Diebold Apparently Kicked Out Of Florida County After Hack Test

from the kick-'em-while-they're-down... dept

We've been following various storylines concerning Diebold and how they seemed to be getting much of what they wanted, even in states that were skeptical of Diebold equipment. Not surprisingly, the EFF is suing North Carolina for ignoring their own law that would have required Diebold to hand over source code -- this follows the earlier lawsuit that said Diebold had to follow the law -- which they refused to do. We avoided posting yesterday's news that Diebold's CEO had stepped down, as there wasn't a clear connection to the technology questions (many people think an SEC fraud investigation may have more to do with it) -- and, as CEO, he seems more a target of political attacks, rather than a discussion about the technology issues, which are of a bigger concern to us. However, a more interesting story may be that BlackBoxVoting is claiming the latest series of hack tests in Florida have convinced some election officials there to "never again use Diebold in an election." The hack test is simply an update on an earlier hack test that was done last summer, showing problems with Diebold's equipment. Of course, we haven't seen any other reports confirming this -- other than on the BlackBoxVoting site, and they organized the hack test, so there's some bias. Also, from their description, it looks like just one county official, and not the whole state. Finding one county official who doesn't like Diebold probably isn't that difficult. It would be nice to get some independent confirmation on this story -- and then see if other election officials start to question their own use of the Diebold machines. At the very least, all of these questions should, once again, make election officials demand more openness from the company -- but, so far, Diebold seems to have been able to dodge most of the questions.
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  • identicon
    Andrew Strasser, 14 Dec 2005 @ 7:51pm

    Bias

    I'd be biased too if I knew that someone I know can break into our election system. That would lead me to believe that not only can it be done by them it can be done by others as well. We all know that you can buy anything including hackers.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Neosin, 14 Dec 2005 @ 8:45pm

      Re: Bias

      I bet you really liked the movie "The Matrix" huh?

      link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Neosin, 14 Dec 2005 @ 8:47pm

      Re: Bias

      and the little people who break in to things, to change and/or destory ... yea they are called "crackers".... Let's not forget Hackers are people who do "good" things with info...

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        John, 14 Dec 2005 @ 8:53pm

        Re: Bias

        Hackers is more of a neutral term. It doesn't mean people who do "good" things. Just people who hack. Besides whining about how you have to use "crackers" instead of "hackers" for anything bad is so 1995. That battle's over.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

        • identicon
          bobthealmighty, 14 Dec 2005 @ 11:15pm

          Re: Bias

          the orininal meaning of hacker is just someone who is good with technology, specifically computers.

          link to this | view in chronology ]

          • identicon
            Sv, 15 Dec 2005 @ 12:46am

            Re: Bias

            The original intention of a language wasn't to argue over the usage of two similar terms for decades.

            link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        JOE MUDD, 18 Feb 2009 @ 12:02pm

        Re: GOOD THING

        I NEED A GOOD HACKER TO DO A GOOD THING

        link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Rob Henderson, 15 Dec 2005 @ 8:22am

    No Subject Given

    Ion Sancho, the Elections Supervisor of Leon County Florida, is one of the most respected election officials in the state. Leon County contains Tallahassee, the state capital, which means Sancho has strong access to the Legislature and to the media that covers the capital.
    Yes, it is one supervisor in one county, but the specifics of the situation make this development a bit more serious than it might look at the outset.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      MYarms, 15 Dec 2005 @ 10:03am

      Re: No Subject Given

      yes and remember who's brother is the govenor of florida. That takes some big balls to go up against the criminal empire that is the Bush family.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Sea Man, 15 Dec 2005 @ 9:25am

    Already hacked...

    The system was already hacked. That's the only chance Dubya had. Payola makes the world go round...

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      MindTrigger, 15 Dec 2005 @ 9:44am

      Re: Already hacked...


      We can't trust the paper voting method, and we can't make a trustworthy electronic method. We rock.

      Stupid Humans Unite!

      link to this | view in chronology ]


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