Category Archives: chicanery

Breaking: “Facebook sticking with policies on politicians’ lies and voter targeting”

January 9, 2020, 4:20 amchicaneryDan Tokaji

From Politico: Facebook is standing by its policies that allow politicians to lie to voters, while targeting their ads at narrow subsets of the public — decisions with vast implications for the more than $1 billion in online campaign… Continue reading

House Hearing on Digital Manipulation and Deception

January 8, 2020, 10:55 amchicaneryDan Tokaji

The Hill on today’s hearing “Americans at Risk: Manipulation and Deception in the Digital Age,” before the House Subcommittee on Consumer Protection and Commerce: Facebook’s global policy chief faced tough questions before a House panel on Wednesday as lawmakers voiced… Continue reading

Galston on Deepfakes

January 8, 2020, 4:16 amchicanery, political polarizationDan Tokaji

From the Brookings report, “Is seeing still believing? The deepfake challenge to truth in politics,” with a nod to the Marx Brothers’ classic Duck Soup: If AI is reaching the point where it will be virtually impossible to detect… Continue reading

“Voters in town once run by polygamous sect probably broke the law when they cast ballots, prosecutor says, but charges are unlikely”

January 5, 2020, 12:54 pmchicanery, voter registrationJustin Levitt

The Salt Lake Tribune runs a story about potential improper registration in Colorado City (which, despite the name, is half of a community that straddles the Utah-Arizona boder). There are real problems of unlawful behavior in Colorado City. But… Continue reading

🤔

January 3, 2020, 4:45 pmchicaneryJustin Levitt

The New York Times lede: A federal judge on Friday allowed a Rudy Giuliani associate indicted on campaign finance charges to turn over documents to Congress as part of the impeachment proceeding against President Donald Trump. U.S. District Court… Continue reading

“A deceptively edited video of Joe Biden illustrates a big problem in 2020”

January 3, 2020, 4:44 pmchicanery, Election MeltdownJustin Levitt

Rick’s been writing up a storm about dirty tricks like deepfakes in American elections, including in his new book. But the sort of deceptive selective editing at play in the video described here is much more accessible, and has … Continue reading

“Leaked Trump Camp Tape Reignites Concerns Over GOP ‘Ballot Security’ Plans”

January 3, 2020, 4:33 pmchicanery, political partiesJustin Levitt

Tierney Sneed at TPM highlights the audio Rick blogged before the holidays, about the lapse of the consent decree between the DNC and RNC governing “ballot security” efforts.

“Man, 81, Pleads Guilty To Voting in N.H. and Mass.”

January 3, 2020, 4:33 pmchicaneryJustin Levitt

If this is the proof of the busloads of voters, those are very, very small buses.

“Cyber attacks and electronic voting errors threaten 2020 outcome, experts warn”

January 2, 2020, 1:33 pmchicanery, voting technologyJustin Levitt

The Guardian reports. Cybersecurity is exceedingly important. And now your reminder that at least in the past, we have been more prone to hacking than the voting systems.

“Feds: No Evidence Hackers Disrupted North Carolina Voting”

December 31, 2019, 2:07 pmchicanery, Election Meltdown, voting technologyJustin Levitt

With lots of election security concerns in the air, a problem in 2016 with electronic pollbooks in Durham County generated a fair amount of attention. At the time, it didn’t look like a malicious incursion, but that didn’t stop speculation,… Continue reading

9 Iowans suspected of voting twice in 2018

December 30, 2019, 12:55 pmabsentee ballots, chicaneryJustin Levitt

The cases have been referred for further investigation. The initial flag apparently comes from ERIC (the Electronic Registration Information Center), which is more careful than other systems at screening for false positives.

“How Close Did Russia Really Come to Hacking the 2016 Election?”

December 26, 2019, 9:56 amchicanery, election administrationRick Hasen

Kim Zetter for Politico: Public confidence in the integrity of the 2016 election outcome rests largely on the belief that the Russian hackers—who did, in fact, attempt to meddle in the election, according to the U.S. intelligence community—were blocked before… Continue reading