Claims by Joy Reids Cybersecurity Expert Fall Apart

[melman]

MSNBC host Joy Reid claims that recently unearthed homophobic articles attributed to her are fakes. And she says a cybersecurity consultant has proof that her old blog has been hacked.

But that consultant, Jonathan Nichols, had trouble producing the promised evidence. And what he did produce failed to withstand scrutiny, according to a Daily Beast analysis. Blog posts that Nichols claimed do not appear on the Internet Archive are, in fact, there. The indicators of hacked posts don’t bear out.

---

To support the screenshot forgery allegation, Nichols pointed to six images in the @Jamie_Maz Twitter timeline that he said were definitely not written by Reid nor posted by a hacker, but instead were outright fabricated images of posts that never appeared on the site. "The most obvious one was an instance where—it’s an easy one, it'll stick in your head— [@Jamie_Maz] says Joy made statements about Eddie Murphy. It's obviously false, she never made that claim."

Nichols said those six posts are nowhere to be found in the Internet Archive. But that is not true.

Further searching on the Internet Archive turned up the posts for all six of the screenshots Nichols described as fakes, including the one about Eddie Murphy. The Internet Archive’s records indicate they were retrieved and stored between 2006 and 2009. And all six are exactly as they appear in the screenshots. A random check of other screenshots attributed to the blog produced the same result: none of the images are faked or doctored.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/claims-by-joy-reids-cybersecurity-expert-fall-apart

[Demsrule86]

1. Not buying it...but even if true would not care...right wing bullshit...who is next?

[melman]

3. The Daily Beast is right wing bullshit?

How so? It's cited here all the time.

[melman]

10. Blatant and baseless personal attack

[emulatorloo]

13. You have the posts to prove it

You freak out when ever anyone justifiably criticizes the BOB movement or Bernie to Trump voters, and you will say anythingto silence legit criticism of Sanders questionable votes and gaffes.



You have an investment in lying about Reid, and you have zero shame in getting in bed with egregious right wingers like Tucker Carson to score cheap political points.

[melman]

15. Show me a lie I posted about Reid

Show me now. You can't.

[LanternWaste]

33. It's adorable how people justify pretense and disingenuous behavior

It's adorable how people justify the use of pretense and disingenuous behavior by advertising to everyone that they're not in fact, lies.

No... of course they're not-- that's precisely what makes pretense and disingenuous behavior so convenient.

[Scurrilous]

63. "Show me now. You can't."

Of course they can't. They had a reply alerted on and removed and can no longer post on this thread. But I'm pretty sure you knew that.

[George II]

12. Bazinga! Thanks!

[JCanete]

22. that is over the line. You should reconsider. If you think that melman is posting in bad faith

you should alert or appeal to melman directly, as I am to you now, rather than just talking trash about a fellow DUer's character.

there are a range of reasons why people don't like Joy Reid on the left, some of which stem from her own attacks on those on the left, including Sanders supporters, etc. with as little generosity as being afforded to her here. That said, I think she as much as anybody deserves to be given the benefit of the doubt, and that people should check themselves if they are actively engaged in trying to destroy her for their own personal animosities with her. As she should do...as DUers across the spectrum should do.

And if in the end, she was found to have posted these things, then I think an owning up to them and growing from the education is good enough for me. I will certainly sign no petition attempting to get her removed(although I'm no particular fan).

[George II]

16. According to them, Daily Beast "investigated" the claim?

[Demsrule86]

64. The Daily beast fell for right wing bullshit and because of their actions I cancelled my

subscription. Don't jump on the Right wing bullshit bandwagon and expect me to fund you...stand up for progressives. And this started in right wing media and the far left has jumped on it too...strange partnership that...as there is nothing in it for progressives if the GOP manages to destroy her with a little help from some who are supposed to be our friends.

[emulatorloo]

2. Melman, super-defensive about BOBs and Bernie to Trump voters, falls apart

[Exotica]

4. So they are not going to reinstate her column??

[EffieBlack]

5. I'll wait to hear from the FBI

But your yeoman efforts to play online junior cybersleuth are duly noted.

[emulatorloo]

8. +1.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

17. I'm with you on that Effie. Seems reasonable to wait for FBI investigation & facts to come out.

[oberliner]

24. There is no reason why anyone would hear from the FBI

One of the blog posts was posted to DU at the time. Do you not find that convincing?

[lapucelle]

27. The FBI is investigating the hack.

“We have received confirmation the FBI has opened an investigation into potential criminal activities surrounding several online accounts, including personal email and blog accounts, belonging to Joy-Ann Reid,” said her lawyer, John H. Reichman, in a statement provided by MSNBC. “Our own investigation and monitoring of the situation will continue in parallel, and we are cooperating with law enforcement as their investigation proceeds.”

http://variety.com/2018/tv/news/joy-reid-attorney-fbi-investigation-hacking-1202788220/

[stevenleser]

38. Sure there is reason, the FBI is investigating this issue. And from what I have heard they

have already indicated that there is reason to believe hacking of her blog has occurred. The unknown is whether the post in question was one of the hacks.

