Electronic Voting: Easy Manipulation Proved!

The CCC (Chaos Computer Club - Germany) in collaboration with “We do not trust voting computers” (Wij vertrouwen stemcomputers niet) in Netherlands have prooved that the Nedap Voting Computers are hardly modified and can be easily manipulated.

In their first official statement the Nedap Company (An originally dutch manufacturer of Gaming- and Snackmachines) defended themselves against the claim that a chessgame could be implemented to their "dedicated voting machines".

CCC and “We do not trust voting computers” managed to implement chess into these computers within a few days. Another issue with the guarantee for "secret voting" showed that through the emitted radiofrequencies of these Computers, Wave-Analyzers can actually profile and reconstruct what is being shown and selected on the Voting displays.. even over a remarkable distance.

The exchangeable modules in these machines use "technology" which stems from times of Atari/Amiga (Motorola 68000) about 15 years ago. Due to their huge size they can be filled with additional and newer processors or even antennas to manipulate the votes and could easily simulate "correct" results during the verification-steps after the votes.. until the final readings of a manipulated, hidden result. Sort of a Voting-Trojan in form of an emulated "EPROM"

The seals which are officially taken to protect these machines, at least in Germany, can be ordered as Kits over "plomben24.de" for little over 100euros.
Whereas the keys which are needed to open the modules similar to a mailbox-lock are all of the same type.. and can be bought for 50eurocents each.

The CCC also discovered that the voting computers had been unattended in several voting-localities in Cottbus, Germany for at least one night. The janitor opened the doors to the localities, so that the CCC team was by the computers even before the first official voting-supervisors appeared.

So much about governments doing their job right or at least with a minimum of responsability towards their citizens As I always keep telling you guys. It's a comedy. A show!

Here's where i found some English version of the story:

Voting computers can play chess!

In order to accommodate each citizens' right (or better duty) to vote, many countries have adopted electronic voting machines to make such operations faster and easily accomplished, not mentioning the much faster vote computations. But, as many other new technologies the voting machines are facing pangs of childbirth. Zone-H has reported several times in the past about the effective (in) security of this technology and nowadays they are facing similar problems in Germany, Netherland, France and other countries using the Nedap ES3B voting machine.

[edit on 30-11-2006 by osram]

Aw well no one seems to care apparently.. Probably most americans think "what the hell do I care about the votes in germany or france?!"

But hey! I've got some good news. You use the same machines for your elections in the US and A!! isn't that a funny coincidence?

Same external source:

The German Computer Chaos Club, Europe's largest hacker group, has called for a ban on the Nedap ES3B voting machine and similar computers after a Dutch citizens group found flaws in the dated e-voting machine. The computer is used in elections in the Netherlands, Germany and France, and marketed in the United States by Liberty Election Systems as the LibertyVote.

So what do you think about it? - Did you vote at all? Do you prefer playing chess @ home.. or do you like to play it in the voting-localities? LOL!

Nelson says: "HaHa!"

Originally posted by osram
Aw well no one seems to care apparently...

You are right, I think that by now no one cares anymore...

However what you posted goes somewhat beyond the machines issue, when you wrote:

...The janitor opened the doors to the localities, so that the CCC team was by the computers even before the first official voting-supervisors appeared. ...

This means that even if the machines were reliable, then the people working or safeguarding them are not, basically the entire process is roten to the bone, from the candidates to the voting procedures, welcome to the brave new world...

Yeah this is certainly true but i also think it is only partly correct: Because if the machines are seriously made with an opensource solution, decently secured software and physically hardly bypassable hardware.. we have eliminated a major part of vulnerability.

As a machine can also be designed to being secure in itself.. and leaving only very few possibilities for manipulation.. even for the vote-supervisors!

You can always argue because also the programmers of the framework could be corrupted or forced to manipulate and so on..

But as far as i can tell Estonia is using the only reasonable solution at the moment. They use an open-source framework combined with contemporary technology and precautions.

I was told from some US-people that the "Black Box Voting" Team (Similar to "We do not trust Vote Computers" in Netherlands?) Had not been succesfull in their pre-US votefraud discoveries when they tried to tell the CNN.

