Electronic Voting

In the business of security and insecurity you realize that there is as much space between them as a sheet of paper. After the last presidential election people thought that using computers would make elections better, but serious problems have arose and are mentioned in the current Times editorial page. A good electronic voting system would have to include an auditable paper trail that cannot be tampered with and could be verified by the voter. European countries still just use plain old paper and boxes. No hanging chads, and no clever crackers to worry about. In fact, much of the open source and hacker community has serious doubts about computer voting.

Americans have a particular affinity for technology. We think we can solve any problem with machines. Our present-day love affair with computers actually goes back to Article I, Section 9 of the original Constitution, which mandated a census every ten years, a task which led to the development of the modern IBM Corporation, which predates electronic computers by six decades. We are a peculiar society.

There is much excitement about Howard Dean among the well-educated and people who do things with computers, much like I am now, but after two straight losses it would seem that we are still a somewhat mass market world and are looking for something to pull us together. The only problem is that we all know which politician said "I'm a uniter, not a divider". People did buy that.

The Internet divides as much as it unifies, and might be the perfect mechanism for the kind of dirty tricks a certain incumbent will unleash on an unsuspecting public.

Today some telephone transcripts made the news from one of the 9/11 aircraft. A reminder...

"When a man becomes a fireman his act of bravery has already been accomplished, what he does after that is all in the line of work.
Firemen do not regard themselves as heroes because they do what the business requires."

Edward Crocker, Chief of Department, FDNY 1899-1911
http://www.nytimes.com/library/national/091101rescuers.html

Are you doing "what the business requires" in your life? Never trust anyone who regards themself as a hero. Or who wears flight suits for fun.

Weapons of Mass Confusion

I am, as you know, in the business of security and insecurity. Insecurity is a big business now because it makes people buy security. Fear isn't just an emotion or a weapon. It is also a marketing plan.

The Times today had a good Op Ed on how we here in America don't translate allah as god, but as allah, so we tend to create a separation between one set of monotheisms and another. We even translate the from the Arabic the phrase "there is no god but God" as "there is no god but Allah", a nice trick if you can get away with it, but also a weapon of mass confusion.

As one of the theistically challenged, I distrust all expressions of the divine. (I met Divine, actually, when he/she was in "Women Behind Bars".) Nevertheless, you have to communicate clearly, which we don't when looking at our own questions of fear and loathing.

Welcome to my blog. To those of you who know me, I am who I am. To those of you who don't, I am Jiri Auric Goldfinger, sole proprietor of Reculver Ltd., a company specializing in security or insecurity, whichever pays better at the time.

For those who know me, this blog will be, for the most part, about how computers influence the practice of communication, but then there might be some stuff on weapons of mass confusion, security, higher miseducation and poor airline food.