[ale] OT: Voting machines cracked in California

[Jim Popovitch]

I say that we dump the ballot boxes and voting machines and go back to
resolving issues with dueling, wild west style.  :-)

-Jim P.

On Thu, 2007-08-02 at 14:01 -0400, Charles Shapiro wrote:
> Argh. Don't accuse me of minimizing the voting machine troubles which
> have been published. I agree with you entirely.  I also believe that
> access to the source is an advantage for this kind of endeavor.   So
> is unlimited access to the physical hardware.  Neither is a necessary
> precondition for a successful penetration of security.
> 
> -- CHS
> 
> 
> On 8/2/07, Jeff Lightner <jlightner at water.com> wrote:
>         Not having source didn't prevent folks from reverse
>         engineering the IBM BIOS in the original IBM PC which was the
>         only IBM unique part it had.
>         
>          
>         
>         The idea one has to have source to hack is laughable indeed.
>         Even more laughable is the idea that it would be difficult to
>         get the source if you were determined to get it.
>         
>          
>         
>         This reminds me of the old Lou Grant show where they did a
>         story about nuclear weapons.   The folks that had access to
>         the weapons design information said it was easy to get but
>         thought it was hard to get the fissionable material.   The
>         people who were custodian of fissionable material said it
>         would be easy to get but thought it was to get the design
>         information.   Essentially the guys guarding each side both
>         said their side was fairly easy to compromise but weren't
>         worried because they "assumed" the other side was hard to
>         compromise.
>         
>          
>         
>         One might stuff ballot boxes or deliberately miscount paper
>         ballots but there would still be a way to verify the results
>         after the fact using completely different counters.   If you
>         don't believe that, you'd have to explain why Republicans and
>         Democrats alike thought it necessary to be present at the
>         recounts in Florida.
>         
>          
>         
>                                        
>         ______________________________________________________________
>         From:ale-bounces at ale.org [mailto:ale-bounces at ale.org] On
>         Behalf Of Steve Brown
>         Sent: Thursday, August 02, 2007 1:21 PM
>         To: Atlanta Linux Enthusiasts
>         Subject: Re: [ale] OT: Voting machines cracked in California
>         
>         
>          
>         
>          
>         
>         On 8/2/07, Charles Shapiro <hooterpincher at gmail.com> wrote:
>         
>           The guys who wrote this report had a bunch of advantages --
>         among them were access to the source code and unlimited time
>         to investigate the physical machines.  I'm not tryin' to
>         discount the severity of the flaws they found, which were
>         pretty way badd.  But there are two other reports from two
>         other teams which have yet to be published. Felten suspects
>         that these reports are even more damning.
>         
>         
>         
>         The thing is, these people seem to be assuming that since the
>         source code is not publicly released that no one has access to
>         it. What about the programmers that worked on the project?
>         What about the people with the access keys? They are just as
>         capable of compromising the system and they would have easier
>         access to the system than any voter. I bet that Steve Weir guy
>         buries his money in his back yard to keep it safe. Open Source
>         is like giving a burglar your house keys? Give me a break...
>         This thing should have been built from the ground up with
>         security in mind, instead of slapped on as an afterthought.
>         Was this one of those things that gets sent to the lowest
>         bidder? 
>         -Steve Brown
>         
>         
>         
>         _______________________________________________
>         Ale mailing list
>         Ale at ale.org
>         http://www.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Ale mailing list
> Ale at ale.org
> http://www.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale