Hack the Vote (Slate): Bev Harris gets a shout-out!

[KamaAina]

http://slate.msn.com/id/2086455/

News stories on the Diebold flap have ignored the original source of the claims: Bev Harris, a Renton, Wash., publicist and fast-talking progressive activist. The Johns Hopkins study was based on the code Harris found, but by her own admission she is neither an impartial source nor a particularly technical one. Harris claims she found Diebold's source code online while obsessively Googling for information about the company's possible connections to the Bush administration. That's probably why major newspapers, including the New York Times, that have picked up on her discovery have run it without mentioning her. Meanwhile, though, Harris is drawing lots of online links to her black-helicopter claims, which boil down to: Diebold's machines are designed with back doors into which GOP operatives can download additional "votes."

"Black-helicopter claims"?! Cripes, this is Slate, not NewsMax! Hey, at least the mainstream press is picking up on the discovery... Go Bev!

[ianbruce]

1. Pretty clear where he's coming from.

It's all a big joke. He writes, "The report claims the code is riddled with "unauthorized privilege escalation, incorrect use of cryptography, vulnerabilities to network threats, and poor software development processes" (Ack! A geek's worst insult!) before spelling out a scenario in which a middling hacker steals the vote by stamping out fake voter smartcards using a $100 desktop printer.

Stamping out fake voter smartcards using a $100 desktop printer? Is this guy that ignorant?

If you wish, write him at: [e-mail]

[librechik]

2. that's not a shout out, that's a smear

Remember that Slate is financed by Microsoft, which takes a big hit from Bev as the major culprit of the security problems with Diebold software.

[KamaAina]

3. "Microsoft security" is an oxymoron like "conservative thinker"

Microsoft, which takes a big hit from Bev as the major culprit of the security problems with Diebold software.

If Diebold is using MS security* then Cheney doesn't even need to build back doors into the software. Any 13-year-old who wants to see 'Net porn bad enough can figure out how to crack MS security*.

:scared:

[sam sarrha]

4. hey, i saw the black helicopters in CO, there were 2 flat black cobras

with no ID numbers orbiting a farm house at 180* off each other about 50' off the ground, near Cortez, CO, then two black hewies came in low front and back of the farm houe and landed, about then my friend i was visiting grabbed me and pulled me inside, they were just down the hill real close. he was upset i was watching in the open, wouldnt let me go out again. while i was there i also saw a spherical UFO south of cortez, it was about 30' dia., 1/4 mile away at about 800 feet altitude..i watched it for 4 minutes, it was totally smooth and bright like it was chrome plated, it turned a gold color and disappeared. i got a really good look at it....:wow: