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Counting Electronic Votes in Secret - Via Freedom to Tinker:
Things are not looking good for open government when it comes to observing poll workers on Election Night. Our state election laws, written for the old lever machines, now apply to Sequoia electronic voting machines. Andrew Appel and I have been asking a straightforward question: Can ordinary members of the public watch the procedures used by poll workers to count the votes?
I submitted a formal request to the Board of Elections of Mercer County (where Princeton University is located), seeking permission to watch the poll workers when they close the polls (on Sequoia AVC Advantage voting computers) and announce the results. They said no!
The Election Board said this election is “too important” to permit extra people in the polling place. read more »
The Presidency & the Courts [Ashbrook Center & Federalist Soc.] - Via JURIST - Video Monitor:
Conference on the Presidency and the Courts with keynote address by President George W. Bush, Ashbrook Center for Public Affairs & Federalist Society, October 6, 2008. Microsoft Silverlight, 136 minutes. Watch recorded video.
Judge Suppresses Report on Voting Machine Security - Via Freedom to Tinker:
A judge of the New Jersey Superior Court has prohibited the scheduled release of a report on the security and accuracy of the Sequoia AVC Advantage voting machine. Last June, Judge Linda Feinberg ordered Sequoia Voting Systems to turn over its source code to me (serving as an expert witness, assisted by a team of computer scientists) for a thorough examination. At that time she also ordered that we could publish our report 30 days after delivering it to the Court--which should have been today.
Three weeks after we delivered the report, on September 24th Judge Feinberg ordered us not to release it. This is part of a lawsuit filed by the Rutgers Constitutional Litigation Clinic, seeking to decommission of all of New Jersey's voting computers. New Jersey mostly uses Sequoia AVC Advantage direct-recording electronic (DRE) models. None of those DREs can be audited: they do not produce a voter verified paper ballot that permit each voter to create a durable paper record of her electoral choices before casting her ballot electronically on a DRE. The legal basis for the lawsuit is quite simple: because there is no way to know whether the DRE voting computer is actually counting votes as cast, there is no proof that the voting computers comply with the constitution or with statutory law that require that all votes be counted as cast. read more »
Chinese Skype Client Hands Confidential Communications to Eavesdroppers - Via EFF.org Updates:
This Wednesday, Information Warfare Monitor published damning evidence showing that TOM-Skype, the version of the voice and chat program distributed in China not only blocks keywords from chat conversations, but also spies on and remotely reports the contents of Skype users' private text conversations. This directly contradicts Skype's previous assurances that "full end-to-end security is preserved and there is no compromise of people’s privacy", even on the customized Chinese client.
This special breached version of Skype, distributed by the Chinese portal company TOM Online, has long been known to block certain contentious phrases from instant message conversations. IWM's Nart Villeneuve's research shows that when these keywords are mentioned in conversations, the client software also sends an encrypted message to one of eight remote servers hosted in China.
Due to poor security on these servers, Villeneuve was able to uncover what was being sent: extensive logs on user activity, including archives of more than 166,000 censored messages from 44,000 users. read more »
Liberty, Technology and the Next President - Via CDT - PolicyBeta:
[Ed. Note: this is the first in a series of blog posts addressing a range of technology and civil liberties issues we believe America's next President and Congress will have the chance to take a fresh look at, and the opportunity to set a policy course for the Internet that will keep it open, innovative and free.]
One of the biggest mistakes a new administration might make in its first 100 days would be to ignore the impact technology has had on the privacy of our communications and the striking need to update the law accordingly. If the President fails to act early in his first term he will miss a window of opportunity that won’t soon reopen, and it will be to the detriment of the Internet economy and to privacy rights.
The next President will have to resolve big-ticket items, like an economic meltdown, an unpopular war and an energy crisis. But when it comes to putting in place policies that will protect and promote Internet commerce, investing in timely solutions now will reap significant dividends for years to come.
Hi-Tech Discrimination read more »
Huge System for Web Surveillance Discovered in China - Via NYTimes.com :
SAN FRANCISCO — A group of Canadian human-rights activists and computer security researchers has discovered a huge surveillance system in China that monitors and archives certain Internet text conversations that include politically charged words.
The system tracks text messages sent by customers of Tom-Skype, a joint venture between a Chinese wireless operator and eBay, the Web auctioneer that owns Skype, an online phone and text messaging service.
The discovery draws more attention to the Chinese government’s Internet monitoring and filtering efforts, which created controversy this summer during the Beijing Olympics. Researchers in China have estimated that 30,000 or more “Internet police” monitor online traffic, Web sites and blogs for political and other offending content in what is called the Golden Shield Project or the Great Firewall of China.
The activists, who are based at Citizen Lab, a research group that focuses on politics and the Internet at the University of Toronto, discovered the surveillance operation last month. They said a cluster of eight message-logging computers in China contained more than a million censored messages. They examined the text messages and reconstructed a list of restricted words. read more »
Chinese Skype Software Secretly Logs Political Chat Messages - Via Threat Level:
Editor: Interesting graphic removed. Go to original site for that [...]
A Chinese-language version of Skype scans users' chat messages for keywords such as "democracy," and sends a copy of the offending message to the company's servers, according to a report released Thursday by a Canadian online human rights group.
That's despite adamant claims by the Ebay-owned company that its software offers encrypted, safe communication.
Nart Villeneuve of the University of Toronto's Citizen Lab found that a Chinese version of the popular chat and internet phone-call software sent the full text of millions of messages with 'sensitive' keywords to servers controlled by Skype's Chinese partner TOM Online.
