Mr. Arar, you'll recall, is the Canadian national who was illegally mailed to Syria by the US, to be tortured.
His Letelier-Moffitt International Human Rights Award acceptance speech
sporadically produced odds, ends, and essaylets on any number of topics from programming to politics, paramecia to puff pastries.
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Tuesday, January 08, 2008
The Cat That Controls New Hampshire Voting Machine Programming
Reprinted by permission.
***
Please distribute widely, Digg, Blog, reprints, get this to the media, etc.
A YouTube video from Black Box Voting that you won't soon forget:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PiiaBqwqkXs
THE CAT THAT CONTROLS NEW HAMPSHIRE ELECTION PROGRAMMING
John Silvestro and his small private business, LHS Associates, has exclusive programming contracts for ALL New Hampshire voting machines, which combined will count about 81 percent of the vote in the primary. And as to Super Tuesday and beyond: Silvestro also has the programming contracts for the states of Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Vermont.
Silvestro IS the New Hampshire chain of custody in New England -- Or at least, a very large component in it.
Last fall, with the help of citizens like you, Black Box Voting began working on "Chain of Custody" projects, in which we identified some of the areas of concern that might affect many jurisdictions at once. First on the list for the Northeast U.S. is LHS Associates, a vendor with inside access to every memory card, as well as to the chips containing the "brain" of the Diebold optical scan machines.
RARE VIDEO FOOTAGE
In an unusual confluence of available video, we obtained footage of Silvestro grappling with Harri Hursti, the master hacker who had his way with the Diebold optical scans in Leon County, Florida in the famous exploit that was showcased in the film Hacking Democracy.
The exact same make, model and version hacked in the Black Box Voting project in Leon County is used throughout New Hampshire, where about 45 percent of elections administrators hand count paper ballots at the polling place, with the remaining locations all using the Diebold version 1.94w optical scan machine. Because the voting machine locations tend to be urban, this represents about 81 percent of the New Hampshire voters.
The video shows Harri Hursti testifying on Sept. 19 before the New Hampshire legislature, attempting to explain significant vulnerabilities requiring urgent mitigations; throughout his testimony, Silvestro inserted his own comments, opinions, misstatements and speculations.
VOTING MACHINE CHECKUP
One area of disagreement between Hursti and Silvestro was the amount of expertise needed to exploit the Diebold 1.94w optical scan system. Silvestro claimed (in a strange contortion of reasoning) that he doesn't hire very skilled programmers, implying that this makes New Hampshire elections more secure.
Hursti pointed out that hiring programmers with a lack of knowledge is generally not considered a security feature, and also that an average high schooler can learn to exploit the system in two days to two weeks.
WE THINK IT DOESN'T TAKE THAT LONG
Black Box Voting purchased a Diebold optical scan with 1.94w firmware, and chose a computer repair shop out of the phone book, took it in, grabbed the first available technician. It took him less than 10 minutes to zero in on the memory card as a point of critical vulnerability -- and oh my, did he point out some other intersting things!
NEW HAMPSHIRE HASN'T UPGRADED SYSTEM SECURITY
Silvestro tries to claim that the security problems have been fixed in newer editions. Whether or not they have been, it's a moot point in New Hampshire where the upgrade is not made unless the Ballot Law Commission meets, and they have not met for ages.
Silvestro then points to extraordinary measures taken by other states to enact special procedural safeguards, but of course none of those were implemented in New Hampshire either, because the Ballot Law Commission has not bothered to meet since March 2006.
IN FACT, NEW HAMPSHIRE HAS NOT IMPLEMENTED MITIGATIONS FOR KNOWN RISKS
Not only that, they have turned all the programming over to a sole source private company, taking vote counting for 81 percent of New Hampshire citizens out of the public domain.
LHS is not subject to public records requirements, as the government is, at least, not in New Hampshire. The control over memory card contents is absolute; when cards malfunction or get lost, LHS brings the replacements.
CONTROL OVER THE "BRAINS" OF THE MACHINE: ACCESS TO THE CHIP
Since LHS maintains the machines, repairs the machines, and replaces the machines -- often on Election Day -- when they malfunction, they have intimate access to the chips, sockets, ports, communications devices and other electronic components.
Silvestro stated that the chip has "read only memory" and cannot be reprogrammed without frying it under ultraviolet light overnight.
Hursti never had a chance to examine the hardware, nor have most of the recent university studies had access. But our friendly neighborhood computer repair guy differed with Silvestro on the point of plug & play reprogramming of the guts of the machine.
After I push the button to send this message out to the media and the citizenry, I'll work on getting a short YouTube video of the Accuvote checkup by our local computer repairman. And before you say, "But wait! He's not a world class expert!" -- That's just the point.
Our local computer repairman may hit or miss on some of his analyses. You'll all be able to try your hand at second guessing him as soon as the next video is up. But if he hits even one of his ideas for how to exploit the machine to steal votes, that's all it takes. From someone who is not, certainly, a world class hacker or even a hacker at all.
I'll post the link to that in a follow up here: http://www.bbvforums.org/forums/messages/1954/71200.html?1199744175 , and invite you techs to weigh in.
Please feel free to distribute, reprint or excerpt, with link to Black Box Voting and the video link above.
Bev Harris
Black Box Voting
bev@blackboxvoting.org
* * * * *
This is the year to support Election protection actions: http://www.blackboxvoting.org/donate.html
or mail to:
Black Box Voting
330 SW 43rd St Suite K
PMB 547
Renton WA 98057
Donations over $45 receive the "Hacking Democracy" DVD as a gift.
***
Please distribute widely, Digg, Blog, reprints, get this to the media, etc.
A YouTube video from Black Box Voting that you won't soon forget:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PiiaBqwqkXs
THE CAT THAT CONTROLS NEW HAMPSHIRE ELECTION PROGRAMMING
John Silvestro and his small private business, LHS Associates, has exclusive programming contracts for ALL New Hampshire voting machines, which combined will count about 81 percent of the vote in the primary. And as to Super Tuesday and beyond: Silvestro also has the programming contracts for the states of Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Vermont.
Silvestro IS the New Hampshire chain of custody in New England -- Or at least, a very large component in it.
Last fall, with the help of citizens like you, Black Box Voting began working on "Chain of Custody" projects, in which we identified some of the areas of concern that might affect many jurisdictions at once. First on the list for the Northeast U.S. is LHS Associates, a vendor with inside access to every memory card, as well as to the chips containing the "brain" of the Diebold optical scan machines.
RARE VIDEO FOOTAGE
In an unusual confluence of available video, we obtained footage of Silvestro grappling with Harri Hursti, the master hacker who had his way with the Diebold optical scans in Leon County, Florida in the famous exploit that was showcased in the film Hacking Democracy.
The exact same make, model and version hacked in the Black Box Voting project in Leon County is used throughout New Hampshire, where about 45 percent of elections administrators hand count paper ballots at the polling place, with the remaining locations all using the Diebold version 1.94w optical scan machine. Because the voting machine locations tend to be urban, this represents about 81 percent of the New Hampshire voters.
The video shows Harri Hursti testifying on Sept. 19 before the New Hampshire legislature, attempting to explain significant vulnerabilities requiring urgent mitigations; throughout his testimony, Silvestro inserted his own comments, opinions, misstatements and speculations.
VOTING MACHINE CHECKUP
One area of disagreement between Hursti and Silvestro was the amount of expertise needed to exploit the Diebold 1.94w optical scan system. Silvestro claimed (in a strange contortion of reasoning) that he doesn't hire very skilled programmers, implying that this makes New Hampshire elections more secure.
Hursti pointed out that hiring programmers with a lack of knowledge is generally not considered a security feature, and also that an average high schooler can learn to exploit the system in two days to two weeks.
WE THINK IT DOESN'T TAKE THAT LONG
Black Box Voting purchased a Diebold optical scan with 1.94w firmware, and chose a computer repair shop out of the phone book, took it in, grabbed the first available technician. It took him less than 10 minutes to zero in on the memory card as a point of critical vulnerability -- and oh my, did he point out some other intersting things!
NEW HAMPSHIRE HASN'T UPGRADED SYSTEM SECURITY
Silvestro tries to claim that the security problems have been fixed in newer editions. Whether or not they have been, it's a moot point in New Hampshire where the upgrade is not made unless the Ballot Law Commission meets, and they have not met for ages.
Silvestro then points to extraordinary measures taken by other states to enact special procedural safeguards, but of course none of those were implemented in New Hampshire either, because the Ballot Law Commission has not bothered to meet since March 2006.
IN FACT, NEW HAMPSHIRE HAS NOT IMPLEMENTED MITIGATIONS FOR KNOWN RISKS
Not only that, they have turned all the programming over to a sole source private company, taking vote counting for 81 percent of New Hampshire citizens out of the public domain.
LHS is not subject to public records requirements, as the government is, at least, not in New Hampshire. The control over memory card contents is absolute; when cards malfunction or get lost, LHS brings the replacements.
CONTROL OVER THE "BRAINS" OF THE MACHINE: ACCESS TO THE CHIP
Since LHS maintains the machines, repairs the machines, and replaces the machines -- often on Election Day -- when they malfunction, they have intimate access to the chips, sockets, ports, communications devices and other electronic components.
Silvestro stated that the chip has "read only memory" and cannot be reprogrammed without frying it under ultraviolet light overnight.
Hursti never had a chance to examine the hardware, nor have most of the recent university studies had access. But our friendly neighborhood computer repair guy differed with Silvestro on the point of plug & play reprogramming of the guts of the machine.
After I push the button to send this message out to the media and the citizenry, I'll work on getting a short YouTube video of the Accuvote checkup by our local computer repairman. And before you say, "But wait! He's not a world class expert!" -- That's just the point.
Our local computer repairman may hit or miss on some of his analyses. You'll all be able to try your hand at second guessing him as soon as the next video is up. But if he hits even one of his ideas for how to exploit the machine to steal votes, that's all it takes. From someone who is not, certainly, a world class hacker or even a hacker at all.
I'll post the link to that in a follow up here: http://www.bbvforums.org/forums/messages/1954/71200.html?1199744175 , and invite you techs to weigh in.
Please feel free to distribute, reprint or excerpt, with link to Black Box Voting and the video link above.
Bev Harris
Black Box Voting
bev@blackboxvoting.org
* * * * *
This is the year to support Election protection actions: http://www.blackboxvoting.org/donate.html
or mail to:
Black Box Voting
330 SW 43rd St Suite K
PMB 547
Renton WA 98057
Donations over $45 receive the "Hacking Democracy" DVD as a gift.
Monday, January 07, 2008
Padilla Suing Yoo
Padilla v. Yoo -- "José Padilla wants John Yoo to have a day in court."
UC Berkeley lawyer who justified harsh treatment of detainees sued
Padilla's complaint, filed last Friday, Jan 04, 2008.
UC Berkeley lawyer who justified harsh treatment of detainees sued
Padilla's complaint, filed last Friday, Jan 04, 2008.
Saturday, January 05, 2008
Lakota Nation Declares Sovereign Status, Withdraws from Treaties w/US
I was just catching up on my blog-reading and spotting this from a December post by Cinnamon Swirl: Freedom! Lakota Sioux Indians Declare Sovereign Nation Status, and the Republic of Lakotah website.
Friday, January 04, 2008
"Helicopter Parents" -- Those Meddling Adults
Wow. This is insane.
The curse of the meddling parent: "Helicopter parents" who "hyperactively intervene" in the lives of their offspring could damage their children's job prospects.
I agree with the article - as an employer or manager, you bet I want someone self-reliant.
I'm so glad I grew up before this trend. I've called it "styrofoaming" in the past, in conversations with friends, meaning the relentless insulation by parents of their children from every possible danger, and thus, quite a bit of life. But I think I like "helicopter parents" better.
Or, maybe here in the US it's better considered a form of isolationism, with parent as the border fence, border guards, searches, seizures, security theater, etc., and child as the protected territory. Hm.
The curse of the meddling parent: "Helicopter parents" who "hyperactively intervene" in the lives of their offspring could damage their children's job prospects.
I agree with the article - as an employer or manager, you bet I want someone self-reliant.
I'm so glad I grew up before this trend. I've called it "styrofoaming" in the past, in conversations with friends, meaning the relentless insulation by parents of their children from every possible danger, and thus, quite a bit of life. But I think I like "helicopter parents" better.
Or, maybe here in the US it's better considered a form of isolationism, with parent as the border fence, border guards, searches, seizures, security theater, etc., and child as the protected territory. Hm.
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Touch Screens Out in Ohio
Ohio SoS to Cleveland: Ditch the Touch Screens
[New Secretary of State] Jennifer Brunner cast the deciding vote in the 3-2 decision to get rid of Cleveland's touch screen voting machines, which have helped the Republicans cheat their way to victory in the last several elections.
Sunday, December 16, 2007
Q's for Candidates, and CIA Torture
Nieman Watchdog lists a series of questions every candidate should get asked. It's not about Bush-bashing, it's about defining how you, Candidate, will operate as president.
Inside the CIA's notorious "black sites".
The CIA's torture teachers
Inside the CIA's notorious "black sites".
