    
admin
Board Administrator
Username: admin
Post Number: 563
Registered: 12-2004
Best of Black Box? N/A
Votes: 0 | | Posted on Thursday, June 2, 2005 - 3:21 pm: | |
From Daily Kos -
Legitimate Reason: Well, on a piece of consumer electronics hardware, you'd want that kind of flexibility, so you could put expansions, plugins, or patches on memory cards. It'd be limited somehow, or have access to a restricted API, or something. But you'd want that kind of thing.
But for a voting machine, where the code and machine are supposedly certified and sealed? Where the integrity of the machine is of paramount importance? No ••••••• way. You do not want that kind of open access unless you want someone to be able to trivially insert uncertified, unverified code into the machine.
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Like updating your BIOS, yes but from what I read, the programmer could replace an executable module. Vote tabulation is not rocket science, sales forecasting, or payroll. The only flexibility required is the number of rows and choices to be counted, and the verbage associated with each. No logic changes should be required.
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Exactly... For other things, it can make sense.
For vote tabulation? Nope. No way, no how. Like you say, it's dead simple. The memory card should be completely passive, used just to read data from and write data to. The only reason I can see for doing this is to install uncertified code on the machines.
Bingo. Exactly. and Precisely.
Now you see why I took the time to carry these discussion points over here. This is important stuff, folks, and when you put this together with the concept of "Independent testing labs" and "violations of FEC standards" and "nationally certified" the meaning of the term "conspiracy" starts to take on a new light -- RICO. Racketeering is in the statutes because it happens. |
