Cyrus Farivar

It’s not immediately obvious how this “hack” was pulled off. As the Associated Press pointed out, there wasn’t necessarily anything illegal going on, and it could have been as simple as social engineering:

It wasn’t immediately clear how hackers broke into Palin’s Yahoo! account, but it would have been possible to trick the service into revealing her password knowing personal details about Palin that include her birthdate and ZIP code. A hacker also might have sent a forged e-mail to her account tricking her into revealing her own password.

A group of screen shots and text files was posted late last night to the WikiLeaks Web site.

So what was revealed? Nothing terribly salacious, but here’s the list:

1) Screen shot of an e-mail to and from Sean Parnell, current lieutenant governor of Alaska and current candidate for Alaska’s sole congressional seat.

2) Draft e-mail to Palin aide Ivy Frye that reads: “This email was hacked by anonymous, but I took no part in that. I simply got the password back and changed it so no further damage could be done. Please get in contact with Sarah Palin and inform her the new password on this account is samsonite1.”

Note: According to the Anchorage Daily News, Frye was worried about her own personal reputation when a volume of Palin e-mails was turned over recently to Andrée McLeod, a Republican government watchdog.

The Daily News reported:

In one e-mail string among the volumes turned over, Frye wanted to know if she would be audited or “dinged in any way” if her personal and state e-mails all routed to the same device.

“I would gladly buy my own blackberry if it and its contents were truely mine. Any thoughts here?” Frye wrote on March 17 at 10:56 a.m.

3) Screen shot of the in box of gov.sarah@yahoo.com showing ctunnel.com in the address bar, a way to anonymize one’s tracks online.

4) Screen shot of an e-mail from Amy McCorkell, a Palin supporter and member on Palin’s Board on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse in Alaska. Wired’s Kim Zetter confirmed earlier today with McCorkell that she did send the e-mail on Sept. 14, 2008.

5) Screen shot of the in box, scrolled down.

6) Text file containing the e-mail addresses of various Palin contacts and relatives, including her kids Bristol Palin and Track Palin.

7) Text file containing Gov. Palin’s and her husband Todd Palin’s birth date and ZIP code, and the personal e-mail account of Ivy Frye.

Text file list of recent e-mails and their dates. The last one is from Yahoo Account Services at 4:23 a.m. (no indication on which time zone or date, although it appears to be after Sept. 14, 2008).

9) A family photo of what appears to be the five Palin children.

10) A photo of what appears to be Bristol Palin with a baby in her arms on an airplane.

Apparently the McCain campaign, FBI and Secret Service are well aware of the situation.

So now the real question comes: Do you use government e-mail accounts that can be subject to public scrutiny, or do you stay on public commercial sites that aren’t accountable to the people and can easily be hacked?

But there were also a few troubling episodes on the technological front, with text messages and e-mails being used as a way to perpetuate false information.

Wired reported late last night that voters in Florida and New Mexico received a fake text message from 505-507-6041 that says things like: “Due to long lines if you are voting for Barack Obama you can vote tomorrow,” or “Due to the long lines today, all Obama voters are asked to vote on Wednesday.”

The AP adds that there have been reports of similar “robo-calls” and fake texts in Missouri and that the Missouri secretary of state and U.S. Attorney’s Office have been notified. I’m glad that this wasn’t widespread enough to have made a difference, but it’s still a troubling development.

But that’s not all. Thousands of students at George Mason University received an e-mail spoofed to look like it was from Provost Peter N. Stearns saying that “election day has been moved to November 5th. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause you.” Apparently the FBI is on the case.

And finally, while the outcome of the election was by a pretty overwhelming margin, there were still problems with electronic voting in numerous states, although not enough to have any sort of real impact.

Still,  we as a country really need to have a single standard for federal elections, get rid of these awful e-voting machines, and streamline this whole process so we don’t have to deal with this kind of crap anymore.

On a more personal and professional note, I share with you the news that this is my last post in Machinist, which is going on hiatus beginning tomorrow.

I thank all of you for reading and for your thoughtful and critical comments. If you’d like to follow me and/or any of my other work on public radio or elsewhere, you can do so on my blog: cyrusfarivar.com (where I’ll be announcing the result of our little trial voter-verified election), and/or you can email me at cfarivar [at] cfarivar [dot] org.

Cheers!

CNN will have 44 cameras and 20 computers in each remote location to capture 360-degree imaging data of the person being interviewed. Images are processed and projected by computers and cameras in New York. There’ll also be plasma TVs in Chicago and Phoenix that will let the people being interviewed see Blitzer and other CNN correspondents. Bohrman says the network can project two different views from each city so Blitzer can appear to be in the studio with two holograms.

Jessica Yellin was the first CNN reporter to be “beamed” to the New York newsroom, where Wolf Blitzer interviewed her — and she reported that there were only 35 cameras pointed at her, and that “talk to the cameras in New York.” Apparently representatives in the Obama campaign in Chicago and the McCain campaign in Phoenix will be interviewed as holograms later in the evening.

It’s still unclear who makes this hologram technology, nor how much it costs, nor how exactly it works — nor when I’m going to get it in my house. Man, and I was just getting used to Skype video chat. Still, scope out the video below.

This is without a doubt the best Obama song that I’ve seen so far. It’s got catchy lyrics — Viva Obama! — snappy outfits, a line about healthcare, and that female violin player? Muy caliente!

2) Extra Golden – Obama

This half Kenyan band (just like Obama!) rock out on this chillaxed benga track. Great guitar riffs.

3) Cocoa Tea – Barack Obama

Jamaican reggae star Coco Tea recorded this tune earlier this year, earning a small writeup in the Jamaica Observer at the time.

As he told the newspaper:

“If you notice, Obama is getting a lot of support from the young people, and when the younger generation begin to call for change, it usually comes, as they and the future, and Obama’s future is in their hands. Support for Obama is also coming from other quarters including the Kennedy family, as he is seen as the man with a plan, therefore I was guided by Jah on this one.”

How can you argue with Jah?

4) Docta Musica WashiWara – Barack Obama

This tune comes to us from Cameroon, and if you believe what the Docta says on his Web site: “The video has quickly becomed a big hit on Youtube.” Indeed.

5) crbballgal – BARACK THE VOTE!

How can I deny two fly girls, an ’80s-style synth, and rapping in front of a bathroom mirror? Well done, ladies.

6) Mighty Sparrow – Barack the Magnificent

Mighty Sparrow is the world’s leading calypso singer, hailing from the island of Grenada. Cop a read on the lyrics over here — I’m sure this is the first time that the phrase “Foreign Relations Committee” has worked its way into a calypso song.

7) Obama Song Spanish Reggaeton

I’m not sure who wrote this song, but nothing makes me want to sing “Si se puede!” louder than this reggaeton tune.

Bruce Springsteen – Working on a Dream

This song debuted just two days ago at a rally in Cleveland, so if you drop this joint at your fiesta, you’ll definitely be about 75 percent as cool as the Boss himself.

9) Barackapella – Yes We Can

Although college a capella may get mocked on Stuff White People Like, this cover of the famed will.i.am song is perfectly pulled off by Barackapella, a group from Lewis and Clark College in Oregon. (Also, don’t forget the parody, by john.he.is!)

10) Guru – Obama dance mix

I really, really hope that this is the first song that the Obamas dance to at the inagural ball. Or at least at the party in Chicago tonight.