The Electronic Voting Movie Diebold Didn't Want You To See... Even If They Hadn't Seen It
from the and-here-it-is dept
As ever more reports of e-voting irregularities are coming in from across the country as we head into election day, the producers of the e-voting documentary "Hacking Democracy" have put the entire movie up on Google Video for viewing. A bunch of people submitted it, but I finally had a chance to watch the whole thing. This is the movie that Diebold tried to stop from airing last week -- though, the details showed they were protesting a different movie. The movie is a bit overly melodramatic, and the suspenseful voice-over voice and background suspense music are unnecessary and (if anything) take away from the seriousness of the movie. At times the documentary also wanders a little too far into hinting at conspiracy theories in places they have no proof. However, what you actually see in the movie is a very good summary of many of the stories we've all seen over the past few years about problems with these machines. It shows what a marvelous job Bev Harris and Blackboxvoting.org have done over the past few years to both find out what's going on and publicize the matter (a tremendous effort). It also shows how some elections officials stonewall or ignore the issues while a few, such as Ion Sancho, do what is necessary. What the movie leaves out of the Sancho story in Florida is how Diebold first mocked the results of the hack shown in the movie and later caused additional problems as he tried to find replacements. And, of course, now that it's election day, there's not very much that can be done about all of these problems. The movie is worth watching, if only to convince people to stand up and make an effort to make sure these machines are no longer used in future elections. Update: And, as long as we're watching videos about e-voting, might as well watch the Daily Show's take on the issue, as explained by "resident expert" John Hodgman: "These voting machines are shiny. They go 'beep' and 'boop.'"Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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Word!
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Thought Police
A: None, because the light bulb never existed.
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A test is too difficult?
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Re: A test is too difficult?
Theyre _AMATEURS_.
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To 'Beep' or not to 'Boop'
I am not sure how I want to vote; paper or e-vote. That may depend on which party I support, and how many times I want my vote to count.
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stupidity or or malice?
An idea known as 'Hanlon's Razor' by Robert J. Hanlon
"Never attribute to stupidity that which is malice."
An idea known as Howard's Scissors from my brother Howie
Both are indispensable insights.
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