<div dir="ltr">Also if of interest, here is what I sent to the special minister of state about all this recently. Feel free to make use of any thing there, or to ignore it as appropriate:<div><br></div><div><div class="" tabindex="-1" style="min-height:70px;min-width:200px;width:615px;overflow:hidden;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:'Segoe UI','Segoe WP','Segoe UI WPC',Tahoma,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:medium">
<div class="" style="padding-top:32px"><div class="" style="margin-top:15px;float:left;width:615px"><div class="" id="ItemHeader.ToContainer" tabindex="-1" style="margin:0px 0px 6px;clear:both;width:auto"><span class="" style="float:left;font-weight:bold;font-size:12px;line-height:18px;font-family:'Segoe UI Semibold','Segoe WP Semibold','Segoe UI WPC Semibold','Segoe UI','Segoe WP',Tahoma,Arial,sans-serif;margin:0px 8px 0px 0px">To:</span><div class="" style="overflow:hidden">
<div class="" tabindex="0" style="line-height:18px"><div class="" style="display:inline"><span class="" style="display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;font-size:0px;vertical-align:top;height:18px"><span class="" tabindex="-1" style="border-style:none;display:table-cell;padding-right:8px"><div class="" tabindex="-1" style="outline:none;overflow:hidden;width:168px;display:table;vertical-align:middle">
<span class="" style="direction:ltr;vertical-align:middle;display:table-cell;width:168px;overflow:hidden;font-size:12px;line-height:normal"><a href="mailto:senator.ronaldson@aph.gov.au">senator.ronaldson@aph.gov.au</a>;</span></div>
</span></span></div></div></div></div><div class="" id="ItemHeader.CcContainer" tabindex="-1" style="margin:0px 0px 6px;clear:both;width:auto"><span class="" style="float:left;font-weight:bold;font-size:12px;line-height:18px;font-family:'Segoe UI Semibold','Segoe WP Semibold','Segoe UI WPC Semibold','Segoe UI','Segoe WP',Tahoma,Arial,sans-serif;margin:0px 8px 0px 0px">Cc:</span><div class="" style="overflow:hidden">
<div class="" tabindex="0" style="line-height:18px"><div class="" style="display:inline"><span class="" style="display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;font-size:0px;vertical-align:top;height:18px"><span class="" tabindex="-1" style="border-style:none;display:table-cell;padding-right:8px"><div class="" tabindex="-1" style="outline:none;overflow:hidden;width:163px;display:table;vertical-align:middle">
<span class="" style="direction:ltr;vertical-align:middle;display:table-cell;width:163px;overflow:hidden;font-size:12px;line-height:normal"><a href="mailto:senator.rhiannon@aph.gov.au">senator.rhiannon@aph.gov.au</a>;</span></div>
</span></span></div></div></div></div><div class="" id="ItemHeader.BccContainer" tabindex="-1" style="margin:0px 0px 6px;clear:both;width:auto"><span class="" style="float:left;font-weight:bold;font-size:12px;line-height:18px;font-family:'Segoe UI Semibold','Segoe WP Semibold','Segoe UI WPC Semibold','Segoe UI','Segoe WP',Tahoma,Arial,sans-serif;margin:0px 8px 0px 0px">Bcc:</span><div class="" style="overflow:hidden">
<div class="" tabindex="0" style="line-height:18px"><div class="" style="display:inline"><span class="" style="display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;font-size:0px;vertical-align:top;height:18px"><span class="" tabindex="-1" style="border-style:none;display:table-cell;padding-right:8px"><div class="" tabindex="-1" style="outline:none;overflow:hidden;width:90px;display:table;vertical-align:middle">
<span class="" style="direction:ltr;vertical-align:middle;display:table-cell;width:90px;overflow:hidden;font-size:12px;line-height:normal">Andrew Bettison;</span></div></span></span><span class="" style="display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;font-size:0px;vertical-align:top;height:18px"><span class="" tabindex="-1" style="border-style:none;display:table-cell;padding-right:8px"><div class="" tabindex="-1" style="outline:none;overflow:hidden;width:137px;display:table;vertical-align:middle">
<span class="" style="direction:ltr;vertical-align:middle;display:table-cell;width:137px;overflow:hidden;font-size:12px;line-height:normal"><a href="mailto:jeremy@servalproject.org">jeremy@servalproject.org</a>;</span></div>
</span></span></div></div></div></div></div><div></div></div></div><button type="button" class="" tabindex="-1" style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-size:14px;font-family:'Segoe UI','Segoe WP','Segoe UI WPC',Tahoma,Arial,sans-serif;border-width:0px;padding:0px;min-width:0px;margin:0px;width:615px;height:25px;outline:none;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial"></button><div style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:'Segoe UI','Segoe WP','Segoe UI WPC',Tahoma,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:medium">
</div><div style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:'Segoe UI','Segoe WP','Segoe UI WPC',Tahoma,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:medium"><div class="" id="Item.MessagePartBody" style="clear:both;width:auto;padding-top:12px;word-wrap:break-word">
<div class="" id="Item.MessageUniqueBody" tabindex="0" style="color:rgb(33,33,33);font-size:15px"><div dir="ltr"><span dir="ltr"><div id="OWAFontStyleDivID"><font face="Calibri,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif" size="3" color="black"><span style="font-size:12pt"><font face="Arial" color="#222222">Greetings Hon. Mr. Ronaldson, Special Minister of State,</font><div>
<font face="Arial" color="#222222"><br></font></div><div><font face="Arial" color="#222222">I have been following with considerable civic interest the attempts to have the AEC reveal source code for their electoral software that is used to count <span class="" id="0.2076282538473606" name="searchHitInReadingPane" style="color:rgb(255,255,255);background-color:rgb(216,35,0)">senate</span> voting. </font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" color="#222222"><br></font></div><div><font face="Arial" color="#222222">My interest stems from the necessity for the democratic process to be transparent in the handling of votes so that there is no possibility for any person or conspiracy to undermine the integrity of the system.</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" color="#222222"><br></font></div><div><font face="Arial" color="#222222">I was greatly disappointed when I read your response to Senator Rhiannon, as it appears that the AEC or another party has provided you with incorrect information in an attempt to keep the source code from public scrutiny. I have CCd your fellow senator, Senator Rhiannon, since the matters here relate directly to her request and your response.<br>
</font></div><div><font face="Arial" color="#222222"><br></font></div><div><font face="Arial" color="#222222">I note in your response to the <span class="" id="0.08293596492148936" name="searchHitInReadingPane" style="background-color:rgb(255,238,148)">senate</span>'s request that the relevant source code be tabled (see <a href="http://lee-rhiannon.greensmps.org.au/sites/default/files/ronaldson_response.pdf">http://lee-rhiannon.greensmps.org.au/sites/default/files/ronaldson_response.pdf</a>) that you cite the following reasons for refusing to table the source code, which I respond to below.</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" color="#222222"><br></font></div><div><font face="Arial" color="#222222">1. That publication of the source code could leave the voting system open to hacking or manipulation.</font></div><div><font face="Arial" color="#222222"><br>
</font></div><div><font face="Arial" color="#222222">I wish to begin by saying that by not publishing the source code these dangers are actually much greater. </font></div><div><font face="Arial" color="#222222"><br></font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" color="#222222">Without the source code, the voting public and government of the day have no way to be sure that the software is as it was when it was audited, and has not been tampered with. </font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" color="#222222"><br></font></div><div><font face="Arial" color="#222222">Without the source code, the voting public has no way to be sure that the software actually performs correctly. </font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" color="#222222"><br></font></div><div><font face="Arial" color="#222222">Further, as no substantial software is completely free from defects, there is no way for the voting public or the government of the day to be sure that the software counts precisely in accordance with the appropriate legislation and/or regulations.<br>
</font></div><div><font face="Arial" color="#222222"><br></font></div><div><font face="Arial" color="#222222">Thus there exist very real threats to the integrity of the electoral system and the democratic systems of this country while the source code remains secret.<br>
</font></div><div><font face="Arial" color="#222222"><br></font></div><div><font face="Arial" color="#222222">Let us now consider the potential impacts on the integrity of the voting system were the source code made public.<br>
</font></div><div><font face="Arial" color="#222222"><div><br>The danger you refer to as hacking involves the subversion of software by manipulating inputs to the software in question, with the objective of coercing some sort of behaviour that deviates from the intended.<br>
</div><div><br></div><div>This requires the ability to provide malicious input to the software that breaches the defences of the software in some way. </div><div><br></div><div>Let us now consider the input that vote counting software accepts, who it accepts it from, what forms the input can take, and therefore what potential it has to manipulate or subvert the software.<br>
</div><div><br></div></font></div><div><font face="Arial" color="#222222">The only input to the voting software that the public can provide are their votes.<br></font></div><div><font face="Arial" color="#222222"><br></font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" color="#222222">One must assume that by the time the votes provided as input to the software that they are in the form of the numeric values placed into the plurality of boxes on a <span class="" id="0.4655415320303291" name="searchHitInReadingPane" style="background-color:rgb(255,238,148)">senate</span> ballot. </font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" color="#222222"><br></font></div><div><font face="Arial" color="#222222"><div>There are no opportunities for the public to provide arbitrary binary input to the software.<br></div><div><br></div></font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" color="#222222">This input is extremely limited in nature and volume. </font></div><div><font face="Arial" color="#222222"><br></font></div><div><font face="Arial" color="#222222">Therefore the only risks that can be introduced to are if someone, by reading the source code, discovers that a particular vote, that is capable of causing the software to behave incorrectly. Such a vote must retain this potency even after being subjected to whatever data input validation processes the AEC employs.<br>
