"DOD shut down Online Voting by Servicepeople Last Feb..(Hacking worries)

[KoKo]

"Buzzflash" has just reposted this interesting article from last Feb. up on their Website...Wonder Why...:eyes:


February 6, 2004
Defense Dept. Shelves Online Voting
By Jim Wagner

The Department of Deense (DoD) on Friday shut down its online voting experiment for overseas military and civilian citizens. An internal memo from Paul Wolfowitz, DoD deputy defense secretary, to David Chu, personnel and readiness undersecretary, earlier this week described the Secure Electronic Registration and Voting Experiment (SERVE) as unable to insure legitimacy of votes.

The decision comes weeks after a panel of security experts, the Security Peer Review Group (SPRG), said the foundation of the Internet was fundamentally flawed -- open to hacks and denial of service attacks (define) -- not particularly the equipment used in the experiment.
Dr. David Jefferson, one of the SPRG's security experts who authored the report, praised the DoD for making the difficult decision of canceling the experiment, and expects technology advances in the next five years will not make e-voting any more plausible.

It's uncertain how the decision will affect the e-voting issue this year. Federal and state officials have been installing online voting machines for the general election, which has the potential to be every bit as polarizing and close as the 2000 presidential election.

While manufacturers like Diebold and Sequoia Voting Systems originally installed online voting machines in different states, it has recently run into opposition from scientists and critics. The outcry prompted the manufacturers to band together and form the Election Technology Council (ETC) to address these issues.

More of the article where "Accenture" is mentioned...
http://www.internetnews.com/infra/article.php/3309471

[zimba]

1. Whoa.

That is scary. Id really like to see that report that caused the DOD to scratch the program. I just read some of the other articles that are linked in the story. This is some important reading IMO. ES&S are also a part of the ETC.

Another story about the ETC forming has this quote. "We need a code of ethics because we must report to a higher authority--the American voting public," said Tracey Graham, president of Sequoia Voting Systems.

http://news.com.com/2100-1028_3-5118160.html

Oh yeah, they really believe that. Thats why they keep all their software coding a proprietary secret, so we can feel confidant that they are on the up and up.

Thanks for this article, Im going to keep researching this ETC.

[GetTheRightVote]

2. I can not believe they continue with the electons knowing this info

:kick:

So what are we going to do about this new information.
They knew in Feb 2004 that they would be "...unable to insure legitimacy of votes". If this all smell up all to hell.

Man, I am really angry now.

:grr:

[GregD]

3. This is neither new news to those who have worked on the e-voting issue,

nor is it related in any significant way to the Nov 2 election.

This was about voting over the Internet which was considered an even greater threat, while being entirely distinct, from paperless e-voting at local precincts.

Read this http://www.servesecurityreport.org/, then relax and focus on the current election debacle. The battle to defeat large scale Internet voting was been won, for now. We will likely have to fight that battle again, but right now the battle is over Nov 2 and the resultant fallout.

I worked closely with some of the signatories of that report (Dr. Barbara Simons, for example, is a good friend.) We all considered it a big win. So I speak from a basis of close familiarity.

The only Internet voting we have going on recently was the Democratic Primary in Michigan. It even got shut down in South Carolina when the SERVE report came out.

Don't worry about it for now.


GregD

[KoKo]

7. I realize that Greg D....but, it also just affirms that votes can be

hacked if there's a connection between the Voting Machine company and the Opti-Scan or E-Voting machines which allows hacking.

I know it's about "Online Voting" but the companies are the same and some of us feel hacking was a problem in Ohio with "modems" connected to Triad Systems because they were reporting the votes on their website.

Thanks for the link and your information, though...:-)'s

[zimba]

9. GregD, thanks for the link. The report does however relate to

issues today in that their concerns address the following;
______________
Our conclusions are summarized as follows:

1. DRE (direct recording electronic) voting systems have been widely criticized elsewhere for various deficiencies and security vulnerabilities: that their software is totally closed and proprietary; that the software undergoes insufficient scrutiny during qualification and certification; that they are especially vulnerable to various forms of insider (programmer) attacks; and that DREs have no voter-verified audit trails (paper or otherwise) that could largely circumvent these problems and improve voter confidence. All of these criticisms, which we endorse, apply directly to SERVE as well.
_______________

This is the heart of the argument concerning all computer generated voting and tabulation, be it DRE or opscan. How much did these concerns have to do with DOD canning SERVE. It seems that that is the question.

[merh]

4. Kick this one - it is too important to let fall into the thread limbo

DOD was afraid of hacking? DOD WAS AFRAID OF HACKING? :wow: :wtf:

[No Exit]

5. WOLFOWITZ was worried that it was "unable

to ensure legitimacy of votes"??

Pardon me while I burst into bitter laughter... HAHAHAHA!!!

Sorry, seeing "Wolfowitz" and "legitimacy" in the same sentence is what did it.

[KoKo]

6. Kick.....because it's one more bit of proof that Election was stolen again

[FreeCajun]

8. WTF? MAIL TO CONYERS!

:kick: :kick: :kick:

[KoKo]

10. I think he's gotten it. Buzzflash has it up on their site....they put

a repost of this "old news" up for a reason. Even though the article is about "Online Voting" it ties into something current or Buzz wouldn't have sneaked it into their current listing of news stories.

I thought the comments by the Bushies were a good re-read, too.