A friend tells you he only drinks coffee made in a French press. Then, you see someone order a French press at your favorite coffee shop. Next, you’re at Target and you see a display with ornate French Press gadgets for sale. And you conclude: “This French press thing is everywhere! [Keep reading]
I’ve written many times that consumers have been hacked. Corporations with billion-dollar research budgets have poked and prodded us for decades, exposing every weakness, turning your human nature against you and exploiting that systematically. After reading this excellent Washington Post story about the spread of conspiracy theories online, I worry [Keep reading]
People really don’t like being judged by machines. A wide majority of Americans say they worry algorithms will treat them unfairly when used to make judgments in crucial circumstances, such as during job interviews, parole proceedings, or financial transactions, according to a new survey released Friday by Pew Research Center. Algorithms [Keep reading]
It’s the annual health care enrollment clusterf**k, which means it’s a perfect time for scammers to prey on confused consumers. And they are pouncing. YouMail, which tracks robocalls, says phony calls targeting consumers shopping for health insurance are the most common phone scam now. The firm counted 500 million such calls [Keep reading]
Even after the vote is over, it’s not over. A critical element of democracy is that the losing side accepts the results. Think back to step 1: If an enemy of democracy could foment enough disenchantment that a sizable set of the population refuses to accept the legitimacy [Keep reading]
When I first approached this topic, I was using instant replay video reviews from sporting events as a METAPHOR. Turns out, I was being far more literal than I realized. Even with slow-mo, zoomed in, frame-by-frame analysis, people can’t agree on what they see from yesterday’s Donald Trump – CNN [Keep reading]
Across America, some citizens are waiting patiently an hour or more to vote. Their voting machines aren’t working nearly as hard for them. America’s fragile voting infrastructure is showing its warts yet again this election day. In North Carolina, state officials announced that high humidity was causing some ballot scanners [Keep reading]
The litany of confusion and missteps by Georgia’s state election officials took a bizarre turn this weekend when someone discovered a massive flaw in the state’s online voter registration system and instead of addressing the vulnerability, Secretary of State Brian Kemp — also the Republican gubernatorial candidate — accused Democrats of [Keep reading]
It’s easy to overlook, but perhaps the prime election hacking opportunity might also be the easiest – skip the James-Bond-esque vote-flipping efforts, and just hack a secretary of state’s website to cause confusion. “We know that the Russians have hacked websites that announce election results in the past,” said [Keep reading]
We know every vote counts, but will your vote actually be counted? Or will it be hacked? I’ve spent the last several months reporting on election hacking for my podcast Breach, and I’ve learned a lot: Mostly that vote “hacking” is a much broader problem than people realize. While lots [Keep reading]
Bob Sullivan