Saturday, December 31, 2016

Do Not Post on What You Cannot Verify

"The Next News Network" and others are claiming that within Podesta's emails there was an e-mail that claims that Jeb Bush, Carly Fiorina and John Kasich all received money to their PACs or SuperPacs from the Clinton campaign to stay out of the way and not support Trump during the summer. Sounds exciting doesn't it? Yet, nobody is publishing a copy of the e-mail.

Don't repeat what people say if they do not link to the source or an established outlet. The real threat to bloggers, vloggers and the alternative media (i.e. not corporate controlled) is themselves. There is nothing wrong with conjecture or opinion as long as it is not stated as FACT. There is nothing wrong with asking what motivates others, there is nothing wrong with questioning motives; but, if you are going to state something as fact you had better be able to point to a source that can be sued rather than you.

Censorship is coming. It will not be government censorship per se, it will be instituted by private companies like Facebook and Twitter and has already begun. You wait and see, the United Nations will make a treaty that says what can and cannot be allowed on the internet or at least that will be the effect of the treaty. These agreements, like the actions of the European Union, are unnecessary and meant to limit free speech. Countries already have their own slander and libel laws and those apply to the internet.

Let's say I post an article claiming that Barak Obama is a gay child molester, that might be allowed as political speech about a public figure. Say the same thing about your ex-wife and you could be sued unless you have proof. If you claim it about President Obama you are just a fool. Unsubstantiated claims without evidence undermine your credibility. Protect freedom of speech by acting responsibly.

More Fake News From the Washington Post - Russia Did NOT Attack Our Power Grid

The Washington Post - Russian operation hacked a Vermont utility, showing risk to U.S. electrical grid security, officials say

The Washington Post story begins with this statement, "A code associated with the Russian hacking operation dubbed Grizzly Steppe by the Obama administration has been detected within the system of a Vermont utility, according to U.S. officials."  Firstly the "code" is not "associated" with Russia, Grizzly Steppe or anyone other than low grade hackers. The code is basically convincing someone to reset their password and that password is then given to the hacker. This is NOT high tech hacking, this is common everyday fishing that is used by most hackers out there. Secondly, NO code was found on the Vermont utilities "system. The reset password scam was accepted by someone who worked for the utility on, supposedly. someone's work laptop. I personally managed the systems group for a $250 million a year organization and guess what, this is pretty common especially when people use their laptops to view porn or other such garbage using company laptops.

Even the Washington Post is already backing off this fake news as at the end of the article they say this, "An earlier version of this story incorrectly said that Russian hackers had penetrated the U.S. electric grid. Authorities say there is no indication of that so far. The computer at Burlington Electric that was hacked was not attached to the grid."  This is a common propaganda technique used by the media, say one thing in your headline and then walk it back in the article hoping that nobody reads the whole article. The Pimpernel reads whole articles and you should too.

The mere fact that this article comes out a day after the FBI posted their fake report which showed NO evidence of Russia hacking the DNC should raise questions and if you read the whole Washington Post article you will note that the Vermont Utility and the fed don't even know when this laptop was infected.