BBV: NEW WIRED ARTICLE: Did E-Vote Firm Patch Election?

[creativelcro]

Not clear if they re-interviewed Rob B. or not. Seems very similar to Bev's interview... Not much new content, but it brings up the "violation of Federal laws" explicitly, which I think might be the way they are gonna go down. -CV

http://www.wired.com/news/print/0,1294,60563,00.html

[alfredo]

1. OK people, make sure this one goes out to everyone

in your address book.

[BevHarris]

13. One of the most digusting quotes was that of Dr. Williams

who claimed that Rob was fired, though he clearly was not, according to his personnel records.

I submitted Chapters 8 and 9 this weekend, but we knew the WiredNews article was coming out today and when she asked me to fact-check my part, I got a glimpse of how explosive her interviews with Rob Behler were. I especially found the scene where they are sitting around a table discussing whether to lie (!?!) to be quite shocking.

We therefore decided to hold the chapter until her excellent work broke. The Rob Georgia Chapter (9) also includes a number of supporting documents, giving credence to just about every detail he provided.

Bev

[DEMActivist]

2. Combination of old and new

But Behler said Diebold instructed him and his colleagues to fix problems with the machines before Kennesaw State would see them.

"If they started erring in mass quantities, Kennesaw State's going to raise a red flag, the secretary of state's going to raise a red flag and Diebold wouldn't get paid," Behler said.

He said the machines were patched not only in the Diebold warehouse, but also in county warehouses after they were shipped from Diebold.

At one point, Behler said he went to a warehouse in DeKalb County with "a high-level Diebold executive" to examine systems that were freezing up. Behler patched 1,387 machines but said, "We were still running upwards of 20 to 25 percent errors."

Diebold programmers contacted him and his colleagues and told them the patch was incorrect and they'd have to load a new one.

snip....

Behler said the patches he applied were never certified. No third party, other than the Diebold engineers who created the patches, knew what was in the patches. And once machines were patched, they did not undergo re-certification.

Behler said that as far as he knows, election officials in the Georgia secretary of state's office were never told about the patches.

"That's the last thing Diebold wanted," said Behler. "They made that very clear.... I sat around tables where (Diebold people) discussed whether they were going to tell them the truth, the half-truth or a complete lie.

"I understand if a company has information that they need to keep under tight lip. But when you sit around discussing lying to a client in order to make sure you're getting paid ... it's an ethics issue."

[sybylla]

3. Great Article!

One of the better written ones I've seen so far. Love the "violation of Federal laws" part. But I suspect that there isn't much punishment to go along with these violations or I would think the author would have mentioned it for drama.

If this is the case, where is the incentive for companies to follow the law?

[angka]

4. get up there

It's hard to track down a problem when you go out to your car and the first time it starts, the next time the headlights don't work, the next time you start it the brakes are out, and the next time you start it the door falls off," Behler said. "That's really the way they were."

Behler said Diebold programmers posted patches to a file-transfer-protocol site for him and his colleagues to apply to the machines.

Diebold did not respond to repeated calls for comment, but in an interview with Salon a few weeks ago, company spokesman Joseph Richardson denied the company applied any patches to the Georgia machines.

somebody is lying here, and it's not rob behler...

[4dog]

5. Wired has plenty of good articles. Worth the time to read (eom)

[nolabels]

6. They have foreknowlege of violating federal law and using a .......

Conspiracy to cover it up. This does not surprise me. What does make me sit back, think and wait for other people to get it (which I am not sure they are going to be able to do), is the fact millions go to gambling establishments every year and their business is growing.

The very few that walk out of them places on the plus of monetary endowments pale to effort used or spent by others and funds contributed to the effort of gambling. Sure it's entertainment, but somehow

I think voting is succumbing to the same process. Other than outright fraud organized state sponsored gambling offers the model that you don't have out and out be fraudulent about it, you just have to learn how the game them on the margins. The casinos in Vegas have learned how to do this very well. What would make anybody think the people making the voting machines were not doing anything different?

(another snip from the above article)
Williams of Kennesaw State University denies Behler ever mentioned patches to him and said, to his knowledge, no uncertified patches were applied to the machines. He said he would be very concerned if this happened.

"If they were changing the configuration of the machine, that would certainly be a concern because that would violate the certification," he said.

Williams does acknowledge, however, that a month and a half before the November election, he worked with Diebold to apply a patch to the Windows CE operating system. The voting machines run on version 3.0 of Windows CE, he said, and they patched it to correct problems they were having with the system.

But he said this patch was passed by Wyle Laboratories, the independent testing authority that originally certified the machines.

"We asked (Wyle) to take a quick look at it, but we didn't have time to do a full qualification on it. This was a month and a half before the election. To go through the full ITA qualification and state certification takes about six months. We asked them to look at it from the point of view of whether or not it would have any impact at all on the main line of the voting software."

As for other patches, Williams said, "We have no idea what Diebold or anybody else does when they go in their warehouse and shut that door."
(snip)

[Andy_Stephenson]

7. Kick-a-poo

:kick:

[Kelvin Mace]

8. Check this thread in LBN

I posted a suggestion to GA readers

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

[Spazito]

9. This is a good article!

I hope some of the mainstream press pick up on this, what is said is important.

[Spazito]

10. Kick

*

[ParanoidPat]

11. I'll see your kick,

and raise this to the top of the page! :evilgrin:

:kick:

[BevHarris]

12. Kim interviewed Rob -- and he gave her some wonderful quotes

above and beyond what he gave me. She did a great job.

Bev

[creativelcro]

14. There seems to be

enough to nail them... -C

PS. Frankly, it seems to me that the a Diebold insider like Rob might be able to pull off a Qui Tam, if he were approached by the right lawyers...