Schneier On Self-Enforcing Protocols

Hollow Being writes "In an essay posted to Threatpost, Bruce Schneier makes the argument that self-enforcing protocols are better suited to security and problem-solving. From the article: 'Self-enforcing protocols are safer than other types because participants don't gain an advantage from cheating. Modern voting systems are rife with the potential for cheating, but an open show of hands in a room — one that everyone in the room can count for himself — is self-enforcing. On the other hand, there's no secret ballot, late voters are potentially subjected to coercion, and it doesn't scale well to large elections. But there are mathematical election protocols that have self-enforcing properties, and some cryptographers have suggested their use in elections.'"

Comments

Re:You need trust

[maxwell demon]

The politicians are representing either big business and the rich or trial lawyers and unions.

The problem is actually the American spelling. Since the American spelling of "cheque" is "check", the politicians simply misunderstand the term "checks and balances" (where "balance" is interpreted as "balance of the bank account", of course).