3 ms·

There's another side of that "hacking was a bit of a problem in 2016" - namely that tech savvy politicians are in short supply[1]. Associating Beto with a well

There's another side of that "hacking was a bit of a problem in 2016" - namely that tech savvy politicians are in short supply[1]. Associating Beto with a well known hacker group boosts his credibility wrt tech. [1] particularly when combined with tonedeaf and heavy handed legislation/regulation about the internet.

usefulcat 8y ago
Only among people (as here) who have much greater than average tech knowledge, and probably a far more nuanced understanding of the various possible meanings of "hacker". Elsewhere, the words "hacker" and "hacking" have an almost universally negative connotation.
- romwell 8y ago
  >Only among people (as here) who have much greater than average tech knowledge Which might be the whole point of this piece: >But the political balance allows him to appeal to both main strands of political thought in Silicon Valley – a key source of campaign money and cultural influence.
ChuckMcM 8y ago
This will be an interesting conversation (tech savvy vs tech dumb) to play out this round. The current president argued during his campaign that the problems with the country arose from "bad deals" and his experience and expertise at "deal making" was the solution to this problem. Beto might argue during his campaign that the problems with the country arise from unacknowledged cyber warfare in both social media and voting systems. He could then argue that he is uniquely qualified to lead the government to a more solid footing in that regard and protect the democracy. Both are simplistic arguments of the form problem is X, I'm an expert in X, I can lead a group to fix X. Opponents will of course spin up the fear of X and especially if X can be used to achieve the goals of the proponent, try to paint them as being part of the problem not the solution. Unlike the current administrations "Space" force, I could see a justification for a "Cyber" force if such a force provided protection against, and options for maneuver in an algorithmically generated battlefield.
- ganoushoreilly 8y ago
  We already have a "Cyber force", offensive operations legally fall under the overview of the D.o.D (Cyber Command & the NSA components (TAO)).

usefulcat 8y ago

Only among people (as here) who have much greater than average tech knowledge, and probably a far more nuanced understanding of the various possible meanings of "hacker". Elsewhere, the words "hacker" and "hacking" have an almost universally negative connotation.

romwell 8y ago
>Only among people (as here) who have much greater than average tech knowledge Which might be the whole point of this piece: >But the political balance allows him to appeal to both main strands of political thought in Silicon Valley – a key source of campaign money and cultural influence.

ChuckMcM 8y ago

This will be an interesting conversation (tech savvy vs tech dumb) to play out this round. The current president argued during his campaign that the problems with the country arose from "bad deals" and his experience and expertise at "deal making" was the solution to this problem. Beto might argue during his campaign that the problems with the country arise from unacknowledged cyber warfare in both social media and voting systems. He could then argue that he is uniquely qualified to lead the government to a more solid footing in that regard and protect the democracy. Both are simplistic arguments of the form problem is X, I'm an expert in X, I can lead a group to fix X. Opponents will of course spin up the fear of X and especially if X can be used to achieve the goals of the proponent, try to paint them as being part of the problem not the solution. Unlike the current administrations "Space" force, I could see a justification for a "Cyber" force if such a force provided protection against, and options for maneuver in an algorithmically generated battlefield.

ganoushoreilly 8y ago
We already have a "Cyber force", offensive operations legally fall under the overview of the D.o.D (Cyber Command & the NSA components (TAO)).