Black Box: A plea for mirror space -- from "Make My Day"

[BevHarris]

As you may know, Jim March posted a mini-stash of Diebold files. Over 750 posts at Slashdot and articles all over the place drove so much traffic there he surpassed the original Diebold download traffic (New Zealand) in just 20 hours!

This has already had an amazing result. We've just had three very, very large media hits and many more small ones. And, A NEW SOURCE SURFACED -- see below for a sample of the kind of information such activities can generate.

Jim asked me to post this:

==========================

"plea for mirror space!"

The files distributed at:
http://www.equalccw.com/dieboldtestnotes.html

were so big they hammered the small ISP. The main instructions files are up, but the big ZIP files are down.

We need high-speed mirror space. ASAP. EMail Jim at: [email protected] if you can help. These files really do have "fair use" written all over them, see also the EFF FAQ page on Fair Use at:

http://www.eff.org/IP/eff_fair_use_faq.php

===========================

The files are controversial, and you should think carefully for two reasons: 1) bandwidth and 2) possible retaliatory action.

That being said, this comes with a massive PR hit.

See below for the kinds of inside sources who have come out due to these kinds of bold citizen actions.

Bev Harris

[WilliamPitt]

1. Thanks, Bev

Much appreciated.

[BevHarris]

2. An example of the kinds of sources that are coming forward:

This internal memo was passed along by an inside source, not Robert Chen. Remember, Diebold says that both the GEMS machine and the touch screens are connected to nothing!

Yes, this shows there is something dangerous going on with connectivity. First, it shows that they were using uncertified software. At that time, the certified GEMS version was 1.17.17. And as for ability to get in and upload files, consider very carefully the implications of the sentence in bold:

----- Original Message -----
From: "Robert Chen" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, October 28, 2002 1:30 PM
Subject: AVTS modem upload BS 4.3.11

Hi,

Found something interesting here in Alameda County, and want to see if anyone has found this in the field. Especially those of you who are doing AVTS (we don't do AVOS) modem upload from the precincts.

Running:
BS 4.3.11
GEMS 1.18.14
NT 4.0 6a

I am dialing the central computer's bank of modems (connected via Digi PCI X/em) and connecting to NT's Remote Access Server. I have assigned a ip pool (166.107.248.210 to 220) and the AVTS with PCMCIA card modems dial in okay, and make a connection with the RAS server. I can see the assigned ip address to the incoming AVTS unit. However, when I try uploading, it gives and error: "no connection to host". Yes, I have confirmed the HOST name and tried the IP address.

I tried pinging the AVTS unit and only get timeouts. I then tried simulating the connection with my laptop and was able to successfully upload. I was also able to ping my laptop from the server and vice versa.

At this point, I do not think, despite the port information displayed by RAS Server, that the AVTS was taking the ip address.

I am sure I am probably doing something wrong and would appreciate some enlightenment.

rob chen


the talked about ip block is owned by.
OrgName: Alameda County Data Processing
OrgID: ACDP
Address: 1221 Oak Street
Address: Rm 17B
City: Oakland
StateProv: CA
PostalCode: 94612
Country: US
I'm assuming the terminals dialup a modem in central office in alameda county and establish a ppp or slip connection with their local network. It is insane to think they would have these things connect to the internet no matter what kind of security procedurs they take people can get around them.

[Eloriel]

6. Just an example?

Woohoo!

:bounce:

Eloriel

[sybylla]

17. Careful, here.

This memo isn't necessarily describing a system that connects to the internet. Many LANs use TCP/IP addressing just like the internet does. He sounds to me to be describing a situation where, from his office PC, he could dial into the server but not connect to the network. Then, perhaps on site as part of a service call, he could simulate that connection. The e-mail seems to be asking for some ideas on how to fix the problem with standard dial-up.

This is big stuff Bev, either way. Just being able to dial into this system is dangerous enough. I just wanted to suggest that it is not necessarily an internet based connection.

[never cry wolf]

3. Baring my ignorance here

I'd like to help but I have no idea what is required. Do I need a web site to mirror or just a high speed (DSL) connection and hard drive space? I have the latter but not the former.

[BevHarris]

5. You need access to an FTP site

Most people who own a web site have access to FTP space. You may be charged for the amount of activity, and this has HIGH activity.

