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Re: [News] Proprietary Voting Machines Go Titsup, As Expected

  • Subject: Re: [News] Proprietary Voting Machines Go Titsup, As Expected
  • From: Daniel Metzger <pichu0102@xxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Wed, 08 Nov 2006 04:13:29 GMT
  • Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.advocacy
  • Organization: SBC http://yahoo.sbc.com
  • References: <1915443.Lfs73YSIoV@schestowitz.com>
  • User-agent: Pan/0.14.2.91 (As She Crawled Across the Table (Debian GNU/Linux))
  • Xref: news.mcc.ac.uk comp.os.linux.advocacy:1178733
On Wed, 08 Nov 2006 00:44:49 +0000, Roy Schestowitz wrote:

> Polling places turn to paper ballots after glitches
> 
> ,----[ Quote ]
> | Pennsylvania's Lebanon County also extended polling hours
> | because a programming error forced some voters to
> | cast paper ballots.
> `----
> 
> http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/11/07/voting.problems.ap/index.html

I can't say I didn't expect this, after all, the earlier tests showed the
machines had a republican leaning.
 
> Stuff I posted earlier today:
> 
> Would open source make elections fair?
> 
> ,----[ Quote ]
> | I will line up and use a Diebold voting machine, like everyone else in
> | Georgia, and hope that the vote count is accurate. But that's all it
> | will be, a hope. As last week's HBO special revealed the machines and
> | (more important) the system is both closed-source and easy to hack.
> `----
> 
> http://blogs.zdnet.com/open-source/?p=834

Would open-source be a better way to go if you wanted to use the same
software on the machines each time? Definitely. However, this is one of
those rare times where being closed-source could possibly be more secure
than open-source if done right. Reason for this being: If the source code
is only shown to people who need to audit it, and the original programmers
are competent enough, in theory, it would take some time for people to
find the exploits on a closed-source system, which, if they only have
access to on one day (voting day) would make it incredibly difficult to
hack into given the timeframe.

> 96% don't trust the machines, according to the poll.
> 
> 
> ,----[ Quote ]
> | "Nineteen machines had 21 screen freezes or system crashes, producing
> | a blue screen and messages about an "illegal operation" or a "fatal
> | exception error."
> | 
> | "Especially with this blue-screen problem, you don't know whether it's
> | the printer drivers, you don't know whether it's Diebold's own code or
> | whether it's Windows,"
> `----
> 
> http://www.verifiedvotingfoundation.org/article.php?id=6257
> 

I think the real question is: Why are these running Windows in the first
place? I mean, ignoring the security and stability issues we all know
Windows has, Windows also comes with a hefty price tag. So why would
Diebold choose Windows to run instead of a free OS like Linux? 

> Brasil wants Linux to manage votes.
> 
> E-Voting Raises New Questions in Brazil
> 
> ,----[ Quote ]
> | Some Brazilians are lobbying the tribunal to switch from Windows CE to
> | an open-source operating system for the voting machines, since
> | Microsoft Corp., citing trade secrecy, won't allow independent audits
> | to make sure malicious programmers haven't inserted commands to "flip"
> | votes from one candidate to another.
> | 
> | [...]
> |
> | Fontoura confirmed that Brazil is considering a move away from
> | crosoft's proprietary code -- "We are studying the possibility of
> | using an open-source program like Linux in future elections. This
> | would make the entire process much more transparent and far less
> | expensive," he said.
> `----
> 
> http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/060929/brazil_electronic_voting.html?.v=2

Keep in mind, they said "like Linux", but not specifically Linux.
Personally, I hope they DO go with Linux, as Linux would be perfect for
this kind of thing.


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