Published in the Star-Ledger, Friday, November 30, 2007
[Webcams]
Live, from Woodbridge
BY SHARON ADARLO
Star-Ledger Staff
Forget to wear a helmet at the Woodbridge skate park and kids may expect a stern text message from a tech-savvy parent before landing their first jump. Go without a coat on a chilly day, and mom may stop by the park to drop off another layer.
Woodbridge's skate park is now live on the Web courtesy of a $19,000 camera system that allows parents to log on to watch kids flip, turn and grind the rails.
After vandals damaged the park earlier this year by prying ramps from the concrete base and scrawling graffiti, township officials installed a 24-hour surveillance camera for police and parents to keep an eye on the popular recreation venue.
"Any parent at home can click on it and make sure their kids are where they're supposed to be," said Charles Kenny, a Woodbridge councilman.
Woodbridge is among a handful of towns across the country experimenting with Webcams at public recreation areas -- both as a way to fight crime and to give parents another way to keep up with their children. The Webcam images are recorded digitally by the police and may be reviewed if another incident like the recent damage at the skate park occurs.
"A lot of people were upset with the vandalism," said Mayor John McCormac, who came up with the camera idea. "Now we have extra eyes and ears on the job. Anybody can see something happening and report it."
The camera sits atop a 50-foot metal pole and provides a wide-angle view on the skate park as kids launch from various ramps and rails into twisting turns and tricks. Most of the skate boarders at the crowded park earlier this month had no idea their skills could be viewed on the Web anywhere in the world.
"It's pretty cool because people can see us skate," said Ryan Berg, 13, of Cliffwood Beach.
The resolution of the color broadcast is sharp enough to pick out skaters by their clothes.
Ocean Township Mayor Dan Van Pelt said his municipality spent $23,000 to install a similar Webcam that has the ability to rotate and zoom for views of the new skate park in the Waretown section of the Ocean County township.
With the proximity of the park to busy Route 9, the camera also gives parents another way to make sure kids arrive safely at the park.
"If we are going to make that kind of capital investment, we want to protect it," Van Pelt said. "It's a valuable tool. I like to see the kids enjoy the skate park."
A link to the Woodbridge's skate park Webcam is available at the bottom of the township's main Web site: www.twp.woodbridge.nj.us.
Not everyone is thrilled to be online, said some kids at the park on a recent afternoon.
"It's pretty radical, but I don't know -- it's an invasion of privacy," said Dylan Sobin, 15, of Cliffwood Beach. He said he was worried it could be a way for pedophiles to scout victims.
Parents visiting the park voiced support for the added measure of security.
"It's very nice," said Barbara Moore of Avenel, who was waiting for her grandson. "You can see what they're doing. You can keep an eye on them."
Other kids seemed willing to accept the Webcam as added protection.
"It's good," Chris Camplos, 12, of Woodbridge, who was riding a razor-scooter. "Everybody was sad when the skate park was vandalized. Now all parents can watch everything."
Sharon Adarlo may be reached at sadarlo@starledger.com or (732) 404-8081.
Online story here. Archived here.
(Note: Online stories may be taken down by their publisher after a period of time or made available for a fee. Links posted here is from the original online publication of this piece.)
(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff and Clippings have no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of these articles nor are Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff or Clippings endorsed or sponsored by the originator.)
Showing posts with label Technology. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Technology. Show all posts
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Friday, August 10, 2007
Elections - Ledger - NJIT says paper trail unreliable
Published in the Star-Ledger, Saturday, July 21, 2007
Study: 2008 election paper trail unreliable
Electronic voting records can fail, NJIT says
By KEVIN COUGHLIN
Star-Ledger Staff
Computer scientists have identified 33 flaws in three printer models intended to ensure the accuracy of electronic voting machines used across New Jersey.
The problems, found by the New Jersey Institute of Technology and posted online yesterday by the state elections division, potentially could compromise voter privacy and election security, according to the experts' reports.
Vendors of the gear contend the problems are easily fixed and stem largely from NJIT misinterpretations of new state guidelines for the printers.
"They're all very workable. A lot of things were taken out of context," said Michelle Shafer, spokesperson for Sequoia Voting Systems.
