BREAKING: DIEBOLD PULLS OUT OF NORTH CAROLINA! (Again! And For Now...)

[BradBlog]

BREAKING: DIEBOLD PULLS OUT OF NORTH CAROLINA! (Again! And For Now...)
Sends Letter to State Announcing Intention to Withdraw in Light of State Law Requirement for Submission of Source Code!
Said to be happy to help state change their law, however!

For those who have followed the recent yet storied history of Diebold in North Carolina, The BRAD BLOG has just received word that there has been yet one more late-breaking twist! We can now confirm that, in fact, Diebold is removing their company from contention for the lucrative election systems contracts in the state in light of a state law which requires Voting Machine Companies to submit their full source-code to the state for inspection. At least for now.

A letter just obtained by The BRAD BLOG (which we will post in full shortly), sent from Diebold to the NC State Board of Elections, confirms that indeed, the company which had previously fought a state law requiring the submission and inspection of their voting equipment's software source code has decided they'd rather quit than fight, and is withdrawing their bid to contract with the state of NC for the time being, pending their ability to convince NC to change their laws!...

MUCH MORE:
http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00002190.htm

---
Brad Friedman
THE BRAD BLOG - The uprising continues...
http://www.BradBlog.com
VELVET REVOLUTION - The revolution has begun...
http://www.VelvetRevolution.us

*** The BRAD SHOW On the Air via RAW RADIO!
*** http://www.BradShow.com

[texpatriot2004]

1. Gee Diebold, what the big problem with OPEN SOURCE CODE

What are you hiding?

[pagandem4justice]

3. Indeed.

While I'm sure that the official explanation will be that Diebold wants to protect their proprietary software from possible piracy, and that they believe a poor precedent will be set for governments to demand source code filings from developers, the argument doesn't fly.

First, the state has a vested interest in requiring the code be on file, as the company is serving as a state contractor in providing a service to the public at taxpayers' expense. Just as any publicly-funded agency is subject to a higher degree of scrutiny due to its nature of doing business, so should Diebold and other electronic voting firms be a bit more accountable to the public in terms of transparency than the typical software developer.

Second, I do not agree that the company's security or intellectual property rights will be infringed upon by merely being in state "custody." A legal argument against trusting a government entity with secret company information invariably is invalidated by the counter-argument that the company must have filed a patent with the federal government ... thus trusting a government agency in the first place with its information.

So yes, texpatriot2004, I too agree that they're hiding something.

:smoke:

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

9. Proprietary code for counting?

:rofl:

It's the first thing one learns to do. Crock of shit.

[eridani]

8. They sell open source for their ATMs, and brag about it!

http://www6.diebold.com/solutions/agilis/prepackagedsolutions.htm

Agilis prepackaged terminal software features the latest open technology and is designed to fit seamlessly in your existing host environment as well as be deployed to multi-vendor ATMs.

• Upgrade to a state-of-the-art and extensible prepackaged solution, while protecting your legacy host investment.
• Deliver a consistent brand image and user experience across all terminals in your network.
• Make your ATM network more profitable by eliminating redundant software developments and lowering operation and maintenance costs now that a single software application can run on all your terminals.
• Use your existing transaction screens or develop new screens with Internet technology, thereby protecting your investment and expanding the possibilities.
• Integrate best-of-breed open system software to work with your ATMs by leveraging Microsoft® Windows® and the latest industry standards technology.
• Increase customer satisfaction and revenue potential through the addition of expanded services and targeted marketing.
Diebold offers prepackaged solutions for the most popular host message formats. Each one allows you to:
• Maintain a single host driver across all multi-vendor ATMs
• Use a single set of states/screens for all multi-vendor ATMs
• Make code changes once for all multi-vendor ATMs
• Maintain a single application to monitor all multi-vendor ATMs

[tavalon]

24. Yeah, funny that, eh? n/t

[Rainscents]

2. Gee Diebold, what's the matter? Did your feeling got hurt?

[freedomfries]

4. let's send Diebold to Mars

one state at a time.
Thanks for posting Brad!

[rodeodance]

5. nice Christmas present.

[Greeby]

6. Sent the links to Malloy

He is an occasional reader of my emails. Hopefully this'll dissuade him from the idea he mentioned of using a sledgehammer on the machines.

Methinks the dominos are falling :bounce:

[OKNancy]

7. Kick

:kick:

[Thom Little]

10. Diebold withdraws as N.C. voting equipment vendor; only one left

The effort to upgrade voting equipment in North Carolina by next spring took a hit when an approved vendor pulled out of the running, saying it couldn't follow a new law that required it to share its software coding with the state.

Diebold Election Systems told the State Board of Elections it would be impossible to meet a Thursday deadline to account for all software used by the company for machines certified to be sold in all 100 counties.

The decision means that only one vendor currently is cleared to sell equipment, raising more questions about whether counties will have enough time to buy machines that meet the state's technical and security standards.

"We've said that we can't comply with the black letter of the law," said Chuck Owen, a Diebold attorney in Texas who alerted the board of its decision late Wednesday. "And we don't believe any vendor can comply with the black letter of the law."


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/N/NC_VOTING_MACHINES_NCOL-?SITE=VARIT&SECTION=US&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2005-12-22-18-56-04

[SpiralHawk]

11. "We can't comply with the law." - Sounds like the BushCo motto

It's probably inscribed in Latin beneath the BushCo Skull & Boner Cabal logo.

