This is not a "subtle problem" at all. Voting booths have curtains, and campaigners are constrained to stay away from polling places specifically so that you can cast an anonymous vote free from outside coercion or influences. With Internet voting, no one can tell what is going on whereever it is that you are voting from. Is someone pointing a gun at you? Is your boss watching you?
In Italy, they recently had to make it illegal to carry cell phones into the booths because people were being forced to use camera cell phones to "prove" that they voted the "right" away.
Voting should be done in polling places, using auditable ballots.
Ellis Parker Butler wrote the story "Pigs is pigs" in 1905 about the government trying to tax two guinea pigs as "pigs" rather than pets. The guinea pigs, housed in the railway station until the issue is resolved by the government, reproduce at a geometric rate overwhelming the station.
Disney made a marvelous little cartoon of the story in 1954.
Check out this story in Nature called Prosperity through Punishment.
In both natural and artificial situations people will spend their own resources in order to administer justice to those who "need" it.
This desire contributes strongly to cooperation and the common good. If there's no outlet for it, and these days it seems like there are precious few except vicariously at the movies, cooperation unravels.
This an excellent and easy-to-read story.
Try a Credit Union for some fee relief
on
Add-Ons Add Up
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· Score: 5, Informative
If you can, find a credit union which you are eligible to join. Over the last 10 years mine (the USA Federal Credit Union) has
never charged a monthly fee for any account
provided me with a free supply of printed checks
called me (years ago) when the interest rates on money markets became higher than those in my savings account just to ask would it be ok if they transfered part of my savings to a money market account?
provided an ATM card with 16 free uses per month (half for merchants / half for cash withdrawal)
provided a list of credit unions in my area which have no-service-charge ATMs (there are no local branches of my Credit Union)
provided free on-line banking which gets better each year
introduced their on-line bill paying service with two free years of use, then, after charging for it for a year, they reduced the monthly fee.
Maybe not all of them are as good as this one, but they do generally behave as though service to members is important. There is an alternative to fee happy banks and you should seek them out.
Poindexter was also the creator of the classification "sensitive but unclassified" that was discussed here on Slashdot a few weeks ago. It's clear that while he supports the government's right to privacy he doesn't support a corresponding right for citizens.
I haven't seen it mentioned, but this is a Reagan era classification created by Former Admiral John Poindexter (of Iran-Contra scandal fame). Poindexter was hired back into the government by the current administration in February of this year as the new head of the Information Awareness Office. It's no surprise that this label is being misused again.
> Maybe a better example (unpatented, fortunately): toolbars....
> Anyone know when they first appeared?
If by toolbar you mean the bar across the top of the app which contains the drop down menus, then, I think, Apple gets credit. Many people think that Apple took the Lisa/Mac interface from PARC, but I am pretty sure they added two interesting innovations in order to reduce the number of mouse buttons from three to one.
The Smalltalk-80 windowing system didn't have toolbars or useful window decorations (e.g. the iconify button, the close button, etc.). Instead the middle mouse button popped up an application specific menu and the right button popped up a window management menu. (The left button was for selecting, same as now.) Apple got rid of the other two buttons by inventing the tool bar and the little window decorations which handle window management.
If today's standards (or lack thereof) were in place then, Apple would almost certainly have patented these innovations succesfully.
Slashdot Mirror
In Italy, they recently had to make it illegal to carry cell phones into the booths because people were being forced to use camera cell phones to "prove" that they voted the "right" away.
Voting should be done in polling places, using auditable ballots.
Disney made a marvelous little cartoon of the story in 1954.
In both natural and artificial situations people will spend their own resources in order to administer justice to those who "need" it.
This desire contributes strongly to cooperation and the common good. If there's no outlet for it, and these days it seems like there are precious few except vicariously at the movies, cooperation unravels.
This an excellent and easy-to-read story.
- never charged a monthly fee for any account
- provided me with a free supply of printed checks
- called me (years ago) when the interest rates on money markets became higher than those in my savings account just to ask would it be ok if they transfered part of my savings to a money market account?
- provided an ATM card with 16 free uses per month (half for merchants / half for cash withdrawal)
- provided a list of credit unions in my area which have no-service-charge ATMs (there are no local branches of my Credit Union)
- provided free on-line banking which gets better each year
- introduced their on-line bill paying service with two free years of use, then, after charging for it for a year, they reduced the monthly fee.
Maybe not all of them are as good as this one, but they do generally behave as though service to members is important. There is an alternative to fee happy banks and you should seek them out.Poindexter was also the creator of the classification "sensitive but unclassified" that was discussed here on Slashdot a few weeks ago. It's clear that while he supports the government's right to privacy he doesn't support a corresponding right for citizens.
I haven't seen it mentioned, but this is a Reagan era classification created by Former Admiral John Poindexter (of Iran-Contra scandal fame). Poindexter was hired back into the government by the current administration in February of this year as the new head of the Information Awareness Office. It's no surprise that this label is being misused again.
Good information about this at Dubya Report, Citizen Times and DS Star
> Anyone know when they first appeared?
If by toolbar you mean the bar across the top of the app which contains the drop down menus, then, I think, Apple gets credit. Many people think that Apple took the Lisa/Mac interface from PARC, but I am pretty sure they added two interesting innovations in order to reduce the number of mouse buttons from three to one.
The Smalltalk-80 windowing system didn't have toolbars or useful window decorations (e.g. the iconify button, the close button, etc.). Instead the middle mouse button popped up an application specific menu and the right button popped up a window management menu. (The left button was for selecting, same as now.) Apple got rid of the other two buttons by inventing the tool bar and the little window decorations which handle window management.
If today's standards (or lack thereof) were in place then, Apple would almost certainly have patented these innovations succesfully.