NNSquad - Network Neutrality Squad
[ NNSquad ] Smartphones for voting? Give me a break!
Smartphones for voting? Give me a break!
http://j.mp/pCJWpO (This message on Google+)
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(Is Smartphone Technology the Future of US Elections?)
http://j.mp/nFI1Zg (Science Daily)
"The authors note some potential benefits of implementing smartphone
technology for voters: "Mobile voting carries the potential to
increase voter participation, reduce election administration costs,
and allow voters to interact with familiar technology. In the near
term, remote voting should not be considered a viable option for
elections. Over the long term, however, with the support of the human
factors/ergonomics and computer science communities, mobile voting can
be a viable -- and desirable -- means of conducting elections."
Congress has given preliminary approval for remote electronic voting
to replace slow and unreliable postal ballots for U.S. soldiers
stationed overseas. "As a result," say the authors, "some form of
Internet voting seems inevitable, and it follows then that smartphones
and other Internet-capable mobile technologies will likely play a key
role.""
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The, uh, problem with this optimistic viewpoint is that the computer
science community, by no means limited to my colleague Peter G.
Neumann, myself, and many others who have explored this area,
consistently has demonstrated that electronic voting not only cannot
be trusted, but that no clear path to trusting it while preserving the
required factor of anonymity is apparent. Exploring the user
interface advantages of smartphones vis-a-vis standard Web-based
systems in this particular context is like worrying about what color
you're going to paint a nuclear bomb.
--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein (lauren@vortex.com): http://www.vortex.com/lauren
Co-Founder: People For Internet Responsibility: http://www.pfir.org
Founder:
- Network Neutrality Squad: http://www.nnsquad.org
- Global Coalition for Transparent Internet Performance: http://www.gctip.org
- PRIVACY Forum: http://www.vortex.com
Member: ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com
Google+: http://vortex.com/g+lauren
Twitter: https://twitter.com/laurenweinstein
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800 / Skype: vortex.com