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Hardly Anyone Cares About Computer Voting Problems
Avidwriter writes "It's a sad thought that Roblimo explores in a NewsForge article about computer voting fraud and how you'd think all honest politicians would be working to make sure computerized voting systems are open source, and why open source wouldn't hurt well-run voting machine companies' profits. Not that most people care, since they don't even bother to vote, right?"
Its sad that the same people who scream for open source voting and open source this and that are the same people who bemoan the cheaters once quake 1 and quake 2 source was made public (though not open source) .
You would think that voting machines you would want simple and private code with high encription.
it does keep a system secure for a short time until someone discovers the security hole.
You're assuming that someone hasn't already bought the "hole". You're assuming that the ballot system developers are impartial. You're assuming that if the government won't abuse any knowledge that the public has no access to.
You're assuming too much.
If I have been able to see further than others, it is because I bought a pair of binoculars.
What do security experts say about systems? They say that open, heavily scrutinized systems are more secure. For instance, any decent encryption is open. Keeping them open actually improves the encryption's strength. Same thing with open voting systems...
The number of people who find and fix flaws will far outweight those with malicious intents. As a matter of fact, non-profit organizations and academic institutions can study the code for loop-holes/bugs/etc. Academia is good at coming up with theoretical solutions to problems and would be perfect here. They will be able to analyze the software for flaws far better than any private company can (except possibly large ones like IBM, Microsoft, etc). They will be able to do it from the specifications even (how do you know the specs are correct? )
KoalaBear33
......The worst thing in my life happened when the stock market started mattering more than the economy
Yeah, the duty of the government is to protect the rights and well being of its citizens but it's also up to the citizens to protect each other.
Being required to vote is in the best interest of everyone in the country and it's a small price to pay. You can't tell me that you're life is so significant and hectic that you cannot accommodate casting your vote? Give me a break.
I truly believe that if you don't vote (or in an Australian citizen's case cast a blank ballot) you have no place to criticize politics or the actions of politicians until you do so.
Just my $0.02.
I love the smell of Karma in the morning
" If you want to talk about requiring things of your subjects for the common good of all, then you're talking about communism"
So a criminal justice system is commie plot now is it?
Seriously as members of a community we are expected to contribute to that community as well as take away, other wise the community collapses. Voting is your way of saying this is the person/group I want leading the community. If you don't vote then you have no right to complain about who gets in.