E-PUBLIUS UNUM

Out Of The Electronic Many, One

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Location: Washington, DC, United States

Saturday, October 28, 2006

NERDS TO WORLD: ELECTIONS IN JEOPARDY

In a rare turn of nerds against computers, a team of analysts at the Center for Information Technology Policy and Department of Computer Science at Princeton University have released a report challenging the security of Diebold electronic voting machines. The team cited fundamental design flaws in hardware and software that make it very easy to tamper with electoral outcomes.

Streaming video available at the group’s website shows several mysterious hands breaking into a machine and implanting malicious code to steal votes. In the video, it takes the hands less than a minute to steal the presidency away from George Washington and hand it to Benedict Arnold.

Apparently, if Diebold had their way, we would be visiting the Arnold Monument in Arnold, D.C. and Benedict Arnold Carver would have found all kinds of things to do with peanuts. I don’t think so Diebold!

Diebold, a contributor to numerous Republican campaigns, issued a statement refuting the study, saying:

By any standard – academic or common sense – the study is unrealistic and inaccurate.

The company offered several critiques of the conditions of the study, saying that fundamental measures like security tape and tags customary in any voting situation had been ignored by the researchers.

Princeton replied, “No they weren’t.”

One would have thought that were Diebold such sticklers for detail, they would have realized earlier on that by any standard – academic or common sense – assuming that a digital voting system with no paper trail will ensure fair elections is unrealistic and inaccurate.

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