BBV: Another interesting article -- have we seen this?

Eloriel

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Fri Sep-12-03 11:44 AM
Original message

BBV: Another interesting article -- have we seen this?

It's undated, and I think there are critics of AFP, but I thought this was an especially interesting article:

http://www.americanfreepress.net/08_25_03/Concerns_Over/concerns_over.html
Concerns Over �Serious Flaws� in Electronic Voting Prompt New Examination by Members of Congress

A recently published study documenting a host of security flaws in a leading touch-screen voting system has caused elections officials across the United States to question the use of electronic voting machines.
Exclusive to American Free Press
By Christopher Bollyn

snip

Although voting machines were not on the agenda for the National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS), the release of the Hopkins report prior to their late July conference in Portland, Me., forced a change. The conference discussed whether the National Institute of Standards and Technology should be asked to establish new standards for computerized voting machines.

�There is a sense that in the past were part of the black box crowd and conspiracy theorists,� Kay Albowicz, a representative for NASS said. �No one is saying that now

snip (lotta good info, incl new quotes from Hopkins team, Doug Jones, and then Dill on Williams:)

�Unfortunately, he�s wrong. The report is generally valid,� said David L. Dill, computer scientist at Stanford University and member of the California Secretary of State�s Ad Hoc Touch Screen Task Force. �It�s been obvious that can be hacked, and Aviel shows that they can be hacked. They�ve blown up all the arguments that the present machines are OK.

�If the Virginia State Board of elections were really worried about being burned in effigy, it would have been prudent to seek a broader range of advice,� he said.

Dill identified the unnamed consultant as Brit Williams, the Georgia-based voting machine technologist at Kennesaw State University, who was instrumental in bringing the Diebold touch-screen voting to Georgia. Williams was a consultant to the Federal Election Commission during the development of the FEC Voting System Standards in 1990 and 2002. He also chairs the National Association of State Election Directors (NASED) Voting Systems Board Technical Committee and consults for several states, including Virginia.

Iowa professor Jones told AFP that Williams is �heavily invested in the process� of introducing touch-screen voting systems across the United States. Williams was �installed� in a key position at the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, Inc., which has been �setting standards for many years,� from which he advised the FEC on electronic voting systems, Jones said.

�Williams believes that he can detect malicious code in voting machines by testing them,� Dill said. �I think he�s on the defensive because he was so involved in the deployment of Diebold�s machines in Georgia.�

(snip)

SAIC is working with Diversified Dynamics of Glen Allen, Va., in the development of a voting system known as the System 5 DVRS.

MUCH more (and here's something hopeful:)

A Palm Desert, Calif., woman, Susan Marie Weber, is suing the state over the use of unverifiable voting machines. �They�re not allowing us to verify our votes,� Weber said in WN.

MUCH more. Do read.

Eloriel