September 24, 2004

• Why is this absentee voter site under the jurisdiction of the Department of Defense?
• Now that is a very good question.
• not to worry, it's been corrected... September 23, 2004 Thursday Pentagon Restores Voting Web Site Access DATELINE: WASHINGTON BODY: The Pentagon has restored access to a Web site that assists soldiers and other Americans living overseas in voting, after receiving complaints that its security measures were preventing legitimate voters from using it. The site, www.fvap.gov, had been closed to users of certain Internet service providers, because some hackers were using those providers to launch attacks on U.S. government sites, military officials said. But that had the effect of restricting legitimate traffic from those providers, as well. The move prompted criticism from overseas voter advocates and a few Democratic members of Congress, who said the security interfered with the voting rights of Americans overseas. In a statement, the Pentagon said the changes will open the Web site, run by the Foreign Voting Assistance Program, to most, but not all, users. The site assists U.S. citizens overseas in casting absentee ballots. "It is always a challenge to balance access with the required security on Department of Defense systems," said Charles S. Abell, principal deputy undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness. Some U.S. government agencies have previously blocked access to their Web sites from Internet providers, and even entire countries, when hacking attempts have been detected. Brett Rierson, a Hong Kong-based Democrat who wrote to the Pentagon about the problem, said he tracked complaints from users of at least 27 providers in 25 countries who have been denied access to information from the Pentagon-run site. Service providers known to have been blocked include Yahoo Broadband in Japan, Wanadoo in France, and those of Telefonica in Spain and China Telecom, among others.