadically to remind ourselves that we're living in a real world (unless we're part of a simulation, but that's another matter) and having the opinion of gamers on such matters can be insightful as well.

I agree. And discussion is good. As long as GBATemp ASKS US to discuss it, I have no issue with it at all.

 

[Prans]

I agree. And discussion is good. As long as GBATemp ASKS US to discuss it, I have no issue with it at all.

Most posts are open for commenting/discussion and we encourage it, as long it is healthy!

 

[PRAGMA]

No offence, but ahh shouldnt this be Off-Topic and its really not "news" more of a discussion. I dont care, its your website just wondering.

 

[hobbledehoy899]

Ever since this whole thing of "russian hacker electoral '16" came out I know it was just another one of the DNC's propagation games against the thinking American people.

 

[Costello]

Ever since this whole thing of "russian hacker electoral '16" came out I know it was just another one of the DNC's propagation games against the thinking American people.

View attachment 73495​

that's downright hillarious

 

[Shadowfied]

Ever since this whole thing of "russian hacker electoral '16" came out I know it was just another one of the DNC's propagation games against the thinking American people.

View attachment 73495​

Let me guess, that first article is now removed?

 

[Costello]

I was also hoping for some technical insight here... does anyone with sufficient technical skills reckon there is any evidence supporting the russian hacking claims? because I sure couldn't find any, but I am not the best at this game. If anyone's got something please speak up

 

[hobbledehoy899]

that's downright hillarious

It shows how untrustworthy the "Democratic" Party (and the majority of the American left as a whole) really is.

 

[LittleFlame]

that's downright hillarious

Spoiler

 

[Aurora Wright]

Ever since this whole thing of "russian hacker electoral '16" came out I know it was just another one of the DNC's propagation games against the thinking American people.

View attachment 73495​

The first article talks about actual hacking of the results, which hasn't been claimed by the government as far as I know (in the OP a clickbaity news was mentioned, but that's not coming from the goverment). The second article refers to the manipulation of the public opinion, which is what the intelligence agencies claimed (that Russia supposedly paid hackers to hack into the DNC and send all the dirt for Wikileaks to release).
I believe the Wikileaks documents really did manipulate public perception (dirt on only one candidate was released, so obviously she came out as the most corrupted).
Whether it was done by the Russians, I can't know. There's no public evidence. I suppose intelligence agencies know better.

 

[Foxi4]

I was also hoping for some technical insight here... does anyone with sufficient technical skills reckon there is any evidence supporting the russian hacking claims? because I sure couldn't find any, but I am not the best at this game. If anyone's got something please speak up

Arstechnica published an article after the intelligence reports became public, breaking down exactly why they have no evidence with some security experts.

http://arstechnica.com/security/201...016-election-bitter-debate-likely-to-rage-on/

 

[Costello]

Arstechnica published an article after the intelligence reports became public, breaking down exactly why they have no evidence with some security experts.

http://arstechnica.com/security/201...016-election-bitter-debate-likely-to-rage-on/

I actually decided to start this thread after reading this article. If you read my post carefully you'll find that I inserted a link to the report they mentionned. As I said in my original post, there is literally nothing in that report.
So if anyone is aware of any other form of evidence may they speak up

 

[RustInPeace]

It seems like just making up an excuse, the electoral college chose Trump, twice, enough to say that he's our next president. It's not like he's the first person to lose the popular vote and win the electoral vote, and time removed from the sad result, it seemed like more of the disarray of the Democrats that this bozo won the presidency.

 

[hobbledehoy899]

I believe the Wikileaks documents really did manipulate public perception (dirt on only one candidate was released, so obviously she came out as the most corrupted.)

I guarantee you that if some major secretively-held dirt came out on Trump that it would have been used against him by everybody, including his supporters.

 

[Clydefrosch]

I think it's refreshing to have such news sporadically to remind ourselves that we're living in a real world (unless we're part of a simulation, but that's another matter) and having the opinion of gamers on such matters can be insightful as well.

As for the topic under discussion, it just seems like people (and the general attention-seeking media) will just throw every conspiracy theory possible to shirk the election results, often contradicting themselves, as pointed out by other readers before. Also, countries have been influencing other countries' elections for like always but unsupported claims of hacking might be a new low (unless they have a really good reason not to provide one).

View attachment 73494
Disclaimer to prevent butthurt responses:
I added this meme only because it's funny, even if it might not be 100% relevant. No offense meant, or meant, whatever.​

mind quoting a few of those contradictions so we can take them appart?

also, every country that ever suspected their elections and crap be influenced by american politics or hacks had THEIR media outlets lose their shit too.
of course fox and nbc don't make much of a deal out of this when it comes to foreign countries. the same way you hear about every plane crashing with us citizens, but not like the dozens of planes crashing each year with asian or middle eastern passengers.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

Ever since this whole thing of "russian hacker electoral '16" came out I know it was just another one of the DNC's propagation games against the thinking American people.

View attachment 73495​

two different journalists writing different articles? HOW CONTRADICTORY!

 

[FAST6191]

I have not read any analysis nor gone looking for any evidence yet, however this is a subject that fascinates me as it is a meeting of hacking, psychology and voting/artificial human systems that are basically games (in the game theory sense) for things. I don't mind doing things in real time if I have to but for personal interest I prefer to go when the dust has settled a bit more.

An article worth reading as it covers some things which actually happened in South America
https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2016-how-to-hack-an-election/
http://fusion.net/story/287086/this-is-the-scariest-sentence-you-will-ever-read-about-the-internet/

There are some more safeguards in the US that might make certain things there less effective but it is not like general computer security is much higher, individual organisations at high level might do better with the pac nonsense and general state/county led operations result in (volunteer operations on donated/borrowed equipment, overseen by those that maybe lack technical skills and so on) and the like certainly does not add up to impervious security.

Also videos for all based on things I have seen discussed
Electoral college, guy has a few other videos on the subject too



Some on electronic voting and general means of voter fraud


On "you lost" then OK so a two party system is a thing in the US but from what I have seen it has fractured parties somewhat. To that end I certainly do not envy the party whip (another member of the party that is responsible for making the individual party members toe the party line).

I would probably first have a look to see what Russia has to gain by doing this. Assuming it is mainly a presidential election one looks to see what power the president actually has. Americans seem to actually respect the office where outside it the president/prime minister/premier/chancellor/whatever is just some wanker that heads the government. Equally going by what I have seen in recent years it is an office with some power but hamstrung in a whole variety of interesting ways. If the US president was closer to dictator levels of control then I would be terrified but in this instance what basic physics or economics does not take care of will probably be sorted by

 

[Clydefrosch]

I was also hoping for some technical insight here... does anyone with sufficient technical skills reckon there is any evidence supporting the russian hacking claims? because I sure couldn't find any, but I am not the best at this game. If anyone's got something please speak up

jesus, do you think any of the cia-kiddies that come through this place have any business in tracking foreign hacking attempts on us information systems?

 

[XDel]

What does it matter what we believe. Regardless if it is true or not, it does not stop the herd from acting like a herd and doing crazy things.

Anyhoo. Why is this front page news on a gaming site?!