OT| U.S. democracy in peril

"Dr. Avi Rubin is currently Professor of Computer Science at John
Hopkins University. He accidentally got his hands on a copy of the
Diebold software program -- Diebold's source code -- which runs
their e-voting machines.

Dr. Rubin's students pored over 48,609 lines of code that make up
this software. One line in particular stood out over all the rest:

#define DESKEY ((des_key*) "F2654hd4")

All commercial programs have provisions to be encrypted so as to
protect them from having their contents read or changed by anyone not
having the key. The line that staggered the Hopkin's team was that the
method used to encrypt the Diebold machines was a method called
Digital Encryption Standard (DES), a code that was broken in 1997 and
is NO LONGER USED by anyone to secure programs. F2654hd4 was the key
to the encryption. Moreover, because the KEY was IN the source code,
all Diebold machines would respond to the same key.

I can't believe there is a person alive who wouldn't understand the
reason this was allowed to happen. This wasn't a mistake but a fixed
election."

Source: William Borgstrom, Mobile, Alabama, 251-580-3306, 251-379-5855

Dr. Avi Rubin's paper:
http://avirubin.com/vote/analysis/index.html

__________________________________________________ _______________________

....While the heavily scrutinized touch-screen voting machines
produced results matching the registered Democrat/Republican
ratios, Florida's optically scanned paper ballots which were
fed into central tabulator PC and thus vulnerable to hacking
favored Bush and seem to contain substantial anomalies.

In Baker County, for example, with 12,887 registered voters,
69.3% of them Democrats and 24.3% of them Republicans, the
vote was only 2,180 for Kerry and 7,738 for Bush, the opposite
of what is seen everywhere else in the country where registered
Democrats largely voted for Kerry.

In Dixie County, with 9,676 registered voters, 77.5% of them
Democrats and a mere 15% registered as Republicans, only 1,959
people voted for Kerry, but 4,433 voted for Bush.

The pattern repeats over and over again - but only in the
counties where optical scanners were used. Franklin County,
77.3% registered Democrats, went 58.5% for Bush. Holmes County,
72.7% registered Democrats, went 77.25% for Bush...

Source: http://www.commondreams.org/views04/1106-30.htm
Data: http://ustogether.org/Florida_Election.htm
http://election.dos.state.fl.us/pdf/canvassing1.pdf
http://election.dos.state.fl.us/vote...04pppParty.pdf

__________________________________________________ _______________________

....Most voters in Ohio thought they were voting for Kerry.
CNN's exit poll showed Kerry beating Bush among Ohio women
by 53 percent to 47 percent. Kerry also defeated Bush
among Ohio's male voters 51 percent to 49 percent. Unless
a third gender voted in Ohio, Kerry took the state...

Source: http://www.tompaine.com/articles/kerry_won.php

__________________________________________________ _______________________

....Why have we let corporations into our polling places,
locations so sacred to democracy that in many states even
international election monitors and reporters are banned?
Why are we allowing corporations to exclusively handle our
vote, in a secret and totally invisible way? Particularly a
private corporation founded, in one case, by a family that
believes the Bible should replace the Constitution; in
another case run by one of Ohio's top Republicans; and in
another case partly owned by Saudi investors?...

Source: http://www.commondreams.org/views04/1104-38.htm

__________________________________________________ _______________________

....But one thing really troubled me: Who was checking to make sure the
data contained in the digital memory cards actually matched the
voters' intentions marked on the paper ballots? Could we take the
accurate counting of computer votes for granted, since the CEO of the
leading voting machine manufacturer promised to "deliver" Ohio's
electoral votes for Bush?...

....We should have had trained observers - computer scientists, not
lawyers! - verifying the integrity of polling data from machine upload
through the tabulation of countywide and statewide results. Somehow we
neglected the most vulnerable step in the vote-counting process,
leaving a gaping hole for error and fraud, casting in doubt the
validity of election results in many states...

Author: Ian H. Solomon, associate dean at the Yale Law School

Source:
http://www.ctnow.com/news/opinion/op...headlines-oped

__________________________________________________ _______________________

Adherents to America's Christian fundamentalism are
concentrated in the Bible-belt which encompasses what was
once known as the lands below the Mason-Dixon line along
with the border states. In other words, America's
Bible-belt encompasses those areas where slavery was deeply
entrenched in the years before the American Civil War and
the surrounding areas. Many slave states seceded from the
Union and engaged in a bloody civil war against their
fellow Americans to maintain the institution of slavery...

