Mark Kennedy Pretends to Take Site Down
Talk about blatant, childish, transparent opportunism. Mark Kennedy is apparently so spooked that he's taken his site down. The internets is crawlin' with krazy kritters - lockdown! Oh, except you can still give him money. I guess that part of the internets is somehow safer than the static, public web pages.
There's only one problem. Mark Kennedy didn't really take down his web site at all, underscoring the fact that this is a lame stunt for a campaign trailing in the polls. DFLSenate has all the details. Here's the short version.
You can still access his other pages. If you hit your "stop" button fast and look at the source, you'll see this:<!-- remove refresh when kennedy wants to get site back -->
<meta http-equiv="Refresh" content="0;url=http://www.markkennedy06.com/default.aspx" />
I can just imagine the poor Kennedy web staffer rolling their eyes when Kennedy said, "Take my site down! But, you know - don't really take it down." Every page is there but has a little command directing it to the home page. This serves absolutely no security purpose and shows how desparate the Kennedy campaign is to take advantage of the inflated interest in Minnesota cyberpolitick. Really, it's just an extension of Republican fear-mongering. Pathetic.
The Star Tribune is working on a story about online ethics and law, to be published tomorrow. My choice quote, which I hope they use: Stephen Colbert talks about "truthiness" - Internet culture has "sleuthiness."
posted by Chuck Olsen @ 3:09 PM |
| 
10 Comments:
Yeah, I viewed his site on the Opera browser, with redirects disabled. I didn't notice any "shutdown" at all!
This is comedy gold for computer geeks. (But a sad commentary on American politics)
"Minneapolis blogger Chuck Olsen said Kunin's foray into the website reflects an ethic of discovery among the Internet generation. "When you come from a computer or an Internet background, there's this attitude of 'Let's see what we can find,' " Olsen said. "It's not like hacking. It's just the way things work on the Web."
Jeeze Chuck...to bad you weren't around in 1972. Richard Nixon could have used a guy like you.
You mean someone smart, incredibly handsome, honest, and knows how to use computers? Yes, I suppose he could have used a guy like me.
Hi Chuck,
This whole Mark Kennedy "website hacking" imbroglio reminds me: progressives really have the edge on these reactionary dimwits when it comes to technology.
Witness the Northern Alliance Radio Network's super top secret private blog.
OMFG, did I just br8k th3 l@w?! Let me check my HTTP headers...
telnet www.northernallianceradio.com 80
Trying 63.247.142.13...
Connected to northernallianceradio.com.
GET /brideofnarn/ HTTP/1.1
HOST: www.northernallianceradio.com
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
I guess it's OK. I asked for this document, and the server gave it to me. If my access to the NARN's "private" blog were truly illegal, the server would have given me a response code of "401 Unauthorized" or "403 Forbidden."
The same is true for Kennedy's website. It's a publicly accessible website; Kennedy staffers tried to hide confidential information behind a bush in plain view of the entire world. Now they're trying to cover their technical incompetence with specious bluster.
What a farce.
Jason,
Aw, you leftoids are so cuuute when you have a new toy!
Of course, you miss the deeper issue - but then, if you had a facility for deeper issues, you'd be a conservative!
For a response, go...well, you gotta know where I'm gonna post it, doncha?
Speaking of new toys, have you found conclusion to your epic battle with WordPress? All that teeth-gnashing and gear-grinding coming from your site is more precious yet.
Conservatives working with new technology is almost like watching a caveman make fire.
CAVEMAN 1
Ogg make fire!
CAVEMAN 2
Ogg hide fire from upright biped?
CAVEMAN 1
Ogg smart! Ogg hide fire behind big rock!
CAVEMAN 2
Big rock? OK, good security!
NOT MUCH LATER
CAVEMAN 2
Ogg! Upright biped walked around rock! Fire compromised!
CAVEMAN 1
D'oh! Ogg get bigger rock next time!
Kinda like watching liberal gimps wrestle with ethics.
NOAH: "Hey, there's a Plasma TV set in that house!"
MICAH: "Look, it's a cheap door!"
NOAH: "Why these people know NOTHING about door security!"
MICAH: "They DESERVE to lose their TV!"
NOAH: "And we deserve to HAVE it!"
No, Jason, I don't get to play geek full-time. I'm a single parent and a freelance software designer, so I don't get to play with cool toys. Give me a choice between learning more boring computer security BS and another instrument, I'll take the music.
It's like this: you know computer security (or at least how to get answers out of Apache, whoop di doo!), but you have no sense of ethics or right or wrong. I could care less about spending a Sunday like today noodling about with my only friend the computer, but I have a keen sense of right and wrong.
In a day or two, I can learn security; in that same time, you will still be a pretty depraved, solopsistic little fop.
But if feeling technologically superior brings you some feeling of arousal, by all means run with it. I'd hate to deny your life whatever meaning it might have.
Oh, and thanks for caring about my "epic battle" (ultimately, an hour or two of eventually-successful noodling) with WordPress. I have to update the CSS to make it look like I want; I'd never really learned it. Waiting for a Sunday with shitty weather when I don't have the kids OR billable work to do.
And boy, will it be cool when THAT happens!
so when do we get to see the gimps wrestling the cavemen?
You book it, I cook it. Or whatever.
(or, as you wacky internet kidz say, "wH@t3v3R...")
I get Swiftee!
Post a Comment
<< Home