[LINK] Obama election technology. (It's too quiet.)

[Kim Holburn]

It's fascinating and the republicans are already complaining that they were hacked, but it does make one wonder if next time both sides might just hire up a cyber (sorry I hate that word) security team, offensive and defensive.  

It would definitely make the whole shebang interesting (in the Chinese sense).

On 2012/Nov/20, at 10:42 AM, Bernard Robertson-Dunn wrote:

> On 20/11/2012 9:55 AM, Jim Birch wrote:
>> Campaigns, however, even Howard Dean's famous 2004 Internet-enabled run at
>> the Democratic nomination, did not hire a bunch of technologists. Though
>> they hired a couple, like Clay Johnson, they bought technology from outside
>> consultants. For 2012, Slaby wanted to change all that. He wanted dozens of
>> engineers in-house, and he got them.
>> 
>> The real innovation in 2012 is that we had world-class technologists inside
>> a campaign," Slaby told me. "The traditional technology stuff inside
>> campaigns had not been at the same level." And yet the technologists, no
>> matter how good they were, brought a different worldview, set of
>> personalities, and expectations."
> 
> Having looked at both side's use of technology I've come to the 
> conclusion that the difference was not the technology itself but the 
> approach to, and the use of, technology.
> 
> The Democrats took a longer term view of their systems. They developed 
> early, then analysed, tested and adjusted their applications. They made 
> mistakes, they discovered things in the data and they modified their 
> assumptions.
> http://swampland.time.com/2012/11/07/inside-the-secret-world-of-quants-and-data-crunchers-who-helped-obama-win/
> And they got it right.
> 
> The Republicans, on the other hand, "knew" what they were doing was 
> right. Their approach was based upon belief, not upon consistency with 
> the real world. When it came to turning on their untested applications, 
> everything feel in a heap. A bit like their whole campaign and their 
> philosophy - they "knew" they were right.
> http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2012/11/inside-team-romneys-whale-of-an-it-meltdown/
> But they got it wrong.

A lot of republican money went into super PACs and attack ads.

> Belief without evidence is a wondrous thing. Unfortunately, reality 
> abhors stupidity.
> 
> You can always tell a politician from the far right, you just can't tell 
> them much.
> 
> -- 
> 
> Regards
> brd
> 
> Bernard Robertson-Dunn
> Sydney Australia
> email: brd at iimetro.com.au
> web:   www.drbrd.com
> web:   www.problemsfirst.com
> 
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-- 
Kim Holburn
IT Network & Security Consultant
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