Slashdot Mirror
Electronic Voting Researcher Arrested In India
whatajoke writes "Hari Prasad, a security researcher in India who had demonstrated the vulnerability of electronic voting machines used in all elections in India, was arrested by the police on charges of stealing an electronic voting machine. The election commission of India has maintained that EVM are non-hackable. The election commission had previously provided access to the device to the security researchers for a day and asked for a hack in only that time."
... whos going to tell me that I can get a good rate on AOL, if I choose to stay with AOL? Who will run the call center now???? So many questions, so little answers
What do you propose, exactly, as the goal to be achieved by wanton acts of violence?
- satisfaction.
As for having no government... I can't really grasp what that would mean. Government is the entity with the power to make others bend to its will. I have a hard time seeing a group of people of any appreciable size where such an entity does not arise
- clearly, that's why life is a struggle.
You can't handle the truth.
You can't steal a machine.
All ballots should be printed in the English language only. Voting machines should offer audible voting options and selection feedback via headphones for the visually impaired. If a voter cannot read and understand English, immediate deportation by USCIS at the polling station. If a voter even with audio feedback cannot manage to select an option from those presented, immediate revocation of citizenship and thus their right to cast a ballot. No mercy for idiots.
There are two aspects to the article:
1. A security researcher arrested for possession of an EVM machine
2. The security researcher establishing the fact that EVMs in India are vulnerable to security attacks
As per 1, why is the Indian police wrong? If a stolen object is found with you, its you who are liable. Whether it was given by "unknown resources" is not important.
For 2. Is that something new? Is there any software system that is 100% secure? But don't we still use them - in banks, in flights and everywhere. The question is benefits vs risks. Now before someone argues about that here, I would say, please stop trolling and be reasonable. Indian election scenario is nowhere close to US or Europe or any developed country. If there is any real Security expert out here, he can vouch that security vulnerabilities are 90% because of humans and processes, and only 10% because of machines.
So what's the Indian voting scenario? We are talking about over 700 million voters spread across thousands of constituencies, in more than 5 phases, spread across more than 20 days, that involve more than 100 thousand administrative personals that are managed by an autonomous body called "Election Commission of India". During the election, the Election Commission has absolute powers. It can suspend bureaucrats, order an arrest, or re-voting in a particular constituency. Fortunately this is one of the few agencies in India that are widely respected (by all parties) for its non-partisan role. These EVMs just make it a bit easier for these election commission guys to administer a free and fare election. But still the entire operation is a no less a challenge...
Compare this with just 10 years back. When booth looting was a common story in some of the disconnected country side regions. You heard it right - booth looting refers to some armed men storming the election room, stamping ballet papers for their own candidates; and all it required was mere 20 minutes to alter the result. But these machines ensure that only "1 vote can be cast in 1 min". So even if there is any forced capture, in one hour these guys can cast at the max 60 votes. And one hour is enough for the security to arrive and take remedial action.
Also unlike US, the scale is huge in India. In order to really affect the elections one needs to rig a lot many machines, which is not very practical.
What these security researchers are suggesting is to dump the machines and go back to paper based ballet. What we must also consider is the cost of doing that. India spent around $1 billion for its last electronic voting based election. My question is that by spending N times the amount, and introducing paper based ballet, can someone ensure a free and fare election? If not, why rob this huge amount from poor people.
Is Slashdot has become like TV news channels, who would show anything for TRP. What the fuss about Hari Prasad, he stole some EVM and is being arrested for the same. Just because he says that the EVM is hackable by changing all the hardware doesn't mean EVM are hackable, at least no one in India believes him. Nobody is making hackable machines and as a voter I have full trust on the world largest democratic country, Election commission. Slashdot should have verified such posts before posting, if there was any foul play, then why didn't I read this news in any of the morning newspaper in India. The reason is simple, no one cares for stupid tricks shown by him and people of republic of India have full trust on the most trusted institution in India the election commission.