Sweden is taking on Russian meddling ahead of fall elections - Polidicks

[url]https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/sweden-looks-at-russias-electoral-interference-in-the-us-and-takes-steps-not-to-be-another-victim/2018/02/21/9e58ee48-0768-11e8-aa61-f3391373867e_story.html[/url] [quote]Hundreds of local election workers have been trained to spot and resist foreign influence. The country’s biggest media outlets have teamed up to combat false news. Political parties scour their email systems to close hacker-friendly holes. The goal: to Russia-proof •Sweden’s political system so that what happened in the United States in 2016 can never happen in this Nordic country of 10 million people. Although the general election isn’t until Sept. 9, officials say their preemptive actions may already have dissuaded the Kremlin from interfering. In Washington, meanwhile, the FBI says it has received no White House orders to secure the 2018 midterms against Russian influence. “It would be very risky for a foreign nation to do this now,” said Mikael Tofvesson, who heads the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency’s effort to safeguard elections from malicious foreign influence. “It could risk a backlash. It would be an exposure of their methods.” The efforts, which are supported by parties across the political spectrum, contrast with the bitterly partisan discussion in Washington about Russia’s behavior during the 2016 election.[/quote]

I feel like at some point, we need to just cut Russia off from the internet. They cause way more problems than it's worth - not just the electioneering, but the sheer number of hacking attempts coming out of Russia is ridiculous, plus all the scams and fraud.

Imagine living in a country where "People are trying to destabilize our elections, maybe we should stop them" isn't a partisan disagreement.

The Russians have 0 fucking chance to meedle in this election. These are just the visible protective measures. There's 10x more work in the background. Quite impressive things too ;)

I believe that an emphasis should be on the section regarding the US not doing the same. Perhaps it hasn't crossed the minds for the powers that be or maybe they don't want to do it and mess up, bringing tons of negative publicity just because Russia sees it as an opportunity to sow dissent if it messes up.... or they don't want to because daddy P wouldn't like :downs:

[QUOTE=gman003-main;53162600]I feel like at some point, we need to just cut Russia off from the internet. They cause way more problems than it's worth - not just the electioneering, but the sheer number of hacking attempts coming out of Russia is ridiculous, plus all the scams and fraud.[/QUOTE] Honestly, I feel like Russia is just so bitter at this point with [I]everything[/I] that they're just lashing out at everyone involved. There were rumors a few months ago they even started to fuck with China. Like, they don't care anymore. They are literally the Nation of Trolls.

[QUOTE=gman003-main;53162600]I feel like at some point, we need to just cut Russia off from the internet. They cause way more problems than it's worth - not just the electioneering, but the sheer number of hacking attempts coming out of Russia is ridiculous, plus all the scams and fraud.[/QUOTE] When has isolating a population ever went well? Ever?

In 2014 I worked as a ballot collector twice (general election and EU parliamentary election), AMA. The system we have right now is pretty good, but I'm sure it can be improved even more. During election, people enter and are handed three envelope each. They then go to a box and grab paper ballots of the parties they are interested in. They can also pick random ballots as to mask which party they are going to vote for. There are three elections taking place at the same time: general election, county administrative board, and municipal board (ballots are colour coded for each election). The person then take their paper ballots behind a screen/booth where they mark which representative in their party they vote for, which they then put in the envelopes. The envelope have a small hole in them to identify the colour so that it is put into the right box. Finally they approach the table with the collectors (always at least two). They need to have some sort of photo-identification with them, and their name and personal ID-number is checked and marked in an electoral roll. If we can't find it, it means they have come to the wrong voting station (prior to the elections, everyone eligible for voting gets a letter with the name and address where they are supposed to vote). Each envelope is put into the corresponding box. After the voting has taken place, all the votes are counted. If an envelope contains a ballot that doesn't qualify (multiple ballots, multiple ticked boxes, etc) it is put aside. Everything is counted several times and cross-checked so that nothing is missed. Then the person responsible for the voting station calls in the numbers to the local registry, which forwards it. It's very analogue and the method is most likely not unique. But I feel that it is much harder to tamper with than if any electrical system were to be involved. For any Swedes out there looking to aim a buck, you can volunteer as a vote collector/counter and earn ~3000kr for one day's work. Pretty chill. But you will most likely get the cold of your life afterwards.

Is there any other proof of the meddling yet than just "attacks came from Russia"?. Because I have been sitting here for quite some time and wondering how I could actually achieve the same thing with certain resources. How about I go to china, start working for a local ISP and start building my own bot network somewhere, then I'd find some people who are willing to spew bullshit online for 10€/day and just move to other side of the world again. Then when next elections in US come I just send a message and suddenly we have trump as president for another 4 years and everyone would blame china. Its probably 99% chance this was all done by Russians but its insanely hard to believe anything in the media these days. US government could be just trying to save its ass after realizing what kind of mess they got in after Trump and just blame another country for the whole thing... I mean if there was this kind of situation in many other countries there would be new elections so fucking fast that the president wouldn't even make it to the office.

[QUOTE=Zenreon117;53163260]When has isolating a population ever went well? Ever?[/QUOTE] sentinelese seem happy as they are

[QUOTE=rulssi;53163513]Is there any other proof of the meddling yet than just "attacks came from Russia"?. Because I have been sitting here for quite some time and wondering how I could actually achieve the same thing with certain resources. How about I go to china, start working for a local ISP and start building my own bot network somewhere, then I'd find some people who are willing to spew bullshit online for 10€/day and just move to other side of the world again. Then when next elections in US come I just send a message and suddenly we have trump as president for another 4 years and everyone would blame china. Its probably 99% chance this was all done by Russians but its insanely hard to believe anything in the media these days. US government could be just trying to save its ass after realizing what kind of mess they got in after Trump and just blame another country for the whole thing... I mean if there was this kind of situation in many other countries there would be new elections so fucking fast that the president wouldn't even make it to the office.[/QUOTE] My guess would be if you "outsource" such operations, you lose control of it to a certain degree. It reduces the paper trail and the risk of information leaking if you keep it internal.

[QUOTE=Zenreon117;53163260]When has isolating a population ever went well? Ever?[/QUOTE] You're right We should just cut internet to the government

[QUOTE=Zenreon117;53163260]When has isolating a population ever went well? Ever?[/QUOTE] It would be no different than if they were living back before internet. With a dictatorship and propaganda news spewed all over. Wait, it appears nothing changed