</font></div><div><font face="Arial" color="#222222"><div><br>If the software contains such defects, then it does not correctly implement the algorithms described in the legislation.<br></div><div><br></div><div>To suggest that entering of specially crafted votes into the software could cause it to incorrectly tally the votes of others or otherwise compromise the system must be correctly understood as being equivalent to a claim that the software in question is not fit for purpose.<br>
</div><div><br></div>Therefore the only danger that can arise from the publication of the source code is that the software is shown to contain a defect that causes it to incorrectly tally votes, and was never fit for purpose. <br>
</font></div><div><font face="Arial" color="#222222"><br></font></div><div><font face="Arial" color="#222222">That is, the only danger is that the software be revealed to be unfit for purpose.<br></font></div><div><font face="Arial" color="#222222"><br>
</font></div><div><font face="Arial" color="#222222">The alternative is much more dangerous, that the software is unfit for purpose, but this fact is not known to the government and people of Australia.<br></font></div><div>
<font face="Arial" color="#222222"><br></font></div><div><font face="Arial" color="#222222">2. That the AEC considers the software to be commercial-in-confidence<br></font></div><div><font face="Arial" color="#222222"><br>
</font></div><div><font face="Arial" color="#222222">I have read the AEC's previous correspondence in regard to the FoI request.<br></font></div><div><font face="Arial" color="#222222"><br></font></div><div><font face="Arial" color="#222222">In that correspondence they claim that even the names of the source code files would endanger their commercial position.<br>
</font></div><div><font face="Arial" color="#222222"><br></font></div><div><font face="Arial" color="#222222">This must be seen for the complete absurdity that it is. How can the name of source code files relating to the counting of the <span class="" id="0.6600454009603709" name="searchHitInReadingPane" style="background-color:rgb(255,238,148)">senate</span> voting in Australia constitute information so commercially sensitive that it could impact on the business of the AEC?<br>
</font></div><div><font face="Arial" color="#222222"><br></font></div><div><font face="Arial" color="#222222">As regards the source code itself, it implements algorithms prescribed by legislation. Therefore it embodies public information, and cannot contain any trade secret. However, even in the case where the AEC may wish to claim some trade secret, for example a more efficient algorithm that has equivalent effect to the legislated algorithms, then surely the AEC's obligation to uphold the integrity of the electoral system of Australia overrides any side-business it may undertake. </font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" color="#222222"><br></font></div><div><font face="Arial" color="#222222">To suggest otherwise is to say that the incidental commercial activities of a statutory body of government is more important than the proper maintenance of our democracy.<br>
</font></div><div><font face="Arial" color="#222222"><br></font></div><div><font face="Arial" color="#222222">Indeed, the clear point throughout this current debate is that the AEC does seem to consider its incidental commercial activities to be more important than its obligations to uphold the integrity of our democratic system. </font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" color="#222222"><br></font></div><div><font face="Arial" color="#222222">I therefore beseech you and the government to not be party to the side-lining of our democracy in this way, and appeal to you to show leadership in this matter by calling for the immediate release of the source code.<br>
<br></font></div><div><font face="Arial" color="#222222">If you differ in view on any of the points I have raised in this letter, I would appreciate it if you would provide your perspective on each so that we may advance our conversation in a constructive and mutually educational manner.<br>
</font></div><div><font face="Arial" color="#222222"><br></font></div><div><font face="Arial" color="#222222">Yours sincerely,<br></font></div><div><font face="Arial" color="#222222"><br></font></div><div><font face="Arial" color="#222222">Dr. Paul Gardner-Stephen,<br>
</font></div><div><font face="Arial" color="#222222">Lecturer in Software Engineering,<br></font></div><div><font face="Arial" color="#222222">Shuttleworth Telecommunications Fellow.<br></font></div><div><font face="Arial" color="#222222">10 Minchinbury Terrace, Marion, 5043. Phone 0427 679 796.</font></div>
