[pp.int.general] Online voting versus online discussion

[Thomas Bruderer]

On 12/11/2012 04:46 AM, Richard Stallman wrote:
>      We are very aware of the possibilities and dangers e-Voting gives us.
>      But the strong opposition is not a good idea. e-Voting will come, or has
>      alread come (It is already widley used in switzerland by the state).
>
> That is not a reason, that is a self-fulfilling prophesy.

Yes and some of us are living in the real world, and try to solve real 
problems.

>      e-Voting, if it is done right is more secure than any paper based voting
>      without encryption could ever be.
>
> Nobody knows whether this is possible.  If it isn't possible,
> then your self-fulfilling prophesy amounts to defeatism.
>
The question is not as simple as you try to make it.

a.) what are the attack vectors against paper ballots? What are their 
risks, likelihood and impact.

b.) What would be the attack vectors against an end-to-end auditable 
voting system? What are their risks, likelihood and impact.

Just because paper was used for centuries and we accepted their problems 
does not mean that they are not there. There are problems in paper based 
votings which are solvable with e-Voting, this is a fact. They have 
other problems as you pointed out, but IMHO those are solvable with 
enough effort.

Democracy is not the way you vote, it is the acceptance of the results 
from it - trust is the most important part to have widely accepted 
decisions - I opt for the best solution for voting which we can have.

And even if you want to have the paper trail, cryptographic methods can 
actually help you to achieve things which simpley were not possible 
before. As Chaum's visual cryptography proposal.

As pirates we embrace the technological progress - it is a bit 
short-sighted if we would say: there cannot be technological progress in 
voting. Lets keep an open mind, cryptography has done great things over 
the past decades. Why should we be able to make secure bank transfers, 
but not secure voting?

Kind Regards,
Thomas