This article was published on July 27, 2016

Trump’s expert opinion on email: it can… be… hacked


Trump’s expert opinion on email: it can… be… hacked

Republican Presidential nominee Donald Trump it seems, isn’t much of a fan of email. In fairness, he’s also not much of a fan of immigrants, women, muslims, the disabled, reporters, African-Americans, Asians, prisoners of war, latinos, our president, or other politicians.

“I’m not an email person. I’m not an email person myself. I don’t believe in it ’cause I think it can be hacked, for one thing. But when I send an email, I mean… if… if I send one, I send one almost never. I’m just not a believer in email. A lot of people have told me that, including Hillary.”

Let me pour a drink while we try to decipher this. I’ve come to understand that the only want to make sense of a Trump statement is to drink until it makes sense. I don’t care if it’s only 9am, I have to do this… for science.

So, he doesn’t seem to prefer email. Got it. Easy enough.

He thinks it can be hacked. We do too. Then again, I don’t see The Donald grabbing Telegram (or WhatsApp) to send secure, end-to-end encrypted messages. Whether relying on carrier pigeon, snail mail, or the phone — you’d be hard-pressed to find a means of communication that was completely secure.

Next is where he loses me completely. Maybe you guys can help me out. Is he saying that others have told him that he doesn’t like email?

Or maybe a lot of people (including Hillary) have told Trump that email can be hacked. I’m unclear.

If the latter, that’s good advice, and Hillary would definitely know. But, being forced to rely on Hillary Clinton for advice about email is… probably not the best idea.

No matter what Trump is trying to say, his words are terrifying.

Our next President will be forced to play a role in an on-going encryption debate, protecting critical infrastructure from overseas hackers, and determining how much data large companies and government agencies can collect. The fact that Trump doesn’t use email — or understand how to make it secure — is a giant step back from an Obama administration that tried to push government toward better handling of cyber threats through policy that mirrored the world we live in — although they weren’t all winners.

By all accounts, the US is behind in its efforts to thwart cybercrime. Trump, it seems, has other priorities.

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