Comments on Open Source

[JimSoper2]

Hi

I've seen some postings asking questions about open source. I will make some comments here in no particular order.

I have been an open source advocate since 2005, when I learned that a convicted embezzler, Jeffrey Dean, programmed the Diebold machines. Hidden souce code is an invitation for disaster.

Open source ...

- This is very important - with an open system, we will finally get access to nearly everything in the system - including vote databases, log files, ballot images, and a host of other info that we can't look at right now.

- is likely to be much cheaper for the counties, as no one company will have a monopoly on the source code, and on the expensive maintenance contracts for the machines.

- over time, the code will become better. Not perfect, but better than most of what we are seeing on the market. There has been very slow progress over the last decade. The open source code will be under constant review.

- Calif SoS Debra Bowen put rules/conditions into the certification/approval of election systems, such that it is the Calif SoS's experts who will compile and assemble the software package(s) that go out to the counties for installation. NOT the private vendor. They go out with security codes, etc., to ensure that what is installed is what the SoS's people inspected and assembled. Last I looked, the latest certifications still have those conditions.

- We would finally have a chance to find out who actually programmed the systems. No more embezzlers.

Jim

[Brian Cady]

Richard Stallman differentiated between these, with explanation, in this 14 minute TEDx talk:

https://audio-video.gnu.org/video/TEDxGE2014_Stallman05_HQ.ogv

Brian

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