BBV: My notes on the meeting of between the ITAA and the BBV Yakuza

[Kelvin Mace]

As frequent readers know, I am working with Bev Harris as publisher of her soon to be published book Black Box Voting.

At 11:30 today, a phone conference took place with a who's who of the Black Box Voting industry. The purpose of the call was to explore hiring ITAA to lobby on behalf of the now besieged industry.

Invitations were sent out, along with an agenda (this is a PDF file, and contains my comments. Click on the note icon for my comments, the original text is unaltered).

Typical for this industry, security was non-existant and I managed to join the conference (by dialing the number and using the passcode, nothing more sinister ) I used my own name when I introduced myself to the rest of the conference, then I sat for an hour and took notes.

Please excuse punctuation errors, I am hurrying to get this up. Also, in transcribing my notes, I am trying to keep as true to what they said as possible, including grammar and pauses.

Notes of Conference Call between ITAA and Black Box Voting Industry

The meeting appears to have been set up with the help of R. Doug Lewis (The Election Center) and Hart Intercivic (a voting machine company).

Lewis drones on about this being a long time coming and the need for the industry to speak with one voice.

Let me quote from the Election Center's web site:

" The Election Center is a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting, preserving, and improving democracy. Its members are government employees whose profession is to serve in voter registration and elections administration."

It seems to me that colluding with "for profit" companies and helping them hire a lobbying firm is not in the spirit of this organization's charter.

Continued at...

http://www.blackboxvoting.com/

David Allen
Publisher, CEO, Janitor
Plan Nine Publishing
1237 Elon Place
High Point, NC 27263
http://www.plan9.org

[Kelvin Mace]

1. Hey moderator

Can you fix my headline. I'm embarrased.

Should read "My notes on the meeting between the ITAA and the BBV Yakuza"

David Allen
Publisher, CEO, Janitor
Plan Nine Publishing
1237 Elon Place
High Point, NC 27263
http://www.plan9.org

[Melinda]

8. David - you can fix your own topic line if you do it timely.

:)

[peacetalksforall]

11. I'm wondering whether you should have published this at this time.

Wouldn't there have been benefits to follow through on this and assess and publish it later?

[Kelvin Mace]

24. My thoughts on that

are the more time they have to organize, the worse it will be for us. By publishing now, we are letting them know we are breathing down their neck and we will keep shining the light on them when they hide in dark corners.

David Allen
Publisher, CEO, Janitor
Plan Nine Publishing
1237 Elon Place
High Point, NC 27263
http://www.plan9.org

[blm]

38. You got cajones, David...

bigguns. If you need a place to dodge Ashcroft, you have one here.

[blm]

14. Oh boy, David...this is JUICY.

Are you going to send it to Krugman or someone B-I-G?

[Melinda]

2. Oops.

"I just don't like to put it in writing because if this thing winds up in the press somewhere, inadvertently, I don't want the story saying the e-voting industry is in trouble and decided to hire a lobbying firm to take care of their problem for them."

Kitty to bag: 'bu bye'!

Great catch, superb job, wonderfully done!! :toast:

[graham67]

3. This....

is completely unreal. I'm just astounded. Especially by this:

Typical for this industry, security was non-existant and I managed to join the conference (by dialing the number and using the passcode, nothing more sinister ) I used my own name when I introduced myself to the rest of the conference, then I sat for an hour and took notes.

You sat there on the phone for an hour and nobody thought to ask who you were?? OMG!

[seemslikeadream]

4. so interesting to hear Mr. Lewis

talk to me Doug, tell me a little bit about yourself.

[punpirate]

5. Quite apart from all the obvious dreck in this...

... the line which has gotten me utterly intrigued is this, from R. Doug Lewis: "We’ll be glad to talk to you about any thing you want to talk about, and be a sounding board, but in terms of your organization and discussion of industry issues, we are probably best not being involved in that.... at least until we are no longer the place where we do work for NASED (National Association of State Elections Directors).”