By January, all electronic voting machines are required by state law to include printers so voters can verify that their ballots are recorded accurately, and so officials have a "paper trail" to recount.
At the state's request, NJIT has spent several weeks scrutinizing printers for the Sequoia AVC Advantage and Sequoia AVC Edge voting machines, along with a printer for the Vote-Trakker, a machine from Avante International Technology Inc. in Princeton. The printers were tested against criteria devised by the state, and simulated both a 14-hour election day and a 1,200-vote election.
The public can examine the printers during hearings next week, from Tuesday to Friday at the New Jersey National Guard Armory in Lawrenceville. If a state panel rejects the printers, New Jersey could face the costly task of replacing touch-screen voting machines statewide with devices that scan pen-and-ink ballots.
According to NJIT, all three printers run out of paper too fast and do not properly conceal printer cables. The printers fail to alert poll workers to malfunctions and the paper storage reel of the Edge is easily accessible. The Advantage lacks tamper-proof seals, and lost 56 simulated vote records because of a paper jam. NJIT noted such an event was unlikely under real election conditions, however.
In one scenario, the Advantage could compromise the privacy of visually impaired voters. And observers taller than six feet, standing "directly next to the left or right side of the curtain," might spy a voter's printed selections.
Sequoia countered that any system would be vulnerable to snoops allowed too close to voters. And the Oakland, Calif., company said it provided security seals to NJIT.
Avante President Kevin Chung said his company has addressed most of NJIT's concerns. "They did a reasonably thorough job," Chung said. "Nothing in there is totally out of line."
Kevin Coughlin may be reached at kcoughlin@starledger.com
No link to online story. Archived here.
(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff and Clippings have no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of these articles nor are Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff or Clippings endorsed or sponsored by the originator.)
Study: 2008 election paper trail unreliable
Electronic voting records can fail, NJIT says
By KEVIN COUGHLIN
Star-Ledger Staff
Computer scientists have identified 33 flaws in three printer models intended to ensure the accuracy of electronic voting machines used across New Jersey.
The problems, found by the New Jersey Institute of Technology and posted online yesterday by the state elections division, potentially could compromise voter privacy and election security, according to the experts' reports.
Vendors of the gear contend the problems are easily fixed and stem largely from NJIT misinterpretations of new state guidelines for the printers.
"They're all very workable. A lot of things were taken out of context," said Michelle Shafer, spokesperson for Sequoia Voting Systems.
By January, all electronic voting machines are required by state law to include printers so voters can verify that their ballots are recorded accurately, and so officials have a "paper trail" to recount.
At the state's request, NJIT has spent several weeks scrutinizing printers for the Sequoia AVC Advantage and Sequoia AVC Edge voting machines, along with a printer for the Vote-Trakker, a machine from Avante International Technology Inc. in Princeton. The printers were tested against criteria devised by the state, and simulated both a 14-hour election day and a 1,200-vote election.
The public can examine the printers during hearings next week, from Tuesday to Friday at the New Jersey National Guard Armory in Lawrenceville. If a state panel rejects the printers, New Jersey could face the costly task of replacing touch-screen voting machines statewide with devices that scan pen-and-ink ballots.
According to NJIT, all three printers run out of paper too fast and do not properly conceal printer cables. The printers fail to alert poll workers to malfunctions and the paper storage reel of the Edge is easily accessible. The Advantage lacks tamper-proof seals, and lost 56 simulated vote records because of a paper jam. NJIT noted such an event was unlikely under real election conditions, however.
In one scenario, the Advantage could compromise the privacy of visually impaired voters. And observers taller than six feet, standing "directly next to the left or right side of the curtain," might spy a voter's printed selections.
Sequoia countered that any system would be vulnerable to snoops allowed too close to voters. And the Oakland, Calif., company said it provided security seals to NJIT.
Avante President Kevin Chung said his company has addressed most of NJIT's concerns. "They did a reasonably thorough job," Chung said. "Nothing in there is totally out of line."
Kevin Coughlin may be reached at kcoughlin@starledger.com
No link to online story. Archived here.
(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff and Clippings have no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of these articles nor are Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff or Clippings endorsed or sponsored by the originator.)
Elections - LA Times - California restricts Sequoia, Diebold , Hart
Published in the Los Angeles Times, Saturday, August 4, 2007
State decides to secure electronic voting machines
Secretary of State orders more precautions be taken against tampering,
and withdraws support of the InkaVote Plus machines used in Southern California.
By Jordan Rau and Hector Becerra
Times Staff Writers
SACRAMENTO — Expressing concern that several brands of electronic voting machines used in California were vulnerable to tampering, Secretary of State Debra Bowen late Friday ordered new security protections be added and limited the use of two types of machines that were to be used in next year's elections in several Southern California counties.
Bowen also withdrew state approval of the InkaVote Plus machines used in Los Angeles County, saying that the machines' maker, Election Systems and Software, had failed to submit its equipment to her office in time to analyze its vulnerability to hacking.
She said her office would examine the InkaVote machines and expressed optimism that they would win approval in time to be used in next year's elections, but did not say what would happen if the machines failed her tests.
"When NASA discovers a flow or a potential safety concern in the space shuttle, it doesn't continue launching the missions...," Bowen said. "It scrubs the missions until the problem is fixed."
Her announcement, made just nine minutes before a midnight deadline, was condemned by the head of the state's county registrar's association, Contra Costa Registrar Stephen Weir.
Weir said Bowen's actions -- along with an unusual audit in which she dispatched several computer experts to try to hack into the machines, which they did -- had undermined public confidence in the security of the new electronic machines. But her solutions, he said, would not do anything to restore the public peace of mind, especially for elections that will occur this year, such as a special Congressional election in Los Angeles in two weeks.
"I think the secretary has redefined the definition of midnight madness," Weir said. He said that while he was not sure what the impact of the new rules would be, they had enough potential for causing chaos and delays at the polls that he encouraged people to vote by mail. Her restrictions on the use of two types of machines to one per polling place would require the printing of far more paper ballots that planned, and that could prove difficult to achieve.
"Tens of millions of additional ballots, you don't just go to Kinkos," Weir said. "The timing is way too tight."
He also predicted that the changes could delay the counting of votes. "If people don't see results, they start going 'something's wrong,' " he said.
Bowen ordered that some machines made by Diebold Election Systems and Sequoia Voting Systems be limited to one per polling place to limit the chances that they could be tampered with. The Sequoia machines are used in Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura Counties.
Bowen said the presence of the machines, though limited, would be helpful for disabled voters, though any voter could use the machines. Weir, however, said she was creating a "separate but unequal" voting system.
The security requirements Bowen imposed include: reinstalling the software before the Feb. 5. election to ensure it has not already been tampered with; placing special seals at vulnerable parts of the machines to reveal tampering; securing each machines at the close of each day of early voting; assigning a specific election monitor to safeguard each machine; and conducting a complete manual count of all votes cast.
Sequoia issued a statement early Saturday morning expressing "disappointment" at Bowen's actions. "Electronic voting systems have never been successfully tampered with in an actual election," Sequoia spokeswoman Michelle M. Shafer said. "That same statement cannot be made about lever machines and paper-based voting systems throughout our nation's history."
Only some of the security requirements -- involving heightened security and auditing of results -- were placed on machines made by Hart InterCivic. Those are used in Orange Counties.
Alan Dechert, president of Open Voting Consortium, and group that is critical of the electronic voting machines, said many activists would be critical that Bowen did not completely decertify those machines. "She's not asking for changes to hardware or software," he said. "This is not really doing much for transparency."
Bowen's actions came on the heels of an audit she released last week. It found that machines manufactured by Diebold Hart and Sequoia-which are used by more than twenty Californian counties--could be compromised either through manipulating the software or physically breaking into the computer hardware.
Bowen's announcement was made under odd circumstances. A press conference originally planned to be held Friday afternoon was delayed hour after hour as Bowen and her aides worked feverishly in her Sacramento office to issue her orders at least six months before the Feb. 5 presidential primaries. The requirements do not apply to any elections that occur before then.
Bowen emerged at 11:51 a.m. to issue her opinions to a small group of print and television reporters who had been camped downstairs for the evening.
"This is the most frustrating thing. Why would she do something like this, make people wait this long for something that should have been taken care of ages ago?" said Assemblyman Anthony Adams (R-Hesperia) in a telephone interview from San Bernardino County.
