Connecting the Dots in the Wake of Diebold's Trail of Attacks - Coincidence?

Perata probe includes family, friend
Federal inquiry seeks details of senator's financial dealings with his kids, college pal
Christian Berthelsen, Jim Herron Zamora, Chronicle Staff Writers
Saturday, November 20, 2004

Federal prosecutors are investigating a network of people and businesses with financial ties to state Sen. Don Perata, including his son, his daughter, a political consultant and a close college friend, according to sources and documents obtained by The Chronicle.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2004/11/20/MNGG49UVFF1.DTL

----------------------
----------------------

Voting screen ban is rejected
But paper ballots should be an option, a state panel says.
By Ed Fletcher -- Bee Capitol Bureau
Published 2:15 am PDT Thursday, April 29, 2004

"State Sen. Don Perata said Wednesday's suggested action doesn't go far enough. Perata and Sen. Ross Johnson, R-Irvine, are pushing legislation that would ban all electronic voting systems.

"I don't want to be changing the tire on a moving car," said Perata, an Alameda Democrat. "I strongly encourage him to decertify. There is just too much at stake."

They began their effort after the March primary election, when hundreds of Alameda County voters were forced to cast provisional paper ballots because the electronic voting machines there failed to work."
http://www.sacbee.com/content/politics/ca/election/story/9102942p-10028656c.html

-------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------

Audit panel to probe Shelley funds
It also will question office's spending of federal money
Christian Berthelsen, Chronicle Staff Writer
Friday, August 27, 2004

Sacramento -- Legislators from both political parties voted Thursday to examine whether state grant money was illegally diverted to Kevin Shelley's campaign for secretary of state and whether he has improperly spent federal funds to improve voter turnout.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2004/08/27/MNGPF8FF301.DTL

----------------------
----------------------

Shelley Bans Electronic Voting In Four Counties
POSTED: 2:58 pm PDT April 30, 2004

SACRAMENTO -- Secretary of State Kevin Shelley banned touch screen voting Friday in four California counties in the November election, saying the lack of a paper trail makes them unreliable and he threatened to block computerized voting in 10 other counties.

Shelley cited concerns about the security and reliability of new computerized voting machines manufactured by Texas-based Diebold Election systems, many of them used for the first time in the March election.

"We are acting boldly and responsibly to improve the system in time for November," Shelley said.
http://www.ktvu.com/politics/3256661/detail.html

-------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------

October 12, 2004
EFF Challenges Secret Government Order to Shut Down Media Websites
Seizure of Servers Hosting Indymedia Websites Violates the First Amendment

San Francisco, CA -- The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is representing a coalition of independent Internet journalists whose websites were shut down on Thursday, October 7, when their servers were seized by the FBI. The two servers, which were located in the United Kingdom and managed by San Antonio-based Rackspace Managed Hosting, hosted Indymedia's Internet radio station and more than 20 Indymedia websites, as well as several email lists.
http://www.eff.org/news/archives/2004_10.php

----------------------
----------------------

Diebold May Face Consequences for Misuse of Copyright Law
Date posted in ITsecurity.com: 6 February, 2004
Tried to Stop Publication of Information on Electronic Voting Machine Flaws

San Jose, CA – Nonprofit Internet Service Provider (ISP) Online Policy Group (OPG) and two Swarthmore college students are seeking compensation from electronic voting machine company Diebold Systems, Inc., in federal court this Monday, February 9. They are asking the court to rule that Diebold face the consequences of abusing copyright law to threaten the Internet connectivity of those who published or linked to a corporate email archive indicating flaws in Diebold’s voting machines and irregularities with certifying them for actual elections.

Diebold threatened not only the ISPs of direct publishers of the corporate documents, but also the ISPs of those who merely publish links to the documents. The ISP OPG refused to comply with Diebold’s demand that it prohibit Independent Media Network (IndyMedia) from linking to Diebold documents.
http://www.itsecurity.com/tecsnews/feb2004/feb61.htm


October 15, 2004
Diebold Coughs Up Cash in Copyright Case
False Accusation of Infringement Results in Hefty Payment of Legal Fees, Damages

California - The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) capped its historic victory in a copyright abuse case against electronic voting machine manufacturer Diebold today. The corporation agreed to pay $125,000 in damages and fees. The settlement, a win for free speech advocates, comes after a California district court found that Diebold had knowingly misrepresented that online commentators, including Indymedia and two Swarthmore college students, had infringed the company's copyrights.

"It makes me happy that students in this situation in the future won't have to worry about big corporations breathing down their necks," said Nelson Pavlosky, one of the students.
http://www.eff.org/news/archives/2004_10.php