</span></font></div></span></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Thu, Jul 31, 2014 at 10:07 AM, Paul Gardner-Stephen <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:paul@servalproject.org" target="_blank">paul@servalproject.org</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr">Sorry, a corollary to what I have said above is that we should launch a project to write a suite of open-source electoral counting software (if it doesn't already exist).<div>
<br></div><div>I'd be happy to stand up and talk about this at LCA with a view to launching a community effort to create such software if we thought it useful. I am also totally happy if someone else wishes to take the lead, rather than add something extra to my plate.</div>
<span class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888">
<div><br></div><div>Paul.</div></font></span></div><div class="HOEnZb"><div class="h5"><div class="gmail_extra"><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Thu, Jul 31, 2014 at 10:05 AM, Paul Gardner-Stephen <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:paul@servalproject.org" target="_blank">paul@servalproject.org</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr">Hello,<div><br></div><div>A related thing we may wish to consider is if the AEC don't wish to reveal their source code, that they offer some mechanism for 3rd party systems to be feed the votes that the AEC receives to allow verification of counting. That way they can have their precious source code, but democracy is still upheld.</div>
<div><br></div><div>Of course, a problem that seems to be indirectly revealed in this is that the AEC don't seem to have separated the network elements, i.e., the electronic transmission of votes to the AEC counting system, from the system that does the counting. It may well be that this is what they are trying to hide -- that a buffer overrun in their network code could compromise the counting software.</div>
<div><br></div><div>Paul.</div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div><div>On Wed, Jul 30, 2014 at 10:16 PM, Linux Australia Secretary <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:secretary@linux.org.au" target="_blank">secretary@linux.org.au</a>></span> wrote:<br>
</div></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div><div>
<div bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000">
<div>So, coming at this from a Media and
Subcommittee Team perspective (CC'd) this may be a very good
opportunity for Linux Australia to write a Press Release around
the issue, with the following messaging;<br>
<br>
- we support the release of the source code for transparency and
deeper scrutiny<br>
- drawing the conclusion that if we can't see the mechanisms of
government, how can we trust them?<br>
- denouncing the treatment of Michael Cordover as inappropriate
and massive over-reaction<br>
<br>
Thoughts? <br>
<br>
<br>
On 18/07/2014 11:43 PM, Joshua Hesketh wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre>I absolutely agree :-).
Nobody specific in security comes to mind. We could perhaps reach out to
the RuxCon community. Otherwise just somebody like Tridge or Rusty may
be able to weigh in?
Cheers,
Josh
On 16/07/14 12:21, Josh Stewart wrote:
</pre>
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre>On 16 July 2014 at 11:56:56 am, Daniel Jitnah
(<a href="mailto:djitnah@greenwareit.com.au" target="_blank">djitnah@greenwareit.com.au</a> <a href="mailto:djitnah@greenwareit.com.au" target="_blank"><mailto:djitnah@greenwareit.com.au></a>) wrote:
</pre>
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre>Perhaps the Open Source Community should provide "Expert Independent
advice" that opening software to scrutiny does not open system to
hacking etc., but much to the contrary.
Most likely many expert opinion can be obtained to counter the position
taken by the AEC.
LA could be well placed to facilitate the process of obtaining such
advice.
</pre>
</blockquote>
<pre>Personally I think this suggestion from Daniel is an excellent one!
Do we know any experts in the community who can comment on the merits of
being open source when it comes to security?
--
Josh Stewart
</pre>
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre></pre>
</blockquote>
<pre>_______________________________________________
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<a href="mailto:committee@lists.linux.org.au" target="_blank">committee@lists.linux.org.au</a>
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</pre>
</blockquote>
<pre></pre>
<br>
<fieldset></fieldset>
<br>
<pre>_______________________________________________
committee mailing list
<a href="mailto:committee@lists.linux.org.au" target="_blank">committee@lists.linux.org.au</a>
<a href="http://lists.linux.org.au/listinfo/committee" target="_blank">http://lists.linux.org.au/listinfo/committee</a>
</pre>
</blockquote>
<br>
<br>
<pre cols="72">--
Kathy Reid
Secretary
Linux Australia
<a href="mailto:secretary@linux.org.au" target="_blank">secretary@linux.org.au</a>
<a href="http://linux.org.au" target="_blank">http://linux.org.au</a>
Linux Australia Inc
GPO Box 4788
Sydney NSW 2001
Australia
ABN 56 987 117 479
</pre>
</div>
<br></div></div>_______________________________________________<br>
Media mailing list<br>
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<a href="http://lists.linux.org.au/listinfo/media" target="_blank">http://lists.linux.org.au/listinfo/media</a><br>
<br></blockquote></div><br></div>
</blockquote></div><br></div>
</div></div></blockquote></div><br></div>