Blake Dowling, Author at Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Blake DowlingJanuary 12, 2019

I have a radical idea. Make marijuana illegal everywhere. For those who will see no ill effects, plenty more will see adverse consequences if recreational marijuana is made legal in Florida one day. Ten-year minimums (and things of that nature) need to go away for weed crimes, but an inconvenient truth to all this hippie […]

Blake DowlingJanuary 3, 2019

We did our first media collaboration of 2019 this week. Tallahassee’s Ava Van Valen with ABC/WTXL did a story on what to expect from the tech landscape in the coming year. But first, Ava Van Valen is just about the coolest name ever. Agree? Back to the story at hand: How will new tech effect […]

Blake DowlingDecember 22, 2018

As we end the year, I would like to thank all of those in public service that serve our great nation and state. It has been a long year of politics with heated battles and recounts; they are now behind us. What lies ahead? According to the Assistant U.S. attorney Steve Kunz, we have an […]

Blake DowlingDecember 4, 2018

Last month, I wrote a piece for Florida Politics about breaches. There is a scheme going around where hackers utilize stolen data from past breaches to make phishing and ransomware schemes look more legit. My point was this: Our reactions to breaches are not focused as we worry about notifications of the breach more than […]

Blake DowlingNovember 26, 2018

I saw Christmas tree lights up this weekend. Why? It’s not December. This just seems manic in my opinion. Shouldn’t you wait until December? Polling will take place on this matter soon. In other news, I was going to write something on tech issues with the elections but that’s been done, certain counties down south […]

Blake DowlingNovember 19, 2018

According to The New York Times, Brenda Snipes, the Supervisor of Elections in Broward County resigned. “It has been my passion and honor to serve as the Supervisor of Elections for Broward County voters,” she said in a letter to Gov. Rick Scott. Let’s go back in time, on election night in 2000 some media […]

Blake DowlingNovember 3, 2018

So far in the 2018 election cycle, we have seen record early and mail voting, as well as the usual mudslinging. For about a month, my mailbox has been stuffed (like me at Thanksgiving) with flyers and mailers. In fact, one really ridiculous one arrived in regard to a local race; a guy who runs […]

Blake DowlingOctober 22, 2018

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This time last week, power returned to our house in Tallahassee. A lot of communities in North Florida weren’t so lucky after Hurricane Michael. Normally, I crank out a column pretty fast about the news of the day, but I had no desire whatsoever to write about what went down last week. As I sat […]

Blake DowlingOctober 6, 2018

Friday evening, I met with a crew from WCTV/CBS in Tallahassee; we talked Facebook. They wanted some info ASAP as to news of the latest Facebook breach breaking that day, offering to meet me wherever I was. That happened to be a fundraiser for Big Brothers Big Sisters at the local bowling alley. Hold my […]

Blake DowlingSeptember 29, 2018

Imagine you’re Joe-Bob-Sally Democrat politician; you are ready to surf the “blue wave” (and avoid the red tide) that may (or may not) be on its way and … Oops. Your entire campaign just got rocked by an IT disaster. It wasn’t Russian’s hacking or faulty hardware. It was another example of ransomware wreaking havoc […]

Blake Dowling

Blake Dowling: Make marijuana illegal everywhere

Blake Dowling: A look at what’s to come with tech in 2019

Blake Dowling: A thanks and some last-minute gifts for political junkies

Blake Dowling: Marriott, the Chernobyl of cyber breaches

Blake Dowling: Keep your data safe this holiday season

Blake Dowling: After recounts, thanks to all for fighting the good fight

Blake Dowling: We can’t stop election meddling, but we can put up a fight

Blake Dowling: Reflections on the storm

Blake Dowling: Another day, another Facebook breach

Blake Dowling: An expensive lesson in ransomware wreaking havoc