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From checking in at a polling place on a tablet to registering to vote by smartphone to using an electronic voting machine to cast a ballot, computers have become an increasingly common part of voting in America.
But the underlying technology behind some of those processes is often a black box. Private companies, not state or local governments, develop and maintain most of the software and hardware that keep democracy chugging along. That has kept journalists, academics and even lawmakers from speaking with certainty about election security.
In an effort to improve confidence in elections, Microsoft announced Monday that it is releasing an open-source software development kit called ElectionGuard that will use encryption techniques to let voters know when their vote is counted. It will also allow election officials and third parties to verify election results to make sure there was no interference with the results.
"It's very much like the cybersecurity version of a tamper-proof bottle," said Tom Burt, Microsoft's vice president of customer security and trust, in an interview with NPR. "Tamper-proof bottles don't prevent any hack of the contents of the bottle, but it makes it makes it harder, and it definitely reveals when the tampering has occurred."
Developed with the computer science company Galois, the kit will be available free of charge for election technology vendors to incorporate into their voting systems.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by fustakrakich on Tuesday May 07 2019, @08:07PM (6 children)
Ok, you understand the black box better than most. but that's my point, voting needs to be verifiable by unskilled labor to be trustworthy. I'm fine with using both electronic and paper, complimentary is okay, but paper must always be in the equation. Without it, all the electronics is nothing but magic, even the open stuff. It can never be as transparent as chicken scratch on papyrus.
Entrenched political influence is the real threat.
Who is more able to meddle with the machines, totally unseen? Paper has to be physically moved and destroyed, that's much easier to detect, with a simple infrared camera and a recorder. The risk of getting caught is much higher with paper.
For me it's too simple, gotta show papers. I can't prove my vote is counted any other way. It's not too much to ask. All the objections only make me suspicious.
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 2) by sshelton76 on Tuesday May 07 2019, @08:32PM (1 child)
Well read my example in the posting above this and give me some feedback please.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Tuesday May 07 2019, @10:18PM
Well, I thought I did. The computers are welcome, but only along with the paper. Even the best technical explanations are going to fall on deaf ears for those who don't understand computers. It's all mysticism. And I'm still not convinced of their integrity either. Too many interested players making the machine and writing the code. And there's a lot of pasta on the walls. Best if we keep it simple for all our benefits.
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday May 07 2019, @10:55PM (3 children)
Is, wow, somebody changed his mind on S/N. We are doomed, the end of world is near.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Tuesday May 07 2019, @11:27PM (2 children)
What change? I still want a paper printout. And that is what has to be counted to make the results official.
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 3, Funny) by c0lo on Tuesday May 07 2019, @11:35PM (1 child)
You no longer require that the pen and paper is the only way to go and you accept that the pen can be a technological implement as complex as a computer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Tuesday May 07 2019, @11:42PM
OMG! That's hilarious! Most excellent!
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..