The Washington, DC, Board of Elections and Ethics seemingly made an ethical boo boo this morning by tweeting out a negative article about Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown. The Board deleted it quickly, but lucky for us, the Internet is forever.
https://twitter.com/ChrisSuprun/status/251390680751017984
The Board followed up with a claim that the tweet “did not originate with the Board”, but that of course raises a question:
@DCBOEE Where did it originate? This is a serious breach and needs solution. Has law enforcement been engaged?
— Lincolntf (@Lincolntf) September 27, 2012
According to the Board, it was either a hack or some sort of accident.
“Somebody must have hacked into our account and posted that,” Raper added. “Anybody who had worked here previously who had access to the Twitter account could have posted it or either someone posted it by accident.”
@DCBOEE Just out of curiosity, did you happen to hire Former Representative Weiner recently?
— Chris Valentine (@cmvalentineb) September 27, 2012
So, the District of Columbia’s highest election authority gets hacked, and no charges? No investigation? Maybe it was innocent, but even then, you’re going to have to forgive the Twitterverse for finding this whole thing a bit Weiner-esque. Ace of Spades pointed out the potential implications of such an egregious hack in an epic Twitter rant.
Ever get the feeling that government officials simply lie to you without even thinking twice about it? http://t.co/7k8bUSim
— Ursus, Director of Weather and Banana Programming (@AceofSpadesHQ) September 27, 2012
.@dcboee so, if I have your "hack" claim right, the hackers LEFT YOUR PASSWORD as it was instead of changing it so you couldn't change it?
— Ursus, Director of Weather and Banana Programming (@AceofSpadesHQ) September 27, 2012
.@dcboee how many Hackers do you imagine commit felonies only to tweet a single link to an inconsequential liberal blog?
— Ursus, Director of Weather and Banana Programming (@AceofSpadesHQ) September 27, 2012
.@dcboee since you are supposedly monitoring "ethics," do you think you should be indulging in childish, baldfaced lies?
— Ursus, Director of Weather and Banana Programming (@AceofSpadesHQ) September 27, 2012
.@dcboee would you say it's more likely a "Hacker" spent the time to crack your acct to post a minor link, or that an employee did it?
— Ursus, Director of Weather and Banana Programming (@AceofSpadesHQ) September 27, 2012
Fantastic point from @moximom. Since you believe, you claim, you were hacked, have you contacted law enforcement? @dcboee
— Ursus, Director of Weather and Banana Programming (@AceofSpadesHQ) September 27, 2012
.@dcboee Surely you're not planning on just letting these miscreants free to "hack" other non-partisan government accounts?!
— Ursus, Director of Weather and Banana Programming (@AceofSpadesHQ) September 27, 2012
As you oversee elections, @dcboee, are you not afraid that these "hackers" have compromised the vote-tabulation software? Where is the FBI?
— Ursus, Director of Weather and Banana Programming (@AceofSpadesHQ) September 27, 2012
what if these "Hackers" have built a backdoor into your entire election-monitoring software suite?!?! Call the Feds! @dcboee
— Ursus, Director of Weather and Banana Programming (@AceofSpadesHQ) September 27, 2012
While it’s worth reading just for entertainment value, Ace has a valid line of logic here. If this was a “hack” by a malicious ex-employee, why not call the cops? After all, if someone is attacking your Twitter account, who knows what else they’re after? The lack of anything resembling concern is itself reason to think that the tweet probably originated internally. Either it could have come from an employee tweeting intentionally, or from an employee who thought he was tweeting to his personal account. It’s not exactly a private surprise from a congressman, but it’s a problem.
Still, the citizens of DC can probably be sure that their electoral rights are in good hands. After all, it’s not like the city has had any recent problems with massive electoral corruption. Oh, wait…
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