I am leaning in that direction. You can't post what it is alleged that she posted on a liberal leaning blog with a fair amount of traffic and not receive responses and pushback, yet what we know right now is that there were zero responses to those posts.

[Eliot Rosewater]

51. What site am I ...never mind.

[Kingofalldems]

39. Oops.

[QC]

42. Maybe the KGB inserted that post into DU during the post-election hack. n/t

[Pathwalker]

9. LET IT SINK.

n/t

[George II]

11. SMH...........

[struggle4progress]

14. Harper Valley PTA

[ProudLib72]

18. ....

[oberliner]

19. DU is cited in this article

But at least one of the entries was contemporaneously referenced on a completely different website. A Feb. 6, 2007 post containing the line “most straight guys (and women) do react with winces at the sight of two men kissing on the lips” drew a comment on the Democratic Underground forum the same day: “Oh, Reidblog... why, why why…”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/claims-by-joy-reids-cybersecurity-expert-fall-apart/

[malaise]

20. You sure love this crap

[musette_sf]

50. +1

[Eliot Rosewater]

52. To be fair the future of the human race is at stake. there is a very serious reason why

liberals are attacked.

[OnDoutside]

21. So what's your end game with this, melman ?

In an era when we know that there are Right Wing takedowns of those on the Left in the media & politics, and at a time when we know of the running feud between the Sanders and Reid, I support Reid as I support Franken.

[melman]

23. I don't have an endgame

This is an article from the Daily Beast. Perhaps you recall that Joy Reid is a columnist there. Earlier in the week they announced they were suspending her column pending the results of an investigation. This article details what they found in that investigation.

[ehrnst]

43. By Kevin Poulsen.

Are you familiar with him?

[TheSmarterDog]

25. So, Reid's Wordpress blog secirity was so great in 2006, that nobody, but nobody could crack it.

Therefor all the posts are real. Even though nobody remembers them & nobody commented on them.

But in an era when every one of the states' election commission servers were hacked, the DNC was hacked, the RNC was hacked, the Trump campaign was hacked, the Clinton campaign was hacked, the Sanders campaign was hacked, Facebook has been hacked, Twitter has been hacked, Google has been hacked, Verizon has been hacked, and literally every website in the world is vulnerable - we're supposed to believe the Internet Archive is the one site in all existence that isn't?

Yeah, sure.

[mythology]

32. Perhaps you missed that one of the posts was linked to on DU

The claim is implausible and when the first claim presented fell apart so easily, you should be skeptical of the rest.

[TheSmarterDog]

36. These accusations never passed the smell test.

[QC]

54. Maybe the KGB inserted that post into DU during the post-election hack. n/t

[Dr Hobbitstein]

26. Many here are afraid of the truth. NT

[BoneyardDem]

29. I don't think so...many are tired of seeing others carry water for Republicans on DU

many are tired of those playing the RW cards and many are tired that above all else of sabotaging any outspoken liberal. It's important to realize who the real villain is, without so called progressives muddying the waters and deflecting from what should be a the real goal. There is one job right now, and tearing into the good liberal voices, isn't it.

There is really no point in you pressing the false narrative that libs are afraid of anything right now.

[Dr Hobbitstein]

31. But the narrative isnt false.

Unless you believe in time traveling hackers.

Pro-tip: One can be both opposed to Republicans and opposed to lying pundits who swing left.

[BoneyardDem]

45. while you play your game

the RW thanks you.

and truly it's the game of politics....you decide which rules applies and when, but don't expect others to jump on the bandwagon of "eating their own" as the way to win. THE RW have mastered the game of politicking in showing a solid core and force, regardless of the faults of their officials and representatives.

Dems would do well to at least try to play by those same rules until after we are in control of both houses and even the WH....after that justifying the crucifixion (I tend to think it's more crucifiction) of our own can be debated.

[Dr Hobbitstein]

57. I'm not playing a game.

I'm looking at the facts being reported in the REPUTABLE media (Washington Post, The Atlantic, The Daily Beast), not the right wing rags. I don't care what she said 10 years ago. I do care that she is lying about it.

[BoneyardDem]

59. you are playing politics.

you are not playing to win. You are helping the wrong crowd. I have no more time to be spent on that type is foolish game playing.

Good day.

[Dr Hobbitstein]

60. Nope, I'm after truth.

Regardless of which side is victorious, truth is the most important.

[Ninsianna]

47. But it kind of is, unless you don't understand what everyone

is actually saying about how this archive can be easily hacked and screenshotted.
Pro tip, when jumping on board a right wing and Putin conducted train, understand that this is supporting Republican tactics and talking points and punching pundits because of the shared biases with those groups, there is nothing left about supporting familiar lying tactics

Unless you actually think Sputnik, RT, and Breitbart are concerned about the sensibilities of the LGBT community, in which case, I've got some beautiful apartments in a Trump branded property to sell you!

[Dr Hobbitstein]

56. I was getting my info from The Atlantic, Washington Post, and The Daily Beast

Pretty sure NONE of those are carrying water for the RW.

Plus, one of the very messages she claims was planted was posted right here on DU in 2007.

