BBV - ESlate security gaps tallied

[Kelvin Mace]

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/printstory.hts/front/2296031

The county's $25 million eSlate system was first used in November 2001, and in nine subsequent city and county elections. It replaced an aging punch-card system similar to the one at the center of the 2000 presidential election controversy in Florida.

A recent review, however, of voting machines found that the eSlate system has numerous potential security weaknesses of its own, including lack of encryption to protect election data and passwords and the ability for a hacker to shut down polls early.

*snip*

David Beirne, a spokesman for Harris County Clerk Beverly Kaufman, said he remains confident in the security of the system and the vendor's ability to make the recommended changes.

"We don't see reason to take a second look or question the integrity of the system," Beirne said.

*snip*

Michael Shamos, a computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, said the absence of encryption may be a security flaw, but it's not one that could be easily exploited.

"I'm not against the recommendation," said Shamos, who consulted with the Texas attorney general's office about electronic voting. "I just don't see it represents any serious threat."

*snip*

Need I comment that Shamos, et al, are idiots?

David Allen
Publisher, CEO, Janitor
Plan Nine Publishing
http://www.plan9.org

[donsu]

1. kick

nt

[Moderator]

2. Plan9

This is a copyrifht violation and you did not provide a link
to the news source. Please edit this to 4 paragraphs and provide
a link. If it is not done within the next 15 minutes, I will have
to lock this thread.


Thanks for your understanding.


DU Moderator

[Kelvin Mace]

3. Sorry,

forgot the link.

David Allen
Publisher, CEO, Janitor
Plan Nine Publishing
http://www.plan9.org

[meg]

4. Here is the link

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/politics/2296031

You folks have got me swearing a blue streak. You hype, hype, hype, hype and then ... YOU DON'T PROVIDE the info. I have spent several hours searching for info that YOU HAVE at your finger tips. For example, the link to the document you reference. I waste time going out to YOUR org looking for the link. Nada. THe blackbox voting site is worse.

So, WHAT DID YOU SAY AT THE PRESS CONFERENCE? WHAT DID YOU FIND OUT? DO YOU CARE THAT YOUR SUPPORTERS CAN'T FIND OUT INFORMATION?

I do a newsletter for our club reaching about 300 people directly and who knows how many though passons. I had NOTHING to give them!

[RedEagle]

5. did yo try the blackboxvoting.org site?

There are other stories on DU with links, too.

[Kelvin Mace]

6. I'm not sure what you can't find.

I just double checked the blackboxvoting.com site (which I maintain) The stories on the main page are:

More Lies from Diebold - Where we prove Diebold lied about the employment of felons.

Audio Link to Yesterday's Press Conference by Bev Harris and Andy Stephenson - The actual press conference.

California Audit Can't Find a Single Diebold Machine Complying with the Law - Where we get a field report from the meeting of Diebold and the CA SoS with links to the full report.

Convicted Felons Help Pick Our President - A link to the AP story.

Convicted Criminals and More Uncertified Software - Links to the PDF files containing the press conference summary, the supporting docs and Andy's statement.

I'm sorry, but you have accused us of hype, and that is rather annoying. Please, tell me how I can make this info any easier to read.

David Allen
Publisher, CEO, Janitor
Plan Nine Publishing
http://www.plan9.org

[meg]

8. How to make info easier to read

Actually - my point was not that you were all hype and no substance. My point was that the information was very hard to find at first. Not hard to read, hard TO FIND. Yes, I did go to blackbox voting. It took me at least 2 hours to find what you had to say.

Suggestions:

1. Put the transcript of the press conference up front - or at least put the link to it up front on the blackbox voting site.
2. Put the summary of points WITH THE STATES that were involved. It was very frustrating to see "felons hired" and to have no idea whatever where these felons were employed or how it affected any particular state.

In fact, this is what I want to know with the summary:
1. what states were affected
2. what companies were involved
3. what elections were affected

Backup documentation is necessary, of course, and you provided that with the pdf file I saw later.

I am not trying to be annoying. I wanted to share my frustration as someone who is one your side trying my best to use your information.

[creativelcro]

7. Interesting that "Shemo", in italian means idiot

:) (the real spelling is "scemo", but it is pronounced shemo).