Arkansas Republican Senator Tom Cotton told his constituents to be afraid of the Obamacare insurance exchanges on the Internet because, in so many words, “Russian mobsters may steal your identity”.
1.16 Million credit cards were hacked at Staples. Home Depot had more than 50 Million cards hacked. Target had 40 Million cards hacked. Dominos Pizza had 650,000 cards hacked. Has Senator Cotton warned anyone to not shop at Staples, Home Depot, Target or Dominos? Nope.
Not ONE account has been hacked on the government’s exchange, but true to form, Republican Senator Tom Cotton wants us to believe that governments can’t do anything right, the federal government is something to fear, and the “free market” is our savior.
* I know that not a lot of Republicans are reading this, so please feel free to copy, paste or whatever with your Republican pals via email.
…from his own stupid idea of sending a not to Tehran telling them to not bother negotiating with us and just prepare for war?
I’m technically a registered Republican but I’m kind of flighty these days. I’ll try to channel my younger self in answering you.
My day-job is doing backend software for a major identity-theft protection service provider.
Personal information is FAR more at risk in private hands. As nopolitician observed below, Anthem has already been breached.
SSN breaches are far more common in banking sites (and any other private concern that records SSN data) than in government sites — mostly because there are so many more banking sites to breach. The point-of-sale breaches at Target and Home Depot revealed similar private data, and no government agency was involved at all. The HomeDepot breach exploited a vulnerability that is hardwired into every HomeDepot cash register (an obsolete and embedded version of Windows XP dating from 2001) — yes, they are still using them — and whose patch was published ten years prior to the breach.
The immediate cause of the HomeDepot breach was the “free market” profit-driven business model of HomeDepot — they decided to avoid the expense of updating their PoS terminals. Those who claim that private industry is better than government at such matters might do well to examine that presumption in the light of breaches like this.
Mr. Cotton, and Tammy, will have to revert to cash — for EVERY purchase — to gain the “100%” confidence that Mr. Cotton so misleadingly cites.
Just saw a person from the FBI speak on the topic of cyber-crime. You’re at risk everywhere and every time you connect to the Internet.
Also via everything that uses a wireless signal. Think your garage door opener and your car door.
It’s not just your personal data that can cause you a loss. I cringe everything I see real time FB posts from people traveling.
The title of this post implies that Republicans (via Tom Cotton) are somehow less informed than the general population, but it’s not unreasonable that an ordinary person should be (would be?) nervous. There have been Federal Government data losses, though I would agree that there are any number of private breaches and probably you’re less at risk om a .gov site. Most people don’t get that though.
My garage door opener and car remote don’t have any personal information stored in them. If they were hacked, the perpetrator would be able to open a couple of doors I don’t want opened. This would not expose my identity to theft any more than someone’s ability to use a set of lockpicks would. If you’d warned about Internet-enabled refrigerators or the like, you’d have a point. Car and garage-door remotes are about as risky as TV remotes. Naming them as threats seems like fear-mongering.
Mr. Cotton and Tammy weren’t talking about vague threats and garage door openers.
This was a very specific question aimed at bashing Obamacare. Mr. Cotton gave a very specific, and specifically misleading, response.
I think “less informed” is a generous reading of the thread-starter. I think the thread-starter accurately and correctly implied that Republicans are DISHONEST in their attacks, especially any excuse to go after Mr. Obama or anything he has done.
In plain language, Mr. Cotton’s response was a lie, a lie that furthered one of his talking points.
that would be your answer.
Tell me, when the President said “If you like your plan, you can keep it” all those times, was he being dishonest, or was he misinformed? If the latter, why didn’t anyone who knew (and there were people who knew that plans were going to need to be ended) correct him? Who is the dishonest party in that situation?
If you like your plan you can keep it was absolutely the intent of the law. He was neither dishonest nor misinformed, maybe just bad at predicting how insurers and employers would react.
“Soundbites are treacherous”
http://www.healthbeatblog.com/2014/02/did-president-obama-lie-when-he-said-if-you-like-the-policy-you-have-you-can-keep-it-context-is-everything/
Sorry
I know Republicans like to bash Obama, but that’s not what we’re discussing here.
What THIS thread is about is a Senator who should or does know better deceiving constituents and the public about the risk of personal identity theft.
We already know what you think about them in all circumstances so not sure why you even bother to weigh in.
In your world a random comment made by a Republican Rep in an Arkansas campaign event is evidence of a nationwide lie perpetrated by the GOP. while a misleading comment made by the President numerous times to large public audiences and widely disseminated is irrelevant.
n/m
quote from an Arkansas rep (which he was then) who plays into something a voter says. It’s been down a million times before. Should he have discussed the relative risk percentages of accessing government site vs, other site? Probably, but unlikely that would happen. Poster then asks New England Republicans to interpret. Not sure what I would know about it and until people started posting I just ignored it.
I bring up the garage door because we live in a world of new threats. As to the appliances I did bring up connecting to the Internet, which is nonstop now with phones (how safe is that free WiFi anyway?). The Target hackers got in via the HVAC system so probably someday people will hack into your home computer via your fridge.
I do not dispute how devastating some identify theft can be, however I have been hit in a number of the big name attacks, and all that has resulted has been 4 new credit cards and some bogus charges which were reversed. Some aggravation but no actual $$ loss. Accessing the house via a hacked garage door opener, however, that could be costly.
What Mr. Cotton COULD have said is something along the lines of:
“As you know, I have serious reservations about the President’s assurances of continued plan availability and coverage”.
That would have at least been honest, even if I disagree with it. Mr. Cotton instead chose to lie about the risks of identity theft.
THAT was dishonest, deceptive, and — sadly — typical of today’s GOP.
You forgot to mention that Anthem Blue Cross and Premera Blue Cross were recently hacked. That is much more on-topic, especially since so many people can’t actually directly choose their insurance providers (if they get insurance from their employer).
…you shouldn’t omit the part of the post that mentions that this was an exchange in 2013 BEFORE the hacks into Anthem et al. Back when he was in the House. SENATOR Cotton didn’t say this, REP Cotton did.
The point is that Mr. Cotton (whether “Representative Cotton” or “Senator Cotton”) lied about the risk of identity theft in order to score cheap headlines and political points.
Identity theft is a major problem. Identity theft is FAR more prevalent in private industry than in government. The risk of identity theft is, in fact, a major reason NOT to rely on private health insurers.
“You have attributed conditions to villainy that simply result from stupidity.”
—Robert A. Heinlein
I suppose it asks to much to expect a US Representative (or Senator) to actually KNOW something about a topic he or she chooses to flame about.
I’m certainly willing to accept that Mr. Cotton spoke out of sheer ignorance.