Captured messages discuss sensitive topics such as Taiwanese independence, tainted milk and the banned Falun Gong group. read more »
Voter Registration Deadline This Monday in Many States - Via Threat Level:
Editor: Interesting video removed. Go to original site for that [...]
Voter registration numbers are breaking records in states around the country this year, but thousands of eligible voters have still not registered to vote.
The deadline for mailing in registration applications in 21 states is this coming Monday, October 6th. If you're a new voter, be sure to mail your application on time.
A few states have deadlines before then. The deadline in Nevada, Rhode Island, South Carolina and the Virgin Islands is Saturday, the 4th. Alaska's deadline is the 5th.
The remaining state deadlines are scattered throughout October.
Eight states allow registration on the same day as the election, in case you forget to register beforehand. Those states are: Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, Wisconsin and Wyoming.
North Dakota is the only state that doesn't require voters to register in order to cast a ballot.
(Read Original Article - Via Threat Level.)
Lawyers and Other Volunteers Needed for Election - Via Threat Level:
The Election Protection Network, a coalition of dozens of groups that includes the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights, the National Bar Association and People for the American Way, is gearing up for November by amassing a large force of volunteer legal experts to answer calls at a national voter hotline (1-866-OUR-VOTE or 1-866-687-8683) and visit polling locations across the country to aid voters who encounter problems. read more »
Palin Had a Third Private E-mail Account - Via Threat Level:
In addition to the two Yahoo accounts that were already known -- including one that was hacked earlier this month -- the Washington Post has learned that Alaska Governor Sarah Palin had a third private e-mail account on a closed network that she and her staff used to communicate outside of the government's official e-mail system.
The owner of ITS Alaska, a tech company based in Wasilla, told the Post that an e-mail system was set up last spring under the domain that Palin had used for her campaign for governor -- PalinForGovernor.com -- and that access to the system was confined to "her closest confidants and co-workers and advisers and the person she sleeps with." read more »
33 Pastors Flout Tax Law With Political Sermons - Via washingtonpost.com :
ROWN POINT, Ind., Sept. 28 -- Defying a federal law that prohibits U.S. clergy from endorsing political candidates from the pulpit, an evangelical Christian minister told his congregation Sunday that voting for Sen. Barack Obama would be evidence of "severe moral schizophrenia."
The Rev. Ron Johnson Jr. told worshipers that the Democratic presidential nominee's positions on abortion and gay partnerships exist "in direct opposition to God's truth as He has revealed it in the Scriptures." Johnson showed slides contrasting the candidates' views but stopped short of endorsing Obama's Republican opponent, Sen. John McCain.
Johnson and 32 other pastors across the country set out Sunday to break the rules, hoping to generate a legal battle that will prompt federal courts to throw out a 54-year-old ban on political endorsements by tax-exempt houses of worship. read more »
Bailout Agreement Hits the Net -- Is This Transparency? - Via Threat Level:
The White House and congressional leaders agreed to the details of the $700 billion government bailout of financial institutions late Sunday afternoon and they promptly released the bill on the internet. read more »
Google Launches Google Moderator For Presidential Debates - Via Threat Level:
A group of plugged-in politicos recently petitioned the Commission on Presidential Debates to open up the general election debates to the public.
In addition to asking that the CPD to make the video feed of the debates freely available, the group asked the commission to allow the public to select the questions to be posed to the candidates: read more »
Foreign national ID card unveiled - Via BBC NEWS | UK | UK Politics :
The first identity cards from the government's controversial national scheme have been unveiled.
The biometric card will be issued from November, initially to non-EU students and marriage visa holders.
Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said the cards would allow people to "easily and securely prove their identity".
Critics say the roll-out to some immigrants is a "softening up" exercise for the introduction of identity cards for everyone. read more »
Slashdot | Positive Rights News From Europe - Via Slashdot :
Various readers are sending in good news from Europe on the rights front. First, at the EU level, Mark.J brings word that the European Parliament has canned a number of controversial amendments to its updated Telecoms Package, which could have resulted in ISPs being forced to disconnect customers for involvement in illegal file-sharing of copyrighted material. Next, SplatMan_DK writes from Denmark on a recent ruling by the Danish High Court that means that Danes are still innocent until proven guilty read more »
Bush Administration Opposing Expanded Justice Department Copyright Enforcement Powers - Via Threat Level:
The Bush administration is opposing sweeping legislation granting it the ability to prosecute civil cases of copyright infringement.
The legislation, backed by Hollywood, labor unions and manufacturers, sailed through the Senate Judiciary Committee, 14-4, on Sept. 11.
In a letter (.pdf) to Sens. Patrick Leahy and Arlen Specter, who were among the sponsors of the legislation, the Justice Department wrote Tuesday it "strongly" opposes expanding its powers. Doing so, the letter said, could undermine the department's prosecution of criminal cases and transform it into an office "serving as pro bono lawyers for private copyright holders."
The Justice Department said the private sector should remain responsible for enforcing its copyrights in federal civil lawsuits. read more »
Educate Your Peers About Net Neutrality: Produce A Radio Show - Via Threat Level:
If you're passionate about the issue of net neutrality and think MSM hasn't done a good job of covering it, here's your chance to influence the debate: Tell New York City public radio show producers who they should talk to, what they should read, and how they should frame the discussion.
WNYC's influential morning radio show host Brian Lehrer is crowdsourcing his Friday editions through the show's "30 Issues in Thirty Days" wiki.
This Friday's edition will focus on Barack Obama and John McCain's positions on net neutrality. read more »
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