No longer.... David, what has this guy got up his sleeve? Any ideas?

Cheers.

[Melinda]

7. My 2 cent analysis: NASD has always been Lewis' "means to an end"

[Kelvin Mace]

10. No idea...

No longer.... David, what has this guy got up his sleeve? Any ideas?

But he makes me want to stay in the shower a LONG time.

David Allen
Publisher, CEO, Janitor
Plan Nine Publishing
1237 Elon Place
High Point, NC 27263
http://www.plan9.org

[DrBB]

6. And so tomorrow we read this transcript in the NYTimes? or WSJ?

I gather from what Bev has been posting that this is all available to reporters? And there are reporters who are interested?

Because it sure is some PRETTY SHIT we got here, some REAL PRETTY SHIT, as they say. And yes, I very very very VERY much want these arrogant bastards being very publicly red-assed and red-faced, preferably on 60 Minutes, with this transcript but failing that at least some major print outlets.

And that's just a teensy tiny little peep from the steam that is building up in me because of this sickening outrage. But oh my GOD do I want this to blow up in their smarmy, self-satisfied, oh-so-complacent faces.

[w4rma]

9. I suspected that this was the types of conversations that went on among

folks like these, but it's *really* interesting to actually read a transcript of a conversation like this.

[ParanoidPat]

12. Thanks for the look at their play book!

Walk right in, sit right down! :evilgrin: LOL! :toast:

[Generic Other]

13. My mother always said

Don't give out information over the phone! Wow!

Mr. Allen, you earn POINTS for that stunt! The literal fly on the wall!

[Eloriel]

17. My mother always said:

Don't DO things you're ashamed of. (That way, no one can ever embarrass you with the truth.)

The problem is, these people are incapable of feeling shame.

Eloriel

[Walt Starr]

18. Thank you, Eloriel

You, Bev, DA, and all the rest may be saving a nation.

[Eloriel]

20. I'm mostly just a cheerleader.

But an ACTIVE one.

Wait til you see what DEMActivist was up to today.


DAVID -- This is some of the most compelling reading I've done in a long while. Thanks so much for your participation.

Now I think I have to go back and read it again.

Eloriel

[Kelvin Mace]

31. When my wife read

the ITAA memorandum she was furious. She said she wanted to FAX a letter to them to ask how much they had gotten for their souls.

David Allen
Publisher, CEO, Janitor
Plan Nine Publishing
1237 Elon Place
High Point, NC 27263
http://www.plan9.org

[DEMActivist]

15. David this is amazing!

I am absolutely enthralled that we have a first hand account of democracy for sale.

Stunning!

Wow, what a day, huh?

[Walt Starr]

16. THAT'S A FUCKING GUN!!!!!!

AND THE MOTHER FUCKER IS SMOKING ITS ASS OFF!!!!

Collusion in the voting machine industry, plain and simple, they can't deny it or hide it any longer. There is criminality at foot and we can never trust an election with any machine put out by any company that participated in this collusion.

Add to that the fact that there is no certification for the 22,000 machines in Georgia that were used in the election that for the first time since the Civil War put a Republican in the Governor's Mansion, and we are talking beyond criminality. This can only be described as treason.

This nation may be dead if this does not hit mainstream press soon. If no major news outlets pick up on this, we're fucked.

[Eloriel]

19. Hey, Walt

I like your style. :evilgrin:

AND your dragon.

Eloriel

[dusty64]

37. Not to mention that I

just read in another thread that Georgia "election" officials have destroyed computer data showing the results of 2002 in violation of federal election law. Can they now be removed from office and prosecuted?

[alfredo]

21. Kick dis

to the top please

[farmbo]

22. Good Get Plan 9...roaches scramble for the sewers when lights go on!

Typical Ad Agency attempt to flatter the industry into hiring them.

