General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: BOMBSHELL - ATTN Naysayers who think elections can't be stolen via machines - [View all]Time for change
(13,714 posts)Some thoughts that I have on this:
1) Though Zetters article notes that the remote-access software makes our voting system more vulnerable to attacks from hackers, it seems to me that a more serious threat than outside hackers would be the voting machine companies themselves or the customers whom they choose to sell the software to, because they would have inside knowledge as to the opportunities that are available. Of note in this regard is that ES&S and other major voting machine companies in the United States are owned by militant supporters of the Republican Party.
2) I totally agree with Senator Wyden saying that, due to ES&Ss refusal to answer many of his questions and refusal to attend a Senate hearing on the subject, we have to ask what they are hiding. But I would also add, perhaps even more important, that we have to ask why they chose to make and sell remote-access systems in the first place and then refuse to acknowledge this.
3) Although ES&S has admitted that it sold this remote access feature between 2000 and 2006, we have no assurances that it hasn't also sold or used it from 2006 to 2016. We only know what they've admitted to, not what they haven't yet admitted to.
In conclusion, Zetter notes in her article that the recent US indictments against Russian state hackers who tried to interfere in the 2016 presidential elections show that they targeted companies in the US that make software for the administration of elections. That alone should make Americans extremely concerned about the vulnerability of their election systems. I would add that we should have similar concern whether its the Russians who hack our elections, our Republican supporting voting machine corporations, Republican politicians who have access to these machines, outside hackers who have an interest in altering the results of our elections, or a combination of any of the above.