The nightmare started for him back in fall 2003. Bashmilah had traveled to Jordan from Indonesia, where he was living with his wife and working in the clothing business. He and his wife went to Jordan to meet Bashmilah's mother, who had also traveled there. The family hoped to arrange for heart surgery for Bashmilah's mother at a hospital in Amman. But before leaving Indonesia, Bashmilah had lost his passport and had received a replacement. Upon arrival in Jordan, Jordanian officials questioned his lack of stamps in the new one, and they grew suspicious when Bashmilah admitted he had visited Afghanistan in 2000. Bashmilah was taken into custody by Jordanian authorities on Oct. 21, 2003. He would not reappear again until he stepped out of a CIA plane in Yemen on May 5, 2005.
Bashmilah's apparent innocence was clearly lost on officials with Jordan's General Intelligence Department. After his arrest, the Jordanians brutally beat him, peppering him with questions about al-Qaida. He was forced to jog around in a yard until he collapsed. Officers hung him upside down with a leather strap and his hands tied. They beat the soles of his feet and his sides. They threatened to electrocute him with wires. The told him they would rape his wife and mother.
It was too much. Bashmilah signed a confession multiple pages long, but he was disoriented and afraid even to read it. "I felt sure it included things I did not say," he wrote in his declaration to the court delivered Friday. "I was willing to sign a hundred sheets so long as they would end the interrogation."
The CIA's torture teachers
According to congressional sources and mental healthcare professionals knowledgeable about the secret program who spoke with Salon, two CIA-employed psychologists, James Mitchell and Bruce Jessen, were at the center of the program, which likely violated the Geneva Conventions on the treatment of prisoners.
Saturday, December 15, 2007
Finally, a Horoscope that's "Me"
From The Onion, of course:
Dec 11, 2007
Dec 11, 2007
Libra SEPTEMBER 23 - OCTOBER 23
An engrossing read will soon transport you to a strange and faraway land, leaving you stranded in Harlem after 30 missed stops.
Friday, December 14, 2007
Feminism the Movement and Feminism the Ideology
One may wax and wane, but every woman who says "I'm not a feminist, but" actually is one.
Why Young Women Fear the Feminist Label. Or: The Rise and Fall and Rise and Fall and Rise of Feminism.
Why Young Women Fear the Feminist Label. Or: The Rise and Fall and Rise and Fall and Rise of Feminism.
The Fundamentalism Project
Book series. Excellent discussion in context over at Group News Blog: Teen Killed by Fundamentalist Father
Canada Holds US Violating Convention Against Torture, Will Accept Refugees, Asylees
Federal court strikes down refugee agreement
"... The United States' policies and practices do not meet the conditions set down for authorizing Canada to enter into a STCA," Phelan wrote in his 126-page decision.
"The U.S. does not meet the Refugee Convention requirements nor the [UN] Convention Against Torture prohibition (the Maher Arar case being one example). Further, the STCA does not comply with the relevant provisions of the Charter."
Sunday, December 09, 2007
Reduce Oil Spills?
You know, if we used less oil, there'd probably be fewer oil spills of ships transporting the stuff or other facilities.
Beaches blackened in South Korea's worst oil spill.
San Francisco California Oil Spill Pilot To Surrender License
Philippines Oil Spill Spread to Lake Feared
Santa Barbara California: Crude Oil Spills into Sisquoc River Tributary
Russian Spills in Kerch Strait
And in other news,
BP Pleads Guilty in 2006 Alaska Spill. BP Exploration Alaska entered its guilty plea on Thursday, Nov. 29, to one violation of the Clean Water Act for a 200,000-gallon spill at the Prudhoe Bay field in March 2006.
Beaches blackened in South Korea's worst oil spill.
San Francisco California Oil Spill Pilot To Surrender License
Philippines Oil Spill Spread to Lake Feared
Santa Barbara California: Crude Oil Spills into Sisquoc River Tributary
Russian Spills in Kerch Strait
And in other news,
BP Pleads Guilty in 2006 Alaska Spill. BP Exploration Alaska entered its guilty plea on Thursday, Nov. 29, to one violation of the Clean Water Act for a 200,000-gallon spill at the Prudhoe Bay field in March 2006.
Friday, November 23, 2007
Awesome Calendar
The Lovely Mistresses of George W. Bush -- a pinup calendar of various special interests.
Oh, that's clever.
The Lovely Mistresses of George W. Bush is a classically styled, 13 month pin-up calendar ending on January 20th, 2009, the final day of George W. Bush's presidency. Packed with jaw dropping all-original images by Burke Heffner, The Lovely Mistresses features some of America's hottest burlesque stars and pin-up girls.
Every stunning girl is a hilarious reveal of the corporations, special interest groups and billionaires who have influenced George the most. Each pin-up includes her vital statistics, important dates and a farewell love letter to the president.
Oh, that's clever.
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
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