Twitter should suspend the entire platform until they can credibly fix this and prevent it in the future. An attacker could drop AMZN stock by 10% in minutes with just the wrong tweet from Bezos.
Even worse? How about POTUS declares war on China thru twitter? OMG, I just realized how dumb that would have been to say back in 2016. But these days?
This hack could absolutely get people killed. There are several tweets I can think of from POTUS that would begin immediate military mobilization from an unfriendly country.
what's going on there, the fact it was a draft tweet - is the implication that north korea can read his draft tweets before they are posted? or could at the time?
That’s a scenario I find much less likely than the hundreds of Trump tweets that would set off domestic violence within minutes.
If Trump would tweet what the fringe communities want to hear (example: Trump tweets that state law enforcement have started rounding up people with Hawaii shirts and confiscating their weapons and should be seen as enemy combatants and engaged on sight. That would turn ugly very quickly).
A well crafted tweet about e.g the Taliban could easily put US soldiers abroad in harms way immediately too.
I think you’re overestimating the number of people in the US who would actually respond decisively to something like that. But it’s more than zero, unfortunately, which is too many.
It would with Trump - because we know his diplomacy runs through Twitter. With other presidents like Obama or Bush (did Twitter exist back then?) I would expect the risk is lower.
Yeah, this could've been very bad. I don't buy that it's a test. Twitter is going to fix this. Probably it's a restriction of the exploit that you don't know the posting account or something.
You aren't wrong. If Trump suddenly tweeted that QAnon followers should murder as many leftists as they can and that he'd personally commute their sentences, I think we'd see at least a few people respond by doing what they are told.
All we have here is an announcement. Seriously doubt this was the "official" firing, hiring or promoting of anyone. The statement in the article isn't even from Tillerson, so we don't really know.
> Other nations are not going to read the US law first before deciding if the declaration was or not real
There's a lot more formality to declaring war, for any nation. Not to mention the lack of anything else to support such a statement, like an actual press conference or public statements, media attention or, you know, actual military movement which all capable nations track constantly.
You again? Please stop with the Trump apologism already, we have a trade war that was mostly conducted via twitter, people heard via twitter that their services were no longer required, the whole Mexican affair was conducted via the phone and when that didn't work out led to a slew of angry tweets. There is definitely precedent enough that if Trump's twitter account would speak the right magic words that you can expect a reaction.
"Dear Twitter Followers, It is with grave heart that I have to ask you to do the right thing for your country, go out and do something about - insert bogeyman of the hour here - and I will be sure to reward you greatly. The time has come to do your part. I personally promise to pardon anybody that ends up on the wrong side of what today still is the law. Let's take this country and make it even greater."
That's just a two minute sample, give me an hour or so and I'll come up with something much worse than that. These things are easier to start than to stop.
I think you read far too deep into things you don't like, and try to find something to be upset about. It's kind of the national pastime these days, it seems.
No nation is going to start killing people because of a Tweet. Be realistic.
It detracts from your otherwise valid points when paranoia and blind hatred overshadow your arguments.
The number of posts you've made about the leader of a foreign nation is astonishing. Are there zero domestic problems to be fired up about?
> Sorry, but you don't have the actual insight necessary to understand the complicated local politics of a foreign country.
I've lived in Canada and the United States, I ran a business there and I have more American friends than European ones. I think I'm perfectly capable of understanding American politics. Likely I know more about your political system and it's idiosyncrasies as well as how the legal system works than a large number of Americans. You're more than welcome to criticize the leaders of my nation with cause. But you likely won't even know their names.
> I think I'm perfectly capable of understanding American politics
You're making wild assertions based on supposition and nothing else. Worse, you're using deliberately spun articles to support your nonfactual assertions.
You're getting all worked up about leaders of a foreign nation, that literally have nothing to do with you or have any impact on you. Trump said mean stuff on Twitter so people thousands of miles away should engage?
> You're more than welcome to criticize the leaders of my nation with cause. But you likely won't even know their names.
No I don't, and I don't care. How your nation governs itself is your nation's business, and the entire point I'm making. It's OK to ask questions, or wonder aloud... but to pretend to have a deep understanding and an authoritative judgement on foreign affairs, based on clearly biased opinions disguised as facts is simply unbecoming and devastatingly unproductive.