Bowen's actions are sure to add to the debate around the country about the potential for electronic voting machines to be infiltrated by hackers trying to changes the results of races.
Increasingly, states are moving toward electronic voting machines, prompting lawmakers and other to argue over what can be done to prevent hacking. The U.S. Congress has been debating whether to require all electronic voting machines to produce paper records.
Bowen has long been outspoken in her concerns about electronic voting. Last year, she defeated incumbent Secretary of State Bruce McPherson, a Republican who was appointed to the job by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2005.
The campaign hinged largely on the candidates' differences over the trustworthiness of the voting machines.
During the March 2004 primary in California, touch-screen voting terminals by Diebold malfunctioned, and state election officials discovered that the machines contained uncertified software.
The state barred four counties from using Diebold but later approved their use in 11 counties after those jurisdictions agreed to new security requirements, including making paper ballots available as an alternative.
Bowen's audit has been harshly criticized by election officials across the state who said the testing was done in a manner inconsistent with real-life situations.
The University of California tried to infiltrate the three companies' machines physically and electronically without facing the safeguards that voting machine vendors or counties use. The testers were provided with encrypted source codes by the companies that government employees would not have.
"It was akin to testing the security of your money in a bank with unlocked doors, with no security guards or even bank tellers in sight and the bank's vault wide open," said Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder Conny McCormack.
Other election officials said decertifying machines now would cause major problems. "Six months is not a lot of time to make any wholesale changes," San Diego County Registrar Deborah Seiler said before Bowen's announcement.
jordan.rau@latimes.com
hector.becerra@latimes.com
Link to online story. Archived here.
(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff and Clippings have no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of these articles nor are Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff or Clippings endorsed or sponsored by the originator.)
State decides to secure electronic voting machines
Secretary of State orders more precautions be taken against tampering,
and withdraws support of the InkaVote Plus machines used in Southern California.
By Jordan Rau and Hector Becerra
Times Staff Writers
SACRAMENTO — Expressing concern that several brands of electronic voting machines used in California were vulnerable to tampering, Secretary of State Debra Bowen late Friday ordered new security protections be added and limited the use of two types of machines that were to be used in next year's elections in several Southern California counties.
Bowen also withdrew state approval of the InkaVote Plus machines used in Los Angeles County, saying that the machines' maker, Election Systems and Software, had failed to submit its equipment to her office in time to analyze its vulnerability to hacking.
She said her office would examine the InkaVote machines and expressed optimism that they would win approval in time to be used in next year's elections, but did not say what would happen if the machines failed her tests.
"When NASA discovers a flow or a potential safety concern in the space shuttle, it doesn't continue launching the missions...," Bowen said. "It scrubs the missions until the problem is fixed."
Her announcement, made just nine minutes before a midnight deadline, was condemned by the head of the state's county registrar's association, Contra Costa Registrar Stephen Weir.
Weir said Bowen's actions -- along with an unusual audit in which she dispatched several computer experts to try to hack into the machines, which they did -- had undermined public confidence in the security of the new electronic machines. But her solutions, he said, would not do anything to restore the public peace of mind, especially for elections that will occur this year, such as a special Congressional election in Los Angeles in two weeks.
"I think the secretary has redefined the definition of midnight madness," Weir said. He said that while he was not sure what the impact of the new rules would be, they had enough potential for causing chaos and delays at the polls that he encouraged people to vote by mail. Her restrictions on the use of two types of machines to one per polling place would require the printing of far more paper ballots that planned, and that could prove difficult to achieve.
"Tens of millions of additional ballots, you don't just go to Kinkos," Weir said. "The timing is way too tight."
He also predicted that the changes could delay the counting of votes. "If people don't see results, they start going 'something's wrong,' " he said.
Bowen ordered that some machines made by Diebold Election Systems and Sequoia Voting Systems be limited to one per polling place to limit the chances that they could be tampered with. The Sequoia machines are used in Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura Counties.
Bowen said the presence of the machines, though limited, would be helpful for disabled voters, though any voter could use the machines. Weir, however, said she was creating a "separate but unequal" voting system.
The security requirements Bowen imposed include: reinstalling the software before the Feb. 5. election to ensure it has not already been tampered with; placing special seals at vulnerable parts of the machines to reveal tampering; securing each machines at the close of each day of early voting; assigning a specific election monitor to safeguard each machine; and conducting a complete manual count of all votes cast.
