cmo
10/06/09, 02:53 PM
Poll watchdogs want access to automated election code
POLL WATCHDOGS led by the University of the Philippines’ Center for People Empowerment in Governance (CenPEG) yesterday asked the Supreme Court to order the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to release a code to check against irregularities in the automated election system. In a 25-page petition filed by Aquilino L. Pimentel III and Francisco G. Joaquin III, the group said "since the source code is, simply, a set of instructions which the computer will follow, the public has the right to know if the instructions given to the computers will promote free, orderly, honest, peaceful, credible and informed elections..."
The Supreme Court has upheld the poll automation contract.
The petitioners said Comelec should be guided by the Poll Automation Act or Republic Act 9369, which provides for safeguards such as a review of the system’s source code.
The law defines the source code as "human readable instructions that define what the computer equipment will do."
Comelec had initially allowed CenPEG even prior to the awarding of the contract for the creation of the system to the joint venture of Smartmatic-TIM Corp., the technology provider, to look into the source code. But Comelec has turned around after the contract was awarded.
Instead, the poll body said on Aug. 26 that it could only provide the code to "an international certification agency..."
CenPEG, however, said this is a separate requirement from the provision of the law that other entities could review the code as well.
"Of primordial importance are the rights of voters and the integrity of the voting system... The review is critical on moral, political and economic grounds," the group said. — IPP
source (http://www.bworldonline.com/BW100609/content.php?id=073)
POLL WATCHDOGS led by the University of the Philippines’ Center for People Empowerment in Governance (CenPEG) yesterday asked the Supreme Court to order the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to release a code to check against irregularities in the automated election system. In a 25-page petition filed by Aquilino L. Pimentel III and Francisco G. Joaquin III, the group said "since the source code is, simply, a set of instructions which the computer will follow, the public has the right to know if the instructions given to the computers will promote free, orderly, honest, peaceful, credible and informed elections..."
The Supreme Court has upheld the poll automation contract.
The petitioners said Comelec should be guided by the Poll Automation Act or Republic Act 9369, which provides for safeguards such as a review of the system’s source code.
The law defines the source code as "human readable instructions that define what the computer equipment will do."
Comelec had initially allowed CenPEG even prior to the awarding of the contract for the creation of the system to the joint venture of Smartmatic-TIM Corp., the technology provider, to look into the source code. But Comelec has turned around after the contract was awarded.
Instead, the poll body said on Aug. 26 that it could only provide the code to "an international certification agency..."
CenPEG, however, said this is a separate requirement from the provision of the law that other entities could review the code as well.
"Of primordial importance are the rights of voters and the integrity of the voting system... The review is critical on moral, political and economic grounds," the group said. — IPP
source (http://www.bworldonline.com/BW100609/content.php?id=073)