[Fsf-friends] Electronic Voting Machines and Free Software (Was Re: Sign an Open Letter to the CJI in Support of Prashant Bhushan)

[Praveen A]

2010/9/28 Satish Babu <sb at inapp.com>:
> This is not about the petition, but I'm wondering if there is a link
> between Free Software and EVMs.
>
> If I remember right, the original debate was if EVMs could be
> demonstrated to be tamper-proof.
>
> EVMs are some kind of computers, and consist of hardware and software
> (in this case, firmware). The question of establishing if an EVM is
> tamper-proof *can* be resolved if the community has access to the
> source code of the firmware. After all, if the community has
> sufficient skills to contribute to the Linux kernel, we surely have
> the competencies to audit/inspect the source code of the EVM.
>
> As a community, shouldn't we be therefore calling for public scrutiny
> of the source code of the EVM?

How do you make sure every EVM actually has the binary compiled from
the source code you inspected?

How do you know if the storage card is not replaced? There are much
more issues than just source code. The biggest concern, is there is no
back up, and you cannot verify it independently unlike a paper ballet.

-- 
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rights from them; you give them permission to rule, only so long as
they follow the rules: laws and constitution.