Sequoia issued a statement early Saturday morning expressing "disappointment" at Bowen's actions. "Electronic voting systems have never been successfully tampered with in an actual election," Sequoia spokeswoman Michelle M. Shafer said. "That same statement cannot be made about lever machines and paper-based voting systems throughout our nation's history."
Only some of the security requirements -- involving heightened security and auditing of results -- were placed on machines made by Hart InterCivic. Those are used in Orange Counties.
Alan Dechert, president of Open Voting Consortium, and group that is critical of the electronic voting machines, said many activists would be critical that Bowen did not completely decertify those machines. "She's not asking for changes to hardware or software," he said. "This is not really doing much for transparency."
Bowen's actions came on the heels of an audit she released last week. It found that machines manufactured by Diebold Hart and Sequoia-which are used by more than twenty Californian counties--could be compromised either through manipulating the software or physically breaking into the computer hardware.
Bowen's announcement was made under odd circumstances. A press conference originally planned to be held Friday afternoon was delayed hour after hour as Bowen and her aides worked feverishly in her Sacramento office to issue her orders at least six months before the Feb. 5 presidential primaries. The requirements do not apply to any elections that occur before then.
Bowen emerged at 11:51 a.m. to issue her opinions to a small group of print and television reporters who had been camped downstairs for the evening.
"This is the most frustrating thing. Why would she do something like this, make people wait this long for something that should have been taken care of ages ago?" said Assemblyman Anthony Adams (R-Hesperia) in a telephone interview from San Bernardino County.
Bowen's actions are sure to add to the debate around the country about the potential for electronic voting machines to be infiltrated by hackers trying to changes the results of races.
Increasingly, states are moving toward electronic voting machines, prompting lawmakers and other to argue over what can be done to prevent hacking. The U.S. Congress has been debating whether to require all electronic voting machines to produce paper records.
Bowen has long been outspoken in her concerns about electronic voting. Last year, she defeated incumbent Secretary of State Bruce McPherson, a Republican who was appointed to the job by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2005.
The campaign hinged largely on the candidates' differences over the trustworthiness of the voting machines.
During the March 2004 primary in California, touch-screen voting terminals by Diebold malfunctioned, and state election officials discovered that the machines contained uncertified software.
The state barred four counties from using Diebold but later approved their use in 11 counties after those jurisdictions agreed to new security requirements, including making paper ballots available as an alternative.
Bowen's audit has been harshly criticized by election officials across the state who said the testing was done in a manner inconsistent with real-life situations.
The University of California tried to infiltrate the three companies' machines physically and electronically without facing the safeguards that voting machine vendors or counties use. The testers were provided with encrypted source codes by the companies that government employees would not have.
"It was akin to testing the security of your money in a bank with unlocked doors, with no security guards or even bank tellers in sight and the bank's vault wide open," said Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder Conny McCormack.
Other election officials said decertifying machines now would cause major problems. "Six months is not a lot of time to make any wholesale changes," San Diego County Registrar Deborah Seiler said before Bowen's announcement.
jordan.rau@latimes.com
hector.becerra@latimes.com
Link to online story. Archived here.
(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff and Clippings have no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of these articles nor are Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff or Clippings endorsed or sponsored by the originator.)
Elections - NY Times - California restricts Sequoia, Diebold , Hart
Published in the New York Times, Saturday, August 4, 2007
California Restricts Voting Machines
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 10:55 a.m. ET
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) -- California's top elections official placed rigorous security conditions on voting equipment used in dozens of counties and limited the use of two of the most widely used machines statewide.
Secretary of State Debra Bowen announced the measures minutes before midnight Friday, making good on a promise to tell counties at least six months before California's Feb. 5 presidential primary if their voting equipment would be decertified.
The announcement leaves the most affected counties with little time to find alternate equipment in time for the primary. The decision follows an eight-week security review of voting systems used in all but a few of California's 58 counties.
University of California computer experts found that voting machines sold by three companies -- Diebold Election Systems, Hart InterCivic and Sequoia Voting Systems -- were vulnerable to hackers and that voting results could be altered.
