Chapter 15. Propaganda as News and Entertainment

British poet

The public will believe anything, so long as it is not founded on truth.

EDITH SITWELL

In the winter 2004 issue of 2600, a hacker wrote an article about how to break into the website of CBS and alter the voting process for a reality show called Star Search. Although the article was technically accurate and informative, it showed the true limitations of hacking and aptly demonstrated what author Thomas Pynchon once said: “If you can get people to ask the wrong questions, they’ll never find the right answers.”

After describing how easy it was for hackers to manipulate the online voting process, the hacker wondered, “Why is the CBS Star Search online voting security so lax?” Here are two ...

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