What you are engaging in is sport... not a civil discourse.
> Worse, you're using deliberately spun articles to support your nonfactual assertions.
Argue the facts then, not the source.
> Trump said mean stuff on Twitter so people thousands of miles away should engage?
Trump said mean stuff on Twitter that has resulted in my friends being more at risk than they should be, people I care about getting gravely ill and quite possibly will result in one or more of them dying. If this sounds like 'fun and games' or a spectator sport to you then I'm sorry, I am not amused.
> You're getting all worked up about leaders of a foreign nation, that literally have nothing to do with you or have any impact on you.
America and the American economy impact the world.
> No I don't, and I don't care.
That's fine by me, but that is your choice and I have made my choice different. The United States well being concerns lots of people outside of the United States. That is the kind of responsibility that comes with being a superpower, like it or not.
> How your nation governs itself is your nation's business, and the entire point I'm making.
And yet, if a foreigner would have something useful to say we'd likely listen. Because typically outside perspective is worth a couple of IQ points.
> It's OK to ask questions, or wonder aloud... but to pretend to have a deep understanding and an authoritative judgement on foreign affairs, based on clearly biased opinions disguised as facts is simply unbecoming and devastatingly unproductive.
And that is your opinion. The whole idea that the media can no longer be trusted unless they clap in sync with the Trump marching orders is ridiculous. If you want some problematic media look no further than Fox news or Breitbart.
> What you are engaging in is sport... not a civil discourse.
So you keep saying. But it isn't a sport to me, it is deadly serious. And lots of American lives are on the line proving that on a daily basis.
The United States well being has deteriorated largely due to people who don't understand our values, priorities, and the sacrifices our citizens have made to ensure our posterity, telling the US how to run itself. I sincerely believe you care and for good reasons. But it’s also not your country that has to feel or deal with the effects of everyone telling the US what is important and how to run their country. Just, keep this in mind.
You've been "following this closely for 3+ years" through the lens of a group of people (journalists) who have political views that are strongly in opposition to that leader. Of course they would tell you that he is unstable, that he is wreaking the country, and so on. Those journalists are even employed by companies that want access to large and powerful countries that dislike a US leader who isn't a pushover in trade negotiations. Given those facts, it would be shocking if you got a fair view of the matter.
Doesn't matter. Imagine, for a moment, a Tweet posted on Trump's account along the lines of Reagan's joke in 1984 [1]:
> Iran has gone TOO FAR! As President I have ordered the use of nuclear weapons against key military targets. We begin bombing in five minutes.
Regardless of the plausibility of the message, it would be likely to trigger a panicked response from foreign militaries. It's not at all implausible that it'd start a war.
Honestly I'm kind of enjoying seeing what it is doing to my feed with only unverified accounts and verified retweets. Twitter hasn't been this much fun in months.
can confirm - my wife has a verified account and a company account and both are unable to tweet, though one can still quote retweet apparently, but probably just a lagging feature flag.
Many powerful actors, including state actors, would love to see Twitter, as a political instrument, go away. It could even be our own, or a dissident group within our own, IC. If someone can get a presidential candidate and an ex-president's twitter account to say what they want, then that is pretty much the end of Twitter as a political tool.
I hadn't really considered that the attack might be against Twitter, the corporation, itself. The BTC thing is obviously too stupid to be the objective, but if you hate Twitter, then would there be a better way to teardown the entire site than doing something like this?
I'm not so sure about that. Sure, it didn't impact THE account or crash the stock of an unaffiliated company, but that proverbial bullet flew close and I bet that quite a few powerful people felt the wind. The "harmless" nature might spare the hackers a bit, but it definitely won't spare Twitter.
Yeah, that would be my hunch too. To gather potentially damaging messages from Obama, et al, and damage Twitter. Interesting that the Russian Foreign Ministry's Twitter was hacked last week. Maybe related (a test or to throw off the scent?): https://www.forbes.com/sites/daveywinder/2020/07/04/hackers-...
It's an interesting coincidence that the "digital guru" Brad Parscale was demoted and another guy promoted at the end of the day. Hopefully it's not related, but the list of Twitter accounts compromised would be an oppo researchers dream (and there could be more accounts compromised that weren't publicly flagged).
