I have probably been overly optimistic regarding the benefits of an open Internet and continually try to determine for myself if there is a way to salvage what I saw as the potential. I read a lot about the vulnerabilities of the online behavior mostly focused on personal privacy and manipulation. Less of my time has been focused on the efforts of nation states to direct attacks of different types. Both issues are easy enough for most to avoid, but these are not issues without conseqiuences for all.
I just finished Dawn of the Code War: America’s battle against Russia, China, and the rising global cyber threat coauthured by John Carlin and Garrett Gaff. John Carlin was the assistant attorney general for national security during the Obama administration. The book covers the online damage caused by North Korea, Iran, China, and Russia. Russia, Iran, and North Korea to weaken the United States and China to steal military and corporate secrets.
The Russian meddling in the presidential election of 2016 was covered in the final chapter. There was a few things in the account of this event. The specific insight I gained from this chapter was that national security experts were aware of and tracking Russian meddling. President Obama was conflicted about making a strong public statement on Russian efforts for fear of being accused of attempting to use his office to influence the election. In September an effort was made to take a bipartism statement on Russian meddling by involving Mitch McConell and Paul Ryan, but the Republican leaders refused to publicly acknowledge Russian activity in this collaborative way. What was not said, but I assume, was that Democratic leaders made the decision not to push that matter until after the election because it was thought Hillary would win.