This is crap! So what if it’s an old version. If Diebold and anyone who legitimately has a copy can’t strictly control access, then they might as well publish the software on their website. The people who would do wrong with it will get it somehow anyway. Just one more nail in our coffins as voters in fair elections.
Diebold source code leaked again
Source code to Diebold Election Systems Inc. voting machines has been leaked once again.
On Wednesday, former Maryland state legislator Cheryl C. Kagan was anonymously given disks containing source code to Diebold’s BallotStation and GEMS (Global Election Management System) tabulation software used in the 2004 elections. Kagan, a well-known critic of electronic voting, is Executive Director of the Carl M. Freeman Foundation, a philanthropic organization based in Olney, Maryland.
The disks were created and distributed by two federal voting machine testing labs run by Ciber Inc. and Wyle Laboratories Inc. They had been testing systems on behalf of the state of Maryland, Diebold said in a statement.
The first leak should have taught Diebold a lesson on securing its source code, he said. “You would think that given the amount of embarrassment that caused them, they would do a better job of protecting it.”
I don’t have a problem with electronic voting, I have a problem with electronic voting that doesn’t create a paper record, like a journal receipt on a cash register, of each vote!
That way, if we need to recount the votes, we can do it and VERIFY the election.
Remember, DIEBOLD is a huge supporter of the Republican party!
This company has already screwed itself.By being in the business “voting machines” and by favoring Republicans with donations political help,free plane rides,etc.They have set themselves up for political retribution.When the dems take over in Nov.I hope Haliburton gets it to.BTW sell your stock in these companies and buy natural gas stocks they are very undervalued.
When I think of all the SOX compliance work businesses have done over the past few years, and then to see this stuff happening…. gaah, what a waste. Time to move government’s cheese.
Should Diebold Be in Business BEFORE the Election?
Should Diebold Still Be In Business After The Election?
If republicans win no.
Leaking the source code is a GOOD thing. Why do you think open-source projects like Linux are so much more secure than the likes of Windows?
If the security surroung ATM machines was this bad, I thing diebold would have been gone long ago….
Many of you have delusions of grandeur. Your vote is meaningless. The politicians of both parties are the property of BIG campaign contributers. They could care less about the regular Joe or Jill of living in the United States, except when it comes to paying taxes.
As ole Clayton Williams stated, as long as it’s inevitable, you might as well lie back and enjoy it. The 1990 Texas gubernatorial candidate was referring to rape but tax is a fair synonym. Wonder how the political landscape in this country would look if Clayton had won the election.
Until you dufuses stop slinging mud, you will never make a difference. Are you are a dufus because you sling mud or do you sling mud because you’re a dufus?
#1: But recounting the receipt-style (the most common style) is slow, error-prone, and basically infeasible. The receipts are just for show.
#6: There are a whole host of other issues involved as well. That the code is available does not make it inherently more secure.
#2 the Democrats will hardly take over Congress. Even if it’s a big win we’re talking simple majority. All you’ll see then is Bush wearing out the veto stamp. What you may see is reduced funding putting the breaks on certain policies, along with stalling bills and appointments.
Good. They should distribute that code on the internet, let some real programmers analyze it, find all the holes, and send an open letter to Diebold with a nice explanation as to why their system sucks and how it can be patched.
If the Democrats win big, which is entirely possible, then expect hearing on the whole voting machine and voting irregularities. If they just win by a few seats, then they will not do much unless there has been obvious fraud.
V:
Since when were we all supposed to work for free so someone else could make more money?
So how is this different when half the people buried in the Chicago and Boston graveyards vote. If anyone expects every election to have 100% accuracy and accountability, I’d like to have some of what they’re smoking. In my state all I need is a utility bill for one month to vote. Where is the accountability in that? People complaining about lack of paper trail etc. are just trying to obstruct the introduction of some order and accountability into the system, so the corruption of the current system can continue to be controlled by the machine politicians.
I have a question. What was wrong with punch or ink card ballots? I know there were some issues with “hanging chads” or poorly formed ink blots, but lets be honest here. If a voter can’t check their own ballot for valid marks, maybe they are too incompetent to vote!
Steve
I wonder how Clayton would have felt if it was his cheeks he was spreading.
Pretty sad to live in a democracy of when you leave the voting booth you can’t be absolutely sure your vote will be counted.
Yes, I liked the punch cards best myself. I moved from a district with punch cards to one with paper ballots and a proofing scanner. The paper ballots is easier to read than the punch book, but the cards must take less space for storage and should have a longer shelf life.
Folks, votes do count. Do your civic duty this November and you”ll see how they do.
In my country we have ballots you mark with a pencil. Never have these issues.
don’t vote, it only encourages them
If you HAVE to use electronic voting machines. It would make sense to use voting machines (with paper audit features) where the hardware, firmware, communications and software features were reverse engineered to a standard by separate firms; and more than one component from the same company never be used in an individual machine. Giving one company turn-key responsibility for the voting process is a good indication we don’t understand the process thoroughly enough to make a responsible decision about using the technology. Crooked elections aren’t the private domain of either party. The best place to apply technology is on auditing results of the most tamper-proof process known. With expectations that nothing is fully secure, every process should be reviewed constantly. Better vaults just make better safe-crackers.
I’m not a conspiracy guy, but this refusal by GOP officials to create a paper trail just plain stinks.
It would be SUPER EASY for the voting machine to spit out a human readable card for voters to double-check their vote. These cards could be run through an OCR in disputed elections as the authoritative vote.
If you haven’t seen the OCR at the USPS regional centers, I recommend getting a tour. It’s amazing how fast they run with a very small error rate. A single machine could easily count a whole medium-size state. If OCR counts are disputed, then do a hand vote in full public view.
Most importantly, it is ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL TO DEMOCRACY that voters become highly confident, again, that their votes count!
Milo said: In my country we have ballots you mark with a pencil. Never have these issues.
In my country we don’t have elections! Our rulers think this solves ALL KINDS of issues! 😉
All I know is that if the exit polls show a big difference between what it comes up with as compared to the actual votes counted by these Diebold machines, it is time to burn the cockroaches out of their dwellings (i.e., burn The White House).
Can I express an opinion on their programming??
IT SUCKS.
These folks didnt even run a background program to Verify there program.
They didnt run a program to verify RAM, and keep Strange code from breaking the system, or being introduced.
Its not a hard thing to do…and they Didnt do it.
They could even store the data on a bootable ram card, so the system Couldnt be over written. Just a stupid EPROM. WHY make it DOS based…thats stupid. Save the data to disk..Only the data. the program could reside in a Eprom, and couldnt be easily rewritten as there IS no boot disk.
Couple of points.
It should be obvious the reason for a paper receipt is so a voter can verify on the spot that their vote actually went into the machine the way they thought it did. If not, they can holler, right then.
The most obvious criminal conspiracy in the design — comes from the fact that Diebold, after all, had to change the premise of everything they build — when it came to paper receipts. They are the largest producer of ATM machines in the country.
29,
REALLy the largest AYM maker??
AND now I know the problem…They cant get past a 4 digit Passcode.
God, save us.
#29, Pope ATM, III is the most fallible of all. I’ve been using an ATM for over 15 years and about 2-3 times a week. In all those times, NOT ONCE, not even one time! has an ATM EVER made a mistake counting out dollars. Not ONCE! I find that amazing. Actually, I don’t even count the cash anymore, seriously, I just stick the bills in my wallet. I just take it for granted that it won’t make a mistake. It never has.