Navigation
Topics
Log In
Log Out
:
Special Search
New Today
New This Week
Advanced Search
Tree View
Your Account
Edit Profile
Register
Forgot Password
Tools
Help/Instructions
Policies
...
|
| (USA) 1/12 - GLOBAL INTERNET VOTING F... |
|
| Author |
Message |
    
Bev Harris
Board Administrator
Username: Admin
Post Number: 11456
Registered: 12-2004
Best of Black Box? 
Votes: 10 (A keeper?) | | Posted on Friday, January 13, 2012 - 8:20 am: | 
|
By Bev Harris
Permission to reprint granted, with link to http://www.blackboxvoting.org
In a major step towards global centralization of election processes, the world's dominant Internet voting company has purchased the USA's dominant election results reporting company.
When you view your local or state election results on the Internet, on portals which often appear to be owned by the county elections division, in over 525 US jurisdictions you are actually redirected to a private corporate site controlled by SOE software, which operates under the name ClarityElections.com.
The good news is that this firm promptly reports precinct-level detail in downloadable spreadsheet format. As reported by BlackBoxVoting.org in 2008, the bad news is that this centralizes one middleman access point for over 525 jurisdictions in AL, AZ, CA, CO, DC, FL, KY, MI, KS, IL, IN, NC, NM, MN, NY, SC, TX, UT, WA. And growing.
As local election results funnel through SOE's servers (typically before they reach the public elsewhere), those who run the computer servers for SOE essentially get "first look" at results and the ability to immediately and privately examine vote details throughout the USA.
In 2004, many Americans were justifiably concerned when, days before the presidential election, Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell redirected Ohio election night results through the Tennessee-based server for several national Republican Party operations.
This is worse: This redirects results reporting to a centralized privately held server which is not just for Ohio, but national; not just USA-based, but global.
A mitigation against fraud by SOE insiders has been the separation of voting machine systems from the SOE results reports. Because most US jurisdictions require posting evidence of results from each voting machine at the precinct, public citizens can organize to examine these results to compare with SOE results. Black Box Voting spearheaded a national citizen action to videotape / photograph these poll tapes in 2008.
With the merger of SOE and SCYTL, that won't work (if SCYTL's voting system is used). When there are two truly independent sources of information, the public can perform its own "audit" by matching one number against the other.
These two independent sources, however, will now be merged into one single source: an Internet voting system controlled by SCYTL, with a results reporting system also controlled by SCYTL.
With SCYTL internet voting, there will be no ballots. No physical evidence. No chain of custody. No way for the public to authenticate who actually cast the votes, chain of custody, or the count.
SCYTL is moving into or already running elections in: the United Kingdom, France, Canada, Norway, Switzerland, United Arab Emirates, South Africa, India and Australia.
SCYTL is based in Barcelona; its funding comes from international venture capital funds including Nauta Capital, Balderton Capital and Spinnaker.
Here is the link to the press release regarding SYCTL's acquisition of SOE:
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/scytl-acquires-soe-software-becoming-the-leadin g-election-software-provider-2012-01-11
quote:"In 2007...the top 250 companies in the world had sales in excess of $14.7 trillion...an amount exceeding the GDP [Gross Domestic Product] of the United States or the European Union, $13.2 trillion and $13.7 trillion, respectively...combined sales of the top five (Wal-Mart, Exxon-Mobil, Royal Dutch Shell, BP and General Motors) was nearly $1.5 trillion -- larger than the GDP of all but seven countries." -- Superclass: The Global Power Elite and the World They Are Making, by David Rothkopf
* * * * *
If you believe Black Box Voting provides an important service, please note that we very much need your support. Will you consider becoming one of our monthly sponsors? Click here: http://www.blackboxvoting.org/donate.html |
Charles Christopher
Frequent Voting Rights Forum Participant
Username: Ilikeinfo
Post Number: 313
Registered: 11-2006
Best of Black Box? N/A
Votes: 0 (A keeper?) | | Posted on Friday, January 13, 2012 - 9:41 am: |
|
WTF!?
Jack Welch gets his head handed to him for the attempted GE-Honeywell merger, and the system that made that decision is now allowing monopoly formation at it's foundation: VOTING?
Talk about a putrid stench ...
Problem definition *FIRST*, solution formulation *SECOND*.