Bowen said she had decertified the machines, then recertified them on the condition they meet her new security standards. She also limited the Diebold and Sequoia machines to one per polling place. That will force some counties to find replacement equipment on a tight schedule.
Bowen ordered the review, which was released last week, to ensure California would not face the same doubts about the accuracy of its voting systems that hit Florida after the 2000 election and Ohio in 2004.
The additional requirements she imposed included banning all modem or wireless connections to the machines to prevent them from being linked to an outside computer or the Internet. She also required a full manual count of all votes cast on Diebold or Sequoia machines to ensure accuracy.
Bowen said the study revealed some vulnerabilities that would allow hackers to manipulate the systems ''with little chance of detection and with dire consequences.'' Her review also found that the machines posed problems for disabled voters.
Company officials have downplayed the results of Bowen's review, saying they reflected unrealistic, worst-case scenarios that would be counteracted by security measures taken by the companies and local election officials.
Officials with Sequoia said they were disappointed with Bowen's withdrawal of the company's certification but would make necessary improvements. They said their equipment is accurate and secure.
Hart InterCivic issued a news release defending its equipment and promising to comply with Bowen's requirements.
A message left with Diebold early Saturday was not immediately returned.
Machines made by a fourth company, Election Systems & Software, were not included in the review because it was late providing information the secretary of state's office needed, said Nicole Winger, a spokeswoman for Bowen.
The secretary of state launched a separate review of that company's Inkavote Plus system, which is used only in Los Angeles County. On Friday, Bowen said she had decertified that equipment but would review and reconsider it.
A message left for an ES&S spokesman early Saturday morning was not immediately returned.
Link to online story. Archived here.
(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff and Clippings have no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of these articles nor are Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff or Clippings endorsed or sponsored by the originator.)
California Restricts Voting Machines
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 10:55 a.m. ET
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) -- California's top elections official placed rigorous security conditions on voting equipment used in dozens of counties and limited the use of two of the most widely used machines statewide.
Secretary of State Debra Bowen announced the measures minutes before midnight Friday, making good on a promise to tell counties at least six months before California's Feb. 5 presidential primary if their voting equipment would be decertified.
The announcement leaves the most affected counties with little time to find alternate equipment in time for the primary. The decision follows an eight-week security review of voting systems used in all but a few of California's 58 counties.
University of California computer experts found that voting machines sold by three companies -- Diebold Election Systems, Hart InterCivic and Sequoia Voting Systems -- were vulnerable to hackers and that voting results could be altered.
Bowen said she had decertified the machines, then recertified them on the condition they meet her new security standards. She also limited the Diebold and Sequoia machines to one per polling place. That will force some counties to find replacement equipment on a tight schedule.
Bowen ordered the review, which was released last week, to ensure California would not face the same doubts about the accuracy of its voting systems that hit Florida after the 2000 election and Ohio in 2004.
The additional requirements she imposed included banning all modem or wireless connections to the machines to prevent them from being linked to an outside computer or the Internet. She also required a full manual count of all votes cast on Diebold or Sequoia machines to ensure accuracy.
Bowen said the study revealed some vulnerabilities that would allow hackers to manipulate the systems ''with little chance of detection and with dire consequences.'' Her review also found that the machines posed problems for disabled voters.
Company officials have downplayed the results of Bowen's review, saying they reflected unrealistic, worst-case scenarios that would be counteracted by security measures taken by the companies and local election officials.
Officials with Sequoia said they were disappointed with Bowen's withdrawal of the company's certification but would make necessary improvements. They said their equipment is accurate and secure.
Hart InterCivic issued a news release defending its equipment and promising to comply with Bowen's requirements.
A message left with Diebold early Saturday was not immediately returned.
Machines made by a fourth company, Election Systems & Software, were not included in the review because it was late providing information the secretary of state's office needed, said Nicole Winger, a spokeswoman for Bowen.
The secretary of state launched a separate review of that company's Inkavote Plus system, which is used only in Los Angeles County. On Friday, Bowen said she had decertified that equipment but would review and reconsider it.
A message left for an ES&S spokesman early Saturday morning was not immediately returned.
Link to online story. Archived here.
(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff and Clippings have no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of these articles nor are Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff or Clippings endorsed or sponsored by the originator.)
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