[ga] Re: [Politech] Overseas U.S. voter website cordoned off by Defense Department [fs]

[Jeff Williams <jwkckid1@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Declan and all,

  Indeed Wanadoo.fr  and Telstra are now well known havens for
scam artists, veri purveyors and hackers of various types.

  Isn't Paul Twomey the past CEO of Telstra and now CEO of
ICANN?  I believe this is so.  If so, isn't it a bit odd that such
self styled "Leaders" in the internet when looking at their recent
past positions, seem to nearly every time have some cloudy history?
Or is it odd at all???

Declan McCullagh wrote:

> Here's a News.com article on it too:
> http://news.com.com/Pentagon+may+lift+voting+site+blockade/2100-1028_3-5376044.html
> The U.S. Defense Department said Tuesday that it's trying to find a way
> to permit American expatriates to connect to an absentee voting site
> that has been cordoned off because of the risk of hackers.
> Internet users in large portions of the world have been blocked from
> connecting to the voting assistance Web site, which tells absentee
> voters how to cast ballots in the November election. The list of
> Internet providers that appear to be blocked includes British Telecom,
> Wanadoo, Telefonica and China Telecom. [...]
>
> -Declan
>
> -------- Original Message --------
> Subject: [Fwd: Overseas Voter Website Censored by U.S. Government]
> Date: Tue, 21 Sep 2004 14:13:32 -0700
> From: Jacob Appelbaum <jacob@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> To: Declan McCullagh <declan@xxxxxxxx>
>
> For Politech if you're interested?
>
> -----Forwarded Message-----
> From: Will Doherty <will@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> To: jacob@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: Overseas Voter Website Censored by U.S. Government
> Date: Tue, 21 Sep 2004 14:05:59 -0700
>
> Verified Voting Foundation Media Release
>
> For Immediate Release: Tuesday, September 21, 2004
>
> Contact:
>
> Will Doherty
>     Executive Director
>     Verified Voting Foundation
>     press@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>     +1 415 695-0543 (office), +1 415 425-3936 (cell)
>
> Pamela Smith
>     Nationwide Coordinator
>     Verified Voting Foundation
>     pam@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>     +1 760 613-0172 (cell)
>
> Overseas Voter Website Censored by U.S. Government
>
> Verified Voting Foundation Provides Workaround
>
> The International Herald Tribune reported on September 20
> that "the Pentagon has begun restricting international
> access to the official Web site intended to help overseas
> absentee voters cast ballots." Pentagon spokeswoman
> Lieutenant Colonel Ellen Krenke confirmed that a number of
> Internet service providers worldwide had been blacklisted
> "to thwart hackers." Such measures are generally recognized
> to be ineffective against hackers while blocking legitimate
> users.
>
> Apparently, the Federal Voting Assistance Program (FVAP)
> website is now blocked to some civilians overseas trying to
> find out how to obtain absentee ballots in at least 25
> countries -- including Japan, France, Great Britain, and
> Spain -- although military personnel overseas have other
> mechanisms for requesting absentee ballots.
>
> As a service to overseas U.S. citizens, the Verified Voting
> Foundation (VVF) is making the FVAP website available
> through connections in the U.S. at
> http://register.verifiedvoting.org/
>
> "We at the Verified Voting Foundation are shocked that the
> Pentagon has decided to prevent overseas civilians from
> accessing absentee ballot information," said the
> organization's Executive Director Will Doherty. "We abhor
> any policy that prevents or deters eligible voters from
> voting and having their votes counted accurately."
>
> Although other governments--notably the People's Republic
> of China and Saudi Arabia--prevent citizens' access to
> certain websites through official censorship and blocking,
> this is an unusual case because it blocks the government's
> own public information site from certain groups of citizens.
>
> Two states currently allow military voters overseas to email
> their votes. Twenty others permit faxed votes. Verified
> Voting Foundation Nationwide Coordinator Pamela Smith
> commented, "It is an excellent use of electronic resources
> to email or fax a blank ballot or instructional materials to
> a voter, but for a voter to return a voted ballot by email
> or fax is NOT a secure system of voting."
>
> In a recent article, a spokesman for the email voting
> program suggested this was a better alternative to "ballots
> getting lost in the mail"--but ballots could also be "lost"
> via email.
>
> Even worse, voters who fax or email their votes lose the
> benefits of a long tradition of secret ballots in the U.S.
>
> For this media release:
> http://www.verifiedvoting.org/article.asp?id=2675
>
> For the page that permits access to the FVAP site and
> provides further information on this topic:
> http://register.verifiedvoting.org/
>
> To register to vote in the U.S. (use FVAP for overseas):
> http://www.yourvotematters.org/VerifiedVoting
>
> For media coverage of this story:
> http://www.iht.com/articles/539597.html
> http://msnbc.msn.com/id/6030168
>
> For more information on reliable and secure voting:
> http://www.verifiedvoting.org/
>
> PRESSLIST: Media professionals are invited to subscribe
> to the Verified Voting presslist by sending an email to
> press@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx with their contact information.
>
> About Verified Voting Foundation:
>
> The Verified Voting Foundation is a nonprofit organization
> championing reliable and publicly verifiable elections.
> Founded by Stanford University Computer Science Professor
> David Dill, the organization supports a requirement for
> voter-verified paper ballots for all voting technology,
> including electronic voting machines, to allow voters to
> inspect individual permanent records of their ballots and
> election officials to conduct meaningful recounts as
> needed. The organization's website is at
> http://www.verifiedvoting.org/
>
>                             - end -
> --
> Jacob Appelbaum <jacob@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Politech mailing list
> Archived at http://www.politechbot.com/
> Moderated by Declan McCullagh (http://www.mccullagh.org/)

Regards,
--
Jeffrey A. Williams
Spokesman for INEGroup LLA. - (Over 134k members/stakeholders strong!)
"Be precise in the use of words and expect precision from others" -
    Pierre Abelard

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