Diebold Apparently Kicked Out Of Florida County After Hack Test
from the kick-'em-while-they're-down... dept
We've been following various storylines concerning Diebold and how they seemed to be getting much of what they wanted, even in states that were skeptical of Diebold equipment. Not surprisingly, the EFF is suing North Carolina for ignoring their own law that would have required Diebold to hand over source code -- this follows the earlier lawsuit that said Diebold had to follow the law -- which they refused to do. We avoided posting yesterday's news that Diebold's CEO had stepped down, as there wasn't a clear connection to the technology questions (many people think an SEC fraud investigation may have more to do with it) -- and, as CEO, he seems more a target of political attacks, rather than a discussion about the technology issues, which are of a bigger concern to us. However, a more interesting story may be that BlackBoxVoting is claiming the latest series of hack tests in Florida have convinced some election officials there to "never again use Diebold in an election." The hack test is simply an update on an earlier hack test that was done last summer, showing problems with Diebold's equipment. Of course, we haven't seen any other reports confirming this -- other than on the BlackBoxVoting site, and they organized the hack test, so there's some bias. Also, from their description, it looks like just one county official, and not the whole state. Finding one county official who doesn't like Diebold probably isn't that difficult. It would be nice to get some independent confirmation on this story -- and then see if other election officials start to question their own use of the Diebold machines. At the very least, all of these questions should, once again, make election officials demand more openness from the company -- but, so far, Diebold seems to have been able to dodge most of the questions.
Reader Comments (rss)
(Flattened / Threaded)
Bias by Andrew Strasser on Dec 14th, 2005 @ 7:51pm
I'd be biased too if I knew that someone I know can break into our election system. That would lead me to believe that not only can it be done by them it can be done by others as well. We all know that you can buy anything including hackers.
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Re: Bias by Neosin on Dec 14th, 2005 @ 8:45pm
I bet you really liked the movie "The Matrix" huh?
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Re: Bias by Neosin on Dec 14th, 2005 @ 8:47pm
and the little people who break in to things, to change and/or destory ... yea they are called "crackers".... Let's not forget Hackers are people who do "good" things with info...
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Re: Bias by John on Dec 14th, 2005 @ 8:53pm
Hackers is more of a neutral term. It doesn't mean people who do "good" things. Just people who hack. Besides whining about how you have to use "crackers" instead of "hackers" for anything bad is so 1995. That battle's over.
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Re: Bias by bobthealmighty on Dec 14th, 2005 @ 11:15pm
the orininal meaning of hacker is just someone who is good with technology, specifically computers.
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Re: Bias by Sv on Dec 15th, 2005 @ 12:46am
The original intention of a language wasn't to argue over the usage of two similar terms for decades.
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
No Subject Given by Rob Henderson on Dec 15th, 2005 @ 8:22am
Ion Sancho, the Elections Supervisor of Leon County Florida, is one of the most respected election officials in the state. Leon County contains Tallahassee, the state capital, which means Sancho has strong access to the Legislature and to the media that covers the capital.
Yes, it is one supervisor in one county, but the specifics of the situation make this development a bit more serious than it might look at the outset.
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Already hacked... by Sea Man on Dec 15th, 2005 @ 9:25am
The system was already hacked. That's the only chance Dubya had. Payola makes the world go round...
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Re: Already hacked... by MindTrigger on Dec 15th, 2005 @ 9:44am
We can't trust the paper voting method, and we can't make a trustworthy electronic method. We rock.
Stupid Humans Unite!
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Re: No Subject Given by MYarms on Dec 15th, 2005 @ 10:03am
yes and remember who's brother is the govenor of florida. That takes some big balls to go up against the criminal empire that is the Bush family.
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Add Your Comment