BBV - Bev Harris and Rebecca Mercuri "call on hackers to expose flaws"

[Wonk]

E-voting critic calls on hackers to expose flaws

Published: July 29, 2004, 12:22 PM PDT

By Robert Lemos
Staff Writer, CNET News.com

LAS VEGAS--Electronic voting systems have major security problems and hackers should make it their mission to find the flaws, an e-voting critic told security researchers on Thursday.

Speaking at the Black Hat Security Briefings here, Rebecca Mercuri, a fellow at a Harvard-affiliated research center and a noted e-voting critic, called the current voting process a statistical game of shells, one that e-voting machine makers are playing for profits.

(snip)

Bev Harris, a well-known voting-security activist, joined Mercuri in the presentation, stressing that the system needs to be fixed, and soon.

"What we have is poorly designed software that isn't tested properly, and they don't use the tested software anyway," she said. "And we have bad operating procedures, and we don't follow them anyway. And afterward, everyone covers their ass."

more...
http://news.com.com/2100-1028_3-5289146.html

[POed_Ex_Repub]

1. Post on Slashdot, wait 24 hours.... That's about how long it'll take

For someone to meet the challenge.

[papau]

2. To meet the challenge, one must commit a felony - not that this will

slow down many in the crowd!

:toast:

:party:

:-)

[POed_Ex_Repub]

6. You mean.... I shouldn't have submitted the article to slashdot?

O8)

What? It's technology news, I'm sure they'd want to read it for it's newsworthy value.

[DemoTex]

3. Watch for Bev's persecution by A$$croft.

Be careful, Bev.

[JohnLocke]

4. Could Bev be charged with conspiracy to commit voter fraud?

[Kelvin Mace]

7. Under Ashcroft, anything is possible

but civil disobedience is civil disobedience. Anybody who does it better be prepared to pay the price I just wouldn't screw with the presidential race if I were them. If Linus Torvald is elected county commisioner in Broward Co. Florida, that might send a message.

David Allen
Publisher, CEO, Janitor
Plan Nine Publishing
http://www.plan9.org
http://www.blackboxvoting.com

[madrchsod]

9. yes

remember martha got 5 months for what?

[JohnLocke]

5. Associated Press article

Expert issues e-voting system challenge to hackers in Vegas
by Christina Almida -- Associated Press
Thursday, July 29, 2004
----
LAS VEGAS - One of the nation's leading critics of paperless electronic voting machines issued a challenge Thursday to computer hackers attending their annual Black Hat conference, encouraging them to test whether it's possible to rig an election.
Rebecca Mercuri, a Harvard University-affiliated research fellow, encouraged hackers to inspect software code made available on the Internet by VoteHere, an electronic voting software company based in Bellevue, Wash., and called upon other voting machine vendors to make their codes and products available.
"I'm tired of hearing members of the election community say that no problems have occurred with electronic voting systems when every election there's plenty of newspaper reports of `glitches,'" Mercuri said.
Mercuri said her challenge was in response to a similar bet issued by Michael Shamos, a Carnegie Mellon University computer scientist and voting technology consultant. Shamos has promised $10,000 to anyone who can hack into a voting machine undetected.
Mercuri said Shamos' challenge was impossible since the industry employs restrictive trade secret agreements that make it a felony to examine the equipment even when it's not being used in an election.
But in a telephone interview from Pittsburgh, Shamos dismissed Mercuri's criticism.
(...)
"It's better for us to give people a paper and pencil. ... than have a flawed touch-screen system," said Harris, who also addressed the annual conference of computer hackers and security personnel at Caesars Palace hotel-casino. "At least we would have an election that people could have some amount of trust in."
Harris said the country is moving too fast toward electronic voting without taking proper security measures. She said her organization has estimated that up to 10,000 technicians and local election officials will have access to voting data in November.
"No hacking required," Harris said. "We're talking editing here. It can be done with a cut-and-paste command."

[madrchsod]

8. bev should expect a call from the feds

with a search warrant and arrest warrant..looks like she`s going to need our support.

[hunter]

10. Tick...tick...tick...

The bomb is ticking.

You might want to look at this too:

http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml%3Fi=20040816&s=dugger

[Kelvin Mace]

12. Just post it in a separate thread. <s>

[ConsAreLiars]

11. According to the article Bev did NOT "call for hackers..."

You may want to edit your title to for accuracy to avoid the sorts of allegations or interpretations seen in the first few posts.

People don't always read before reacting. More from that article:

----------------------------------------------------------------
Mercuri wants voting machine makers to stop being secretive about their security, or lack thereof, and stop legal pursuits of students and researchers that attempt to analyze their source code. She has formally called for two voting-system technology makers--machine maker Advanced Voting Solutions and verification system make VoteHere--to open up their systems as part of a contest.

The call to arms is the latest move in a debate between researchers who believe that the U.S. election system has too many security holes, and those who believe the system works well as a whole. The latest salvo in the debate has focused on electronic voting machines, known more formally as direct recording electronic, or DRE, machines.

Bev Harris, a well-known voting-security activist, joined Mercuri in the presentation, stressing that the system needs to be fixed, and soon.
----------------------------------------------------------------
From http://news.com.com/2100-1028_3-5289146.html

(edit title to "hackers)

[madrchsod]

13. opps......

[ConsAreLiars]

14. No sweat - The callout to computer wixards

is a good idea, in my view. And the interpretation by some that this equates to a call for election tampering is puzzling to me, since the goal of the conference was to expose the flaws in the system and fix things.

I agree she and Mecuri and others risk retaliation and need our support.

[papau]

15. How this got passed is beyond me - but trade secret =felony in Bushland

"The industry employs restrictive trade secret agreements that make it a felony to examine the equipment even when it's not being used in an election"

[walldude]

16. I doubt too many hackers

would take up a public challenge like that in this day and age. Things are too hot. Hacking those systems could easily be called terrorism under the Patriot Act...

[SOS]

17. 36 million votes are at stake.

Without a voter verified paper trail, Kerry can't win.
Does anyone doubt that Bush and Company would hesitate for one second to change the results? Write to your Senators and Reps today to demand a free and fair election.

To paraphrase Joseph Stalin...Elections aren't decided by those who cast votes, they are decided by those who count votes.

[walldude]

18. Yup, ask for an absentee ballot..

it's the only way to be sure