Diebold Key Hack Story Updates…

Blogged by Brad from on the road…

There were a number of notable updates added, in the subsequent 24 to 48 hours after we published our piece on the idiots at Diebold who gave away the keys to the kingdom (literally).

The story, btw, shot to the top of a bunch of sites — no easy feat for an Election Integrity-related story which doesn’t feature Ann Coulter — and was even picked up by the rightwing “news” site, WorldNetDaily who (unlike CNet’s coverage, tsk tsk) gave us the appropriate attribution. Should I be pleased or horrified?

Anyway…As we reported initially, Diebold — incredibly — posted a picture of the actual key which — incredibly — opens all Diebold touch-screen voting systems on their website. Not so incredibly, the photo was subsequently used to hack the key and create working duplicates by an IT expert. Just the latest jaw-dropping chapter in the incredible series of blunders by one of America’s largest, and most irresponsible, voting machine companies…the same ones who are — incredibly — contracted to protect the U.S. Constitution and Declaration of Independence at the National Archives and who, in early January, — incredibly — received certification from George W. Bush’s U.S. Homeland Security department for high-security contracts.

As the notable updates to the original story came after you may have read it, but they deserve to be noticed, we re-run them here in full just to make sure everyone is able to play along at home and that Diebold enjoys the maximum amount of shame that they’ve worked so hard to earn.

Read on. Watch Diebold run. Be amused or horrified as you see fit…

UPDATE 1:31pm PT: Closing the barn door after the horse has gone…
Diebold has now removed the photo of the keys from their online store. How they’ll be removing it from Google archives and unringing the bell remains to be seen. Our screenshot of the page as it existed until this afternoon is still below at the end of the original article.

All of which, of course, makes the following news even more disturbing than it would already be anyway (Hat-tip BRAD BLOG commenter PatGinSD):

Diebold, Incorporated (DBD – news), one of the nation’s largest security integrators with expertise in the government, commercial, financial and retail markets, has solidified its homeland security presence. The company recently earned certification from the General Services Administration (GSA) to deliver security integration services that meet the requirements of the Homeland Security Presidential Directive 12 (HSPD-12).

FURTHER UPDATE 7:39pm PT: Diebold pulls a bait and switch…
In a classic Diebold bury-the-evidence move, they’ve now replaced the entire page in their online store featuring the mechanical, copyable key with a page featuring a “Smart Card, Security Key Card.” A digital key card. Same link, different key entirely. Which can only be done, given the database they use for their online store, quite deliberately in order to try to fool folks again. Par for the course. And, of course, shameless.

The original page is still featured below at the original story. We screen-captured it originally for good reason: we know how this outfit works.

EVEN FURTHER UPDATE 1/25/07 5:36pm PT: Diebold responds…predictably and pathetically…
As they don’t much like calling us back for some odd reason, we’ll have to rely on CNet who picked up on the story this morning and received an amusing quote or two from accomplished Diebold spokesliar Mark Radke.

In a telephone interview, Diebold spokesman Mark Radke said the photograph had been removed because of the blogosphere buzz. He acknowledged that a single key can unlock every voting machine within a particular Diebold model but defended the decision.

“Can you imagine, if the wrong keys went to the wrong precincts the morning of the election, what would happen?” he asked.

We can imagine, Mark. People might have as much trouble voting and having their votes counted accurately as they already do with your machines. And as to that “blogosphere buzz” that caused them to remove the photo (not the fact that people could hack their machines because they posted the photo online), Radke says:

“These are people that don’t have election experience making some of these comments,” he said.

Whatever ya gotta tell yourself, chief. Say it enough and someone — other than the Elections Officials who are in the same sinking ship with you because they bought your bullshit in the first place — is bound to buy it.

Enough is enough. America needs a paper BALLOT — not a “trail” or a “record” — for every vote cast. Period. Click here to demand it from Congress!