Bev

[never cry wolf]

7. RATS!!!

On edit, my business has been late in putting together a web site. I get cold calls all the time but don't know jack shit about it, who's any good, what I need, what costs are involved, etc. Any DUers in the Chicago area do the small business web site thingy?? Maybe kill two birds with one stone here, tho I am sure it wouldn't be up and running very quickly.

[sangha]

19. How much money are you talking about?

Maybe we can start a special fund for it?

[BevHarris]

31. Best way, I think, is to do the following:

Either use something like Gnutella or bittorrent (see posts downthread)

or

Volunteer to host just 2-3 files

or

Get a CD and do the swarm of bees viral marketing thing
(more info downthread)

[Mairead]

44. If you have a high-outbound-speed DSL line (most aren't) +

lots of disc space + a good Unix system such as FreeBSD, you can put up an FTP site and host the files. FreeBSD (and probably Linux) have FTP server software inbuilt -- all you need do is set the permits correctly and suddenly you're serving files.

The main problem for you would be the A(symmetric)DSL, if that's what you have--and you probably do. ADSL almost always has (a) dynamic IP address allocation, which makes running a server all but impossible and (b) a bandwidth split that makes inbound traffic (e.g. when you're reading DU) much faster than outbound traffic (e.g., posting). If you can get a fixed IP address and an SDSL line, you could easily host the mirror.

[BevHarris]

4. I have posted the San Luis Obispo file DOWNLOAD HERE:

This is a nasty little situation -- Diebold posted a live election file on its web site. The file is stamped 3:31 in the afternoon on election day. I posted it-- it is 101,000 kb Microsoft Access file.

http://www.talion.com/SLOprimary-ORIG.mdb

It is more easily viewable when combined with the GEMS program, also a whopper of a download.

One thing that you might propose to Jim March is dividing up and having several people do a couple files each.

And by the way Diebold, yes, I POSTED THAT FILE IT'S ON MY WEB SITE. Got ahead, complain. Then explain to me why you stole a live vote database from San Luis Obispo County during the middle of an election and put it on your company web site.

Oh, and bite me.

Bev Harris

[never cry wolf]

9. What do I do with it after I get it?

I don't mind, I have the free space on my hard drive. Or, is this just for people who are actually geeks and know what to do with it. I can download, burn onto a cd, send somewhere else if it will help at all, or just store for later use.

[Trajan]

28. HUGE smiles ....

Damn I love yer guts ....

We are SO proud Bev: ... you ROCK like no other ....

[bitchkitty]

39. A favor -

Last night I downloaded but something went wrong and the file seems to have disappeared (anyone else have this problem?) Is there any way you can zip it and upload it, and we can download the zip file? Those of us without DSL would appreciate it!

[never cry wolf]

43. i zipped it but it is still 63 mb

i put it in my kazaa shared folder.

[bitchkitty]

46. That's cool -

I know now what I did wrong. I checked "move file" and that's what it did, moved the files. Don't use kazaa but thanks.

[Occulus]

48. Bev,

I need to know if any other software aside from Access can view these databases. I'm preparing a demo for our local newspaper, but I don't know if they have Office (they likely do), and I myself do not have it either- and I'm not going to buy it just for this one, specific purpose.

Is Access the only software that can read these databases?

Oh, by the way- I've downloaded the whole shebang, ALL the Diebold files I can find. I'm perfectly willing to offer these via Gnutella.

[TrogL]

8. I don't have enough drive space yet

But here's a link to one of the more important files.

http://www.angelfire.com/ab/trogl/test/ATL-TSRepair.zip

PM or email me ([email protected]) to find out what to do with it.

I'll try and see what else I can do tonight.

[ParanoidPat]

10. Bev, I think you just got bit!

Blackboxvoting.org is down. :(

Check your account management page here!

[DEMActivist]

11. We're working on it

Updates as soon as we know something.

[BevHarris]

14. Yup. The web server kicked BlackBoxVoting.org off for good

I talked them into keeping it up until Sunday (they won't even grant me a weekday). Their reason: They are invoking an anti-spam rule they have in the following strange way -- "if a web address appears in a press release sent by a publicity firm, even if that publicity firm is a separate company with a separate account entirely, and even if the list is an opt-in list for reporters who have specifically asked to be emailed press releases, that "violates their spam policy."