Also, it's not one archive. It's a LOT of archives. Library of Congress, Wayback Machine, et al. It would be QUITE difficult to hack ALL of them to have the same information, which was crawled and timestamped 10 years ago.

[LanternWaste]

34. I'd pretend that's the case also.

I'd pretend that's the case also.

I'd also imply a lack a certain lack of courage on my part by not directing my words to any specific target, but rather use a generic pronoun to better hide behind.

[Iggo]

35. Many get what you're saying. (n/t)

[BoneyardDem]

28. How often do post Dem bashing Ops vs Trump bashing OPs?

just curious.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

30. I think she received some really bad advice from this crackpot cyber security expert

They painted themselves in a corner with that very specifically tailored apology in December. And then tried to remove the archived evidence of the other posts with the robot text commands.



I mean how much of a cyber expert can this guy be? Could he be dumb enough to think The Way Back Machine was the only archive? Sure looks like it.

This so called cyber expert tried to clean up his own ties to white supremacists by deleting and locking down his twitter posts. Who is dumb enough to think that would work?

The guy got caught bragging about being friends and attending the prison release party of The Daily Stormer editor.

The guy is a loon. He bragged about being able to influence events in Libya

[Blue_Adept]

44. Wow this guy is a piece of work

Gotta love the "alpha soldier" types.

[Ninsianna]

48. are you reying on the reporting of right wingers on mediaite

When your sources for right wing smears are obvious right wingers, it's time to check the bias and do better research.

[George II]

40. You might want to google "Kevin Poulsen", who wrote that Daily Beast article.

[dsc]

49. I just did and his wikopedia makes him sound like he would know what he is talking about

and he seems to have some journalistic chops as well. Honestly I am more impressed with the article now.

[George II]

55. Yes it looks like he knows what he's talking about, and also could even be....

....the person who altered Reid's posts. He's got quite a shady (and felonious) background:

http://articles.latimes.com/1993-09-12/magazine/tm-34163_1_kevin-poulsen

And he doesn't exactly run around in the best circles:

https://steemit.com/smartcryptotrade/@cryptosteven/the-wikileaks-tech-guru-who-helped-get-clinton-emails-found-dead

I'm not inclined to believe anything that guy says.

[0rganism]

41. i don't understand why Joy didn't just apologize, say she's had a change of heart since then

no need to claim she was hacked even if it's true. make a lot of public statements repudiating her alleged prior viewpoint, and eventually everyone moves on from this without extended repercussions.

instead Joy's burning her own rep. needlessly. what the hell does she gain from doing this?

above all, journalists (not right-wing "entertainers" posing as journalists) need to be perceived as credible or they'll wither away. her assertions of hacking and foul play are not holding up well. the longer this saga continues, the more she's tainted with the appearance of dishonesty, and the harder it will be to re-establish credibility. for her, a loss of credibility will be far more damaging then a prior bout with homophobia, which is far too common in this society anyway, she could have turned this issue into a winner but instead, in a flurry of completely unforced errors, she's torching her own career. all i can figure is someone she trusts gave her extremely poor advice.

[6000eliot]

46. If you buy into this bullshit, it's on you. I left DU a year ago and am never coming back.

I do lurk sometimes and have noticed shit stirrers like this stirring the same shit about Reid using the same rehearsed responses over and over. BTW, go ahead and report and get this post taken down. I DO NOT CARE. I left DU a year ago and am never coming back.

[Eliot Rosewater]

53. Liberals, democrats are under attack ...no doubt about it.

[montana_hazeleyes]

58. I look at this as if my house were on fire and

my kids are inside ready to burn up and neighbors are running to help and I say "Oh, you can't help Sam. You said some things 10 years ago I don't like. And " No Jim, you've been a great neighbor but a woman accused you of making her uncomfortable so go away"

I'd rather let my house burn down with my kids inside.

HEY FOLKS! OUR WORLD IS ON FIRE AND WE ARE ALL AT RISK! Why are some trying to reject the ones trying to help???????????????????

[lapucelle]

61. I trust Joy and the FBI more than I trust the Daily Beast "expert".

Kevin Poulsen (Dark Dante)
Pleaded guilty to seven counts of mail, wire and computer fraud, money laundering and obstruction of justice; sentenced to 51 months in prison and ordered to pay $56,000 in restitution

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_computer_criminals#cite_note-Digital_Underworld-8

Mr Poulsen, who was sentenced to five years in a federal penitentiary, as well as being banned from using computers or the internet for 3 years after his release, was the subject of a biography published in 1997.

https://www.amazon.com/Watchman-Twisted-Crimes-Serial-Poulsen/dp/0316528579/ref=la_B000AQ3XJ4_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1524871057&sr=1-3

While Mr. Poulsen has admirably reinvented himself since he was released from prison, he still appears to have some unusual hobbies.

Link to tweet

[gibraltar72]

62. The proof to me of Joys innocence

she turned it over to law enforcement. I don't think she would do that if guilty. Facing false police report charge would be pretty catastrophic. Besides which I think she's a hypophobe not a homophobe. Let the first person who hasn't used the term Mann Coulter or miss Lindsey cast the first stone.

[oberliner]

65. Law enforcement still looking into the claims?