....As the institution of slavery spread, so did this new
American religion. As the institution of slavery deepened,
so did the church's insistence on the justice of the rich
to the fruits of their slaves' labor. America's Christian
fundamentalism, then, is descended from the religion of
slave owners, slave traders, and slaves. Long before the
American Civil War, an ostensibly Christian religion arose
which completely neglected the hundreds of biblical
injunctions for social justice. In place of a message of
social justice, this new Christian religion demanded only
one thing: from the elite, money; from the rest of society,
obedience to the established order. To assist the church
in supporting the established power, the church demanded
two things from the faithful. First, the true believer
must have an unquestioning faith in the religious teachings
of their church, usually expressed as an unquestioning
adherence to the Bible as most helpfully interpreted by
that Christian church, even if that unquestioning faith
required one to suspend his willingness to reason and his
ability to accept reality and facts. Second, morality was
solely defined as (women's) sexual fidelity, augmented at
times with an injunction for men to support their wives and
children, in return, of course, for their unconditional
obedience. As always, the rich and powerful were exempt
from both of these rules. Gone were the strictures against
greed. Gone were the obligations of the elites to
ameliorate the plight of the least fortunate among them.
Gone were God's demands that humanity be wise stewards of
God's creation. Gone were the biblical injunctions to
bring justice into the world, to feed the hungry, to clothe
the naked, to tend to the sick, to assist the widow, to
protect the orphan, and to shelter the homeless. Gone were
the stories of God's wrath at Pharaoh for his refusal to
let God's people go. Gone were the stories of God
liberating the Hebrews from slavery in Egypt. Gone were
the stories of God's mercy and God's love for all of her
creation. Using a theology of Social Darwinism in which it
was claimed that the rich and powerful are rich and
powerful as a sign of God's blessing, the rich and powerful
were seen as virtuous and deserving the riches which were
showered upon them by a just God. In reality,
nineteenth-century slave owners and robber barons became
rich because they were corrupt and ruthless. They had the
money to silence their critics, as well as, to reward their
flatterers...

Source: http://www.pinn.net/~sunshine/essays/fundie1.html

__________________________________________________ _______________________

Diebold voting machine illustration:
http://homepage.mac.com/rcareaga/die.../diebold_1.jpg

Some Say U.S. No Longer Feels Like Home:
http://dailynews.att.net/cgi-bin/new...041110&src=abc

On Fri, 12 Nov 2004 01:12:47 +0100, in a place far, far away, Andrew
Nowicki made the phosphor on my monitor glow in
such a way as to indicate that:

"Dr. Avi Rubin is currently Professor of Computer Science at John
Hopkins University. He accidentally got his hands on a copy of the
Diebold software program -- Diebold's source code -- which runs
their e-voting machines.

Dr. Rubin's students pored over 48,609 lines of code that make up
this software. One line in particular stood out over all the rest:

#define DESKEY ((des_key*) "F2654hd4")

All commercial programs have provisions to be encrypted so as to
protect them from having their contents read or changed by anyone not
having the key. The line that staggered the Hopkin's team was that the
method used to encrypt the Diebold machines was a method called
Digital Encryption Standard (DES), a code that was broken in 1997 and
is NO LONGER USED by anyone to secure programs. F2654hd4 was the key
to the encryption. Moreover, because the KEY was IN the source code,
all Diebold machines would respond to the same key.

I can't believe there is a person alive who wouldn't understand the
reason this was allowed to happen. This wasn't a mistake but a fixed
election."

rolling eyes at whacko conspiracy monger?

Yeah, tell it to the Marines...

"Andrew Nowicki" wrote in message
...
"Dr. Avi Rubin is currently Professor of Computer Science at John
Hopkins University. He accidentally got his hands on a copy of the
Diebold software program -- Diebold's source code -- which runs
their e-voting machines.

Dr. Rubin's students pored over 48,609 lines of code that make up
this software. One line in particular stood out over all the rest:

#define DESKEY ((des_key*) "F2654hd4")

All commercial programs have provisions to be encrypted so as to
protect them from having their contents read or changed by anyone not
having the key. The line that staggered the Hopkin's team was that the
method used to encrypt the Diebold machines was a method called
Digital Encryption Standard (DES), a code that was broken in 1997 and
is NO LONGER USED by anyone to secure programs. F2654hd4 was the key
to the encryption. Moreover, because the KEY was IN the source code,
all Diebold machines would respond to the same key.


Ok, that above doesn't prove a thing. For one thing w/o looking at the code
myself, I have no idea if this use of DESKEY is actually for DES or
something else.

Secondly, DES itself haven't been used in years, but Triple DES is still
commonly used and considered secure enough for many appliaction.

