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Seeing lots of takes on the Iran / proud boys voter intimidation emails. There's lot to be learned from this incident. Here's an attempt to pull together some useful observations into one 
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First, the impressively quick work done to determine that this was a foreign influence operation & publicly disclose this shows a lot has changed since 2016.
Esp appreciate @jsrailton 's insight 2/ https://twitter.com/jsrailton/status/1319058060799860741
Esp appreciate @jsrailton 's insight 2/ https://twitter.com/jsrailton/status/1319058060799860741
But @Reuters is reporting that the evidence that the Iranian government is behind the incident "remains inconclusive.” As @maasalan & @RVAwonk have said, now's the time to pull at threads & demand receipts. 3/
https://twitter.com/maasalan/status/1319120468180336645 https://twitter.com/RVAwonk/status/1319129504456052736
https://twitter.com/maasalan/status/1319120468180336645 https://twitter.com/RVAwonk/status/1319129504456052736
This incident is a reminder that voter registration data is publicly available & can be combined w/commercial databases for purchase. Foreign actors don't necessarily need to hack to access valuable voter data. 4/
@mattblaze makes this point well https://twitter.com/mattblaze/status/1319062307129991169
@mattblaze makes this point well https://twitter.com/mattblaze/status/1319062307129991169
Commercial data (incl. financial info, hobbies, religious affiliation, etc.) can be bought & sold by data brokers to build detailed voting profiles. The lack of a comprehensive data protection law in the US is an election integrity issue. 5/
See: https://ourdataourselves.tacticaltech.org/posts/voter-files/
See: https://ourdataourselves.tacticaltech.org/posts/voter-files/
It's also critical to keep in mind that interference ≠impact. And we don't even know the intent. As @SiminK_ says, the objective may have been media attention and overstating the effect would only embolden Iran. 6/ https://twitter.com/SiminK_/status/1319091015924547584
On intent & attention, @j_littlewood also wisely warns, this may be a trial balloon to hack the media cycle 7/
https://www.politico.com/states/florida/story/2020/10/21/feds-point-to-iran-russia-for-emails-urging-floridians-to-vote-trump-1328913
https://www.politico.com/states/florida/story/2020/10/21/feds-point-to-iran-russia-for-emails-urging-floridians-to-vote-trump-1328913
This incident also demonstrates the risks posed by expired domains , which can be used for phishing and disinformation campaigns. Important thread by @nicoleperlroth here 8/ https://twitter.com/nicoleperlroth/status/1319119876972105729
This incident shouldn't distract from the fact that domestic disinformation & voter suppression loom large ahead of #ElectionDay2020
Read more from @hrw on Protecting Human Rights in the US Elections 9/9 https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/10/15/ten-principles-protecting-human-rights-us-elections
Read more from @hrw on Protecting Human Rights in the US Elections 9/9 https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/10/15/ten-principles-protecting-human-rights-us-elections
