To this day, some say hackers caused Donald Trump to win the brutal election of 2016. But in France, another brutal presidential election plays out. Also, some believe hackers are playing a role. The French election: Are hackers targeting?
Tomorrow is France’s Election Day. The presidential race is between politically moderate?Emmanuel Macron and conservative, and often controversial, Marie LePen. But yesterday, Marcon’s people said hackers dumped a massive computer hack on him. So here is their story. Somebody posted 9GB of data to website?EMLEAKS to Pastebin. That’s a secret document sharing website. The timing is funny. Because it’s just 36 hours before the election. However, polls show Marcon leading LePen.
So far, we don’t know who did the hacking. In fact, we don’t even know if a hacking took place. But if it did, it violates France’s rules regarding influencing an election. French leaders are staying far away from this one. But an election committee will investigate Marcon’s claims. Also, this non-partisan committee told French media not to publish the details. If they did, they could face criminal charges. Like I said, we don’t know where these potential hacks came from. But as usual, Russia gets the blame.
So what? What does an election in France have to do with computer repair? Maybe nothing. But these potential election hacks should concern us. It doesn’t matter if we work in IT support or on a farm or in a classroom, politics affect us all. Elections affect us all. And if hackers from other countries, particularly ones that don’t like us, can sway an election, that’s not good. France is already on edge. In fact, this election is so intense riots are already flaring up. And voting day isn’t until Sunday, May 7. The French election could have been hacked. Is this any good for democracy?
Today is a great day for privacy rights advocates. That’s because the NSA halted, at least for now, a practice many hate. The NSA change: a step towards the right direction.
So starting April 28, 2017, the NSA will no longer collect certain emails and texts. Such email and texts are with people overseas that include information. For example, you have a friend or college in China. You email and text them, and then you include a phone number or email address. The NSA will no longer collect or scrutinize that kind of email. This practice started with the Patriot Act of 2001. But for years, privacy rights and Fourth Amendment advocates screamed this was unlawful.
However, the Constitution isn’t responsible for this NSA change. We can thank the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. What the NSA did violated their rules. So since this kind of NSA spying reached overseas, the foreign courts takes ruling over anything the NSA did. So yes, they practiced this kind of spying since the early 2000s. But much of it didn’t come to light until 2013. That year, former NSA contractor Edward Snowden exposed many of his former employer’s tactics. Mr. Snowden’s expose let to outrage and advocacy. Edward Snowden praised this NSA change. In a tweet, he said, “The truth changed everything”.
So yes, it seems that way. This NSA change is definitely a step in the right direction. But what grieves me is that it took an international law to change this. But thankfully, it’s changing. For years, political leaders, IT service leaders, and advocates have held the NSA’s feet to the fire. Now, it looks like global leaders are, too. And it’s working. But this is the beginning. Only the beginning. We should continue to educate the public about illegal and immoral spying. Knowledge is power, and power leads to change. What other changes need to be made?
It’s the worst kind of press anybody in any IT support industry can have. Whether it’s computer repair, or smart fitness wear, no company wants to hear their product or service hurt them. But that’s what happened to smart fitness tracking company Fitbit. It is a Fitbit burn: Woman says Fitbit burned her.
Dina Mitchell, from greater Milwaukee, Wisconsin, claimed her Fitbit Flex 2 tracker gave her a second degree burn. She also says the device caught fire while she wore it on her arm. She wasn’t even working out at the time. Dina Mitchell was reading a book when suddenly, the tracker caught fire. Then, she ripped the burning tracker from her arm.
But it didn’t stop there. It still burned as she threw it on the floor. Mitchell suffered a second degree burn on her arm. I saw the picture of the burn. It’s nothing pretty. In fact, the doctor had to pick parts of her Fitbit Flex 2 out of her arm. But what did Fitbit say or do? So far, Fitbit told media outlets they are investigating. Fitbit expresses the seriousness of Ms. Mitchell’s well being and vows it’s commitment to safety. However, they make clear this is the only incident involving any Fitbit product.
For any tech company to have any kind of bad press is bad enough. But to it to be nationwide, this could be a business killer, or a business destroyer. Remember what almost happened to Samsung last year. But this Fitbit burn is the only one that we know about. I’m sure Fibit users and Fitbit employees hope it stays that way. So do I. I do hope this is just one incident. But there’s still a lot we don’t know. What caused the Fitbit burn in the first place? What was the malfunction? And here is the biggest question of all: What can be done to prevent it?
Russia is a hacking powerhouse. We should all know that by now. Look at the controversy that followed the 2016 US election. Furthermore, Russian agents hacked Yahoo. But what does the current administration do? Anti-hacking deadline: Trump misses it.
