When my youngest was about 3 he had an annoying habit of crawling out his bedroom window and onto the roof.
We tried taping the windows, locking the windows etc. Nothing worked. Finally we had a window company come it. They brought in a window and set it up in the Kitchen, and said it was “full of wonderful safety features that children wouldn’t be able to circumvent.”
We then called Danny into the room and told him to open and get through the window. It took mere seconds for him to open and get through it. At that the salesman said: “Good luck, I can’t sell you anything.” We eventually just nailed his window shut.
I couldn’t help thinking about that when I read this story:
Last week, the D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics opened a new Internet-based voting system for a weeklong test period, inviting computer experts from all corners to prod its vulnerabilities in the spirit of “give it your best shot.” Well, the hackers gave it their best shot — and midday Friday, the trial period was suspended, with the board citing “usability issues brought to our attention.”
Challenging hackers to hack a system is asking for it. And with millions of dollars of patronage etc at stake do you really believe that people won’t be trying to hack such systems?
Fortunately there is a ready made solution!
memeorandum thread here
Update: Instalanche Thanks again Glenn, and while you are here check out the my latest examiner article, examine the “we don’t censor art” crowd and although you might have heard about Rep John Tierney’s wife pleading guilty of federal tax evasion, you might want to meet his republican opponent in ma-6 Bill Hudak who deserves your support.
