[Voterescue] HCPB vs Open Source

[Chuck Young]

On Monday 21 January 2008 14:53, Jerry Lobdill wrote:
> There are many who are happy to have votes recorded/tallied by computers.
> Open source code is not enough. There must be a way to know that the
> compiled code in the machines was compiled from that (unaltered) source code
> in each and every machine. That's not a simple matter. There is no practical
> way to make computer voting acceptable IMO.    
>
I agree.

The recording and tabulation of votes, and the chain of custody connecting all 
components of the process, must be 100% transparent to *everyone*, not just 
those with IT expertise.  My mom, who can barely send an email, needs to be 
able to follow the whole system every step of the way.  So should any one 
with a rudimentary (read, write, add, substract) level of literacy.

Raising the bar on transparency to exclude any but those with C.S. degrees who 
can source dive (as if that's all that's involved - talk to some folks at NSA 
about what real "security" means...) is always going to lead right back to 
square one - because so called "experts" will be relentlessly paraded by TPTB 
to justify their ongoing attempts to control the technocracy.  Software 
patents will be issued and used as leverage in the debate.  The jargon will 
fly.  The media will duly and unquestioningly "report" both "sides" in a 
"neutral" manner.  And the activist community will bang their heads against 
the wall year in and year out.

There are other reasons for HCPB - shorter lines, and yes, lower costs.  But 
breadth and depth of transparency, coupled with the practical strategic 
reality that as long as there is a machine in the polling booth it will be a 
very short step to massive fraud, should be enough to shut down this 
interminable debate.

However, I'm not counting on it ending, ever, as technophile stakeholders will 
relentlessly champion their solution.  Meanwhile, they can't even deal with 
RIAA fascism, "Trusted Computing", software patents, and all the other 
corporate/statist bogeymen that have been dogging the open source community 
for over a decade.

cy