News @lemmy.world Salamendacious @lemmy.world 9 mo. ago

Mike Lindell's $500 Wi-Fi monitoring devices are BANNED from polling stations in Kentucky after My Pillow CEO and election conspiracy theorist claimed signals were tampering with votes

www.dailymail.co.uk /news/article-12658147/Mike-Lindell-Wi-Fi-monitoring-devices-BANNED.html

The MyPillow CEO created the devices to be able to detect and identify Wi-Fi networks at polling stations
But Kentucky officials say they could violate state law and have banned their use
Lindell has been banned from X for spreading false claims about 2020 election fraud

55 comments

Detecting WiFi, in a building where voting machines literally CANNOT connect to WiFi, proves ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.

Doing it in Kentucky is EVEN FUNNIER.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_United_States_presidential_election_in_Kentucky

Donald Trump - 1,326,646 - 62.09%
Joe Biden - 772,474 - 36.15%

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_United_States_Senate_election_in_Kentucky

Mitch McConnell - 1,233,315 - 57.8%
Amy McGrath - 816,257 - 38.2%

Again, arguing about manipulation in an election Trump WON. Do they think the vote should have been 100%? Because that's not going to happen...
- The wifi will activate the 5G nanocells in the "vaccinated" voters and control them to vote the wrong candidate.
- It proves the presence of the unrelated thing, which they've convinced idiots that know nothing about Elections or WiFi is scary magic Vote changing beams, is present.
  
  Too many of them believe that Wi-Fi causes cancer and that COVID was engineered to spare Jews. Our shitty public school system is intentional, keeps us dumb and scared
- I really thought it was odd that, of all the states, Kentucky is the one pushing back on this
What a ridiculous idea. Proving that wifi exists in a polling station means nothing, and gathering the info from people’s phones is definitely a privacy violation in a vote setting. This psycho and his devices should not be allowed anywhere near where people vote in any state.
- The best news from that article is how it recounts that his business is crumbling.
  
  Did you watch the excerpts from his insane deposition? The best parts are when he laments the downfall of his stupid pillow company.
It's not really about voter fraud, it's about sowing seeds of doubt about elections. Hopefully it just discourages his fan from showing up to vote in the first place.
- That's possible
This is the stupidest idea. Do people not realize how many people walk around with hotspot enabled on their phones? It’s so easy to forget it’s still on.
- And how many People don't even know a WiFi Hotspot is a thing.
- Does your phone not turn off hotspot automatically when nothing is connected for a period of time?
  
  Imagine your normal day of using hotspot coupled with needing to vote that day. It would be enabled while voting.
- You're 100% right
This crackhead won't give up. How does he have any money to develop anything with all his legal expenses?
- I mean, he didn't develop anything. It's just a network scanner.
- Well the maga base seem very willing to donate "for the cause" but I'm just guessing
  
  The entire MAGA ideology is based around the adage about fools and their money.
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- It's pretty hard to sell an app for $500
  
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  Especially when there are already several free ones out there.
- The worst part is they don’t even need to make an app. Dozens exist already. I’ve been using Fing for years to help troubleshoot at home.
  
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- Wifi Analyzer, by olgor.com. On Android Play Store. Probably one for iPhone, too.
- This app already exists as part of the wardriving community. WiGLE is the most popular platform for it.
So, he reinvented wardriving as part of his election conspiracy? $500 is expensive when you can just use WiGLE on your phone and accomplish the same thing. Many people were already doing this for a hobby or to help cybersecurity analysts anyway.
Guaranteed they are scraping wifi data to sell to Russians so they can fuck up every election office's wifi on election day.
- That's an interesting point. I wonder where these devices are actually made
If you have an Android phone, Wifiman or WifiAnalyzer (both free apps without ads) can tell you all the specs you could ever need about nearby Wifi access points. I can tell you this, they are usually really boring.

This is another attempt by a right wing conspiracy theorists to scam 500 dollars out from his supporters.
How can conservatives manage being both the joke, and the punchline while thinking anyone is going to take them seriously ever again?

That entire political party is forever ruined. And it’s god damned hilarious how they did it.
- How can conservatives manage being both the joke, and the punchline
  
  Denial is more than just a river
  
  some hand gesture
- Does it matter if they start a civil war? Being on the outside looking in, it seems to be a possible reality.
  
  At this point? As far as I’m concerned… no. It doesn’t matter. Fuck this place. They’re hell-bent on destroying their own country, who am I to stop them? We’ve learned that votes don’t matter- so I say fuck it- let them have their way and let reality show them what reason and logic couldn’t.
If anyone wants a real and fully functional version of this, check out the pwnagotchi. You can build it yourself or you can buy a prebuilt one. Good for on-the-go network analysis.
If I set my phone to serve as a hotspot while I vote, what are the best wifi names I could use to get a laugh or scare people?

I'm thinking something like:

vote count adjuster

ballot changer

vote improvement machine

I'm not terribly creative, let's see what you all can come up with.
What do these Wi-Fi monitoring devices even look like? I can't find a picture of one anywhere or any information about it. Mind you, I do not want to purchase one but I'm just curious about it.
- What are you talking about? The article includes a photo of the device.
  
  https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/10/22/03/76850731-12658147-image-m-7_1697941851681.jpg
  
  I'll forgive someone who can't pick out that picture among all the ads on the site. I also didn't spot it until you pointed it out.
  
  Thanks for posting the image. I didn't see it.
How the fuck does a device like that pass FCC certification?!
- From the article:
  
  'These devices appear to be nothing more sophisticated, or dangerous, than a simple cell phone, which also can detect a Wi-Fi signal,' Michon Lindstrom, director of communications for Secretary of State Michael Adams, said in a statement to the Cincinnati Enquirer.
- It's nothing special - just digital snake oil to make some money and rile up the uninformed

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