And you're right. Off-topic. Let's take it elsewhere.

On Fri, 12 Nov 2004 04:54:28 GMT
"Greg D. Moore \(Strider\)" wrote:

#define DESKEY ((des_key*) "F2654hd4")

If that is the key, it is way too short, regardless of the algorithm used. An the fact that it is the same everywhere only multiplies the problem.

Ok, that above doesn't prove a thing. For one thing w/o looking at
the code myself, I have no idea if this use of DESKEY is actually for
DES or something else.

Secondly, DES itself haven't been used in years, but Triple DES is
still commonly used and considered secure enough for many appliaction.

With 32 bit keys? It obviously can't use only the characters which pass isprint(), that would be really broken.
--
Michael Smith
Network Applications
www.netapps.com.au | +61 (0) 416 062 898
Web Hosting | Internet Services

"Greg D. Moore (Strider)" wrote ...
"Andrew Nowicki" wrote ...
"Dr. Avi Rubin is currently Professor of Computer Science at John
Hopkins University. He accidentally got his hands on a copy of the
Diebold software program -- Diebold's source code -- which runs
their e-voting machines.

Dr. Rubin's students pored over 48,609 lines of code that make up
this software. One line in particular stood out over all the rest:

#define DESKEY ((des_key*) "F2654hd4")

Ok, that above doesn't prove a thing. For one thing w/o looking at the code
myself, I have no idea if this use of DESKEY is actually for DES or
something else.

True, but Dr. Avi Rubin (allegedly) got to look at the code and presumably
he has the skills so it's only a matter of whether he's reporting accurately
or not on his findings.

One point many made before the election was that the voting SW source
code should have been made available to the public in order that
everybody have a chance to point out security flaws and other problems.

Secondly, DES itself haven't been used in years, but Triple DES is still
commonly used and considered secure enough for many appliaction.

And you're right. Off-topic. Let's take it elsewhere.

When has that ever stopped sci.space.policy posts?

Democratic Party leaders should make public apology
for their participation in rigged elections and they
should pledge that they will never do it again.
All the paperless DRE (Direct Recording Electronic)
voting machines should be thrown out the window
by democratically minded throngs and smashed to
pieces. When you see Dubya or Cheney, greet them
with a loud "American Taliban" chant.

"Michael Smith" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 12 Nov 2004 04:54:28 GMT
"Greg D. Moore \(Strider\)" wrote:

#define DESKEY ((des_key*) "F2654hd4")

If that is the key, it is way too short, regardless of the algorithm used.
An the fact that it is the same everywhere only multiplies the problem.

Well, that's true. :-)

"A Tale of Two Brothers: Voting Fraud in the USA"

80% of all votes in America are counted by only two
companies: Diebold and ES&S.

There is no federal agency with regulatory authority or
oversight of the U.S. voting machine industry.

The vice-president of Diebold and the president of ES&S are
brothers.

The chairman and CEO of Diebold is a major Bush campaign
organizer and donor who wrote in 2003 that he was
"committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to
the president next year."

35% of ES&S is owned by Republican Senator Chuck Hagel, who
became Senator based on votes counted by ES&S machines.

Diebold's new touch screen voting machines have no paper
trail of any votes. In other words, there is no way to
verify that the data coming out of the machine is the same
as what was legitimately put in by voters.

Diebold also makes ATMs, checkout scanners, and ticket
machines, all of which log each transaction and can
generate a paper trail.

Diebold is based in Ohio and supplies almost all the voting
machines there.

None of the international election observers were allowed
in the polls in Ohio.

30% of all U.S. votes are carried out on unverifiable
touch screen voting machines.

Bush's Help America Vote Act of 2002 has as its goal to
replace all machines with the new electronic touch screen
systems.

Republican Senator Chuck Hagel owns 35% of ES&S and was
caught lying about it.

ES&S is the largest voting machine manufacturer in the U.S.
and counts almost 60% of all U.S. votes.

Exit polls for the 2004 elections were accurate within 1%
or less in areas where ballot machines were used.

Major exit poll data discrepancies were noted in counties
where touch screen machines were used, especially in Ohio
and Florida.

