California "Disclosed Source Code" Voting Bill Submitted

[MelissaB]

California "Disclosed Source Code" Voting Bill Submitted

Sunday February 19, 2006 (01:00 PM GMT) - 4 minutes ago


California State Senator Debra Bowen (D-Redondo Beach) has submitted bill AB 2097 to that state's assembly, which would require public source-code visibility of the voting application so that we can see how trustworthy our voting machines are. The actual voting software would not necessarily be Open Source licensed, so this is more what we would generally call "Disclosed Source Code".


LInk: http://trends.newsforge.com/newsvac/06/02/19/0250234.shtml

[msongs]

1. paper ballots counted at the precinct. no "source code' required nt

[nicknameless]

2. We need personal liability to go along with that.

Here is one poster's take on what intimidated Diebold in NC:

http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00002193.htm

COMMENT #25
...Catherine a said on 12/24/2005 @ 2:45am PT...

There's a crucial difference between the state laws in NC and CA--Debra Bowen take note.

In NC, the law required that the CEO of the voting company swear an affidavit that the code put in escrow was identical to what was put on the voting machines. Personal responsibility, personal liability.

THAT was why Diebold balked in NC.

CA and other states should include a similar requirement in their laws.

You see how effective it is, once personal responsibility can be legally assigned.

This could also be considered regarding the obligations of officials to provide public records in a timely fashion. If individual officials could be sued for non-compliance, we'd probably see much better (and quicker) cooperation.

Change those laws so that specific individuals can be held accountable. Otherwise don't expect the implementation element to change.

[JimDandy]

3. Financial institutions pierce the corporate veil all the time

by demanding that CEOs sign personal liability affidavits. Our votes are more valuable that money, so why shouldn't we demand the same thing to protect our democracy.

JD

[nicknameless]

5. I'm convinced that *personal liability* is THE solution to this mess.

Welcome to DU, JD. :hi:

[Wilms]

4. K&R n/t