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Obama, McCain Campaigns Both Hacked, Files Compromised
dunezone writes "As the election ends, news is coming out from both campaigns on what happened behind closed doors. During the summer, the Obama campaign had their systems hacked, but so did McCain — and not by each other, but by a third party. '... both the FBI and the Secret Service came to the campaign with an ominous warning: "You have a problem way bigger than what you understand," an agent told Obama's team. "You have been compromised, and a serious amount of files have been loaded off your system." The following day, Obama campaign chief David Plouffe heard from White House chief of staff Josh Bolten, to the same effect: "You have a real problem ... and you have to deal with it." The Feds told Obama's aides in late August that the McCain campaign's computer system had been similarly compromised.'"
Also from the article: "Officials at the FBI and the White House told the Obama campaign that they believed a foreign entity or organization sought to gather information on the evolution of both camps' policy positions — information that might be useful in negotiations with a future administration."
they believed a foreign entity or organization sought to gather information on the evolution of both camps' policy positions--information that might be useful in negotiations with a future administration."
"they believed a foreign entity or organization sought to gather information on the evolution of both camps' policy positions--information that would be entirely useless once the winner back pedals on all campaign promises made."
Fixed that for them.
My bet is someone trying to get a leg up in their Fantasy U.S. Elections league.
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Our adversaries(even though China and Russia are technically our "allies") aren't the only ones who seek to gain from inside knowledge of foreign policy plans.
Israel is a good example but there are many others. Somebody hurry up and post other examples before some mods with sticky trigger fingers see this and mod me down for being a "racist Jew-hater".
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I particularly love this insight:
The debates unnerved both candidates. When he was preparing for them during the Democratic primaries, Obama was recorded saying, "I don't consider this to be a good format for me, which makes me more cautious. I often find myself trapped by the questions and thinking to myself, 'You know, this is a stupid question, but let me ⦠answer it.' So when Brian Williams is asking me about what's a personal thing that you've done [that's green], and I say, you know, 'Well, I planted a bunch of trees.' And he says, 'I'm talking about personal.' What I'm thinking in my head is, 'Well, the truth is, Brian, we can't solve global warming because I f---ing changed light bulbs in my house. It's because of something collective'."
Could you have imagined Obama saying that during the election? heh
Pffft, before you go jumping up on all the other countries who would want this info, given the current foreign policy of the US, I wouldn't at all be surprised it they weren't both hacked by inside sources - just to make them THINK it was another country "wanting to invade the proud US of A".
I mean seriously, all those paranoid big chiefs sitting in powerful seats within government organizations? They have careers to protect. Why not make whoever gets into power fearful of the "outside world and it's dangers" before they even get into office? Sure would help get their policy in line with the policy of aforementioned big chiefs in government seats.
Moved to http://soylentnews.org/. You are invited to join us too!
No, not the fake ones they publish. The secret ones they don't publish. The plans for world domination. The ones containing the election script written two years ago by the Illuminati's dictator for life: Ron Paul.
Well.. maybe. Or Maybe not. But Definitely not sort of.
Why would Obama or McCain have secret foreign policy plans in their campaign planning computers? The sensitive data here was most likely canvassing, financing, and advertising plans. They'd be very useful to the other campaign, or to a party supporting either campaign and planning to influence the election. Maybe unaffiliated but supportive organizations like those of T Boone Pickens and his democratic equivalent had this done.
"I zero-index my hamsters" - Willtor (147206)
Your tinfoil hat is cutting off the circulation to your brain again.
You don't make the poor richer by making the rich poorer. - Winston Churchill
Did anyone read the rest of the article? I find it hilarious that Caribou Barbie went on an even bigger shopping spree than previously reported:
Wait, it gets better:
I am so glad we won't be hearing from her at least until 2012 or so... Corruption in Alaska? You betcha!
"When the president does it, that means it's not illegal." - Richard M. Nixon
"It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it"
-- Aristotle
Obama seems to have somehow slipped through the vetting process. It's common knowledge that politicians should not have an independently functioning brain with an ability to grasp the overall picture. Did no one interview this guy to make sure he could be swayed by a $600/hr lobbiest in an expensive suit, or by advisers with hidden agendas? This, my fellow Americans, can lead to no good outcomes. Applying common sense and logic in this fashion will surely grind Washington D.C. to a halt.
Mark my words...this fool will be making decisions which will utterly confound both major parties. The only thing I can't determine is whether they'll strip his flesh like a school of piranhas or end up following him off the cliff of common sense. :-)
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
Having worked on the Obama campaign, mostly with the data end, I have to say they did a really good job. There are a few things that could have been improved, sure, but overall the system scaled very well until the last few days when the load became just ridiculous. Even then, it only displayed minor misbehavior - it worked just as quickly as before. The vast majority of volunteers have read/limited write access to volunteer and voter lists. I don't believe I had access to any donor information. The fact is, below the upper echelons, a data leak is really, really insignificant, because the data is essentially publicly available anyway. We got all the starting information for our database from the DNC, which got it from voter rolls. I'm assuming here they don't store credit card numbers from donations, etc.