Microsoft’s Allen , Foreign Scytl election software, and Obama -what could go wrong?

In what has to be one of the most troubling pieces of news, we learn that Scytl is on the move in taking control of many world-wide elections as well as increasing in U.S. elections via electronic means. Now Microsoft’s Paul Allen has chipped into the pot. Here is the update from earlier posts you might want to check out. First the back story.

Foreign company owns U.S. election software-UPDATE

“Obama donor’s company funds controversial election firm” reads the headline. We now are turning over our election software to a foreign company that happens to support Obama.The Drudge Report yesterday ran a feature titled “Foreign company buys U.S. election results reporting firm.” The article documented that SCYTL, based in Barcelona, acquired 100 percent of SOE Software, the leading software provider of election management solutions in the United States. Drudge reports that the  best part is that the election results are redirected not to a USA server, but to a server overseas.

UPDATE:Save American Foundation:

SCYTL, the global leader in secure electronic voting technologies, announced today the acquisition of 100% of SOE Software, the leading software provider of election management solutions in the United States.

Why is a software company based in Barcelona Spain(SCYTL)  now in charge of counting our votes in the upcoming General Election on November 6th.  Did the Federal Elections Commission approve of this ?  (FEC) Did the Congress of the United States approve of this ?

The firm already provides balloting for overseas U.S. military and civilian voting in nine states along with elections technologies in several districts

With the purchase of SOE Software, meanwhile, SCYTL has increased its involvement in the U.S. elections process. SOE Software boasts a strong U.S. presence, providing results in over 900 jurisdictions.

In 2009, SCYTL formally registered with the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (AEC) as the first Internet voting manufacturer in the U.S. under the EAC Voting System Testing and Certification Program.

Project Vote noted that in 2008, the Florida Department of State commissioned a review of SCYTL’s remote voting software and concluded, in part, that:

• The system is vulnerable to attack from insiders.
• In a worst case scenario, the software could lead to (1) voters being unable to cast votes; (2) an election that does not accurately reflect the will of the voters; and (3) possible disclosure of confidential information, such as the votes cast by individual voters.
• The system may be subject to attacks that could compromise the integrity of the votes cast.

Full story over at  WND

Check out Hacked D.C. election test site researcher testifies easy to do

A University of Michigan professor who with his students hacked a prototype D.C. voting website and had it play the school’s fight song said today it will be decades, if ever, before voting can be performed safely over the Internet.

J. Alex Halderman, a computer science professor, has been participating in a test of Washington’s new “Digital Vote By Mail” system, which was supposed to allow some 900 D.C. overseas voters submit ballots over the Internet.

During the test, which began last week, not only was Halderman’s group able to get the site to play the fight song, they also changed cast votes to “evil science fiction robots” and gained access to video cameras monitoring a board of elections data center.

Halderman’s hack prompted election officials to take down the system for several days, but it went back up on Tuesday. Halderman said that on Thursday his group changed the password to part of the system to “InternetVotingIsDangerous!” and locked officials out. The test of the system was supposed to end today. Full story at Ann Arbor

Now back to the latest news:

Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, a supporter of President Obama, is investing $40 million in Scytl, the Spain-based firm that in January 2012 acquired 100 percent of SOE Software, the leading software provider of election management solutions in the United States.

Allen made the investment via his Vulcan Capital, the investment management firm that oversees his multi-billion dollar portfolio.

Abhishek Agrawal, Vulcan Capital’s managing director, told the Wall Street Journal’s blog he expects countries to eventually become comfortable with digital-only elections.

“This is a very powerful global trend,” Agrawal added. “There is a pathway toward gradual modernization.”

Another of Allen’s charitable groups, the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, donated a total of $250,000 to the immigration-reform advocacy group Centro de la Raza.

The same foundation provided $450,000 to the Urban Institute.

The supposedly “nonpartisan” Urban Institute’s employees have a record of donating nearly 100 percent of their political contributions to Democrats. Officially, the Urban Institute advocates for socialized medicine, carbon taxes and amnesty for illegal aliens.

Scytl, meanwhile, is advancing worldwide. WND reported yesterday an entire municipality in Canada will utilize online-only voting in the next election, with all balloting to be run via Scytl.

WND reported in 2012 that Scytl announced the successful implementation of technology that allows ballots to be cast using Google and Apple smartphones and tablet computers

Read more at WND