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Overseas ISPs Blocked From US Voting Website

Posted by michael on from the vote-early-vote-often dept.

An anonymous reader writes "The US Department of Defense is blocking many of the world's major Internet service providers from giving access to the web site of the Federal Voting Assistance Program, which allows registered American voters to vote from abroad. The Pentagon is blaming the risk of hackers, but Democrats Abroad aren't happy."

8 of 114 comments (clear)

  1. No opinion on TFA... by aelbric · · Score: 3, Interesting

    ...however, I would think the Republicans would be up in arms about this. After all, isn't the military the largest portion of the voting public abroad? And don't they overwhelmingly vote Republican?

    --
    nos laetus epulor qui would domito nos
    1. Re:No opinion on TFA... by crow · · Score: 4, Interesting

      My guess is that the military networks aren't being blocked, but civilian ones are, so the military (Republican) vote will come through fine, but the civilian vote (more Democratic?) won't.

    2. Re:No opinion on TFA... by commodoresloat · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Quite a few of them have. Probably not enough to change the fact that the majority vote republican, but still, quite a few will be voting for Kerry this year. Read Gen. Hackworth's essay in the latest issue of Playboy. Go ahead, read it. Now you can truthfully say you subscribe for the articles :)

    3. Re:No opinion on TFA... by St.+Arbirix · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Sorry, that just doesn't fly. Don't you think the military would be insured their right to vote? How could we expect to keep soldiers fighting for us if they couldn't vote? The Pentagon would never let that happen. Besides, name a *major* ISP in Iraq.

      The *only* group that would be affected by this (besides the hackers, of course) would be the U.S. citizens outside the country for personal rather than national reasons. Survey says... mostly Democrat.

      Even if the block did affect the military, and assume the military is Republican while all other overseas citizens are Democrat, it's still a big win for the Republicans...
      ~(military overseas:citizens overseas::1:20)

      They're overtly worried about defacement or hijacking of the website. It's not like they're running something assuredly insecure for the server (they're not using IIS). Why would they be so worried?

      Furthermore, if this were the way to stop overseas votes this would be it. If there were a website that overseas citizens actually voted on and it was blocked... well, no one would get away with that. Instead they institute a block that merely prevents finding information on casting an overseas vote. This is much safer.

      As scared as I am of John Kerry, this really just pisses me off. Those people have a right to vote, and they should probably know how. If this gets picked up by the big media I hope to see a few third parties get propped up (go Badnarik!).

      --
      Direct away from face when opening.
    4. Re:No opinion on TFA... by goon+america · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I'm not sure how pro-Bush I'd be if I was told that I could re-enlist now or be sent directly to Iraq for the remainder of your time in service just to punch the falling re-enlistment numbers up.

      Seriously, the blunders in this war that are nice and abstract to the warbloggers willing to stomach them are much more real to someone who experiences them firsthand. Bush's support is highest in rural areas -- those farthest removed from any actual danger of a terrorist attack. Meanwhile, cities like DC and NYC are democratic strongholds.

    5. Re:No opinion on TFA... by WhiplashII · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Actually, I have lived in both areas, and believe that the difference between large cities and rural areas is more economic than fear of terrorism. In big cities, there tend to be the rich and the poor with very few in between, because the cost of living is so high. There are far fewer rich than poor, and the poor need help to survive when things go wrong - ergo a large Democrat population, which votes for things like social security and government medical care.

      In rural America, the difference between rich and poor is a lot smaller, and everybody seems to be about the same as you. The cost of living is FAR lower (not just the difference you read about, I used to live on $10K a year back when I couldn't walk, and I now spend a few times that just on rent in Chicago). In this case, people don't really see a need to give up their money in taxes to provide security for those that hit hard times - because hard times do not affect people as much. This makes them lean towards the Republican viewpoint.

      Just my opinion, really, but it does match what I have experienced.

      --
      while (sig==sig) sig=!sig;
  2. Overseas? Find an open HTTP relay... by YetAnotherName · · Score: 4, Interesting

    You can google for open HTTP proxies, or even just visit this site. Pick one in the US, set up your browser, and away you go. Paraphrasing John Gilmore, the Net interprets regionalization as damage and routes around it.

    I use this technique to visit Japanese idol sites that disallow non .jp addresses. Slower, but better than not getting any, er, "eye-candy."

  3. disturbing sub-text, did you notice? by nusratt · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Doesn't it bother anyone that the ***DoD*** (as opposed to the agency which "owns" the site) has the physical ability -- let alone the brazenness -- let alone the legal authority -- to do this?

    And don't you wonder if this ability is limited to blocking only govt sites, versus blocking ANY USA-hosted site?