Source and details:
http://memes.org/modules.php?op=modl...rder=0&thold=0

__________________________________________________ ________

"The unexplained Exit Poll Discrepancy"
by Steven F. Freeman, Ph.D.,
University of Pennsylvania
November 10, 2004

http://www.ilcaonline.org/freeman.pdf

"Black Box Voting has taken the position that fraud took place in
the 2004 election through electronic voting machines. We base
this on hard evidence, documents obtained in public records
requests, inside information, and other data indicative of
manipulation of electronic voting systems. What we do not know is
the specific scope of the fraud. We are working now to compile the
proof, based not on soft evidence -- red flags, exit polls -- but
core documents obtained by Black Box Voting in the most massive
Freedom of Information action in history.
We need: Lawyers to enforce public records laws. Some
counties have already notified us that they plan to stonewall by
delaying delivery of the records. We need citizen volunteers for
a number of specific actions. We need computer security professionals
willing to GO PUBLIC with formal opinions on the evidence we
provide, whether or not it involves DMCA complications. We need
funds to pay for copies of the evidence."
http://www.blackboxvoting.org/

"If you want to kill an idea, call it a conspiracy theory.
This is exactly what is happening to perfectly legitimate
concerns about the 2004 Presidential election. If you
suggest, based on any number of facts, that Bush (gasp!)
stole the election (again), you are a conspiracy theorist
of the worst sort; you are one of those people; you are a quack.
...When leaders in western-backed dictatorships want to
hold power while keeping at least a patina of democracy, they
hold elections. They don't fear defeat because they control
the outcome. Nothing here is any different. Bush and his
henchmen have hijacked American policy to serve their own
ends. In its first four years the administration did nothing
if not obfuscate, manipulate, lie, cheat and steal. It ignored
law; it ignored morality, and it certainly ignored democracy.
This ain't no democracy. In any other country on Earth
this would be called a dictatorship."
http://www.dailycollegian.com/vnews/.../41940a9f25f6c

"In 2002, the Republican Party staged their test run of controlling
the new Diebold computerized paper-trail-free electronic voting
systems that were installed in every precinct in the State of
Georgia. It worked like a charm. Two popular Democratic incumbents,
the Gov. Roy Barnes and Sen. Max Cleland, were both defeated by
Republican challengers. The Democrats were both ahead by several
points in both the pre-election voter opinion polls and in the
election day exit polls, yet the Diebold voting machines declared
the two Republican challengers as winners. The local media claimed
to be amazed by this election upset. They should have been horrified
and outraged. These elections were stolen electronically. There was
no paper trail, no recount was possible and for good measure, Diebold
Corporation accidentally erased the disputed 2002 election returns
data from their computer hard disk drives a few days after the
election. How convenient, how clean, how slick and how crooked is
Republican election theft in the 21st century."
http://www.berkeleydaily.org/text/ar...&storyID=20055

"Black Box Voting: Ballot Tampering in the 21st Century"
a book written by Bev Harris, Beverly Harris, Talion Publishing
(March, 2004), paperback price $16.96:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS...216730-7257428

People and Agencies to Contact regarding voting fraud:
http://www.ballotintegrity.org/DCForumID1/161.html

An inside story of how 2 million Georgia voters
Have been disenfranchised:
http://www.newswithviews.com/guest_opinion/guest29.htm

Diebold DRE voting machines break down frequently:
http://www.computerworld.com/securit...,96652,00.html

Nevada is the only state using machines which will
provide voters with the kind of receipt which would,
if necessary, allow for a manual recount:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/3970837.stm

Examples of recent voting fraud:
http://www.opednews.com/scoop_110904..._watergate.htm

"Andrew Nowicki" wrote in message
...

"In 2002, the Republican Party staged their test run of controlling
the new Diebold computerized paper-trail-free electronic voting
systems that were installed in every precinct in the State of
Georgia. It worked like a charm. Two popular Democratic incumbents,
the Gov. Roy Barnes and Sen. Max Cleland, were both defeated by
Republican challengers.

funny man, you used the words "Roy Barnes" and "popular" in the same
sentence. Didn't think it was possible.

Barnes was unelected simply because of the state flag fiasco, not because of
vote fraud. He was never very popular, he was just Zell's righthand man and
voters gave him the benefit of the doubt...once.

Dunno about Cleland, I'd imagine he was just caught up in the steady move of
Georgians to the GOP. That's been happening steadily since Reagan, btw, it's
not remotely a new phenomenon and has nothing whatsoever to do with GWB.

You came up with typical conspiracy theory BS, btw: totally ignore any
outside factors, take everything way the hell out of context, know nothing
about the actual subject matter, and concoct some Rube Goldberg theory of
how THEY did it.

Sheesh.

--
Terrell Miller


"But. this scam fooled so many white liberals because white liberals don't
really think much about nonwhites. They just think about all the ways they
are superior to conservative whites!"
-- Steve Sailer on the election IQ scam