Hill, The

[Commentary] When it comes to electing their next president, Americans want a candidate to vote for — not just someone to vote against. American voters want the perspective of an outsider who can bring an entrepreneurial perspective to the White House. They aren't opposed to experience in governing — so long as it doesn't bring with it an addiction to crony capitalism and the fruits thereof. And they want a candidate who looks after American interests and doesn't use war to destabilize already volatile regions of the world like the Middle East. I’m running for President to offer that alternative.

I'm a strong believer in our Constitutional rights to civil liberties and privacy. Our government should not be spying on the electronic communications of American citizens. Nor should our iPhones or Android devices be subject to unreasonable searches and seizures. One of the biggest concerns that many voters have with both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, but particularly with Clinton, is the sense that she uses government power to advance her personal and political interests. Having been governor of New Mexico, I know that legislation gets passed to benefit those who have money and influence. Then they buy more money and influence. That’s one reason why, as governor, I vetoed more than 750 bills and thousands of line items. I did it to keep crony capitalism away from government. Americans can find sanity and principle by voting Johnson/Weld in 2016.

[Gary Johnson is the Libertarian Party's presidential nominee. His running mate is former Massachusetts Gov Bill Weld]

[Commentary] Multiple news organizations have been banned from reporting on an important politician and events of international significance. That politician has threatened to sue journalists and others who say unfavorable things about him. Reporters from major media outlets who try to cover political events are trashed by that politician who questions their honesty and trustworthiness. Who am I talking about? If you said the almost-deposed Turkish strongman Recep Tayyp Erdogan you’d be close. I’m actually talking about Donald Trump, but there are a lot of similarities between the Turkish president and our very own insecure GOP presidential candidate.

Trump is a man used to running things his own way, and having people do his bidding whether they agree with him or not. He is not accustomed to any dissent and we know from his actions to date that he will go to whatever lengths possible to prevent journalists from telling us about the real Trump. Given his actions so far, don’t be surprised if Trump bans many more new outlets between now and November, and finds more ways to keep journalists from his campaign events. He knows that’s the only way he can win the White House.

[Bamberger is a political journalist.]

[Commentary] 240 days. That’s how long it's been since Hillary Clinton last held this thing called a press conference. How long is 240 days? With the NFL preseason set to kick off this week, let's put it this way: You can play not one, but two NFL regular seasons back-to-back in that period of time. December 4, 2015. That was the date that the Democratic nominee last spoke to the embedded press corps that follows her every move and knows the campaign better than anyone.

So many interviews we've seen of Clinton during this campaign consist on one theme: Her always being asked to respond to something her opponent said or did. And when each interview is done, viewers watching at home walk away still having little idea what Clinton's campaign is actually about other the need to defeat Trump. But while going on Fox News and facing hard questions is noteworthy (Clinton has only done so three times since 2014), it's not a press conference... something the media seems to be letting her skate on despite not holding one in 2016.

Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s top digital operative said that she sees it as a victory if they can use content online to "personally" distract GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump. “If we can distract him personally for 15 minutes a day, I’ll take that as a win,” said Jenna Lowenstein. “He’ll go on a rant on TV about something that took us an hour to make and he’s been thinking about it for 36 hours.”

Lowenstein said, however, that the bulk of the campaign's efforts on Twitter were focused on persuading voters and making the campaign's case. Clinton’s campaign has been willing to engage directly with Trump on Twitter, despite the real estate developer’s aggressiveness on the platform and willingness to engage in tweet wars. In talking about the campaign's digital strategy, Lowenstein also referenced a joke that originated with Twitter user Mark Hammer in June: “The genius of the Trump Clinton Twitter war of 2016 is that it consumes Trump's every waking minute & Clinton doesn't know it's happening.”

The Illinois State Board of Elections online voter registration has been hacked. Earlier, McLean County Clerk Kathy Michael posted a letter to Facebook she claimed was sent to election authorities from Kyle Thomas, the director of voting and registration systems for the board of elections While the letter says the attackers retrieved voter records, it makes clear attackers were limited in what they accessed. “We have found no evidence that they added, changed, or deleted any information in the database. Their efforts to obtain voter signature images and voter history were unsuccessful,” the letter said. The letter also explains the attacks — or the clean up — had caused outages in online voting for the past week.

The investigation into the breach is ongoing. “We’re in the process of analyzing the tracks left by the attack,” Ken Menzel, general counsel, told the The Southern Illinoisan. The attackers took advantage of a programming flaw in the website’s database. The attack, known as a “SQL injection,” occurs in databases using the SQL programming language. Unless a programmer specifically prevents it, SQL databases can be tricked into running commands entered by any website visitor. It is a very common attack. “We are in the process of determining the exact number of voter records and specific names of all individuals affected,” the letter says.

