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Indymedia & Diebold Cross Paths
A recent visit to Diebold's corporate headquarters near Green, Ohio by an IMCista.
Indymedia fights Diebold's legal attempt to silence discussions about e-voting
Documents are publicly available that detail vulnerabilities in electronic voting machines manufactured by the Diebold Corporation. Diebold has been sending cease and desist letters to internet service providers (ISPs) that host the documents or links to them. Numerous Indymedia servers have been targeted by Diebold in its campaign to suppress this critical information.Indymedia will defend its right to post internal memos and documents detailing vulnerabilities in electronic voting machines manufactured by the Diebold Corporation. The documents were made publicly available, and subsequently reported by writer Bev Harris on her websites blackboxvoting.com and blackboxvoting.org.
The vast information contained in these documents is still being investigated by top computer scientists and researchers, but a set of widely circulated internal memos detail Diebold's flippant disregard of test runs, accuracy audits, and security for its voting machines. System tests (much like a dress rehearsal) are often required by local election laws--Diebold memos mention how they simply changed the name "memory test" to "***System Test Passed***" as if the machine performed a self audit. The memos also say how Diebold installed new versions of the voting software that were left untested.
Their election results are not secure, as evidenced by this comment in one email regarding the "contents" (i.e. the votes) of the e-voting machines: "Now, where the perception comes in is that its right now very *easy* to change the contents. Double click the .mdb file." Diebold's Republican executives have touted e-voting as a solution to the punchcard voting systems that scandalized Florida in 2000. In fact, this evidence and recent breaking news of security and reliability flaws raises serious questions about this "solution" to election woes in the US. More links: Read Entire Feature | earlier feature, August 2003 | Madison IMC
Students Sue Electronic Voting Company
Two Swarthmore College students and a nonprofit ISP are seeking a court order on Election Day to stop electronic voting machine manufacturer Diebold Systems, Inc., from issuing specious legal threats. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and the Center for Internet and Society Cyberlaw Clinic at Stanford Law School are providing legal representation to Nelson Pavlosky and Luke Smith in this important case to prevent abusive copyright claims from silencing public debate about voting.Diebold has delivered dozens of cease-and-desist notices to website publishers and ISPs, including Indymedia, demanding that they take down corporate documents revealing flaws in the company's electronic voting systems as well as difficulties with certifying the systems for actual elections. Pavlovsky and Smith have published an email archive of the Diebold documents which contain descriptions of these flaws written by the company's own employees. Swarthmore student groups Why War? and the Swarthmore Coalition for the Digital Commons have launched an electronic civil disobedience campaign, using file-sharing to ensure constant public access to the documents.
- Online Policy Group v. Diebold case archive
- Cease-and-desist letter Diebold sent to OPG
- IndyMedia Web page subject to Diebold cease-and-desist letter
- Link to Chilling Effects on DMCA safe harbor provisions
- Media coverage of Diebold threats: Miami Herald and: Wired
- Full story from EFF website
- Indymedia Web page subject to Diebold cease-and-desist
- Security flaws in e-voting system
For more information:
http://www.indybay.org/
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Abandoned garbage is fair game for any member of the public in
most states. (Think about what goes into your own garbage cans.)
People often throw away all sorts of interesting things. Even if they
store the garbage indoors, you can sometimes buy a load of garbage
from a garbage company; those drivers are underpaid and sometimes
leave it lying by the side of the road by mistake or out of spite.
most states. (Think about what goes into your own garbage cans.)
People often throw away all sorts of interesting things. Even if they
store the garbage indoors, you can sometimes buy a load of garbage
from a garbage company; those drivers are underpaid and sometimes
leave it lying by the side of the road by mistake or out of spite.
E-voting runs into bumps in East Bay
Computer software was not certified for a California election
By Ian Hoffman, STAFF WRITER
Thousands of Alameda County voters cast ballots Tuesday on computer software that state and county elections officials say was never certified for a California election.
The same problem existed for last month's recall election.
State and county officials were dismayed last week to learn that Diebold Elections Systems Inc. altered the software running in Alameda County's touchscreen voting machines yet neither submitted it for state testing nor even notified state authorities of the change.
"We were upset to say the least," said Elaine Ginnold, the county's assistant elections registrar.
Alameda County voters won't necessarily have to worry about their votes being properly counted. Elections officials at the California Secretary of State's Office performed tests on the software last week and gave Alameda County a green light to use it in Tuesday's election, despite the lack of a formal certification.
http://www.oaklandtribune.com/Stories/0,1413,82~1865~1745779,00.html
Computer software was not certified for a California election
By Ian Hoffman, STAFF WRITER
Thousands of Alameda County voters cast ballots Tuesday on computer software that state and county elections officials say was never certified for a California election.
The same problem existed for last month's recall election.
State and county officials were dismayed last week to learn that Diebold Elections Systems Inc. altered the software running in Alameda County's touchscreen voting machines yet neither submitted it for state testing nor even notified state authorities of the change.
"We were upset to say the least," said Elaine Ginnold, the county's assistant elections registrar.
Alameda County voters won't necessarily have to worry about their votes being properly counted. Elections officials at the California Secretary of State's Office performed tests on the software last week and gave Alameda County a green light to use it in Tuesday's election, despite the lack of a formal certification.
http://www.oaklandtribune.com/Stories/0,1413,82~1865~1745779,00.html
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