It does not surprise me because what does everyone expect? Asking the Mainstream media from a totally subordonate position would change anything? "Please Mr. CNN we discovered the conspiracy.. see? Could you please make a News Report now?? Please Please Please...".

I mean c'mon guys do you really want to live in a "democracy" with 15 years old voting computers? In Computer-Advance terms that could be compared to the Third Reich. Man that's so much of 3 steps backwards.. I can't believe it.

Do you want to know why the european activists are a lot more succesfull bringing this problem to the public? Because they tackle the issue from a completely different angle: Instead of asking some infected Media Corp. for publishing.. they are simply applying pressure by being smart and knowing the law.

For instance; The official local election responsable in Cottbus did not even know that the citizens actually had the right to publicly take a look at the electronic voting system and procedures.. just as with any regular paper-voting system.. when the CCC asked the officials about the locations of the voting-localities for instance. Also the insecure procedure of leaving the machines unobserved @ the localities over night was quite a surprise for the local Citizens in Cottbus.

This issue is also discussed in the Dutch public for the same reasons.

CCC has managed to get an own, independent Radio-Show for 3 hours once every month on a Public Radio Broadcaster. And they are broadcasting since a couple of years now. That is why they are not going under unheard.

Why should this not be possible in the USA? If the universities are no good for education anymore, then at least use them to spread the word. Print and spread alot of Info-Papers. Get organized. Try to achieve an independent, public.. radio broadcast with enough listeners. That's already done in the USA. It's nothing new.

Don't you want to CHANGE something FFS? Or do you simply go on with the self-entertaining conspiracy-programme on ATS? Even ATS could elaborate professional News Reports and Research in collaboration with independent, public radio broadcasts for reaching a wider spectrum of listeners.

C'mon guys. Challenge the Patriot Act! Let's see if the public can still be connected to an independent source of information. I am sure it is possible. Because if ATS's only goal is the above-stated self-entertainment programme in conspiracies, UFOS and whatsoever.. then I am sure it can be called disinformation and distraction.

Originally posted by osram
Yeah this is certainly true but i also think it is only partly correct: Because if the machines are seriously made with an opensource solution, decently secured software and physically hardly bypassable hardware.. we have eliminated a major part of vulnerability.

As a machine can also be designed to being secure in itself.. and leaving only very few possibilities for manipulation.. even for the vote-supervisors!

You can always argue because also the programmers of the framework could be corrupted or forced to manipulate and so on..

Well, they can be, unfortunately—several have come forward in the US to reveal they introduced vulnerabilities into EVMs. Many of the major flaws with machines in the US—Diebold in particular—seem to only be possible if they were intentionally put in place.

I don't think there can be a secure EVM system, unfortunately, unless the machine is purely a device to quickly fill out a paper ballot, which is then printed—along with a receipt confirming the vote, for the voter to keep—and placed by the voter into a locked box. However, paper ballots are still counted by machine. The receipts could, in theory be used for a recount, but some people would inevitably lose them.

It does not surprise me because what does everyone expect? Asking the Mainstream media from a totally subordonate position would change anything? "Please Mr. CNN we discovered the conspiracy.. see? Could you please make a News Report now?? Please Please Please...".

To be fair, Lou Dobbs of CNN has spent a fair amount of time exposing a number of the flaws with electronic voting. If I recall correctly, he had, live on his show, a demonstration of an untraceable EVM hack carried out in two minutes. The reason they shunned this one is that at the time, they didn't know this was used in the US as well, and they felt it wasn't newsworthy, apparently. I feel that it should be reported on, no matter where in the world it is, as, even if it isn't used here, it still exposes the problems with electronic voting.

For instance; The official local election responsable in Cottbus did not even know that the citizens actually had the right to publicly take a look at the electronic voting system and procedures.. just as with any regular paper-voting system.. when the CCC asked the officials about the locations of the voting-localities for instance. Also the insecure procedure of leaving the machines unobserved @ the localities over night was quite a surprise for the local Citizens in Cottbus.

