The Wolves of Tech Street

Remember Sammy Sosa, and his corked bat? The same guy that broke the all-time home run record? Then there was Rosie Ruiz who took a shortcut to "win" the Boston Marathon and Julie Miller who cheated in the 2015 Ironman Competition. And remember when Nelson Piquet Jr. purposely crashed his race car to block competitors from catching his teammate, assuring his team's victory in a 2013 Formula One Race?

Athletes and coaches have a long history of using illegal methods to enhance their chances of winning. NCAA coach John Calipari improved the SAT scores of valued prospects. New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichik used video to spy on his opponents practices. The front office of the Houston Astros colluded to steal signs and win the 2007 World Series. Millions of TV viewers saw ice skater Tonya Harding knock the legs out from under her rival Nancy Kerrigan in the 1994 Olympics. Tour de France cyclist 7-time champion Lance Armstrong was deemed the dirtiest cheater in the history of sports after he was caught blood doping. At some point, all of these people were celebrated.

Bernie Maddoff will always be remembered for cheating his investors out of $65 billion. Frank Abagnale Jr. may be the most famous forger and fraud of all time, inspiring the Tom Hanks movie Catch Me If You Can. Jordan Belfort swindled $200 million from a boiler room operation which was later made into the blockbuster film The Wolf of Wall Street. Americans romanticize cheaters because we are fascinated by how easily they get away with their schemes.

With the ubiquity of the internet, breaches of data have exposed millions of innocent Americans to data hackers. Major companies like Equifax, EBay, Adobe, Marriott, LinkedIn and Heartland Payment Systems, though heavily invested in online security systems, have been successfully attacked.

The point is we should not be surprised that people cheat. We should all be vigilant and do our due diligence to protect ourselves and our investments from chiselers. There are wolves out there just waiting to take advantage of us. That is why we put our money in banks protected by Federal Deposit Insurance and we use cyber security systems like Life-Lock and passwords to keep our personal information private, at least to the degree that it is possible.

And when our security is breached, we solicit help from our vendors to restore our data and protect our assets. It can be a pain in the ass, but it is a necessary one. The worst thing we could do is ignore the problem.

But what can we do if we suspect that our vote has been hijacked? Who do we turn to for help? Who or what is in charge of protecting the most precious asset in the execution of our civil duties, the right to vote on our leadership and our laws? 

We know what happens to sports stars and business professionals when they get caught cheating. They are shamed, they lose their celebrity, their careers, their wealth, and sometimes their freedom. But in the political world of elections, where the proverbial wolves are watching the henhouse, where the partisans put themselves in charge of the processes that they themselves benefit from, how do we get honest answers when something goes off the rails?

Some suggest that we should just "Trust the System". FaceBook reminds us a gazillion times a day that our election process has safeguards and is secure from cyber wolves. While millions of Americans believe the recent elections were compromised, The Wolves of Tech Street are telling us that we can trust them, because they have everything under control. 

As for me, that is exactly why I am skeptical.


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