Right. They say someone complained. Who? A reporter? I've been in the business for years, and I can tell you that a reporter complaining to a WEB SERVER for a web address in a press release (but not contacting the return address that goes to the publicist who sent it) -- doesn't happen, sorry. They wouldn't tell me who wanted to be removed, either. Right. This can only be politically motivated, probably by either a ClearChannel affiliate or an Internet political publication.

I asked this: So what if another web site entirely, BlackBoxVoting.COM, which is not from your server hires a publicist from a PublicityAdvisor.com, also not your server, and the press release contains only the address of the .COM site, not the .org -- will you still kick the .org site off?

Their answer: Yes. You're otta here.

Think we are getting on someone's last nerve about now?

[never cry wolf]

18. Damn, I just joined!!

:kick:

[BevHarris]

20. We'll have BlackBoxVoting switched to new server shortly

No worries

[seemslikeadream]

21. Thanks for the update

been wondering.

[ParanoidPat]

49. Rox ROCKS!

Impressive, and on a weekend no less! :toast:

:kick:

[Nlighten1]

12. I'm still working on getting some space and bandwidth for this.

It might be next week before I can get some stuff set up. I'm working on it though.

[TrogL]

22. OK, i've got a server up

but I need to find some more drivespace and lock down the server so it's internet-ready.

[starroute]

13. Bev - would peer to peer be a viable way to distribute these?

I'm not an expert, but from things my son has said to me, it sounds as though BitTorrent might serve well for distributing files of this sort.

With peer to peer, you don't need to have a website to host files -- you just put them on your hard drive in a shared folder. The more people who have the same file available, the less of a bandwidth burden there is on any one of them. The download information is the only thing that does have to be on a website -- but that's trivial.

If it sounds interesting to you, let me know and I'll grab my son for more details.

[BevHarris]

15. Somebody was looking at bit torrent for this.

I think in order to use it, though, everyone who wants to download needs to have the bittorrent software. It's a good idea, though, if someone can figure it out.

[starroute]

16. More bittorrent info

Starroute's son here, to give more details.

Here's how Bittorrent works. It effectively sets up a peer to peer network for a few files at a time; one that allows uploading from incomplete files, enforces uploads from everyone downloading, and allows people with completed download to hook in and add their upload capacity at any point.

To set it in motion, you need to do two things on your own, set up a tracker and create a torrent. The tracker is a program with access to the Net that coordinates the file sharing. The torrent file is a very small file which you put up on a website that contains information about the file to be shared and points to the tracker. When someone clicks on the torrent it connects them to the tracker, which in turn connects them with all the computers running that torrent. Because it allows for hundreds of people to combine their upload capacity it can create very high speeds, and since everyone downloading is also uploading at the same time, the more people try to get the file the larger the total capacity becomes.

Bittorrent is specifically designed for the distribution of large and high demand files, and does a very good job of it IMO.

Some links:

Official Site
http://bitconjurer.org/BitTorrent/

FAQ
http://btfaq.com/
How to create a torrent section
http://btfaq.com/serve/cache/56.html

Edit: The bitrorrent program needed to connect into the network is very small and easy. IIRC, it's less then a meg in size, and runs easily in the background on a computer. A link to the official site next to the torrent file link would let everyone hook in easily.

[angka]

23. these files are available from gnutella-net

cut and paste into your client of choice as necessary:

SLOprimary-ORIG.mdb
votehack.doc
elections.zip (main GEMS 'distribution' with other goodies)
AccuVote-TS Users Guide 4.1.pdf

other various files.

i have no idea how they got there (looks at sky)

[BevHarris]

24. Whew! We love ya Angka!

Bev

[juajen]

25. AND, man, do we love you Bev!

What total aggravation and even danger for your convictions and courage. I wish I was not so stupid on techie things to help. All I can say is, girl, you got guts. Power and love to all of you who are working so hard to help all of us.

[angka]

26. thanks, but it takes more than one

schmuck with broadband to make real peer-to-peer availability work. these files should be shared by everyone who knows about this and has a high speed connection. it's easy and doesn't require much other than leaving your computer on. i won't insult anyone by arrogantly presuming they don't have a good firewall.

if you're concerned about leaving a file-sharing program running continuously, and hogging admittedly precious bandwidth, i would recommend only sharing the GEMS-related files in their own directory. turn all your other sharing off.

if you have a high speed connection but aren't familar with gnutella-net and its various clients, but would like to help (insert :)), you can pick from several very good and easy-to-configure ones:

limewire
morpheus
bearshare
xolox
gnucleus
winmx

it's called viral distribution and orrin hatch really, really doesn't like it. which means it must be fun.

