PBS: Cringely on Diebold et al: "No Confidence Vote"

Can I nominate this fellow for "the Paul Krugman of IT"?

http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/pulpit20031204.html

(...)Now here's the really interesting part. Forgetting for a moment Diebold's voting machines, let's look at the other equipment they make. Diebold makes a lot of ATM machines. They make machines that sell tickets for trains and subways. They make store checkout scanners, including self-service scanners. They make machines that allow access to buildings for people with magnetic cards. They make machines that use magnetic cards for payment in closed systems like university dining rooms. All of these are machines that involve data input that results in a transaction, just like a voting machine. But unlike a voting machine, every one of these other kinds of Diebold machines -- EVERY ONE -- creates a paper trail and can be audited. Would Citibank have it any other way? Would Home Depot? Would the CIA? Of course not. These machines affect the livelihood of their owners. If they can't be audited they can't be trusted. If they can't be trusted they won't be used.

Now back to those voting machines. If EVERY OTHER kind of machine you make includes an auditable paper trail, wouldn't it seem logical to include such a capability in the voting machines, too? Given that what you are doing is adapting existing technology to a new purpose, wouldn't it be logical to carry over to voting machines this capability that is so important in every other kind of transaction device?

This confuses me. I'd love to know who said to leave the feature out and why?

Next week: the answer.

Now THAT's a cliffhanger!

Still amazes me that this is not a major story.

It's SUCH a no-brainer!!!

I really do believe that conservatives think that Liberals (and the rest of the country) will be goody goodies forever. I don't think they see the backlash that is coming if something goes terribly wrong (again) in the next election. Especially now that the confidence level in their Republican-made voting machines is beginning to hit dirt.

Think about this. The mainstream has been docile BECAUSE they've been kept ignorant. It's going to turn into a mob scene once they learn as much about these systems as we know.

Kick!