[Originally posted on goofyblog 1.26.07]
In 2003, a grandmother from Seattle started investigating the corporations that make computerized voting machines. One night, she stumbled on an ftp site for Diebold Corp. and was successful in downloading their code for the machines and, more important, the code for the central counting system.
She was able to get software engineers to review this code and was a key player in California’s decision to de-certify all of Diebold’s machines (though the Secretary of State threatened Diebold with civil & criminal charges, the Attorney General did not pusue the criminal angle, Diebold settled the civil case out of court for less than $3 million and the State continues to use Diebold’s faulty, buggy central counting software anyway).
Later, this same woman went dumpster diving all over the U.S. to find more evidence of fraud and faulty testing of these machines and she struck pay dirt. The vid above is part 1 of the HBO documentary “Hacking Democracy,” which is about her and other’s efforts to prevent voter fraud in America, whether intentional or just from incompetent, insecure computer software. It’s worth a watch. You can find the remaining parts on youtube with a casual search.
The most amazing scene for me, is when she demonstrates to Howard Dean how easy it is to hack into Diebold’s central counting software and change the votes. The on-screen demo shows that Diebold uses an Access database for their counting software!! Not SQL Server or Oracle, but Access. Jeezus.
The documentary further illustrates the dangers of allowing private corporations to take over public government functions in that the secrecy demanded by these private corps precludes an open democratic process that keeps our votes fair and out country free. Check it out including her web site!
