tl;dr: Forged document claims to be from 2006, uses a font (Calibri) that was introduced 2007. Newsletters headline: "Sans Sharif".
With a name like that how can you not make the pun :)
How a Microsoft Font Brought Down Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif (2017)
91–100 of 118 posts
Re: How a Microsoft Font Brought Down Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif (2017)
#92Earlier quoted context omitted.
Or someone else smuggled the font on their computer, so to set them up on this corruption case 12 years later ... also possible, but even less likely.
"Oh uh... Hashim, we're using this new font now, I send it to you." "What is wrong with Times New Roman?" "Pah! Are we Romans? Anyway, the prime minister prefers it."
"What is wrong with Times New Roman?"
According to my design Professor back in University .. a lot. I never really bothered before, but now I see a lot wrong with it, too. But maybe I just have been brainwashed..
Re: How a Microsoft Font Brought Down Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif (2017)
#93Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes, on air Dan Rather did in fact claim they were taken directly from Killian’s files and had been ‘authenticated’. The person who sent them to 60 Minutes also claimed they were originals, which he subsequently burned after faxing. CBS then spent the next couple of weeks in a ‘strident defense’ (their own investigators’ words) of the documents and their use, before ceding they screwed up and firing people over the i…
Culturally, this to me is a turning point of the political bloggers -- the knee in the curve of their credibility and a large drop in the trust of the news media, particularly among conservatives. The blogs leading the document debunking were Powerline and Little Green Footballs. This was also when the term Pajamas Media was coined (quote from wikipedia PJ_Media page): > The network's original name was derived from a…
That whole ordeal seems so quaint now, in retrospect. I wonder if this happened in today's day and age, CBS would have anticipated that the twitter gonzo journalism class would rapidly attempt to identify flaws in the doc and vet it harder?
Re: How a Microsoft Font Brought Down Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif (2017)
#94Earlier quoted context omitted.
Culturally, this to me is a turning point of the political bloggers -- the knee in the curve of their credibility and a large drop in the trust of the news media, particularly among conservatives. The blogs leading the document debunking were Powerline and Little Green Footballs. This was also when the term Pajamas Media was coined (quote from wikipedia PJ_Media page): > The network's original name was derived from a…
That whole ordeal seems so quaint now, in retrospect. I wonder if this happened in today's day and age, CBS would have anticipated that the twitter gonzo journalism class would rapidly attempt to identify flaws in the doc and vet it harder?
it was their, the traditional media, wake up call. it also forever broke the belief that the media was impartial. remember that while Rather and Mapes brought this shameful act of reporting we got to witness the New York Times go full Onion with a "fake but accurate" declaration.
Could it happen now? Not as blatant but I simply believe they have changed to simply relying more on innuendo and unidentifiable sources.
Re: How a Microsoft Font Brought Down Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif (2017)
#95This may not amount to much for Pakistani people. The forces and judiciary are so pathetically weak that they couldn't force the PM and his Daughter and his sons to remain inside of Pakistan - so what if the PM's wife is sick in London (which we don't even know if it's true) - let her die alone because she and her life is worthless for Pakistani people. For months the PM's daughter barked daily in front of masses aga…
Slightly offtopic, but this [1] is a great series of podcasts about the assassination of Benazir Bhutto. No idea if she would have made a good leader, but she was certainly brave. Even if you're not interested in Pakistani politics, it's still fascinating. [1] https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p05r6cgx/episodes/downloads
What do you mean no idea. She was PM several times in the 1990s and not a good one. She and Nawaz took turns robbing Pakistan until Musharraff came.
Re: How a Microsoft Font Brought Down Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif (2017)
#96Earlier quoted context omitted.
My quick Google was unsuccessful. Care to provide an example?
That's what I found on google [1]. I am not in that profession but the TV show "Faites entrer l'accuse" often shows extracts of medical or psychological reports, and they often use a font of that kind, sort of intermediary between hand-writing and machine type. Certainly not the default font of any text editor I am aware of. [1] http://pedophilie-castres.over-blog.com/article-piece-n-3-qu...
Thank you! Very interesting
Re: How a Microsoft Font Brought Down Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif (2017)
#97Earlier quoted context omitted.
I double Hamza Shahbaz or Mariam Nawaz even know how to use Word on a normal PC, let alone get and install beta software.
Its not my problem that the defense never brought it up. Shows a real lack of imagination. "Actually we used to moonlight on Craigslist and routinely searched for fonts in leaked beta software to differentiate ourselves" Now I'm being facetious. But there are a lot of probable ways a font was added, ESPECIALLY for people that aren't good with computers. A toolbar added by a hacker group could have stolen fonts in it.
"A toolbar added by a hacker group could have stolen fonts in it."
Any mention of the existence of such a toolbar would have helped them some bit. If the doc author was a font-nerd, that font would be none other than helvetica.
Re: How a Microsoft Font Brought Down Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif (2017)
#98It's like watching a movie set in the 1950s and noticing someone in the background walking past with his head looking down at a smartphone.
Like this Charlie Chaplin 1928 movie, with a time traveler talking into a cell phone walking by? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nU_k4yGPeOI
Good luck getting cell reception in 1928 :)
Re: How a Microsoft Font Brought Down Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif (2017)
#99Earlier quoted context omitted.
or a Pakistani web/graphic designer was in their family and the oversaturated race to the bottom resulted in obtaining that unique touch. surprised that never came up during the case, but Pakistan drama is fun to watch play out from afar.
What do you mean by “race to the bottom”?
a "race to the bottom" is when people offer better and better services at lower and lower prices, in an almost comical way because the people interested in that trade exert a high level of discipline and are not rewarded for it.
such was the case of graphic design in pakistan, and still is.
Re: How a Microsoft Font Brought Down Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif (2017)
#100Earlier quoted context omitted.
The letters were short, so someone could easily have retyped them in Word. Did anyone old enough to have used a typewriter seriously claim they were photocopies of 70s era typewritten documents? Surely Dan Rather of all people must have some experience with typewriters.
Yes, on air Dan Rather did in fact claim they were taken directly from Killian’s files and had been ‘authenticated’. The person who sent them to 60 Minutes also claimed they were originals, which he subsequently burned after faxing. CBS then spent the next couple of weeks in a ‘strident defense’ (their own investigators’ words) of the documents and their use, before ceding they screwed up and firing people over the i…
One would think the "untitled.txt" at the bottom would have given it away...