But between the lines, its clear that ITTA will become the conduit for $millions$ in campaign and "issue" contributions...mostly to Republicans... to convince them to deploy these machines...and NOT ask any embarrasing questions about the security of the machines.

[Gordon25]

23. Absolutely extraordinary

plan9 - Hat's off to you, sir! With this and DemActivist's demo, they will really be scrambling. Watch now for some move to back out of the demo (could Diebold sue Williams to get a injunction preventing it?) The point is, whatever move they make it will be a defensive move and they still face the same conundrum: how to convince people faulty, insecure voting software and faulty, insecure certification processes are acceptable. One decision, by one Federal Court judge, making voting machine software code a trade secret has tendered our elections into the hands of --- R. Doug Lewis?!? :wtf:

The tidal wave climbs the coastal plain and people in the BBV industry on the beach notice a sudden rapid and unusually strong ebbing tide. They look at each other in confusion. One picks up a cell phone. "I think we need some expert help," he says. "What matters," the expert says, "is not what is causing the unusual tide. What matters is how people perceive you. As the water ebbs away, you have to keep moving your chairs to stay close to the edge. You must continue to be seen relaxing on the beach, enjoying the surf and sunshine, safe and confident in the security of your voting systems. Trust us. We're experts." The ebbing tide continues to pick up speed and the industry dances ever faster trying to keep up. Now we're getting to the good part of the story.


Gordon25

[Eloriel]

25. Here's what we have to do

Or some of it.

By this time, surely it must be obvious to all, that Open Source Code is the absolutely only way to go. In fact, if I had to choose between the two (VVPaper Ballots) or Open Source, I'd go with Open Source.

We CANNOT let anyone in this industry or anywhere near it be responsible, or even involved in:

* Devising Certification standards
* No Blue Ribbon panel for ANYthing, no way no how
* Nothin' to do with VoteHere's technology, whatever it is

VOTER VERIFIED PAPER TRAILS and OPEN SOURCE CODE. PERIOD.

Could someone describe what Open Source Code is and how it works? I know, but would so prefer someone who REALLY now to describe it.

We also need chain of custody mechanisms and procedures for getting the Code to the machines, reliably.

Here's why paper ballots aren't enough, tho they too are essential. Others have said it better (Roberta Mercuri comes to mind, and of course Bev), but the gist of it is this: if election results aren't "weird" enough, no one will challenge them. So an election could be stolen around a wide selection of locales and hardly ever raise suspicions, esp. if it's a close election to start with.

Another thing we need to do is ENSURE that in each state (or does Holt's bill address this), the VVPB (Voter Verified Paper Ballot) can legally be used for recounts. Right now, in Georgia and other states, they passed laws saying that "the electronic ballot is the only legal ballot." In such a case, VVPB are useless for recounts.

We've still got a long way to go, but today was a very, very good day.

Eloriel

[Eloriel]

26. Read this people

It's a real eye-opener. Nothing like documentation of what we knew to be the truth about these types!

Eloriel

[BevHarris]

27. This just went out to CNN, ABC, CBS, all national TV News:

Black Box Voting: Ballot Tampering in the 21st Century

BLACK BOX VOTING WEBMASTER given official permission to hack Georgia voting machines
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/0803/23voting.html
Atlanta Journal Constitution - Dare accepted on electronic voting machines Programmer says she can crack system

BLACK BOX VOTING PUBLISHER infiltrates secret voting industry meeting. "Give us $200,000 by Friday," and we'll help make your problems go away.
http://www.blackboxvoting.com
- Also: See http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0308/S00175.htm

- Lobbying proposal created by company whose director is Sr. Vice President of SAIC, selected by Maryland and Ohio as the “independent” evaluator of Diebold software

---------------

Kennesaw, Georgia 8/23/2003 -- In the end, Friday's two-hour discussion of whether computers should be the sole tabulators of Georgia voters' ballots came down to a challenge.

