The bearer of unwelcome tidings always runs the risk of being given the blame. And that’s exactly what has happened to Indian computer expert Hari Prasad. His research into the potential security risks of electronic voting machines resulted in his arrest last weekend and he’s currently still in police custody in Mumbai.
by Louise Dunne
Together with two other internet specialists, Dutchman Rop Gonggrijp and American J. Alex Halderman, Hari Prasad wrote a research paper earlier this year detailing serious flaws in India’s electronic voting machines (EVMs). Their findings were not well received by the authorities. Mr Gonggrijp told RNW that India’s Election Commission claimed the machines could not be tampered with, that they were “infallible and basically perfect”. Despite reports of irregularities, the Commission has never permitted security researchers to make an independent assessment.
Arrest the “only option”
So when an anonymous source approached Mr Prasad earlier this year offering him a machine to study, he enlisted the help of Mr Gonggrijp and Professor Halderman and together they carried out a series of tests which exposed a number of serious security flaws. Despite government pressure, Mr Prasad has refused to reveal who gave him the machine and he has now been arrested for theft and detained in police custody. Speaking on his mobile after his arrest, Mr Prasad told Professor Halderman “the police are under pressure from the top, so obviously they can do nothing. They had no other option than arresting me”.
Widespread criticism
Rop Gonggrijp is convinced the arrest is simply an attempt to discredit their findings about the security of India’s EVMs. The report he co-wrote with Mr Prasad and Professor Halderman is a serious embarrassment for the government as it has led to criticism from all quarters. “There’s a campaign going on to get rid of these machines,” he told us. “It’s being supported by all but one political party - the one in power. It is supported by well-known politicians, scientists, people from all walks of life. Apart from the ruling party and the Election Commission it’s hard to find anybody that says these machines are secure.”
Trusting software blindly
It was earlier research by Mr Gonggrijp that convinced the Dutch government to abandon EVMs and bring back paper ballots for elections earlier this year. The security concerns around India’s machines are exactly the same as those he reported with the EVMs that were in use in the Netherlands. The essential problem is that it’s not possible to see the votes being counted and it’s not possible to audit an electronic trail without violating the secrecy of the vote.
Using EVMs, says Mr Gonggrijp, means placing blind trust in software which can be manipulated in a variety of ways by the unscrupulous. He compares it to internet banking: “You don’t need to know exactly what happens in the computer with the bank, because you can keep track of the money that goes in and out. If you can’t do that because of secrecy of the vote, there’s a problem. Any kind of voting machine that does not have an independent mechanism such as a piece of paper to verify that the votes are tallied correctly, is impossible.”
A dedicated computer scientist, Rop Gonggrijp was initially convinced that it must be possible to make EVMs safe and secure. But the more you think about it, he told us, “the more you realise that pencil and paper technology isn’t broken in any way that needs fixing”. So while India is busy forging a new role for itself as a modern world power, he and many others are hoping the government can be persuaded that, in this instance at least, it’s better to stick to the old-fashioned methods.
Photo by Rop Gongrijp
