Federal Online Voting System Called Unfixable

[leftchick]

http://www.sunspot.net/technology/bal-te.vote22jan22,0,1438332.story?coll=bal-technology-headlines

<snip>
A federal online voting system for military personnel and other citizens overseas is so fraught with security risks that it should be shut down before it is implemented next month, according to four researchers asked to analyze it.

Because the system relies on the Internet and personal computers, voter privacy could be jeopardized and votes could be altered by hackers or even terrorists - which could change the outcome of a close race, the report released yesterday concludes.

"Computers were not built to be voting booths," said Avi Rubin, associate professor of computer science at Johns Hopkins University and one of the report's authors. "They're vulnerable to all kinds of attacks and viruses. They're going to use what we know are insecure machines as voting booths."

The new Internet-based voting system - being administered by the U.S. Department of Defense - is called the Secure Electronic Registration and Voting Experiment, or Serve. Up to 100,000 voters from 50 counties in seven states, not including Maryland, are expected to use it to cast ballots in this year's primary and general elections. Eventually, 6 million overseas voters, from servicemen to students, could be eligible to vote this way.

[gristy]

1. They reported this on NPR last night.

The anchor even cut to a reporter for a few words. Good!

[dwckabal]

2. On CNN.com

Excellent. SERVE was brought to my attention last week after a serviceman in Germany wrote a Macintosh-centric website, www.macintouch.com, complaining that Mac users were unable to use the system (it requires a Windows computer running Internet Explorer).

Of course, we all know why such a system should not be used at all.

[gristy]

3. NPR just reported this again this morning.

On their national report from Washinton, no less. Carl Cassel (sp?) reported in detail the problems with the system and Rubin's and other's concerns. He ended the report with the Pentagon's statement that they don't see any problem with the system and it will be used. Pricks.

[leftchick]

4. I was afraid of that....

The arrogant bastards feel they are invincible....

[leftchick]

5. CBSNEWS.com Has the Story Now!!! This has Legs!

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/01/22/tech/main595067.shtml

<Experts Pan Web Voting System

Jan. 22, 2004

(CBS/AP) The Pentagon is standing by an Internet voting system it developed for U.S. citizens overseas despite an independent analysis that said it was so vulnerable to attacks that it should be scrapped.

"The system was too vulnerable to tampering, and we're recommending that it be shut down," Aviel Rubin of Johns Hopkins University said.

In a report released Wednesday, four computer security experts, including Rubin, said the Secure Electronic Registration and Voting Experiment, or SERVE, could be penetrated by hackers, criminals, terrorists or foreign governments.

"Internet voting presents far too many opportunities for hackers or even terrorists to interfere with fair and accurate voting, potentially in ways impossible to detect," the computer experts said in a statement. "Such tampering could alter election results, particularly in close contests."

"We see all kinds of viruses and trojan horses and spyware and all these problems with personal computers," Rubin told CBS News' Steve Kathan. "We don't feel that they are secure enough to use as voting machines." >