The Iowa Caucus last held yesterday morning, instead of the results and the usual controversial talk, the whole thing being a great fight. A full-blown center for the launch of an app released by the Iowa Democratic Party. From Monday afternoon, reports it started filtering out that the app was glittering because of the abscesses and then in the evening, clear those technology difficulty they spread throughout the land.
Earlier reports said the app was intended to be monitored and banned by private entities and the Department of Homeland Security, but the app's manufacturer and how it monitored the application became too closely guarded to reduce the likelihood of interruption to the election – a decision that some professional abuse asked, as confidentiality is not an equal security.
As it turns out, maybe those concerns had a basis. The New York Times report He notes that the app in question was developed just two months ago and has not been sold nationally. The report also quoted Christopher C. Krebs, director of communications at the Homeland Security department, saying his agency had not yet tracked or monitored the app, seemingly at odds a previous NYT report. The other issue was that the app had not yet undergone the end-user test – meaning that the first time most seats came and tried to use the app were on Monday, many downloading for the first time hours before the start of the compass. To make matters worse, it also turns out that party officials and he wasn't trained
Before putting on your tin foil hats, it should be noted that this is not the first time the app has been used during the Iowa Caucus to report results. Similarly, there is no indication that the app has been uninstalled, and that application usage was always optional. The result delay is instead pinned "by quality control," very crowded telephone lines, and the results of double-page tracking.
"We found inconsistencies in reporting three results. In addition to the tech programs used to rank the results, we also use results pictures and paper trackers to ensure that all results are the same and we make sure that we are confident and accurate in the numbers we report," Mandy McClure, Iowa Communications Director for the Democratic Party, said in a statement. written last evening. "This is simply a reporting issue, the app has not slowed down and this is definitely not a hub or an interruption. Basic data and paper tracking are reasonable and will only take the time to report other results. ”
The Iowa Democratic Party doubled that morning, issuing a statement on Twitter which read: “As part of our investigation, we have determined with certainty that the basic information collected through the app was reasonable. While the app accurately records the data, it only extracted the data. We found that this was due to a problem with coding in the reporting system. ”The statement goes on to say that the matter has been identified and corrected, and does not affect the accuracy of all information.
The statement did not specify why the app was reporting only certain data, and that the issue might have been a problem in the beginning with strict verification and testing.
It is important to emphasize that there is a paper trail and each campaign also has its own internal outcome indicators. There are checks and balances to keep everything above board.
The official line does not delete the app for checking. According to LA Times, an application is made by the implementation of a technology called Dignity that is employed by former members of Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign. Its website describes itself as a "permanent partner" who builds a long-standing, isolated, and almost wholly-owned "robot" in the Democratic Party's technological infrastructure and progressive community. "The FEC's disclosure also shows that Pete Buttigieg's campaign has given him dignity $ 42,500 in July 2019 "software rights and subscriptions." That all of that explanation is unclear, but we knew for sure that "Shadow" was a bad idea for branding.
The shadow too arm by ACRONYM, a Democratic nonprofit launched in 2017 that uses "a host of media programs aimed at educating, inspiring, registering and mobilizing voters." In addition to Shadow, ACRONYM was also an investor in Courier Newsroom and Wooden Strategy. The latter is a strategy company founded by Tara McGowan, a journalist who was a digital producer of President Obama's previous campaign. (He is also another founder of ACRONYM himself.) That is, ACRONYM has moved far away from Shadow, saying tweet that it was not a professional supplier to the Iowa caucus and that ", like everyone else, () he is awaiting more information from the Iowa Democratic Party as to what has happened."
Gizmodo reached out to Shadow and ACRONYM, but received no immediate response. Sthunzi had found time to send a task list Client Success Advocate on Wednesday.
All of this is enough to make someone else's head spin, so it's nice to note that the app is also used in forthcoming Nevada caucus. Or you know, given what we know now, the Nevada Democratic Party can make us all stronger and stronger.
Update, 02/04/2020, 2:30 pm:
A few improvements. Senator Mark R. Warner, deputy chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and co-chair of the Senate Cybersecurity Caucus, issued a statement in relation to Iowa. In it, he says, "As the Department of Homeland Security has stated, there is no indication that the failure associated with the app due to the reasons that occurred yesterday evening was caused by a dangerous cyber activity." He also pointed out that the uproar was the result. emphasizing how much the current election system has broken us.
"But what we have also seen is that the chaos has created an environment where illegal substances are now rampant on the Internet, which further undermines confidence in the democratic process," added Senator Warner. "As we have already noted, foreign actors such as Russia and China will not hesitate to enter this kind of content to add to the domestic skepticism and confidence in our elections."
Plus, Shadow himself give peace on Twitter. "We sincerely regret the delay in reporting the results of Iowa's final results yesterday and the uncertainty it has caused to the candidates, their campaigns and the Democratic candidates."
At least, though, it turns out now that Nevada has seen the burner, too I won't use the app. In a statement, William McCurDr. II, chairman of the Nevada State Democratic Party, wrote "NV Dems can confidently say that what happened in the Iowa kitchen last night will not happen in Nevada on February 22nd. We will not use the same application or vendor used in the Iowa caucus. We have already built a series of backups and unwanted reporting programs, and are currently analyzing the best way forward. ”