Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Swill1496
Then obviously they are bogus codes.
|
hake:
[url=http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/10/20/1066631346161.html?from=storyrhs&oneclick=true:692 5a]Link[/url:6925a] (Registration required so I'll post it below)
[quote:6925a]
WASHINGTON, DC, US: 'Democracy at risk' in computer vote system
Concerns over touchscreen computer kiosks used in electronic voting systems continue to grow as more opponents claim that big business has short-circuited democracy in the race to profit.
The US Government has directed $US3.9 billion ($A5.65 billion) to upgrade 19th century voting technology following the embarrassing Florida polling that allowed President George W. Bush to win power three years ago.
A report in Britain's Independent newspaper quoted Roxanne Jekot, a computer programmer with 20 years of experience, who downloaded kiosk source code from e-voting vendor Diebold, which had been erroneously posted at its public FTP site. Her line-by-line review found "enough to stand your hair on end", uncovering fatal security flaws in the 40,000 Diebold e-voting machines sold to 37 US states, ranging from the Microsoft Windows operating system all the way to the touchscreen displays. Her review found programmer notes hidden in the source code referring to it as "a gross hack" and "this really doesn't work".
Her concerns were mirrored in independent analysis by the state of Maryland, which discovered 328 flaws (26 critical) that left the Diebold system at "high risk of compromise". The Information Security Institute at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore discovered "stunning flaws" such as the password in the source code.
"This voting system is far below even the most minimal security standards," the researchers found. They said there were serious issues including "unauthorised privilege escalation, incorrect use of cryptography, vulnerabilities to network threats, and poor software development processes".
"Common voters, without any insider privileges, can cast unlimited votes without being detected by any mechanisms within the voting terminal. We conclude that, as a society, we must carefully consider the risks inherent in electronic voting, as it places our very democracy at risk."
A separate study by the Voting Technology Project, run by the Massachusetts and California Institutes of Technology, found e-voting kiosks that did not create a paper ballot for auditing were the least reliable voting systems surveyed.
The Independent cites further concerns over the political affiliations of the directors of the e-voting companies, who are all big financial contributors and vocal supporters of the Republican Bush Administration.
"Corporate America is very close to running this country," Jekot said. "The only thing that is stopping them from taking total control are the pesky voters. That's why there's such a drive to control the vote. What we're seeing is the corporatisation of the last shred of democracy."[/quote:6925a]
also worth reading, part 2 in particular....[url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?storyID=3529552&thesection=news&t hesubsection=world:6925a]Link[/url:6925a]
11-03-2004, 02:53 AM
Linear Mode
