Monthly Archives: December 2006

Felten on Voting

Posted on December 12, 2006 by ben

Ed Felten, who’s done some fantastic work on DRM and steganography, is writing more and more about voting systems. It’s great to see the community growing, but it’s also important to keep the academic debate alive. In that spirit, here … Continue reading →

Posted in crypto, policy, voting | 4 Comments

Because we cannot let this become routine

Posted on December 6, 2006 by ben

Maher Arar, a Canadian citizen of Syrian descent, was sent to Syria by the US government, where he was tortured for months. He was never allowed to speak to a lawyer. He was never charged with any crime. Thankfully, his … Continue reading →

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I spoke too quickly?

Posted on December 6, 2006 by ben

As one astute commenter notes in my previous blog post on the TGDC meeting, a second resolution presented again by Ron Rivest today was accepted, thanks to revisions that grandfathered in existing machines. This is not quite as good as … Continue reading →

Posted in policy, voting | 2 Comments

Presentations Galore!

Posted on December 5, 2006 by ben

I spent a good chunk of November in Northern California, where I gave four talks on voting with different levels of cryptographic depth based on audience interest: SRI, Google, Berkeley, and Stanford. Thanks to my respective hosts at all of … Continue reading →

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A Real Shame

Posted on December 5, 2006 by ben

Yesterday, the Technical Guidelines Development Committee narrowly rejected Ron Rivest’s proposal that voting systems become software-independent. This is a real shame, and it should lead us to seriously question the qualifications and biases of those who voted against it. The … Continue reading →

Posted in policy, voting | 2 Comments

UConn voting report: bad timing, good content

Posted on December 1, 2006 by ben

The election is behind us, so let’s talk about the reports that came out just before the election. On October 30th, UConn released a report on weaknesses in the Diebold Accuvote Optical Scan. I have a beef with the timing … Continue reading →

Posted in policy, voting | 4 Comments