Computer Programs Rig Elections

post by magfrump · 2011-08-23T02:03:07.890Z · LW · GW · Legacy · 3 comments

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3 comments

I don't know how interested this community would be in this topic, I don't mean to be talking politics so much as technology and decision mechanisms.

According to this programmer's testimony, voting machine companies requested that their programmers make it possible for the companies to rig elections, while in communication with elected officials.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1thcO_olHas&sns=fb

If there is a discussion of how worthwhile taking the time to vote is, this may be worth knowing.

This is something that I expected to be true beforehand, but I am wondering: How reliable is this testimony?  What are other LWers' prior and posterior probabilities of elections being rigged in this way?  Is it worth trying to do something about this, and if so what?

3 comments

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comment by Paul Crowley (ciphergoth) · 2011-08-24T10:20:27.484Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

I always feel better about downvoting political posts when I'm sympathetic to the politics presented!

comment by [deleted] · 2011-08-23T03:13:24.402Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

Here's a written account

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clint_Curtis

comment by JoshuaZ · 2011-08-23T02:51:09.979Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

According to this programmer's testimony, voting machine companies requested that their programmers make it possible for the companies to rig elections, while in communication with elected officials.

They asked him to make a program which was able to do that. If I were running/making such equipment, I'd ask the programmers and other programmers to try to do that. I don't think that particular bit demonstrates malicious intent.

Edit: Ok. Just got a bit longer into the piece where he explicitly says that it wasn't about that. Nevermind.

Edit: Also as a signaling issue, it doesn't look good when the video is uploaded by someone with the username 91177info. If I had wanted to show this video I'd probably go so far as to make a copy of the video and upload it separately.

Edit: Ok. Final thought. Interesting. Not indicative of actual voter fraud occurring in this context. That election tampering does occur should have a high prior. Many forms like simple ballot stuffing clearly exist. In any event, this is probably mindkilling enough that it should be elsewhere.