[ale] OT: Voting machines cracked in California

[Jeff Lightner]

Correct Bob.  If there were "missing ballot" boxes it was detectable.
Not all hacks are.

Not sure what was so horrible about top posting..   My own preference is
to read the latest comments first on the assumption I'd already read the
rest of the thread.  This like so many things is a "preference" not an
absolute.

In fact I've been on forums where they don't like you to include the
prior posts in your responses simply because it makes reading the
archives later rather unwieldy.

Chacun son gout - don't assume YOUR preference is the "RIGHT" way.


-----Original Message-----
From: ale-bounces at ale.org [mailto:ale-bounces at ale.org] On Behalf Of Bob
To: ale at ale.org
Toxen
Sent: Thursday, August 02, 2007 2:32 PM
To: Atlanta Linux Enthusiasts
Subject: Re: [ale] OT: Voting machines cracked in California

On Thu, Aug 02, 2007 at 01:59:59PM -0400, Ned Williams wrote:
> Pleae see dissappearing ballot boxes in the Dekalb districts during
the 2004
> races...<cough> Mckinney <cough>...yep SOOOOOOO verifiyable.
It was DETECTED that the ballot boxes vanished.  Thus, one can redo
the voting in those districts.

Withe electronic voting, MANY vote counts can be altered without
being detected.  That is why it is so dangerous.

Bob


> 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
> >

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