Thursday, January 22, 2004
Dirty tricks
Charlie Savage of the Boston Blog writes
Many reactions:
1. Yawn. We always knew they were crooks and thieves— and now we really know. Great to see the SCLM all over this one! Oh, wait... The headine is good, too: "Infiltration of files seen as extensive." I like "infiltration" as opposed to "theft." And it's good they don't put "GOP" or "Republican" in the headline, just in the subhead. That shows balance ...
2. I wonder if Karl Rove is going to look like such a good strategist when he doesn't have intelligence of all the Dems moves?
3. Why on earth did the (gutless, feckless) Beltway Dems not assume the Republicans wouldn't steal data from their system? They stole an election, and they're not going to steal some files?
4. I hope all the Democratic candidates are being very, very careful. In particular, I hope they are encrypting all of their email, as well as their files, and their cell phone traffic and wifi. Anything that could be intercepted by Echelon. Meanwhile, the Democrats should consider setting up a secure system off the Hill. Put it in a trailer outside the Capital and surround it with barbed wire. Can't we get a little political theatre going on this one?
Of course, the chances that Bush would abuse the national security apparatus for partisan purposes are admittedly slim... Oh, wait, didn't Rove already do that during Texas redistricting? Use the Department of "Homeland" Security to track down Democratic state legislators?
UPDATE: Alert reader Gabe points out that slashdot has picked up on this one.
Lots of interesting stuff, including the question of whether the Republicans are guilty of violating the DMCA. I mean, isn't it weird that some 15-year-old kid gets sued for downloading a song, and no Republicans get sued for stealing hundreds of memos?
From the spring of 2002 until at least April 2003, members of the GOP committee staff exploited a computer glitch that allowed them to access restricted Democratic communications without a password. Trolling through hundreds of memos, they were able to read talking points and accounts of private meetings discussing which judicial nominees Democrats would fight -- and with what tactics.
Many reactions:
1. Yawn. We always knew they were crooks and thieves— and now we really know. Great to see the SCLM all over this one! Oh, wait... The headine is good, too: "Infiltration of files seen as extensive." I like "infiltration" as opposed to "theft." And it's good they don't put "GOP" or "Republican" in the headline, just in the subhead. That shows balance ...
2. I wonder if Karl Rove is going to look like such a good strategist when he doesn't have intelligence of all the Dems moves?
3. Why on earth did the (gutless, feckless) Beltway Dems not assume the Republicans wouldn't steal data from their system? They stole an election, and they're not going to steal some files?
4. I hope all the Democratic candidates are being very, very careful. In particular, I hope they are encrypting all of their email, as well as their files, and their cell phone traffic and wifi. Anything that could be intercepted by Echelon. Meanwhile, the Democrats should consider setting up a secure system off the Hill. Put it in a trailer outside the Capital and surround it with barbed wire. Can't we get a little political theatre going on this one?
Of course, the chances that Bush would abuse the national security apparatus for partisan purposes are admittedly slim... Oh, wait, didn't Rove already do that during Texas redistricting? Use the Department of "Homeland" Security to track down Democratic state legislators?
UPDATE: Alert reader Gabe points out that slashdot has picked up on this one.
Lots of interesting stuff, including the question of whether the Republicans are guilty of violating the DMCA. I mean, isn't it weird that some 15-year-old kid gets sued for downloading a song, and no Republicans get sued for stealing hundreds of memos?
