Princeton Hacks the Vote

[phernandez]

Ah, elections! It used to be a simple matter of filling out a ballot or pushing buttons on ancient, mechanical machines. Princeton's findings on Sequoia AVC Advantage voting machines will make you long for those simpler times.

Insecurities and Inaccuracies of the Sequoia AVC Advantage 9.00H DRE Voting Machine - Center for Information Technology Policy, Princton University

It takes about 7 minutes, using simple tools, to replace the computer program in the AVC Advantage with a fraudulent program that cheats. We demonstrate this on the video.

Even when it's not hacked to deliberately steal votes, the AVC Advantage has a few user-interface flaws. Therefore, sometimes the AVC Advantage does not properly record the intent of the voter. All known voting technologies have imperfect user interfaces, although some are worse than others. The public should beware of the argument that some people make, that "we should not replace the AVC Advantage with voting method X, because X is imperfect." The AVC Advantage's susceptibility to installation of a fraudulent vote-counting program is far more than an imperfection: it is a fatal flaw.

[via Engadget.com]

[Linen0ise]

USA cant afford another rigged election. It would destroy itself from the inside out.

[nihil]

USA cant afford another rigged election. It would destroy itself from the inside out.

The devil is in the doubt?............... if you can't trust the system how can you trust the result?

I don't trust online banking............. in fact, these days I don't trust any wankers.

I am very cautious with plastic card transactions as well............. there is just too much fraud around IMHO.

[C:\Saw]

Sometimes Old-School is the way to go

[nihil]

C:\Saw,

I do see your point, but I think that you don't just "adopt technology" for the hell of it. Not quite the "if it ain't broke don't try to fix it" philosophy, but more along the lines of "don't waste taxpayers' money on something that is no better".

Hey, we use the "old school" methods over here, but we still get election frauds..............

1. Dead people voting
2. People voting on behalf of others, only doing it first
3. Postal vote frauds

I guess that some people are just corrupt?

Thinking on that............ given what we vote for; perhaps only corrupt people should be enfranchised? Well, they are the experts aren't they?

I know that we have looked at these advanced systems over here, but haven't been convinced by one yet.

[rcgreen]

cant afford another rigged election

You should read the history of elections in the past
Local sheriffs used to seize boxes of (paper) ballots
at gunpoint to take them aside for a little creative
"counting" Chicago Mayor Richard Daley stole the 1960
election for JFK. Lyndon Johnson regularly stole elections
in Texas, long before he rose to the presidency.
Southern Democrats didn't allow blacks to vote
for 100 years after the end of the civil war.

[C:\Saw]

Given the nature of human beings, we always find our way around obstacles to survive.

Surviving in the social world is the same thing--the medium is besides the point--voter fraud will happen even if we get the most airtight, hardened voting machines out there.

Animals have their societies but are balanced with the need to physically survive--so they do whats best for their group in general. Humans in middle class industrial societies are for the time above the basic needs for survival--so we are I guess catapulted to a new level of basic survival which is social life--a new world of basic instincts.

Oh, mind the amateur philosophy on your way to my point:

If we ever get these theoretical voting machines, someone will have to oversee these boxes...

People do what they have to in order to survive

[nihil]

Southern Democrats didn't allow blacks to vote
for 100 years after the end of the civil war.

And whatever deluded you into thinking that "The Northern War of Economic Aggression" had anything to do with the emancipation of slaves let alone their enfranchisement?

Given the nature of human beings, we always find our way around obstacles to survive.

Not quite true in this case I would have thought.......... people still starve to death along with their families, and that is against two of their pretty most basic instincts.

I realise that I must sound terribly bitter and cynical, but I would rephrase your comment to:

"Given the nature of scumbags and sleaze balls, they will always find a way around precautionary measures in order to illicitly profit"