Roxanne, a 51-year-old computer program developer from Cumming, said she and a few expert friends could crack Georgia's $54 million touch-screen voting system in a matter of minutes.

The dare was made and accepted at the first of a series of seminars at Kennesaw State sponsored by Secretary of State Cathy Cox to defuse questions about the vulnerability of the statewide system she installed last year.

Election officials promised to provide a voting machine, and a computer server into which votes from the machine are fed...

SECRET MEETING:
Black Box Voting publisher infiltrates secret voting industry meeting. "Give us $200,000 by next Friday," and we'll help make your problems go away.

http://www.blackboxvoting.com

A massive PR campaign, and detailed notes on the meeting which include The Election Center and voting machine manufacturers -- they discuss:

- The pure profit motive behind the HAVA bill, and who was really behind it

- The need to keep this meeting a secret from the press, so the public would not find out the voting machine industry was in trouble

- Also: See http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0308/S00175.htm

Lobbying firm promises to whitewash image -- ties to SAIC, the "independent" company that is supposed to evaluate whether Diebold voting systems are secure

[punpirate]

28. In the context of the above...

... a Miller quote or two I'm sure everyone will enjoy:

"Harris Miller, president of the ITAA, downplays the significance of the lobbying effort on behalf of IT vendors. 'Lobbying is another word for education,' Miller says. 'The media likes to talk about 'buying votes, as if this were all about back-room politics, but at the end of the day you've got to have intelligent arguments on your side if you're going to sway people.'"

"If CIOs quietly support the vendors' positions on such issues as encryption and e-commerce taxation, then, fine, they've got friends in Washington. But what happens when CIOs and vendors disagree? Such a dispute arose in early 1999, when IT professor Kappelman, representing SIM on the ITAA's Y2K Task Force, came out against the Y2K Act. Unwilling to tie CIOs' hands with litigation limits, Kappelman knew he was going against the ITAA's vendor-friendly grain, yet his minority opinion was tolerated—until he spoke his mind to Congress. After that, he was barred from task force meetings. 'They didn't mind if I disagreed privately,' Kappelman says, 'but as soon as I went public, that was it.'

"The ITAA's Miller defends the Kappelman ban. 'Once he made it clear that he was totally opposed to our strategy, we did what we'd do to any dues-paying member: we excluded him,' Miller says. 'You can't have the fox invited to the chicken meetings. If we did that, then anything we discussed could potentially end up in The Washington Post the next day.'"

{Given recent context, ROTFLMAO.}


Cheers.

[ParanoidPat]

29. Damn Pun, Insert knife........

......and TWIST! :evilgrin:

[punpirate]

30. Ah, well, even us puny, insignificant citizens...

... have our talents. :toast:

[DEMActivist]

32. This is the BIG story...

not the challenge. Get up there!

[Eloriel]

33. Me too

They're both big. This one has already happened. It's history now, and it needs to be taken up by the press.

:kick:

Eloriel

[althecat]

34. E-vote vendors may form a team - Ohio Beacon Journal

Story includes quotes from David's transcript....

*****

http://www.ohio.com/mld/beaconjournal/business/6600065.htm

Diebold participates in preliminary talk; benefits would include unified standards
By Erika D. Smith
Beacon Journal staff writer

With a relentless spotlight beating down on electronic voting, some vendors are getting a bit squeamish about facing new questions and criticism alone.

Soon, defending the industry could become a team sport.

Representatives from several vendors, including Green-based Diebold Inc., discussed forming an umbrella organization in a conference call Friday.

``We've been involved in a lot of public issues lately without a unified public voice,'' said Alfie Charles of Sequoia Voting Systems.

The proposal is still tentative, but another meeting is planned for next week.

MORE HERE...
http://www.ohio.com/mld/beaconjournal/business/6600065.htm

[BevHarris]

35. Kick. Most important thread in quite awhile -- maybe subtle, though

Way to go David

[oasis]

36. kick for Sunday a.m.