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VeriSign and Secure Internet Voting
Bucky Katt writes "VeriSign announced Monday that it will provide key components of a system designed to let Americans abroad cast absentee votes over the Internet."
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However, wouldn't it be nice if we (the US, if you can forgive my inclusive pronoun) were a democracy instead of a republic?
Absolutely not. The kind of democracy to which you refer is also known as "mob rule".
Even better, if Verisign running your elections worries you, why not see if you can help the project. With a secure, trusted and freely available alternative, Verisign will find it more difficult to convince audit committees that their software is the best option.
I agree about the voter turnout, and that's something this country really needs. The United States now ranks 139th out of 167 of the world's democracies in voter turnout which is just plain sad. The majority of folks don't actually vote (but love to complain about our law/policy makers). I'm sure some (most?) candidates count on that low turnout.
I don't agree on the first pass comment though. I think a bad show on the first pass will eliminate a chance of it ever happening again.
Saying Android is a family of phones is akin to saying Linux is a family of PCs.
How do people anywhere trust Verisign?
;-) ))
This company has a proven track record of bad security, unethical behaviour, and well.. I just don't get it, they are the main "TTP" of the web, and yet aren't worth anyone's trust really, then a Domain controller that abused it's power as such, and now they are going to run elections for Americans...
*/me shakes head in total astonishment*
Well... G'luck to ya guys. Here's hoping for once they'll maintain their ethics. (Or assign the project to Dilbert (for those who've seen that episode of Dilbert TV.
~ kjrose
This is purely bad principle. This is outsourcing voting. Elections should be handled as much as possible by regular people. Companies should provide paper, pencils, and maybe some refreshments.
Now I RTFA and I understand this is for military absentee ballots. But this will set precedence. Who will get the job next year? Don't you think the standards applied here will eventually be used for absentee ballots for State Department personnel? And then eventually the general public?
If the government is not capable on its own of running a fully electronic election, then they should not be doing it. Period. Forget the cost of alternative systems or even the impossibility. If the DOD cannot handle this internally (they should, they handle billions of dollars of secrets) then I think it is a step to far to outsource it.
"The sanctity of the vote can't be compromised nor can the integrity of the system be compromised"
Doesn't that line make you feel worried. At least they could say,"we have the best security and experience." But no, "the integrity of the system [can't] be compromised."
I live abroad and frankly, I'm just not quite prepared to trust my vote to the internet. I'll be sending my vote by mail and would encourage other expats to do the same.
I certainly don't trust Verisign. I think the first few elections using this technology should be limited to say, a few thousand votes so as not to have a significant impact on the results (of course, given what happened in Florida, a few thousand votes might have a significant impact). Maybe it would be even better to run the electronic voting at the same time, requiring mail-in ballots and compare the results and not count the electronic voting until it's proven itself. Mail-in ballots aren't anonymous votes, so it should be easy enough to compare.
Even then, I don't know that that would work. I'd eventually like to see secure internet voting, but I'm just not sure the implementations are there yet.