Dutch Blackbox Voting Pwned

An anonymous reader writes, "In a just-published report (PDF, in English, cached here), the Dutch we-don't-trust-voting-computers foundation (Dutch and English) details how it converted a Nedap voting machine, of a type used in Holland and France, to steal a pre-determined percentage of votes and reassign them to another party. The paper describes in great detail how 'anyone, when given brief access to the devices at any time before the election, can gain complete and virtually undetectable control over the election results.' As a funny bonus, responding to an earlier challenge by the manufacturer, the researchers reflashed a voting machine to play chess. The news was on national television (Dutch) last night and is growing into a major scandal. 90% of the votes in the Netherlands are cast on these machines and national elections will be held in a month." Please create mirrors for the 8.1-MB PDF and post their URLs. You might also try John Graham-Cumming's l8r.org service to tell you when the slashdot effect subsides from any of the mirrors.

Let me guess

[should_be_linear]

Most popular party in Holland is Jon Lech Johansen's "DVD Party"

Re:Let me guess

[Tom]

Jon's from Norway, not Holland.

Here's a map [google.com]. The blob to the left is the UK. Holland is right to it ("east" for nerds) while Norway is in the top-middle of the screen.

Re:Racist headline

[maxwell demon]

African-American?
It's a Dutch blackbox, so it's obviously an African-European box!

However I have a problem on how to call black people in Africa. African-Africans?

Re:"Pwned"?!

[stunt_penguin]

O RLY?

Re:there will always be problems with a secret bal

[MindStalker]

Yea, but then you'd get complaints from ACLU or NAACP that stupid people were being denied the right to vote.

I have a Solution!

[Aqua_boy17]

Okay, we in the US all know that there's not enough time before November elections to fix this. So I have a very simple solution. First we ban the sale of all flash memory for 7 days prior to the elections. Second, we put gigantic super-electromagnetic field generators in the doorways of all the polling places. This way we can ensure that any potential election fraudsters that try to smuggle in memory cards will find them wiped out when they open the Diebold machines with their hotel bar keys.

Of course, anyone else walking through the door stands to have their ATM and credit cards wiped out, but hey, it's a small price to pay for Democracy, don't you think.

For the severely humor-impaired, the above is intended as a joke and in no way reflects the author's actual thoughts on this matter.

(Memory) Pages and Child (functions)...

[flyingfsck]

Scandal? Sure, but how can we program a voting machine to abuse little boys?

Re:The Dutch get outraged but Americans don't?

[kidtwist]

Don't bother me with this stuff, "Dancing with the Stars" is on.

Re:Let me guess

[Captain_Chaos]

Jon's from Norway, not Holland.

But, as most Americans know, Holland is the capital of Norway.

Re:"Pwned"?!

[D4rk Fx]

You sure [wned all those other replies...

Re:(Memory) Pages and Child (functions)...

[Otter Escaping North]

If you re-program those machines to show child porn on election day, you'll surely get a scandal, even if the actual votes don't get manipulated ... but then, a little background picture showing a naked breast will do as well. Just be careful that the nipple isn't obscured by the names of the candidates. :-)

Go with the breast. Sexual exploitation of children still seems to be a partisan issue. Breasts are an uncontested national crisis.

*head explodes*

Well at least..

[Plutonite]

they can't open it with a minibar key..

Re:Let me guess

['nother poster]

Americans also know that The Netherlands can beat up Holland, no problem. ;)

Re:Let me guess

[Anonymous Coward]

Only with the help of the Dutch.

Re:FIELD / SERVICE

[fobbman]

Minor translation issue. The password was actually "SECURE".

Re:Racist headline

[Red Flayer]

so it's obviously an African-European box!

Yes, but what is its air speed velocity when unladen?

Re:"Pwned"?!

[Fred_A]

This is a good start, but I think the explanation runs a bit deeper than this. It did likely start as a typo, since the 'p' key is next to the 'o' key.

Interestingly enough though, "iwned" never really caught on...

'iwned' is when you are killed by a stingray...

[FatSean]

...awwww snap.

Re:Comments on the PDF

[inKubus]

Here's my solution. It's low tech but just might work:

You have mechanical counters behind a curtain. At the end of the curtain is a turnstile. When you walk out of the turnstile, it allows one increment of a counter per group (a group is a race or issue). At the other side of the curtain you have a large group of people monitoring the count. The numbers are large enough to read. Through closed circuit television, there is a live feed to the central counting facility as well as to regional TV. Also a feed of both sides of the machine, and of each counter. Thus they can be monitored by everyone. The final tally is on a long sheet which can be viewed by all and added up by all. Anyone will see an discrepacy versus their own records. You use a stick to click each counter and can see immediately your vote being added.