Beers with Talos Ep. #53: Shiny happy election security (and ninjas)

Recorded May 10, 2019 — Election security has been a dominant headline for some time, so it’s high time we take a look at what that landscape looks like — where we are today, and how we got there in the first place. (Hint: there were deeper unintended consequences than Shiny Happy People on REM’s “Out of Time” album.) We anticipate gathering some first-time listeners due to the topic of this podcast... to you we say welcome, and yes, it’s always like this.

Matt kicks us off today discussing the greatest nerd rock band of all time: Ninja Sex Party. If you haven’t heard of them, you are in the wrong and should fix that quickly.

The timeline:

• 00:45 — Roundtable: The Dark Times are here, so we present to you, Ninja Sex Party.
• 16:15 — Election Security background: Let’s start with secret restaurants and smoking pineapples
• 22:30 — Thanks, Stipe. How REM set us up to fail, and what’s under the hood of the US voting system
• 38:00 — Where we are now versus even a couple years ago
• 53:40 — Closing thoughts and parting shots

Some other links:

• The National Association of Secretaries of State
• The National Association of State Election Directors
• Belfer Center Defending Digital Democracy Project
• U.S. Election Assistance Commission
• Center for Internet Security
• DEFCON Voting Village
• Department of Homeland Security
• Jeanette Manfra on Twitter
• Matt Masterson on Twitter
• Matt Blaze on Twitter
• Election Infrastructure ISAC
• Brennan Center for Justice

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