[hunter]

29. What's the "bandwidth" of a CD passing hand to hand?

"it's called viral distribution and orrin hatch really, really doesn't like it. which means it must be fun.

If you don't have a high speed internet connection don't underestimate the power of a CD-R... Make copies, give them to your friends.

[BevHarris]

30. There is a CD distribution going on -- notify any of the activists

by PM and they'll probably help you out with this. Need mailing address.

I don't do it because I don't even mail birthday cards to my mother, much less this. I'd procrastinate until next summer. But the grapevine says there is a distribution set going out with the whole Jim March instructions and everything.

PM any of the activists also if you like to burn CDs and enjoy standing in line at the post office. According to the phone calls I'm getting, these things have escaped into the wild and have already migrated out of California like a swarm of killer bees.

Many folks, many places.

I like this term: "exponential growth." Anyone know what it means?

Bev

[Nlighten1]

34. Kazaa?

Anyone running Kazaa have these files?

[never cry wolf]

37. I do now

i have the following files now in my kazaa shared folder:

ATL-TSRepair.zip

SLOprimary-ORIG.mdb

firing up kazaa as soon as i post this

[bitchkitty]

27. "possible retaliatory action"

That sounds too too tempting!

Hey, any publicity is good publicity if it's free, right?

[symbolman]

32. Bev

Still waiting on a script of sorts.. if you can just give me the simplest concepts, like billboards, remember - I can make this make sense to more people :)

Contact me..

Remember, I'm about an hour or two away from SLO and have a film crew as well as flash capability :)

and I wanna play too ;)

symbolman

[seemslikeadream]

33. a kick for symbolman

so he can play too!

[Nlighten1]

35. kick

[BevHarris]

40. Symbolman -- PM me

We discussed various concepts, you got feedback from various people --

Let me know in a nutshell what the final broad concept is and I'll see what we can do to move this forward.

I have three very large projects at once this weekend, so may be AWOL for awhile.

Bev

[ParanoidPat]

47. When you say 'film crew'....

....are you talking 'video'? :evilgrin:
If so we need to 'talk'! :)

[loudsue]

36. You guys are totally, undeniably THE BEST!!!

O8)THANK YOU SOOOOOO MUCH FOR DOING THIS!!!! O8)

I'm totally convinced that if we get the right to vote in this country again, it's going to be because of the work you guys are doing here.

I'm unable to help with the computer processes -- hell! I haven't even figured how to e-mail photos yet! -- but I follow these threads every day. This is the most important stuff in my entire world right now, because I know what's riding on it.

Looking back, I'm more and more convinced that, SOMEHOW, people (and probably Bush family & associates) have been f*&^ing with our elections for a long time, and that they just figured out that this type of voting machine would just make it all so much easier and more manageable. I think they figured there were fewer risks of detection.

They are about to have their little party crashed by some serious AMERICAN PATRIOTISM....and I don't mean the mindless flag-waving kind.

Blessings and protection to all who are working on this!!

:kick::kick::kick::kick::kick::kick::kick:

[RedEagle]

38. Kick this on!

[ParanoidPat]

42. Kick with a 'public service announcement'.....

Question.: What do all these people and entities have in common?

Mark Crispin Miller
Greg Palast
Joe Conason
Denis Wright
Pluto Press
Bev Harris
Will Pitt
Jason Leopold
Tamara Baker
Thom Hartmann
Martin Heldt ( http://awolbush.com )
Bev Conover ( http://onlinejournal.com )
Alastair Thompson ( http://www.scoop.co.nz )

A.: They're all progressive!

Q.: And who do they hate more than anyone else?

A.: Why the Conservatives of course!

Q.: What else do they all have in common?

A.: :evilgrin: Folks! Don't feed the TROLLS! Some of them bite. :)

This public service announcement brought to you by People for Human Auditable Elections.

[dolo amber]

41. Right...

I have a cable modem and I'm always up for some mischief...anyone feel free to PM me with anything I can do to help. :)

[ParanoidPat]

45. Kick for victory!

:kick:

[RedEagle]

50. Keep this one too

Kick!