[LINK] [UK] Call for e-voting to be scrapped amid security fears

Craig Sanders cas at taz.net.au
Wed Jun 27 07:12:17 AEST 2007


On Tue, Jun 26, 2007 at 07:43:01PM +1000, Rick Welykochy wrote:
> Really, this kind of IT service is not even as complicated as writing a
> business accounting package. This stuff is very easy to get right ...
> especially the security, audit trail and display integrity. One would have
> to go out of their way to make a system perform as badly as described,
> or one would have to be grossly incompetent, .... or one particular
> operating system and its attendant mindset and quality ethic (or lack
> thereof) come to mind.

i hate to sound like i'm in any way in favour of e-voting (i'm not), but
that's not actually true.

accounting packages don't get anything like the usage pattern of
e-voting software (typically no use at all for ages, then millions of
short term users in a <12 hour period).

this makes it very difficult to test the software under real-usage
conditions....and it's the kind of thing that you only get one chance to
get right (election day itself).  you can't run it again if it screws up.





disclaimer: i used to work for a year as sysadmin for a company (here in
Melbourne) that does e-voting software (on linux), and has won several
contracts with the British government. i have no idea if their system
was one of the problematic ones, but i do know that they were involved
in the recent UK e-voting trials.

they are, however, quite competent, and quite clued up. and have put a
lot of effort into security and audit trails (their system is set up
such that even they can't tamper with the results). their software is
good.

even considering the quality of their system and the integrity of the
people in the company, i'm still very much against e-voting. the risks
are too great, and the benefits too trivial....at least for government
elections (their system is also used for union ballots and shareholder
votes etc).

craig

-- 
craig sanders <cas at taz.net.au>



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