Today was a special primary in New Jersey to fill the seat left open when Senator Frank Lautenberg died some weeks back, and as I voted -- using an electronic booth -- a disturbing thought came to me.
It's already been shown that the NSA is, contrary to their earlier denials, is able to basically tap any data stream they care to. They're basically in the classic man-in-the-middle position, having expended a great deal of money and effort to put themselves there for all communications going through the United States.
It's only principle -- and discretion -- that keeps them from altering those data streams.
But consider how many elections are being handled electronically these days.
What happens if the NSA decides their mandate is best served by manipulating those bitstreams to make sure politicians that weren't hostile to them were elected? Would we ever be able to tell?
-- Bob
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Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
It's already been shown that the NSA is, contrary to their earlier denials, is able to basically tap any data stream they care to. They're basically in the classic man-in-the-middle position, having expended a great deal of money and effort to put themselves there for all communications going through the United States.
It's only principle -- and discretion -- that keeps them from altering those data streams.
But consider how many elections are being handled electronically these days.
What happens if the NSA decides their mandate is best served by manipulating those bitstreams to make sure politicians that weren't hostile to them were elected? Would we ever be able to tell?
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.