Pentagon blocks site for voters outside U.S.

[blondeatlast]

http://www.iht.com/bin/print.php?file=539597.html

Pentagon blocks site for voters outside U.S.
Jennifer Joan Lee IHT
Monday, September 20, 2004


PARIS In a decision that could affect Americans abroad who are not yet registered to vote in the Nov. 2 presidential election, the Pentagon has begun restricting international access to the official Web site intended to help overseas absentee voters cast ballots.

According to overseas-voter advocates who have been monitoring the situation, Internet service providers in at least 25 countries - including Yahoo Broadband in Japan, Wanadoo in France, BT Yahoo Broadband in Britain and Telefónica in Spain - have been denied access to the site of the Federal Voting Assistance Program, apparently to protect it from hackers.

In an e-mail addressed to a person in France who had tried to access the Web site, the Federal Voting Assistance Program's Web manager, Susan Leader, wrote: “We are sorry you cannot access www.fvap.gov. Unfortunately, Wanadoo France has had its access blocked to U.S. government Web sites due to Wanadoo users constantly attempting to hack these sites. We do not expect the block to be lifted."

In Washington, a Pentagon spokeswoman reached by telephone confirmed that a number of Internet service providers worldwide had been blacklisted to thwart hackers. The spokeswoman, Lieutenant Colonel Ellen Krenke, declined to comment further.
(more)

[Kierkegaard]

1. Wow.

Imagine the irony. Borscht is in trouble with no way to stem the tide against him. What's a dictator to do? Hmmmm. I know! Stop all those pesky voters from getting a ballot!

[napi21]

2. HACKERS??? Give me a break! Decent websites guard against that!

Are these people just admiting they are stupid? People try to hack different web sites all the time! They fix the problem, set up new walls, and go on! I question if there really were any hackers. Maybe just decided to deny access.

[blondeatlast]

3. Please keep this kicked; I found it quite by accident but

when I saw it, my jaw hit the table.

:kick:

[blondeatlast]

4. This donkey wants outta the barn...

:kick:

If you know folks overseas, please send them this link!

[BootinUp]

5. I am sure some targeted voters have access though n/t