[laheina]

12. Can't or won't?

So their taking their ball and going home! Prolly don't want to get busted with their weenie, vote shifting, voting machine programs.

[DoYouEverWonder]

13. Time to go back to paper and pen then

These machines are too expensive, too complicated and too unreliable.

[dad]

14. In the words of Marv Albert...

YESH!
I predict NC will be the first Southern state to go blue.

[Road Scholar]

15. I was shocked in our last election.

I believe NC got the Ohio Treatment last time. I'm a Sampson Co. resident, and it's full of republicans, but the population centers were all blue before the '04 elections

[William Bloode]

32. Hell, we are pretty much blue really.

Most of the state government is Democratic, but for some reason we go repuke in presidential elections. Something i have yet been able to quite figure out.

[eowyn_of_rohan]

31. What does ES&S have up its sleeve?

How can they feel comfortable saying they'll comply with all voting system requirements when they are as dirty as the rest? Are they confident they can get away with something, and if so how? why?

[DemDogs]

16. Diebold leaves NC rather than disclose software

From the Raleigh News and Observer today:

Voting machine maker leaves N.C.
Officials fear Diebold's move will hurt efforts to replace machines

Lynn Bonner, Staff Writer

One of the nation's largest voting machine companies will not sell new equipment in the state, increasing calls for changes in a law meant to make election results more reliable.
The law requires companies to disclose details about their machines' software, which Diebold Election Systems said it could not do. The company told the State Board of Elections on Wednesday it would not keep trying to sell its equipment here.


Cross posting to GD Politics

[NVMojo]

17. this is just so .... BUSH CABAL!!!!

[baldguy]

18. Public knowledge of the mechanism & process of counting & tabulating votes

is a basic requirement for free & open democratic elections.

[raccoon]

19. Well, looks like they've got something to hide, doesn't it?

Who'da thought it? :sarcasm:

GUILTY, GUILTY, GUILTY.

[C_U_L8R]

20. Sure does...

Hacking is illegal.... Voter Hacking is especially illegal...
Love to see a court order the source code.

Wonder if it can be reverse engineered or decompiled?

[onehandle]

21. That's their right.

Now let them peddle their "voting" machines in banana republics where they belong.

[leftchick]

22. the trouble is

we have so many election officials in NC working FOR Diebold I would not doubt if they try and change the law again for them. :grr:

[raccoon]

23. That's what they've been doing, it appears. nt

[maseman]

25. Now for Ohio and Florida

If Ohio (home of Diebold) continues with the use of their machines for the 2006 and 2008 elections it is over. It is a given that an individual MUST win Ohio and/or Florida to win the presidency. It is doable without one, but not without both.

[Peace Patriot]

28. The former 'banana republics' already said "No thanks!"--Venezuela has

OPEN SOURCE CODE, and I believe the others do, too (their elections are all monitored now by the OAS, EU groups and the Carter Center)--and look at the result! Democracy! Majority leftists sweeping South America! Nearly the whole map of the subcontinent has gone "blue"!

It's amazing what you do if you have the right to vote!

[hunter]

29. This is a very pertinent observation.

At the very heart of this "We the People..." are a threat to the empire.

[DemonFighterLives]

26. They tucked their tail and ran

Which state is next? With Diebold hiding their little secret of how to count votes, everyone should be suspicious and could spell the end for them counting the votes in the future.

We got them on the run, now let's smoke em out!
:bounce:

[Peace Patriot]

27. They got their 15% advantage to Bush in electronic vs. paper voting in NC

and their Diebolded Senator, so they can maybe afford to pull out of NC, for the time being, and concentrate on "blue" states like Calif. (--ignatzmouse here at DU did that analysis.)

There's a lot more going on here, than just sucking up the $4 billion Bush "pod people" Congress HAVA boondoggle (and turning some of that taxpayer-funded electronic voting machine profit into Bushite campaign donations). The fatcats at Diebold and their brethren at ES&S are going to land on their feet, no matter what happens to their election theft divisions. ES&S, a spinoff of Diebold, was initially funded by billionaire recluse Howard Ahmanson who also funds the far rightwing "Christian think tank," the Chalcedon Foundation. Diebold is more outfront politically, but ES&S is equally (if not more) dangerous. And Sequoia is not much better. They hired former CA Repub Sec of State Bill Jones and his chief aide Alfie Charles to promote their "secret decoder ring" products to election officials.

Three rightwing Republican companies "counting" nearly all of our "votes." That's a fine how do you do!

I'm beginning to think that secret source code vs. open source should be a litmus test for Dem candidates. "You won't fight for open source? You mean, you WANT Republicans to steal elections?"

------------------------

Throw Diebold, ES&S and Sequoia election theft machines into 'Boston Harbor' NOW!

[goforit]

30. By the way...where are the Diebold Headquarters?

[DemReadingDU]

33. in Ohio

figures, Ohio went for Bush in 2004

edit to add link
http://www.diebold.com/aboutus/ataglance/default.htm

[William Bloode]

34. Well truth be known,

They had us suckered, until we had a whole slew of voting irregularities this past election. Somewhere down the line they either made a big mistake, or tried to hard to fix things, which had us all bumfuzzled with the results at election time here. With all the screw ups i can't see how the results ever got certified.

I am proud to say it was enough for us to push for, and get more easily traceable, and accountable voting procedures.

[savemefromdumbya]

35. who in the company has the source code?