Re: Diebold Global Election Management System (GEMS) Backdoor Acc ount Allows Authenticated Users to Modify Votes

From: Adam Jacob Muller (adam_at_gotlinux.us)
Date: 09/28/04

  • Next message: Karsten Heidrich: "Re[2]: New whitepaper "The Phishing Guide"" 
    Date: Tue, 28 Sep 2004 03:55:28 -0400
To: bugtraq@securityfocus.com

    This is very true...
    At a recent family gathering I spent about an hour trying to explain to
    various people why "open source" voting machines are more secure.
    Everyone perceived "open" as being able to go in and change votes...
    The fact that I was trying to explain the open source model for the
    first time did not help...
    I simply don't understand why a company doesn't do open source voting
    machines... you could sell the hardware and the software.. and get the
    open source community to write the software for you.... It seems like a
    perfect arrangement.

    Adam Jacob Muller

    "They [conservatives] don't get it. We [liberals] love America just as
    much as they do. But in a different way. You see, they love America the
    way a four-year-old loves her mommy. Liberals love America like
    grown-ups. To a four-year-old, everything Mommy does is wonderful and
    anyone who criticizes Mommy is bad. Grown-up love means actually
    understanding what you love, taking the good with the bad, and actually
    helping your loved one grow."
    - Al Franken, Lies and The Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and
    Balanced Look at the Right

    On Sep 27, 2004, at 10:01 AM, David Brodbeck wrote:

    >> -----Original Message-----
    >> From: Claudius Li [mailto:aprentic@sectae.net]
    >
    >> So my question is, given that this seems to be a solved
    >> problem why is there so much debate on finding the solution?
    >> Surely I am missing something obvious.
    >
    > You're missing the social dynamics around it. There are several
    > parties
    > involved:
    >
    > - State officials who actually pick the voting equipment. They
    > generally
    > are politicians, with a background in law or business. They don't
    > understand the complicated technical issues behind electronic voting.
    >
    > - Companies who build the voting equipment. Their motive is profit.
    > They
    > want to get a marketable product out quickly and cheaply. They
    > perceive
    > (correctly) that the audience they're selling to does not understand
    > or care
    > about complicated security issues, and can be easily impressed by
    > trivial
    > but sophisticated-looking features.
    >
    > - The public. They don't understand these issues either, and they
    > have a
    > short attention span.
    >
    > - The news media. They don't push security issues because they lack
    > good
    > visuals and don't fit into a 15-second news spot. Anything longer and
    > they'll lose their audience (see above.)
    >
    > - Computer scientists and voting activists. They *do* understand the
    > issues, but are unable to explain them in a way the news media, the
    > public,
    > and state officials find compelling and understandable. The companies
    > who
    > build the equipment can easily label them as alarmists or conspiracy
    > theorists.

  • Next message: Karsten Heidrich: "Re[2]: New whitepaper "The Phishing Guide""

    Relevant Pages

    • Re: Angry
      ... A voting machine with software that's not open source can still be vetted. ... The primary difficulty is not providing the code to the inspectors. ... the claim of "significantly easier to detect flaws". ...
      (rec.aviation.piloting)
    • Want to help make our world a better place?Read this
      ... trusted to carry out civic voting tasks far more accurate and accountable ... like some help developing and implementing an open source polling applet ... tamper resistant and tamper alarming. ... Imagine a form of government where corruption cannot even take root. ...
      (alt.politics)
    • Gas prices high? Read this for an answer.
      ... trusted to carry out civic voting tasks far more accurate and accountable ... like some help developing and implementing an open source polling applet ... tamper resistant and tamper alarming. ... Imagine a form of government where corruption cannot even take root. ...
      (alt.politics.bush)
    • Re: Diebold Global Election Management System (GEMS) Backdoor
      ... If a vendor did a proper job of constructing a machine that conformed to ... then open source would not be required *at all*. ... That is why the VVAT isn the one and only answer to fair digital voting. ... The important part about election systems is that they be ...
      (Bugtraq)
    • Risks Digest 24.63
      ... ACM FORUM ON RISKS TO THE PUBLIC IN COMPUTERS AND RELATED SYSTEMS ... Computerized Voting machines ... Re: Insured car wrongly crushed? ...
      (comp.risks)