So let’s go back to January 2017. President Trump promised to fight Russian hacking, and other forms of hacking as well. He also promised to put a team together to fight this hacking threat. That was 90 days ago. And we still don’t have an anti-hacking team. But in the last three months, contact still continues between US and Russian officials. However, some of the testimony, on both sides, is so confusing it stalls the process.
On January 31, President Trump had a meeting about this. Former NYC major Rudy Gulliani attended. In that meeting, President Trump said, “We must protect federal networks and data”. Some reports say he was supposed to sign an executive order about it. But somehow, it didn’t happen. This led to a lot of confusion. Just who is responsible for fighting anti-hacking? Is it the NSC (National Security Council)? Is it Homeland Security? There also seems to be a lot of confusion between the private sector and Washington. But nobody expects the White House to answer about this anti-hacking deadline.
But Russian hacking is a problem. Everyone in IT support knows it. And most Americans know it. Say what you will about the elections. But this issue gets scarier and scarier by the day. It’s bad enough they hacked over 350 million Yahoo emails. Also keep in mind these were Russian agents! Imagine what these hackers can do to our military and government secrets. So I really don’t care about deadlines. But this administration needs to do all it can to fight hacking. This is especially true when it comes to foreign hacking. Because China has also been accused of hacking the US. Don’t forget. Why do you think they missed the anti-hacking deadline?
Before I begin today’s story, I want to make one thing clear. I love Facebook. It allowed me to connect with people I haven’t in years. Also, a lot of people use Facebook for good. But some use it to glorify their evil acts. There was a murder on Facebook Live: When people stream evil.
So in Cleveland yesterday, one guy recorded his own murder on Facebook Live. His name is Steve Stephens, age 37. On Easter Sunday 2017, he asked a 74 year old man to say a name. Then, he shot 74-year-old Robert Goodwin in the head, killing him instantly. Not only did Steve Stevens stream the murder, he went even further.
He made several Facebook Live videos. He claimed to have killed 15 people that day. Then, he called it his own, personal ‘Easter Day slaughter’. Before this particular shooting, he bragged about killing 13 people. He said he was looking for number 14. Stevens targeted Robert Goodwin at random. He also told police he left 15 bodies in a warehouse. But Cleveland police can only confirm one murder: Mr. Robert Goodwin’s. Facebook took Stephens’ videos within hours afterwards. In a statement, a Facebook rep said, “This is a horrific crime and we do not allow this kind of content on Facebook.”
But the damage is already out there. I was on my Facebook page last night, and I saw the videos with my own eyes. I didn’t dare click on the video, but just the still frame alone told this horrible, tragic crime. My Facebook friends talked about it. One threatened to unfriend anybody who put these videos on his page. However, Facebook made the right call in removing such horror. I believe in free speech as much as any American. But with freedom comes responsibility. No free society can allow sociopaths like Steve Stephens to post and brag about murder on Facebook Live. Yes, people use IT service for wonderful work. But unfortunately, evil is always lurking.
I regret to inform you that as of this writing, Steve Stephens is still at large. If you’re in the greater Cleveland area, and if you know anything about his whereabouts, please do the right thing. Please contact your local police. We need to get this psychopath off the streets! What do you think of Facebook’s decision to pull Steve Stephens’ videos?
As you know, Congress helped kill online privacy. So this means ISP’s (Internet service providers) can share their customer’s history with whoever and whenever. But one Congressman blew everyone away. This Wisconsin representative says we don’t need Internet.
The Wisconsin Representative’s name is Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.). So there was a town meeting. The ISP issue comes up. One man argued ISP companies should be face stricter rules protecting privacy. But nobody will forget the Congressman’s reply. He stated, “Nobody’s got to use the Internet.” Then, he went on to praise ISP’s for their universal service. He also seems to believe selling and trading our information makes it easier for advertisers.
But Rep. Sesenbrenner didn’t stop. On Twitter, ?his office tweeted, “He said nobody had to use the Internet. They had a choice.” But what about ISP’s tracking and using and even abusing their your data? He was quiet about that one. But at least we had some protection before this. ?They couldn’t exactly run wild with our data. The ISPs need some consent before trading our information like stocks on the NYSE. But earlier this year, President Donald Trump signed a bill that repealed this law. So here is the real surprise. This repeal had the backing of Democrats and Republicans.
But I’m still stuck in this, “Nobody’s got to use the Internet” comment. I would like to see this Wisconsin Representative go 30 days without using the Internet. Let’s see how fast Rep. Sensenbrenner changes his tune. In our Boston computer service shop, and in every IT service company in the world, we know how critical the Internet is. In the 1990s, it might have been a luxury. But now, it’s a necessity for survival. Can you imagine if an EMP took out the Internet and other technology? It would be like something out of an apocalypse movie. Do you think you can go without the Internet for 30 days?
