News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on The EARN IT act is back, and it’s more dangerous than ever. Parent comment

Re:The EARN IT act is back, and it’s more dangerous than ever by omeze on Saturday February 05, 2022 @06:20PM (#30227393)
Sort of. Look up Western Unions role in the 1876 US election[1]. Stolen communications to support a specific candidate and a compromise between political parties on military presence sounds like a very precarious position for free society to be in.

[1] https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2011/05/how-the-robber-b... (also referenced in Tim Wu’s The Master Switch)

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:The EARN IT act is back, and it’s more dangerous than ever by pyuser583 on Sunday February 06, 2022 @02:06AM (#30230161)
I heard a story that at the 1864 National Union (Republican) Convention, there was a bunch of haggling about who would be Abraham Lincolns VP.

A telegram was sent offering the position to a well liked military officer named William Rosecrans.

Roseceans agreed, and sent a telegram back. But the telegram never made it.

It’s assumed the Secretary of War used his censorship powers to prevent it from reaching its destination.

The result 18 months later was President Andrew Johnson.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:The EARN IT act is back, and it’s more dangerous than ever by cnelsenmilt on Saturday February 05, 2022 @08:11PM (#30228224)
One way to look at it then is that we have dealt with similar issues before and survived.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:The EARN IT act is back, and it’s more dangerous than ever by pooper on Saturday February 05, 2022 @08:18PM (#30228273)
Not really. I mean logically would you also play Russian roulette repeatedly with no payout just because you haven't died yet?
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:The EARN IT act is back, and it’s more dangerous than ever by vore on Saturday February 05, 2022 @09:30PM (#30228699)
Well, as they say, "past performance is no guarantee of future returns".
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:The EARN IT act is back, and it’s more dangerous than ever by BurningFrog on Saturday February 05, 2022 @08:52PM (#30228473)
Actually, no one involved in the 1876 US election survived.
[ Parent | on HN ]