RNC Data Firm Leaks Voter Info

[Varius]

In recent news, a GOP data firm had leaked the private information of over 190 million Americans in an accident as seen here. More information about this can be seen here on Upguard's website.

Information included in the leak includes home addresses, phone numbers, birthdates, voter records, Reddit information, and suspected ethnicity and religious affiliation. According the Upguard, it is one of the biggest breaches in history, comprising of about 61% of the population.

 

[Trev]

Well what the hell did they think would happen with extremely crucial data sitting on a public, unprotected server? God, we need a technology literacy course for our government.

I also don't particularly enjoy reading this:

Data Trust received over $6.7 million from the RNC during the 2016 cycle, according to OpenSecrets.org, and its president, Johnny DeStefano, now serves as Trump?s director of presidential personnel.

 

[Varius]

Well what the hell did they think would happen with extremely crucial data sitting on a public, unprotected server? God, we need a technology literacy course for our government.

I also don't particularly enjoy reading this:

I'd argue that we need strict regulation on the digital storage of private information on government organizations, NGOs and corporate entities that requires some form of encryption. Sadly, however, that sort of legislation probably won't happen.

Plus, you know, obviously we don't need to care about private info if we're not going to use it until next November! /s

 

[Trev]

I'd argue that we need strict regulation on the digital storage of private information on government organizations, NGOs and corporate entities that requires some form of encryption. Sadly, however, that sort of legislation probably won't happen.

Plus, you know, obviously we don't need to care about private info if we're not going to use it until next November! /s

Doing/enforcing both would be even better. After all, the DNC leaks started because some government employee entered his password into a phishing email, which is probably the lowest form of hacking that could possibly exist. And now we have another leak because another government employee didn't think to put a password, of all things, on a server with personal information of 61% of the population. It really seems like people in the government really don't understand how simple computer stuff works.

 

[Esper]

This is exactly the kind of thing people who push for privacy have been worrying about. It's also worrying (although perhaps not as surprising as it should be) that so much information about so many people is all in one place. Imagine what the NSA or whoever else could have: a database of everyone's names, political leanings, spending habits, incomes, browsing history, and so on. Nobody should have that much information at their fingertips, especially not a political apparatus.

 

[Trev]

This is exactly the kind of thing people who push for privacy have been worrying about. It's also worrying (although perhaps not as surprising as it should be) that so much information about so many people is all in one place. Imagine what the NSA or whoever else could have: a database of everyone's names, political leanings, spending habits, incomes, browsing history, and so on. Nobody should have that much information at their fingertips, especially not a political apparatus.

It doesn't surprise me that this much information is available to the government. Hell, social media sites collect shitloads of data on everyone based on things they like in passing or pages they following - I can only imagine that the government is able to collect even more data in more complex and harder-to-track ways.