flynn23 wrote:

] Well, I think that people *attempt* to pursue their own
] interest. Cheat on tests. Fix prices. Rig elections. But given
] that this is newer technology, that it is sufficiently more
] sophisticated than punch cards, and that fewer people know of
] it or how it works, then I would say that the potential for
] abuse is lower than other means. That's not to say that
] there's no abuse, just that it's lower.
]
] I think the thing that made me think 'conspiracy theory' is
] that people always tend to draw a straight line between
] obvious points. Sen SoAndSo is majority shareholder of company
] who makes digital voting machines. Sen SoAndSo wins election
] in landslide. A HA! He must have rigged the machines!!!
] Conspiracies tend not to be so neat and tidy. Like people
] today thinking that we're invading Iraq because of oil. It has
] nothing to do with oil.
]
] Remember Iran/Contra? I mean... who would've thought that
] could happen in a million years? It was so convoluted you KNEW
] it had to be true. Same thing with Watergate. The crazier the
] story, the more I tend to believe in it. Rigging digital
] election machines just sounds so 'simple'. It sounds like
] something my grandmother would be frightened by. "Those kids
] with their computers and the hacker. I don't trust them!"

I think I see what you're saying about the point-to-point thing. By itself, Senator Fuckhead owns part of voting machine company, Senator Fuckhead wins election doesn't prove anything. I'd file that under "things that make you go hmmmm". Doesn't it seem like a lot of items are going into that file, like the 18,181 winning vote margin in two or three states?

Your point about the sophisitcation of the computer voting machines, to me, makes it actually more likely that something screwy is going on. After all, who can look at the code? Just thems that wrote it. Who knows how that funny box works? Even my friendly neighborhood hacker nerd knows not. If ANYTHING should be open source, it should be the code for election ballot counting.

I wouldn't put the current state of affairs down to rigged votes. That's just your daily petty larceny kind of thing. Why shouldn't they do it? Who's stopping them? The fearsome pot smoking, table-waiting left? Senator F. trembles. "if voting changed anything, they'd make it illegal" heh heh.

Now your point about Iran-Contra, very well taken. Not simple. How about 9-11, Brought To You By Cheney N Bush? It's convoluted all right, but mark my words, those fuckers pulled it off. It's the Northwoods plan, the 1965 Joint Chiefs-approved plan to fly a plane into a US skyscraper and blame Cuba for it, updated for a new generation. They finally did it. That's some shit that scares me a lot more than rigged election machines.

Now these fuckers can do anything they want - like, say, attack Iraq because, well fuck because. Because whatever you want to hear. Why do you think they want to do the deed?

RE: Open Source Code Meets Democracy - in Australia anyway