get_out_the_vote scared ELECTRONIC VOTING Deconstructing Diebold reproduced from the article at http://www.americanprogress.org/site/pp.asp?c=biJRJ8OVF&b=6228 Many states are purchasing electronic voting machines in an effort to improve the reliability of their election results. But there are rising worries about the security and accuracy of these devices. How are the four major manufacturers responding? A coordinated PR campaign. The WP reports that the public relations effort aims to "foster conversation that includes security experts, academics, local elections officials, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology" that will "counter mounting concerns about whether their machines are secure enough to withstand tampering by hackers." While the manufacturers devote time and resources to this initiative, they have not yet "put forward any proposals on addressing the concerns" about the reliability of their products. AND YOU THOUGHT HANGING CHADS WERE A PROBLEM: A recent study conducted by Johns Hopkins and Rice Universities revealed that the security and reliability problems afflicting electronic voting systems are severe. http://avirubin.com/vote.pdf The analysis focused on software produced by Diebold. The company's products have already been used in Georgia and several counties in Maryland for the 2002 election (and will be used statewide in Maryland in 2004). The analysis found that Diebold's "voting system is far below even the most minimal security standards applicable in other contexts." The researchers determined that "common voters, without any insider privileges, can cast unlimited votes without being detected by any mechanisms within the voting terminal." In addition, voters, without access to the source code or any other technical information, could "perform actions that normally require administrative privileges" such as "view partial results" or "terminating the election early." Moreover, the terminals, when communicating results to headquarters "do not use cryptographic techniques to authenticate the remote end of the connection nor do they check the integrity of the data in transit." As a result "even unsophisticated attackers can perform untraceable, 'man-in-the-middle' attacks." DEFINING OUT THE YING-YANG: In another example of Diebold's top notch security mechanisms, 15,000 internal Diebold e-mail messages have found their way onto the Internet. (Search the archive for yourself HERE). The Maryland Gazette published a email from "Ken" that discusses how the company should deal with concerns in Maryland that the Diebold system is insecure: "They already bought the system. At his point they are just closing the barn door. Let's just hope that as a company we are smart enough to charge out the yin if they try to change the rules now and legislate voter receipts." In a later email he clarifies that by yin he meant "out the yin-yang" by which he meant that the company should make "any after-sale charge prohibitively expensive." (Read Ken's entire email exchange HERE) Apparently, the company took Ken's recommendation and later claimed that adding paper printouts to the machines would cost an additional $20 million. Diebold spokesman David Bear, when asked for comment said "he could not comment on the e-mail or its authenticity but noted...that no one person can set pricing policy." MORE E-MAIL MADNESS: In another email exchange "a senior engineer dismissed concern from a lower-level programmer who questioned why Diebold lacked certification for the operating system in touch-screen voting machines." The exchange seemed to indicate that the company was in violation of an FEC regulation which "requires such software to be certified by independent researchers." In a separate message," an executive scolded programmers for leaving software files on an Internet site without password protection." SUING THE MESSENGER: After Diebold's internal security breach where 1.8 gigabytes of data were compromised, Diebold "threatened legal action against dozens of individuals who refused to remove links" to data which contained evidence of security problems. But in what AP describes as "major victory for free speech enthusiasts on the Internet" Diebold "has agreed not to sue voting rights advocates who publish leaked documents about the alleged security breaches of electronic voting." The Electronic Freedom Foundation now has their own law suit against Diebold, filed under the Digital Millennium copyright act for "intimidating Internet service providers" to take information about Diebold down. A lawyer for EFF said that Diebold's threats were a "chill on free speech that stopped discussion of electronic voting issues without ever getting before a judge." PIONEERING THE VOTE: The CEO of Diebold, Walden W. O'Dell, is a "Pioneer" for President Bush's reelection campaign – which mean he has already raised at least $100,000 on behalf of the President. This August, in a fundraising letter, O'Dell wrote that he was "committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president next year." In July, O'Dell held a fundraiser at his home with Vice President Cheney that raised $500,000. Data from the federal election commission indicates that "at least eight million people will cast their votes using Diebold machines next November" including "all voters in the states of Georgia and Maryland and those in various counties of California, Virginia, Texas, Indiana, Arizona and Kansas." BIG BUCKS FOR LOBBYING: Electronic voting means big bucks for the corporations which supply the machines. And the frenzied lobbying activity in New York illustrates that companies are not afraid to spend large sums to secure the contracts. The NYT reports that Sequoia Voting System has hired the counsel for Gov. George Pataki's 2002 campaign, Jeff Buley, for $7,500 a month to "pitch Republican lawmakers in Albany." The company has also hired a Democratic lobbying firm in New York, O'Dwyer & Bernstein to lobby for $10,000 a month. Diebold has countered by retaining a Manhattan law firm, Greenberg Traurig, to lobby the legislature for $12,500. Greenberg's efforts are headed by Robert Harding, former deputy mayor for Rudy Giuliani. The other major manufacturers of electronic voting machines have initiated similarly well-financed lobbying initiatives. My guess is, regardless of popular opinion, we'll be having GWB as president again. Since the media is largely corporate owned and basically propaganda, it would be easy enough to make exit polling match the voting results. They would only have to tamper with the system just enough to swing a few key elections, especially if it's a close race, anyway. so long, democracy. It was fun while it lasted. More history. First there was HAVA, the Help America Vote Act, passed by congress in October of 2002. The purpose of the Act is: To establish a program to provide funds to States to replace punch card voting systems, to establish the Election Assistance Commission to assist in the administration of Federal elections and to otherwise provide assistance with the administration of certain Federal election laws and programs, to establish minimum election administration standards for States and units of local government with responsibility for the administration of Federal elections, and for other purposes. It is this Act, with specific dates, that require the States to update old voting equipment so that a similar situation (as what occurred in Florida) will not occur again. In the rush to pass this new Act some key elements were left out, such as a "voter verifiable paper receipt". The newest Act, introduced by Representative Rush Holt, hopes to update the original HAVA Act with specific solutions to the question of voter verified paper receipts and other obvious discrepancies. Information from http://www.verifiedvoting.org/ The most promising of this is the Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act of 2003 (H.R. 2239), which requires all voting systems to produce a voter-verified paper record for use in manual audits and recounts . Will it be in place in time for 2004? Good question. http://holt.house.gov/issues2.cfm?id=5996 Of course, we all could get involved, and maybe keep democracy a viable concept in American politics. Then again, the season finale of Survivor is coming up, and then there's the Christmas shopping to do, then all those great after Chirstmas sales, and then ... 031209 ... misstree dear god: please either get me out of this country or smite the powerhungry bastards that are stepping on every concept of justice or representation for and by the people or best interests of citizens or anything even remotely resembling democracy. (is capitalocracy the proper word?) i'm rather fond of the place, so some smiting would be awful nice. thanks god, and great job with orgasms, kittens, and beer. -tree. 031209 ... x You heathen! That's my job you're asking for! 031209 ... u24 pay me, point me at the machines, and I'll make sure your party gets in. 031209 ... misstree ya, that's about my only hope, is that enough "creative programming" types (not hackers, heavens no, hackers are terrorists) catch wind and decide to stick their fingers in the pie. *that* would entertain the hell out of me. jello_biafra for prez, whether he likes it or not, neh? 031209 ... ... see also: blathe of HAVA 031209 what's it to you? who go blather from