Can Diebold Voting Machines Really Be Hacked?

[Logansquare]

From "I, Cringley," the tech commentator on PBS:

"Hopefully, the story is false... If it is true, then it may well be the case that massive voter fraud has put many of the wrong candidates in office, meaning we aren't a nation of laws at all. Even more disturbing is the fact that the mainstream press doesn't appear to be interested, which is scary. You be the judge." <snip>

http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/pulpit20030717.html

[Bozita]

1. "I didn't even bother investigating the story because it was sent to...

... every reporter the authors could find."

Hmmmm.

[madfloridian]

2. Sounds like he is covering himself for ignoring it?

He ignored it and is now backtracking, I think.

[papau]

3. email him - the 7/17 needs followup - and he is a good guy.

There is hope here

We can get this fellow to write more - and he has a great reputation in tech writing for the masses.

[On the Road]

4. Here's My Email

Designed to be questioning and nonpartisan.

Bob --

I'm concerned about the voting machine flaws I saw in your column and elsewhere. I hope you will write more about the issue.

A lot of the research is being done by Democrats who are partisan but seem to be truly concerned about vote theft. (Bev Harris of http://www.blackboxvoting.com/ is one who I know slightly from another website.) Some of the findings on the software are very curious, including multiple vote registers, backdoors, wireless access, the ability to change time and date stamps, and practices like leaving vote totals on unsecured FTP sites during the counting process.

I don't know how serious or incriminating these flaws are. It would be valuable to see an evaluation from a nonpartisan expert like yourself. The fact that it has not been a front-page story is not surprising -- it often takes months or years for important stories to break. And this is potentially a very important story.

Jack Neefus
Collage Park, MD

[Bozita]

5. That's a super response to Cringely.

Thanks.

[madfloridian]

8. That was excellent.

:hi:

[librechik]

6. He wrote me back

here's his email:

Dear Debra,

I will definitely be doing a follow-up probably for the week after
next. My plan is to try to add value, so this will take some real
digging. If I find any new smoking guns I'll give you a heads-up.


All the best,


Bob



Cool, huh?

[Logansquare]

7. Thanks for the followup n/t

n/t