Sen Bernie Sanders (I-VT) supporters tore into the Democratic National Committee (DNC) on social media after a leaked e-mail appeared to show a DNC official plotting to question Sanders's religion. The e-mail, written by Chief Financial Officer Brad Marshall and leaked by the DNC hacker Guccifer 2.0 to WikiLeaks, suggests sending a surrogate to ask an unnamed candidate whether that candidate believed in God. The e-mail does not name the Vermont senator, but it talks about a man of “Jewish heritage” Marshall believes to be an atheist. It makes reference to voters in Kentucky and West Virginia, two states that were weeks away from a Democratic primary at the time.

"It might may no difference, but for KY and WVA can we get someone to ask his belief. Does he believe in a God. He had skated on saying he has a Jewish heritage. I think I read he is an atheist. This could make several points difference with my peeps. My Southern Baptist peeps would draw a big difference between a Jew and an atheist,” said the e-mail, to other party officials in its entirety. Marshall did not respond to a request for comment. But he did say, “I do not recall this. I can say it would not have been Sanders. It would probably be about a surrogate.”

Microsoft is pushing back a key component of a French government agency’s recent accusations. On July 20, the Commission Nationale de l’Informatique et des Libertés (CNIL) ordered the software company correct a list of problems in Windows 10 it claimed threatened the privacy of French citizens. CNIL, which regulates data privacy, gave the company three months to do so before it would consider punitive measures. Microsoft vice president and deputy general counsel David Heiner issued a statement denying one of the charges. CNIL alleged that Microsoft was still transferring data to the United States under Safe Harbor policies that no longer apply to the US. Safe Harbor is a European Union policy that allows consumer data to be stored abroad so long as it receives the same protections as EU law.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation is suing the government to remove a controversial clause in a long-controversial copyright law. The digital liberties organization is suing to remove "anti-circumvention" restrictions from Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), long a thorn in civil libertarians' craw. The DMCA was signed in 1998. Originally intended to protect the arts industries from online privacy, it included “anti-circumvention” provisions that prohibit breaking any digital safeguards that protected copyrights. For example, a user could no longer disable the copy protection on a video tape.

The rule bothers groups like the EFF because it limits what people can do with the devices and products they own, even when it has nothing to do with violating the actual copyrights. On July 21, the EFF filed a lawsuit stating that anti-circumvention provisions violate the constitutionally protected freedom of expression. “If future generations are going to be able to understand and control their own machines, and to participate fully in making rather than simply consuming culture, [anti-circumvention] has to go,” said EFF attorney Kit Walsh in a press release announcing the suit

Sen Ed Markey (D-MA) is pushing to increase Internet access in the developing world with new legislation. The Driving Innovation and Growth in Internet Technology And Launching Universal Access to the Global Economy Act (DIGITAL AGE) would provide the State Department a “Special Representative for the Global Connect Initiative,” a face for the Global Connect Initiative it announced in April.

While 80% of the developed world has access to the Internet, less than 40% of the developing world has that access. The Global Connect Initiative aims to shepherd an additional 1,500,000,000 people online by 2020. The special representative would be an ambassador for the program to other nations, private business and US agencies. The president would appoint the special representative with approval from Congress. The bill would fund the position, three staff members and an additional $200,000 to be spent on the broader initiative. DIGITAL AGE further appropriates $5 million to the Overseas Private Investment Corporation in furtherance of getting the developing world online and $1million to USAID to create “digital literacy” programs. It also directs the president to create a more comprehensive plan in bringing the internet to the developing world.

Tens of millions of Americans are tuning into the Republican National Convention to hear from Donald Trump and the party’s rising stars from across the nation. But when television networks cut to commercial, viewers will see a different story — one dominated entirely by Democrats and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.

The presumptive Democratic nominee’s campaign is spending $4.9 million on television advertisements this week across 32 media markets in nine swing states. The Trump campaign has not aired a television advertisement for months; two pro-Trump groups are spending just $105,000 on TV ads boosting the GOP nominee this week. Clinton’s campaign is spending most heavily in Florida, where it has committed $1.1 million on broadcast and cable television commercials in eight media markets throughout the state. She’ll appear in the Sunshine State on July 22 and 23 for events. The campaign is spending $922,000 this week in Ohio — including $250,000 on broadcast and cable television in the Cleveland market, where Republicans are holding their convention. By contrast, Trump’s supporters are virtually ceding the airwaves during the convention: The National Rifle Association is spending just $34,000 on cable television advertisements in four Iowa markets. Rebuilding America PAC, a pro-Trump outside group, is spending $71,000 on national cable television ads.