--Jim March
NEW DOWNLOAD SITE FOR DIEBOLD VOTING FILES: http://www.equalccw.com/dieboldtestnotes.html
This site is a mini-mini-mini version of the New Zealand download link
for the Diebold files, which maxed out its bandwidth and is no longer
available. On this site, Jim March boldly placed a lot of files for those
who want to examine OUR voting system as manufactured by Diebold Election
Systems.
Jim March certainly needs more citizens willing to mirror. If you are
willing, make the choice thoughtfully and obtain advice from those you
trust. It is possible that your decision would be considered an act of
civil disobedience. That said, consider copying this post and the links it
contains to send to everyone you know who wants a transparent, fair, and
auditable voting system.
What you will find in these files should divest you, once and for all,
of any notion that we should "trust" a system that does not
allow us to verify our ballot, retains no evidence, and forbids us to
examine it.
The Jim March download site includes the following:
- INTRODUCTION
- DOWNLOADABLE COMPONENTS
- GEMS INSTALLS
- BUG REPORTS
- DATA FILES
- OTHER FILES
- SECURITY TEST PROCEDURES (step by step)
- Analyzing The San Luis Obispo County Data File
March says that, by making CDs of this, you can visit your local
reporters and elected officials and demonstrate the system to them
personally. With that also, be advised that although what you will show
them breaks the most basic FEC regulations and certainly violates
everything our voting system, which is part of THE PUBLIC COMMONS, should
be, realize that after you pick their jaws up off the floor you may face
legal bullying or retaliation.
If that happens, have someone contact me and I'll engage in the most
massive publicity that I can to alert the public of retaliatory efforts.
========================================================
Appendix A: Legalities (read: why Diebold isn't going to sue me)
by Jim March
First, let me explain that I fully "confess" that I am
distributing Diebold copyrighted product on my website. And I was (and am)
involved in the effort to strip the encryption from some of the ZIP
archives downloaded from Diebold's FTP site.
So why am I not worried?
a) I believe all this falls under "fair use". I have a
history of using the Public Records Act to expose government-related
misconduct, corruption and general stupidity. See also:
http://www.equalccw.com/commiemommies.html (the first time my reporting
made Matt Drudge's site)
http://www.equalccw.com/oaklandzen.html
http://www.equalccw.com/sactoletter.html
...and other examples.
b) Voting is a highly "public" function, and public scrutiny
over the election process is a VERY well established area of law. There
have been two lower court decisions in favor of the secrecy of electronic
voting systems but first, I believe those decisions were wrong and second,
in those cases no specific allegations of misconduct were presented - only
theoretical issues.
c) In Diebold's case, misconduct is very, VERY well established. Good
God, where do we start?
· Diebold is supposed to be supplying security with their system -
it's part of the contract for services, either implied, specific or in
some cases, mandated by law. So they leave their FTP site totally wide
open, only encrypt some files and the ones they do encrypt, they do so
with ZIP encyption which is known to be flawed?
· Diebold grabbed elections data from 3:31pm on the DAY OF THE RACE in
SLO County. If the data isn't public record, then what the hell were they
doing with it?!
· California Penal Code 19205(c) says that the Secretary of State
shall not approve voting systems that are "subject to
tampering". GEMS doesn't even begin to qualify, once you know that
MS-Access is a "hack tool". By withholding the info on grotesque
security flaws via MS-Access, Diebold violated God only knows how many
contracts plus that element of state law.
· I could go on, but you get the point.
d) The elements of "c" above lead to an "unclean
hands" problem on Diebold's. In court, the term "unclean
hands" applies to somebody who tries to get "justice" when
they themselves are law-breakers. This is why a crack dealer can't sue his
customers over failure to pay.
e) I hope they do sue me in civil court. The discovery process will be
an absolute blast. Depositions will be even more fun.
f) They might convince the Feds to prosecute me criminally. Riiight.
Let's see - will they be able to convince a jury that hey, this whole
"democracy" thing is over-rated? Basically, prosecuting me for
copyright issues and/or hacking under the DCMA would be much the same as
the guy who sees a robber in a ski mask and packin' a shotgun rush into a
bank, so he slashes the crook's tires - and gets prosecuted for vandalism.
There's such thing as a "necessity defense" in criminal law. It
applies in this case, in spades.
g) Yo Diebold: before you take me on, you should know what you're up
against. Go here:
http://www.keepandbeararms.com/information/Item.asp?ID=3601
Pay particular attention to the downloadable video linked in that
article. That's what you'll be facing in court.
h) I have friends with law degrees. Lots of 'em. Scads. And they're
gun-rights lawyers, which in California means "battle hardened
sumbiches fighting behind enemy lines".
i) Special message to Diebold: you are cordially invited to bite me.
Bring it on. Make my day.
