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Indian Electronic Voting Researcher Arrested

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Re: Indian Electronic Voting Researcher Arrested

#3

Post by senthilnayagam »

very unfortunate to arrest the researcher.

Indian election commission ideally should open source the hardware design and the software, and let there be debate on how to make the system foolproof.

but going back to paper vote should not be a option, we have enough backward thinking regional parties who are opposed to gender equality, education and technology

Re: Indian Electronic Voting Researcher Arrested

#4

Post by motters »

Once again a demonstration that if such voting machines are to be used with any confidence then their hardware and software design needs to be open source for independent inspection. With closed source electronic voting the industrialization of election fraud becomes possible, and where it's possible a few individuals with power or money at stake will seek to exploit the vulnerabilities.

Re: Indian Electronic Voting Researcher Arrested

#5

Post by jacquesm »

Rop Gongrijp is the guy behind wijvertrouwenstemcomputersniet.nl and was instrumental in getting the Dutch government to abandon electronic voting and use the famous red pencil again.

He's also one of the co-founders of xs4all.nl, one of the first ISP in the netherlands.

Great quote right there from the Chief Election Commisioner: "are practically totally tamper proof.", so, effectively he's actually admitting they're broken.

You can't be 'practically' tamper proof, you're tamper proof or you're not, just like you can't be a little bit pregnant or slightly dead.

If they set up a defense fund I'll definitely contribute.

This is a just cause, India is the largest democracy on earth, they're an example for the whole region.

Re: Indian Electronic Voting Researcher Arrested

#6

Post by todayiamme »

The most unfortunate thing is that the machines won't be replaced before crucial elections. If they are ever replaced at all. It's in the interest of the political parties to let them continue and the executive branch of the government is too myopic to deal with something like this. Their documents think that it's the greatest machine on Earth (I kid you not) and others are begging a piece of their action. The judiciary in the other hand is already bogged down and it will be many years before the higher courts hear this case and several years for the deliberation to come out.

What alarms me is that this is a country where parliamentary votes can be bagged for money (see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cash-for-votes_scandal ) and politicians try to buy the people through thinly veiled bribes. What happens if you remove the last pillars of belief in the system? The ballot has been sacred ground in India and it has been a symbol that everything can be fixed. What happens if you take that away?

Re: Indian Electronic Voting Researcher Arrested

#7

Post by jacquesm »

senthilnayagam wrote: post #3

very unfortunate to arrest the researcher. Indian election commission ideally should open source the hardware design and the software, and let there be debate on how to make the system foolproof. but going back to paper vote should not be a option, we have enough backward thinking regional parties who are opposed to gender equality, education and technology

They should have thought this one through a bit better. A fair number of people will take a refusal to strengthen the system as proof that the system is already being tampered with. That may or may not be the case but the head of the election committee should be happy that outsiders are showing the flaws, not arrest them. After all everybody benefits from a solid system, right?

This is also going to draw a lot of international scrutiny.

Re: Indian Electronic Voting Researcher Arrested

#8

Post by desigooner »

jacquesm wrote: post #7
senthilnayagam wrote: post #3

very unfortunate to arrest the researcher. Indian election commission ideally should open source the hardware design and the software, and let there be debate on how to make the system foolproof. but going back to paper vote should not be a option, we have enough backward thinking regional parties who are opposed to gender equality, education and technology

They should have thought this one through a bit better. A fair number of people will take a refusal to strengthen the system as proof that the system is already being tampered with. That may or may not be the case but the head of the election committee should be happy that outsiders are showing the flaws, not arrest them. After all everybody benefits from a solid system, right? This is also going to draw a lot of int…

Actually, I hope this one draws a lot of international scrutiny.

Unfortunately, the way things work in India, there's way too much bureaucracy with these sort of things and a bunch of old people running the show who are very much resistant to change (not to mention the potential $$$). Unless the matter is really played up by the media (which in itself is another animal to be wary of), this would have gone through without a question. With the public outcry and the coverage of this arrest, there might be Public Litigations coming in which can atleast halt the process and get due diligence.

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