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Errr, do all "euroweenies" believe everything they are told?

Sorry but even Bev Harris thinks he's full of shit.

Here is some background on Mr. Miller and the ITAA taken from his pitch to the voting machine manufacturers titled "Democracy for Sale, CHEAP!", August 22, 2003.

Some excerpts..

"Harris Miller (ITAA) Gives the intro spiel about the company and how it can help the industry "stave off short-term attacks" from academics and "activists"."

"Harris: ..
And there can be two scenarios there: The companies may want to hide behind me, they dont want to say anything... frequently that happens in a trade association, you dont want to talk about the issues as individual companies. We have that issue right now with the Buy America Act, for example in congress. No company wants to act like its against Buy America -- even though theyre all against it so I take all the heat for them."

I think that self incriminating statement made by Mr. Miller sums up his scum bag ITAA lobbying group quite nicely.
Buy into ITAA and let Miller do the lying !

"this is the ITAA?"

Remember them making all those tech worker shortage projections right in the middle of the dot com collapse? 1.6 Million, 900K, then 600K.

At the same time the tech industry was laying off workers faster than you can imagine. They did it to promote their H-1B agenda.. Note: They're still at it.

Debunking the Myth of a Desperate Software Labor Shortage...."The congressional General Accounting Office found ``serious analytical and methodological weaknesses'' in the [ITAA/Dept. of Commerce] reports.";

The ITAA was counting all the positions held by Computer consultants and contractors as UNFILLED!!
Yikes !!!

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Now for a little bit about the ITAA with electronic voting and Mr. Miller's pitch to the electronic machine manufacturers. August 22, 2003, Democracy for Sale, CHEAP!

"Harris Miller (ITAA) Gives the intro spiel about the company and how it can help the industry stave off short-term attacks" from academics and "activists".

"Harris: .. And there can be two scenarios there: The companies may want to hide behind me, they dont want to say anything... frequently that happens in a trade association, you dont want to talk about the issues as individual companies. We have that issue right now with the Buy America Act, for example in congress. No company wants to act like its against Buy America -- even though theyre all against it so I take all the heat for them."

In a conference call with electronic voting industry officials, Harris says:

I just don't like to put it in writing because if this thing winds up in the press somewhere inadvertently, I don't want the story saying the e[lectronic] voting industry is in trouble and decided to hire a lobbying firm to take care of their problem for them,"

If it comes out in the press, then his organization will not be able to act like they are the only organization that can speak with authority on any issue that affects the IT space.

Instead, Miller falls back on the tried and true tactic of discrediting experts and critics of the companies that he is paid to represent. I would bet all I have that if you took the 1,000 people they used for this very scientific survey and let them know how insecure these electronic voting machines are, they may answer the survey questions very differently.

www.displacedtechies.com

ITAA is the lobbying arm of high tech corporations.

For insight on how ITAA sets up these "blue ribbon panels", read this article about a meeting of electronic voting manufacturers. They brought in Harris Miller, ITAA's president, to see how he could help them.

Highlights from the article:

• ITAA felt the industry should help create its own credebility by setting high standards.
• ITAA suggested "re-engineering" the certification process to make the industry the "gold standard" so they can eliminate "side attacks you are subject to now from people who are not credible as well as people who are somewhat credible
• Harris Miller offers the following comments on how ITAA company partnerships would handle the public debate about electronic voting:
  "Similarly, when we get press calls and the press says 'Joe Academic says your industry's full of crap and doesn't know what it is doing.' What do you say Harris? The reporters always want to know what are the companies saying?.. And there can be two scenarios there: The companies may want to hide behind me, they don't want to say anything... frequently that happens in a trade association, you don't want to talk about the issues as individual companies. ...I take all the heat for them."

How is any of that related to the topic at hand? These panels we see approaching the government are coalitions formed by a lobbying firm that is paid to protect the interests of its clients. The panels are made to look as if they are unbiased experts that are only looking out for the good of all Americans. The truth is they want to control the conversation so it seems as if they are the only ones with relevant information on the subject at hand.

Harris Miller and the ITAA have been doing this for many years, and their MO is always the same. This The National Cyber Security Partnership is nothing more than an extension of ITAA's lobbying efforts.

displacedtechies.com

Exit polls are not at all a replacement for proper auditin and verification, but they at least (used to) provide a big picture view that helped to highlight any major problems in vote counting. (cough Florida cough)

From the original posting:

The report notes that 'SAIC has identified several high-risk vulnerabilities [...]'

Here is what I have been doing all day:

Reporter: Why is Diebold sending cease and desists?
Me: Because they don't want anyone to see their memos
Reporter: Oh. What is in the memos?
Me: Oh, things about security flaws and using uncertified software and using cell phones to intercept and transfer votes and discussions of how to fake things...
Reporter: Wow. Where can I download these?
Me: At this web site
Reporter: Okay I'm going there now, okay, it's downloading, when I'm done will you give me a guided tour?
Me: Sure. And here is a neat little web page where you just enter any search term and it instantly searches and find you the Diebold memos that match
Reporter: What search terms should I start with?
Me: Try "boogie man" and also "hack" "cel phone" "broken" "fake" and one of my personal favorites, "What good are rules"
Reporter: I'll try that "what good are rules" one. Found it. Gosh, what is he doing? Is that legal?
Me: No.

And so it goes. Excellent plan, Diebold. Yes, shut down a web site, that'll help.

Besides reporters, the memos were downloaded today by the U.S. House of Representatives.