Democracy in danger?

[Cantacuzene]

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/story.jsp?story=452972

Opinions? Very scary to me.

[TofuNinja]

Didn't read the whole article, didn't want to but it just sounds like coat tails. I mean Clinton would put in a push in the end as well.

Very interesting stuff, but expected from you :) no harm intended by the last command.

[blueindian]

yeah, i guess i am one of the people who is alarmed by this. i mean, from a programmers prospective, when i see something like this:


In an earlier intercepted e-mail, this one from Ken Clark in Diebold's research and development department, the company explained upfront to another independent testing lab that the supposedly secure software system could be accessed without a password, and its contents easily changed using the Microsoft Access programme. Mr Clark says he had considered putting in a password requirement to stop dealers and customers doing "stupid things", but that the easy access had often "got people out of a bind". Astonishingly, the representative from the independent testing lab did not see anything wrong with this and granted certification to the part of the software programme she was inspecting - a pattern of lackadaisical oversight that was replicated all the way to the top of the political chain of command in Georgia, and in many other parts of the country.


it makes me a little nervous.

I think the very idea of not having a "point-of-vote" paper trail is stupid. The dibold system runs on win2k; how many jokes are there about the instability and vunrability of every ms os?

all the machines should print a "receipt" of the vote which is then deposited into lockboxes. each voter can then review their receipt for accuracy and then statistical comparisons can be done post election. if any of the data looks to have been screwed up, screwed with, or otherwise a manual recount can be done.

[Ladogaboy]

Originally posted by blueindian
all the machines should print a "receipt" of the vote which is then deposited into lockboxes. each voter can then review their receipt for accuracy and then statistical comparisons can be done post election. if any of the data looks to have been screwed up, screwed with, or otherwise a manual recount can be done.

Yup. That sounds like the best option to me.

[whitak24]

i think the rush to construct and install these voting systems after the florida fiasco is certainly troubling.

as for some of the implications....well, i don't like conspiracy theories, but i also don't underestimate people who want power.

[Cantacuzene]

Government is all about money now. I used to think it was about rights, law and justice, but its about money plain and simple. Whichever party gets elected gives paybacks to the special interests that supported it.

I suggest everyone read Eisenhower's farewell address. It really sums everything up well.

http://www.eisenhower.utexas.edu/farewell.htm


In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.

We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.

[cheapie]

Originally posted by Cantacuzene
Government is all about money now.



now? been that way for a while mang. we're just the latest generation to feel the pain.