election

Tue
30
Oct
John Lister's picture

Facebook Election War Room Spots Fake News, but is it Enough?

Facebook has unveiled a 'war room' to combat misinformation during election season. But it was short on detail and provoked cynicism among many reporters. The company invited reporters to a briefing to show off the war room at it headquarters in ... Menlo Park, near San Francisco. The room reportedly has a capacity for 20 to 40 people drawn from 20 departments within the company. The use of the term 'war room' isn't related to military options but instead appears to be a reference to the way political campaigns use the same term for their headquarters during a campaign. Of course, that's somewhat ... (view more)

Wed
15
Aug
John Lister's picture

Mock Election Site Hacked By Pre-Teen

An 11-year-old boy hacked a replica of a Florida election website in just 10 minutes. Officials have downplayed the incident saying it's not an accurate recreation of how such hacking could work. The hack took place at DefCon, an annual conference ... for people interested in computer security. It often has competitions and demonstrations of security vulnerability - and certainly isn't a place you would want to connect your wireless device to unknown WiFi networks. One of the events at the conference was the DefCon Voting Machine Hacking Village. Participants, including many children, attempted ... (view more)

Tue
15
Nov
John Lister's picture

Google Slammed Over Election News Link

Critics of Google say the search engine's algorithm is giving undue credibility to a website claiming to have final voting figures for the US election. The site, which is given prime position when users search for several election-related terms, ... appears to be unauthoritative and rely on questionable sources. As with any story in this year's US presidential election, its likely to prove partisan responses on both sides. However, this specific scenario is about Google's quality control, rather than political arguments. The issue surrounds the way Google doesn't just produce a ... (view more)

Fri
29
Apr
Dennis Faas's picture

Old Law Makes Tweeting Election Results Illegal in Canada

An old Canadian electoral law has now surfaced putting those who post voting results via social networking in trouble with police. Section 329 of the Elections Act in Canada states that anyone who transmits election results will be fined $25,000 ... dollars and could be sentenced to five years in jail. The problem is that social networks, such as Facebook and Twitter, are technically considered transmitting mediums. Section 329 Not Completely Senseless As it stands, section 329 is still on the books, but the law might not be as senseless as it appears. A Canadian voter in Montreal, for example, ... (view more)

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