Machine politics

Wired news has a section dedicated to the trials and tribulations of e-voting and the attempts to upgrade the US ballot system.

The problems that are continually found with voting systems are really depressing. If getting something as seemingly simple as casting a ballot to work reliably and securely after throwing untold millions of dollars at the problem, there are only two possible explanations for this: a) The companies tasked with solving these problems are staffed with nitwits; or, b) It’s a very difficult problem.

If the problems stem from option a, somebody obviously needs to be fired and an investigation into how Nimrod, Inc. got the contract needs to be instigated, and pronto.

If, however, the problems stem from option b, that is much more troublesome. If a clearly defined task like counting ballots can’t be secured, what is really going on with your personal information? Your credit card is on the internet, your medical records are out there in the data soup, your spending habits are online, and some of your bills are sitting in computers attached to the internet. How many breaches are there? What is happening with your personal information? Should the systems in place be trusted at all?