BlackBoxVoting does similar things, and goes to the individual precincts, demanding to be shown the public records for various elections. They then find the flaws and post the findings to their website. The problem is, they aren't very well known. They're doing the right thing, they just don't get the attention of the public. For many people, if it's not on the mainstream news, they don't pay attention to it.

Don't you want to CHANGE something FFS? Or do you simply go on with the self-entertaining conspiracy-programme on ATS? Even ATS could elaborate professional News Reports and Research in collaboration with independent, public radio broadcasts for reaching a wider spectrum of listeners.

C'mon guys. Challenge the Patriot Act! Let's see if the public can still be connected to an independent source of information. I am sure it is possible. Because if ATS's only goal is the above-stated self-entertainment programme in conspiracies, UFOS and whatsoever.. then I am sure it can be called disinformation and distraction.

Laziness and complacency have overtaken the US, unfortunately. Jefferson said: "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." While he was speaking of a literal violent revolution—which is certainly necessary as a last resort sometimes—it can also be very true in a symbolic sense. People need to be reminded why their natural freedoms need to be protected and why they need to safeguard them. That has been forgotten by most people, and even those who do recognize it somewhat tend to brush it off eventually, thinking someone else will take care of the problem.

The fact is, if we, the people, continue to let people take away our freedoms, there won't be anyone left to take care of the problem.

(Oh, and the USA PATRIOT Act isn't the worst of the problems these days. The Military Commissions Act is even worse. Hurray for legalization of indefinite detention! )

Originally posted by LoganCale
I don't think there can be a secure EVM system, unfortunately, unless the machine is purely a device to quickly fill out a paper ballot, which is then printed—along with a receipt confirming the vote, for the voter to keep—and placed by the voter into a locked box. However, paper ballots are still counted by machine. The receipts could, in theory be used for a recount, but some people would inevitably lose them.

No IT Solution is 100% Secure. But making the electronical voting machines, almost all over the globe.. 100% Insecure is gross. We have arrived @ the 4th Reich in every possible aspect.

To be fair, Lou Dobbs of CNN has spent a fair amount of time exposing a number of the flaws with electronic voting. If I recall correctly, he had, live on his show, a demonstration of an untraceable EVM hack carried out in two minutes. The reason they shunned this one is that at the time, they didn't know this was used in the US as well, and they felt it wasn't newsworthy, apparently. I feel that it should be reported on, no matter where in the world it is, as, even if it isn't used here, it still exposes the problems with electronic voting.

Yeah.. quite possible I discredited their good work.. by not knowing alot about their movement in the USA.
The public media's justification of not posting a vital information regarding the security of voting-machines.. due to a severe misbelief or "error" is imho just another case of disinformation and corruption.
It's a shame they did not insist by other means.

BlackBoxVoting does similar things, and goes to the individual precincts, demanding to be shown the public records for various elections. They then find the flaws and post the findings to their website. The problem is, they aren't very well known. They're doing the right thing, they just don't get the attention of the public. For many people, if it's not on the mainstream news, they don't pay attention to it.

Well there has to be a way to get into the mainstream news. I really wonder what has become of the "ATS News-Paper Thread".
Because these things should be starting in the near future. We don't know when it is definately too late.

And i don't want to see any self-discrediting UFO-Related crap in those Newspapers either. It's absolutely irrelevant regarding the huge amount of missing, factual information that should be supplied to the public.

(Oh, and the USA PATRIOT Act isn't the worst of the problems these days. The Military Commissions Act is even worse. Hurray for legalization of indefinite detention!

)

Well im not too elaborated with the two of them. But i guess when you have no rights.. the amount of time given for them to torture or kill you is irrelevant

The solution is to go back to low-tech.

Pieces of paper. Scan them optically if you must, but ensure that they are kept as back-up. Vote counting to be supervised by all parties in any constituency. (This won't especially help in the US, where there are only two parties and one can't help feeling that this makes it easy for deals/tradeoffs to be done.

Yes, optical scans can be hacked, but if you have the paper backup - and serious fines or prison sentences for the people in charge of retaining the paper ballots if they "misplace" any votes - then you can always do recounts. If recounts are paid for out of the pockets of the political parties (split by candidate within constituency), there's a hell of an incentive to get it right first time.