Electronic voting: Free Software and transparency are not enough

[ Thanks to An Anonymous Reader for this link. ]

"The report also argues that open source software offers little transparency because the visibility of the code means nothing to the untutored eye, and is an example of "security through obscurity" making the contentious assertion that "taking a proprietary software product and disclosing its full source code to the general public will result in a complete forfeiture of the software's security." If that is indeed the case then the code isn't good enough for voting purposes.

"The report misunderstands the differences between patents, copyright and trade secrets and how they affect free and open source software, and makes a grand and inappropriate gesture by proposing that if the US government were to mandate the disclosure of the code used by current voting machines this "would open the possibility of a government taking in violation of the United States Constitution. The Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution prohibits the taking of private property without just compensation," suggesting that disclosure of the code (and any faults in the code) that is used to register votes would be a violation of citizens' rights."

Complete Story

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