The frog just needs to *SEE* the thermometer
Twenty-Five Ways To Suppress Truth
|
Bev Harris
Board Administrator
Username: Admin
Post Number: 11457
Registered: 12-2004
Best of Black Box? N/A
Votes: 0 (A keeper?) | | Posted on Friday, January 13, 2012 - 10:41 am: |
|
I'm not sure I understand the context of your comment, Charles. |
Bev Harris
Board Administrator
Username: Admin
Post Number: 11458
Registered: 12-2004
Best of Black Box?
Votes: 2 (A keeper?) | | Posted on Friday, January 13, 2012 - 11:19 am: |
|
This update thanks to research by the impressive public citizen Joseph Holder. As he points out, this creates a monopoly.
It creates a vertical monopoly, in that you have one provider providing each step of the system, and a horizontal monopoly, with one provider delivering results across the majority of the geographic spectrum.
January 11, 2012 07:30 AM Eastern Time
SCYTL Acquires SOE Software, Becoming the Leading Election Software Provider
BALTIMORE & TAMPA, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
“This integration of our companies will allow us to offer even greater levels of service and functionality to both our existing US customer base as well as new domestic and international customers by being able to expand our existing product functionality on a global scale”
.•SCYTL is the global leader in online voting solutions with a presence in over twenty countries
• SOE Software is the leading software company for election management solutions in the United States
• The combination of the two companies creates the industry leader in election software with a strong market presence worldwide
SCYTL, the global leader in secure electronic voting technologies, announced today the acquisition of 100% of SOE Software, the leading software provider of election management solutions in the United States. The integration of these two software companies creates the industry leader in the election software market with a full range of solutions covering from Internet voting to election night reporting and online pollworker training, and a strong market presence worldwide.
SCYTL is currently the worldwide leader in the Internet voting space and the acquisition of SOE Software, with its Clarity election management software suite, significantly expands SCYTL’s product portfolio beyond electronic voting. Furthermore, SOE Software’s strong US presence with 900 jurisdictions as customers in 26 states, including 14 state-wide customers, complements very effectively SCYTL’s customer base in the United States and internationally with customers in over 20 different countries across 5 continents, including France, Spain, Canada, Norway, Switzerland, South Africa, United Arab Emirates, Mexico, India and Australia.
“We are very excited about joining forces with SOE Software because their solutions can address the needs for more efficiency and transparency in elections in many of the countries where we are currently working“, said Pere Valles, SCYTL’s CEO. “The high degree of customer satisfaction achieved by SOE Software in the United States demonstrates that their solutions and customer service are very effective in meeting those needs”.
“This integration of our companies will allow us to offer even greater levels of service and functionality to both our existing US customer base as well as new domestic and international customers by being able to expand our existing product functionality on a global scale”, said Marc Fratello, CEO of SOE Software. “SCYTL’s position as an industry leader along with SOE Software’s core competencies and customer base will provide significant capabilities to the elections marketplace”.
ABOUT SCYTL
SCYTL is a technology company specializing in the development of secure electronic voting and election modernization solutions. Based in Barcelona and with offices in Baltimore, Toronto, New Delhi, Athens, Kiev and Singapore, SCYTL’s solutions have been used in public elections by governments from countries such as the United States, United Kingdom, France, Canada, Norway, Switzerland, United Arab Emirates, South Africa, India and Australia. SCYTL is a portfolio company of leading international VC funds Nauta Capital, Balderton Capital and Spinnaker. More information is available at www.scytl.com.
ABOUT SOE SOFTWARE
SOE Software, based in Tampa, has developed Clarity, a suite of 8 software modules that allow election authorities to be more efficient and transparent in their management of elections and in their communications with citizens and media. Over 900 jurisdictions in 26 states across the United States, including 14 state-wide customers, currently use SOE Software solutions in their electoral processes. More information is available at www.soesoftware.com.
Photos/Multimedia Gallery Available: http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/mmg.cgi?eid=50130065&lang=en
Recent Stories from SCYTL
Scytl Unveils Secure Voting on Tablet Computers
December 19, 2011
BALTIMORE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Scytl has successfully tested and deployed its MOVE Act compliant electronic ballot delivery software to tablet PCs and has developed risk management techniques to ensur... more »
.
Scytl conducts the first Internet elections in India
May 22, 2011
NEW DELHI--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Scytl successfully conducts the first Internet elections in India's history which took place in the State of Gujarat and opens a new office in New Delhi more »
.
