Benlog

Joe Walker worries about Operator Overloading in Javascript. Though I’m not sure I see an immediate attack, I think Joe is worried about the right thing: since cross-domain execution is dependent on whether the file is well-formed according to the Javascript language, and since the Javascript language is changing over time, we’ve got a real [...]

There isn’t much hard data on the coercion issues of vote by mail, though with states adopting new absentee voting policies, that may change, and we may start to see some interesting things. In the meantime, there’s a very interesting collection of vote-by-mail fraud incidents reported regularly on the No Vote By Mail blog. I [...]

(Thanks to Joe for the pointer.)
Google just announced a notable improvement in their privacy practices, which reinforces the opinion I expressed in a post a few days ago. Could it be that Google is starting to feel consumer demand for privacy? I think it’s happening, and the most promising aspect of Google’s move is their [...]

In response to my recent post regarding open-audit voting, Ronald Crane expresses a number of doubts regarding cryptographic auditing of elections, concluding “I don’t see that crypto voting solves much.” I am responding in detail here because Ronald is deeply misinformed. There are certainly points regarding open-audit techniques that merit in-depth discussion, but the points [...]

Today, I attended a lunch at the Berkman Center with Microsoft’s Ira Rubinstein. Ira talked about privacy and how it is built into the Microsoft development model. He mentioned Microsoft’s new layered approach to privacy policies, where a simple front page gives you the highlights, and you can drill down on any point. A bit [...]

First, I need to express solidarity with Avi, who went out on a limb and professed his love of American Idol. I, too, am a closet American Idol fan, and I completely agree: if only the voting were verifiable! I personally think Jared should have qualified for the final 12.
But on to the immediate issues, [...]

Professors Avi Rubin and Ed Felten are renowned computer security experts. Their work has made the press numerous times, and they’ve testified to various Congressional Committees on many issues, including voting. But when it comes to voting, their statements tend to leave out an entire category of voting systems for no clear reason. It’s as [...]

I’ve always thought that the JSON hack was a truly weird happenstance. For those who don’t quite know it, it goes something like this. A web page you download can run limited code inside your browser. For example, it can animate certain transitions when you click, it can sum up the price of your 3 [...]

I worry a lot about privacy. The first half of this short video about the privacy policy of Facebook.com is great (the second half is a bit too much of a six-degrees-of-separation game to associate Facebook.com with the CIA). What’s particularly interesting is that, when Facebook.com is discussed in the press, there is rarely any [...]

Estonia is running online elections, where anyone with a national ID card and Internet Explorer can vote online. As usual, the article forgets to mention the single biggest issue with remote voting, whether online or by mail: voter coercion. The point of supervised voting—i.e. voting in a controlled location, inside a private voting booth—is to [...]