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Change begins with the individual. I own a small software company and we tithe ourselves. Like most geeks we have too much h/w and s/w. Part of our give back is recycling perfectly useable technology to others like the Tibetan Technology Center. In addition to cold hard cash, we've sent them our "extra" 802.11g routers, adaptors, and antennas. We learned of this project on wired.com (or was it /.?). As long as we're going to pay Speakeasy for hosting and several DSL lines, why not piggyback DSL for two senior housing communities here in Seattle trying to jumpstart connectivity for their residents? My point is that even small organizations and even focused individuals can have a relatively large impact. By linking to some of the organizations we support we've set an example for others. Discussions have been sparked and one company stepped to the plate and offer to write code pro bono for the Tibetan Technology Center. Charity spreads. Having been introduced to Outside the Dream, my two sons and are starting a grassroots effort to help them. The modest amount of citizen involvement I've done over the years has taught me that not all good comes from the Fortune 1000 and their related charitable arms. Look in the mirror. The revolution begins with me.

No, people CAN be barcoded. In fact, I've built a gallery of barcode tattoos.

I'll confess that I own a barcode software company, which I guess makes me Satan's Little Helper. But I sure don't have no stinkin' barcode tat on me!

Actually a receipt does not deny anonymity. If the receipt is one of the new bar codes (;-) Just joking!) (like used by UPS and FedEx with the square with the dots in it), then if someone goes into a booth, votes, and then gets a barcoded receipt the receipt could have all of their choices on it along with their number (if wanted) or not.

The thing is - no system is failure proof. In the matter of paper receipts someone could print up hundreds of invalid ballots and stuff the ballot box with them after they go into the booth. With electronics - you just need a way to muck up the program or hardware. And yes - people really do try to do these things.

Even systems where a paper receipt is printed and then the person has to drop the receipt into a box in front of someone else can be tampered with. If both people are in on doing this then the person dropping the ballot drops multiple ballots and the other person verifies that they only dropped one ballot into the box.

The only way I know of to stop people from trying to muck up an election is to have cameras broadcasting everyone doing their thing across the entire nation, at the same time, and the video be recorded at multiple locations. But even then someone could tamper with the broadcast and what about anonymity?

So, in the long run, you want something which can record things in two or three ways: Electronically, paper which is readable by a computer, and paper which is readable by a person.

That is to say: Have a voting booth which has a machine in it (whatever kind you want) which creates a paper ticket. The paper ticket has both a readable copy of the voting as well as a machine readable copy (ie: An itemized list and a barcode of the itemized list). The machine works by tallying the votes and printing the receipts (which can then be checked by the voter against what they wanted to vote for/against). The ballot is then taken over to a lock box and dropped in it by the voter. If there is a problem with the election or a recount must be done, then each ballot can be read into another machine which scans the ballot's barcode and displays that information onto a screen. The information displayed is reviewed against the printed itemized list and, if there is a problem (ie: Itemized List doesn't match the Barcoded List) - then you know there is a problem with the voting machine. If there are enough mistakes, then you have to have a re-election to deal with the problem and the machine's vendor.

That's my $0.02 worth.

Recently I've starting writing on things like consumer auto ID, bar codes & privacy, and other tangetal topics. With more to come.

Evil digits? Mark of the beast? Book of Revelation? Read this. Don't get me started.

All said and done, I've been in the field for 15 years and I still love those funny glyphs. They are absolutely everywhere and most people never see them.

Recently I've starting writing on things like consumer auto ID, bar codes & privacy, and other tangetal topics. With more to come.

Evil digits? Mark of the beast? Book of Revelation? Read this. Don't get me started.

All said and done, I've been in the field for 15 years and I still love those funny glyphs. They are absolutely everywhere and most people never see them.

Recently I've starting writing on things like consumer auto ID, bar codes & privacy, and other tangetal topics. With more to come.

Evil digits? Mark of the beast? Book of Revelation? Read this. Don't get me started.

All said and done, I've been in the field for 15 years and I still love those funny glyphs. They are absolutely everywhere and most people never see them.

Recently I've starting writing on things like consumer auto ID, bar codes & privacy, and other tangetal topics. With more to come.

Evil digits? Mark of the beast? Book of Revelation? Read this. Don't get me started.

All said and done, I've been in the field for 15 years and I still love those funny glyphs. They are absolutely everywhere and most people never see them.

Recently I've starting writing on things like consumer auto ID, bar codes & privacy, and other tangetal topics. With more to come.

Evil digits? Mark of the beast? Book of Revelation? Read this. Don't get me started.

All said and done, I've been in the field for 15 years and I still love those funny glyphs. They are absolutely everywhere and most people never see them.

Recently I've starting writing on things like consumer auto ID, bar codes & privacy, and other tangetal topics. With more to come.

Evil digits? Mark of the beast? Book of Revelation? Read this. Don't get me started.

All said and done, I've been in the field for 15 years and I still love those funny glyphs. They are absolutely everywhere and most people never see them.

Some states encrypt the data before they put it in the barcode on the back of your license. It helps to prevent fake IDs. At least in Indiana, some of the liquor stores have scanners in them, through a deal with the state to read the back of the ID which has a PDF 417 2D barcode. That way when some 5'5", black hair, brown eyed underage person presnts the ID and the data on the back shows 6'1", blonde hair, blue eyes, they know it's a fake.

This would mean that in order to see something that allegedly violates the MPAA's DMCA protections, you'd have to allegedly violate DigitalConvergence's DMCA protection.

Sorry. Forgot the link. AzaelaQTools

I've set up a mailing list for CueCat related issues, legal discussions, and development work.

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While your at it, my company is giving away a font package to let you make CueCat barcodes
check it out: AzaleaQTools