FC: Richard Clarke misstates Canadian elections cancelled?

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

[I don't mean to pick on Richard Clarke, and will give his office (or, for 
that matter, Clarke defenders) a right of reply. At the same time, it seems 
that we should hold government officials to a high standard of accuracy, 
particularly when there's always the danger of exaggeration and 
scaremongering to (a) make yourself seem more important and thereby fatten 
your paycheck at your next (probably private sector) job, (b) increase 
funding for your own .gov fiefdom and those run by your friends, and (c) 
argue for new, intrusive, and arguably unwarranted regulations imposed on 
technology firms. Previous message: http://www.politechbot.com/p-04403.html 
--Declan]

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From: gabriel <the.angel.gabriel () rogers com>
To: declan () well com
Subject: Re: FC: Richard Clarke's resignation message, and final warning
Date: Tue, 4 Feb 2003 12:56:56 -0500

On February 4, 2003 09:08 am, Declan McCullagh wrote:
> A national election/referendum in Canada was canceled

Just for the record, the "national election/referendum in Canada" was the NDP
leadership election and it wasn't cancelled, the voting tally was delayed due
to high internet traffic.  The election however did finish with a full count
and a delgate emerged a winner.  How very sad it is that the American
government thinks so highly of itself and yet can't get simple facts
straight.

--
an intellectual is a man who takes more words than necessary
to tell more than he knows.
  - dwight d. eisenhower
---

Date: Tue, 04 Feb 2003 14:08:22 -0400
To: declan () well com
From: Ivan Smith <rustfrog () auracom com>
Subject: Richard Clarke badly misinformed

Richard Clarke wrote, about the Sapphire Worm:
"A national election/referendum in Canada was canceled."

This is wholly untrue.  The last national election in Canada was in 
November 2000, and the next one won't happen until 2004.  There has never 
been a national referendum in Canada, and there is no discussion of any 
plan to hold one at any future time.  There was no such cancellation, or 
anything that could reasonably be interpreted as one.

   Ivan Smith
   9847 Main Street
   Canning, Nova Scotia, Canada   B0P 1H0
   902-582-3783

---


Date: Tue, 4 Feb 2003 09:25:07 -0700
From: "Patrick J. Kobly" <pkobly () hatari dhs org>
To: Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>
Subject: Re: FC: Richard Clarke's resignation message, and final warning
Message-ID: <20030204162507.GA6329 () hatari dhs org>

On Tue, Feb 04, 2003 at 09:08:09AM -0500, Declan McCullagh wrote:
<SNIP>
> A national election/referendum in
> Canada was canceled.
<SNIP>

???  I'm Canadian, and I'm completely unaware of any "national election /
referendum" which was supposed to take part but didn't.  The last election
listed at www.elections.ca was a by-election December 9, 2002.

The New Democratic Party (4th in number of seats in the House) had a
leadership convention / vote, and their internet voting was slow, but other
than that, the vote went well.

Either way, it is highly unlikely that a national election here would be
severely affected by computer problems, as counting is done by hand at the
polling station, with computers being used solely for tabulation.

PK
--
Using encryption on the Internet is the equivalent of arranging an
armored car to deliver credit-card information from someone living in a
cardboard box to someone living on a park bench.
                                        -- Eugene Spafford




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