When We Said We Were In Favor Of Open Source Voting, This Isn't What We Meant
from the a-bit-more-openness-please dept
We've often wondered why various governments haven't mandated open source e-voting systems. After all, if a free and democratic election is supposed involve true transparency into the voting process, it's hard to see how proprietary software can be allowed. However, the big e-voting companies have been staunch supporters of keeping their solutions proprietary. Except... it may turn out that Premier Election Solutions (which was better known as Diebold until it changed its name to get away from the mocking laughter) is actually using some open source software... and not abiding by the license. Artifex Software is suing Premier for apparently using its GPL'd software and not adhering to the GPL terms. Of course, we should note that Diebold (er... Premier) has suggested in the past that it might eventually open source its own product, so maybe a little legal nudge will push it over the edge.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.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: e-voting, licensing, open source
Companies: artifex, diebold, premier voting
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
SOP
after 10 years in software development I can tell you with no hesitation . . . so is EVERYONE else who makes proprietary software.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: SOP
Chris.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Or a commercial license
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Is the software anything like the hardware?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
The Election Assistance Commission 2009 Voluntary Voting System Guidelines
We at PenVote.com have inverted the voting process by voting with a digital pen on paper and then verifying on screen the voter’s intent. Only after the voter confirms that their marks on the paper ballet match the on screen PDF of the ballot AND how those marks are tabulated does the voter press the cast ballot button. Three technologies with 3 separate chains of custodies. With over 17 months of testing completed we found that it is accurate and user friendly.
Unfortunately for the US it appears that the first major use of this voting solution will be in Europe and Latin America.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Get with the program!
Voting machines are now so passé.
After all, the Dear Leader won with those voting machines so everything is A-OK.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Get with the program!
-- Savage
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
PenVote technology
[ link to this | view in chronology ]