ES&S and Scytl Announce Strategic Alliance to Provide BALLOTsafe - a Military and Overseas Electronic Voting Solution
May 02, 2011
OMAHA, Neb.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- ES&S & Scytl partner to provide BALLOTsafe, an online ballot delivery & marking system that allows military, overseas, absentee & disabled voters to cast ballots in a ... |
From the Mailbag
Frequent Voting Rights Forum Participant
Username: Mailbag
Post Number: 314
Registered: 10-2005
Best of Black Box? N/A
Votes: 0 (A keeper?) | | Posted on Friday, January 13, 2012 - 11:22 am: |
|
Via e-mail from S.C.:
Is it over? The final knell? Are we done? Time to go back to eating bon bons and enjoying whatever we can of life as we still have it for however long that is? |
Bev Harris
Board Administrator
Username: Admin
Post Number: 11459
Registered: 12-2004
Best of Black Box?
Votes: 2 (A keeper?) | | Posted on Friday, January 13, 2012 - 11:39 am: |
|
Hi S.C.,
I've eaten far too many bon-bons in my life, as is probably obvious to those who look at me.
It took 75 years to ban slavery for the first time (this was done 100 years before the USA banned it). This was not "economically feasible" in the global sugar trade. Still, public citizens kept at it till they got what they wanted.
The story above is why I get annoyed at those who play partisan politics with the issue of public controls on elections. (Review again the quote at the end of the article, which is why I put it there.) It is exceptionally difficult, probably not possible, to get installed into office as either a Democrat or a Republican unless the real power super-elites find that person acceptable to their interests, which have a great deal to do with resource control on a global scale.
It is a surprisingly small number of people worldwide who are meaningful players on the global corporate field. There are about 6,000 of them, and while they do include some heads of states, like "president of the United States", by and large those are considered rotating pieces which are replaceable.
Most real power is held by private corporate directors and the investment banking firms that move their money. There are really no global laws and there is no global enforcement mechanism, so these guys duck in and out of about 70 offshore secrecy havens like Jersey and the Cayman Islands, like Butch Cassidy setting up camp in the Waterpocket fold.
Most of the power is controlled by western corporations, a large portion of them based in the United States, but they only base certain operations here, and create offshore entities whenever they want to dodge regulations or taxes.
Now here's the problem: These are very pragmatic men. Mostly men, a few women. These are not idealistic men, and they don't give a hoot about what Thomas Jefferson thought or what the Declaration of Independence says. In fact, when your company depends on resources that are geographically dispersed, it can be doggone risky to let the people decide who governs the territory in which those resources (like oil, minerals, water) are found.
As I say, these are tough, practical men who are used to solving problems, and public control of elections is a bit of a "problem" if you can't exert enough control by influence over who can run for office (ballot access and campaign finance) or persuasion (mainstream TV media). If that influence fails, and the wrong guy gets nominated, and the public just wants to go out and vote for him anyway, that's a problem.
In that case, if you're a practical and ruthless man, you need to control the mechanism of the election itself.
And there you have it. |
Charles Christopher
Frequent Voting Rights Forum Participant
Username: Ilikeinfo
Post Number: 314
Registered: 11-2006
Best of Black Box? N/A
Votes: 0 (A keeper?) | | Posted on Friday, January 13, 2012 - 12:16 pm: |
|
>I'm not sure I understand the context of
>your comment, Charles.
Refering to:
http://europa.eu/about-eu/countries/index_en.htm
If I'm reading this right one company is gaining monopoly control of a part of voting infrastructure and this includes member of the EU. Welch's merger attempt was rejected based on issues of the monopoly it was beleived to form and the EU rejecting monopolies to insure trade freedoms and consumer freedoms. I've read many case of this over the years, GE is just one of many.
I continue to trust your research Bev, nothing has changed.
So now I'm reading that a core component of the voting process in the EU is now being "collectivized" in the hands of a private entity. Members are involved per your list and the link of EU memebrs above, members of the EU and the US ... Thus I'm trying to dovetail the GE merger / logic as an example.
So, what has happened to this idea the EU has previously seemed to hold in high regard so as to insure competion and freedoms?
The idea that this is being ignored (my personal view) for voting infrastructure seems more that a little hard to defend .... When it comes to voting infrastructure it strikes me that any WORLD SCOPE private agency monopoly should be a huge concern, far more that the GE issue ....
Hopefully that is more clear.
Problem definition *FIRST*, solution formulation *SECOND*.
The frog just needs to *SEE* the thermometer
Twenty-Five Ways To Suppress Truth
|
Bev Harris
Board Administrator
Username: Admin
Post Number: 11460
Registered: 12-2004
Best of Black Box? N/A
Votes: 0 (A keeper?) | | Posted on Friday, January 13, 2012 - 12:31 pm: |
|
Yes. Thank you for your clarification. |
|
|
