nevada, slot machines, voting standards and fraud

[Neal McBurnett <neal@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

A story in Slashdot looks interesting:

http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/12/04/1443257&mode=nested&tid=103&tid=126&tid=137&tid=172&tid=99

 dmh20002 writes "Being a Nevada resident and knowing people who write
 code for slot machines, I was aware of the stringent measures the
 state of Nevada uses to vet the security of slot machines. The Nevada
 Gaming Control Board audits everything about them, both physical and
 soft, for unintentional and intentional security holes. Hearing the
 hoopla on voting machines, the contrast was obvious. Slot machines
 are about money, which is more important than votes, apparently. Now
 the state of Nevada is looking at electronic voting machines and plan
 to apply some of the same safeguards. Just applying the Nevada
 technical standards for gaming machines and vendors to voting
 machines would be a start, since there don't seem to be any standards
 for voting machines. A funny/sad sideline is that in Nevada, every
 year or two a programmer or engineer goes to jail for exploiting slot
 machines."

It refers to these other stories:
 Experts voice doubts about voting machines
 http://www.rgj.com/news/stories/html/2003/12/02/58202.php?sp1=rgj&sp2=umbrella&sp3=umbrella&sp5=RGJ.com&sp6=news&sp7=news_front

 Former gaming official sent to jail for slot scam
 http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/1998/Jan-10-Sat-1998/news/6745681.html

Despite the claims about how good the review of the Gaming Control
Board is, this is how an employee of that very board scammed the system.

 Harris created his slot machine cheating scam while working as an employee of the Gaming Control Board in the Electronic Services Division in Las Vegas.

 Harris inserted a computer program into a device used by control board employees to check the proper functioning of slot machines. When the testing device was used by control board employees, it downloaded a cheating program, called a gaff, into computer chips in the machines.

 Harris then recruited a trio of friends and acquaintances, including his ex-wife, to play slot machines rigged with the cheating program. Inserting a specific series of coin bets allowed the program to take effect and award jackpots.

 Harris began his enterprise in the summer of 1992 and continued it through April 1996, using accomplices to collect jackpots from about half a dozen of the 34 rigged machines in Las Vegas, Reno and Lake Tahoe casinos.


So my insistence on paper ballots and full disclosure is strengthened.

Cheers,

Neal McBurnett                 http://bcn.boulder.co.us/~neal/
Signed and/or sealed mail encouraged.  GPG/PGP Keyid: 2C9EBA60