24 June 2012
Black Box Voting Gets DMCA Threat from Accenture
From: "Bev Harris" <bev[at]blackboxvoting.org>
Date: Sun, 24 Jun 2012 10:30:03 -0400
Subject: Accenture hits BBV with Cease & Desist Demand
To support the work of Black Box Voting:
http://www.blackboxvoting.org/donate.html
You can discuss this here:
http://www.bbvforums.org/âforums/messages/8/82118.html
Amazingly, Accenture, which sold its crap-on-a-stick high-school sophomoric
completely insecure malfunctioning voter registration software to a bunch
of states, so unsuccessfully that Colorado refused to pay and others, like
Wisconsin and Shelby County, bought out the source code in order to try to
bandaid it into a functional system, has decided to issue a cease and desist
against Black Box Voting for exposing its flawed software to the public.
Last time a voting system company did a DMCA takedown notice (Diebold, in
2004) it got socked with punitive charges for abusing the Digital Millennium
Copyright Act, trying to use it to block distribution of material clearly
published in the public interest.
If you want a copy of the voter registration software I posted Thursday,
might as well get it right now -- and mirror it, torrent it, dropbox it,
or whatever. I'll probably pull it down by June 27, not because their claim
is valid, but because there are higher priorities for spending my time during
this election season and thanks to Slashdot and some pals in Europe, this
software has now been widely mirrored elsewhere.
Here is the DMCA issued to Black Box Voting:
Date: Fri, 22 Jun 2012 17:17:41 -0400 (EDT)
From: Rackspace AUP Team
Subject: Please Review Immediately - DMCA
Hello,
We have received a notice pursuant to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act
("DMCA") from Accenture Global Services Ltd regarding certain content appearing
at the above-referenced website (the "Website"). A copy of this notice has
been sent to you via email at [redacted]. This company alleges that material
posted on your company's website infringes on their copyright. Please remove
the content claimed to be infringing from the Website and confirm to me in
writing that you have done so by 8:00 A.M. Central Time, 6/27/2012. If the
allegedly infringing content is not removed and/or I have not received your
written confirmation by that time, Rackspace will suspend network access
to the server(s) hosting the Website.
Please note that you may provide a counter notification, stating that the
posted material is not infringing the alleged copyright, in accordance with
the provisions of 17 U.S.C. ç512(g)(3) to Rackspace's
designated agent:
Director of Compliance
Rackspace Hosting
(Note that Rackspace is only doing what it's required to do. They are a superb
web hosting company, and have helped keep the Black Box Voting sites up and
secure for many years now.)
After releasing it into the wild, we can all see that the system is hardly
worth the $20 MILLION Accenture tried to charge the state of Colorado, with
equally exhorbitant fees hitting taxpayers in other states and counties.
There are multiple possible explanations for how this system doubles and
triples reported votes for some voters (oddly, in White Republican suburbs),
and for why it likes to alter people's political party and erase their voter
history.
SUMMARY OF FINDINGS ON ACCENTURE'S VOTER REGISTRATION SYSTEM
Accenture's "ESM" voter registration / voter history system is really just
a bunch of Microsoft Access tables riddled with faulty joins, lacking referential
integrity, and also open to malicious play using easily written hidden Visual
Basic or Java scripts residing on any computer linked into it. It cannot
be made secure without completely redesigning the architecture.
Watch "Hacking Democracy" (search it on YouTube) for a real-life example
of how simple it is to bypass all passwords using a VBA script, to implement
anything you want with hidden code commands in systems built on this platform,
which is also used for the Diebold GEMS system.
Yah, so where is "Accenture Global Services" based out of anyway? It was
the Cayman Islands. Or is it now another tax-evading corporate secrecy haven,
used not only to avoid paying taxes but to prevent the American public from
knowing anything about the creepy white men who control corporate ownership?
PERMISSION TO REPRINT GRANTED WITH LINK TO BLACKBOXVOTING.ORG
* * * * *
TWO WAYS TO SUPPORT BLACK BOX VOTING:
(1) With your mouth and your keyboard - talk about and reprint our important
bulletins!
(2) With crucially important tax deductible donations (Monthly sponsorhips
are the best way to keep us going!):
http://www.blackboxvoting.org/donate.html
or mail to:
Black Box Voting
330 SW 43rd St Suite K
PMB 547
Renton WA 98057
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