Voting Games
To my knowledge India is the only country in the world that uses electronic voting machines (EVM). While this is undoubtedly an achievement in that the entire voting process seems to have become more streamlined and hassle free, I would suggest that much study is required to ensure that the system cannot be subverted. An important indicator of the urgency for this study is the fact that no other democracy in the Western world uses EVM's, and they all rely solely on the familiar paper and stamp method. While paper based votes can be subject to localized fraud, EVM fraud can be all pervasive with minimum chance of detection; this calls for urgent and comprehensive study into the security of these machines, in the open domain, given that the fallout of a break in the system cannot be underestimated in the volatile climate of Indian politics.
The machines are made by two public sector undertakings -- Bharat Electronics Limited, Bangalore, and Electronic Corporation of India Ltd, Hyderabad, not entirely free of governmental control. This is not to suggest that the dangers of large scale tampering are not present in case a private company is commissioned, as they may have their own vested interests ; in either case fears of a co ordinated fraud starting at the manufacturing stage of the EVM's themselves are ever present. Politicians and governments the world over, have not been know to be entirely honest in their dealing (sic) either with their citizens or in their dealings with ( and for ) corporates.
This article in The Telegraph outlines some basic attacks that are easy even for the layman to comprehend.
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Sriram, I think the moot
Sriram,
I think the moot point is whether EVMs are safer than the ordinary bllot based voting process.
While I have to agree that EVMs have their own loopholes, I do not see how they are any less safe than ballots. While your article and the article in The Telegraph describe how EVMs are unsafe (can be manipulated), they do not give a comparison between the relative safety of ballots vis a vis EVMs.
Considering the other advantages of EVMs, don't you think they make for a better option than ballots?
Comparisons between EVM's and Paper Ballots
A paper ballot can be compromised in individual locations.
An EVM system can "potentially" be compromised globally.
That said, I agree with you that we need more study. If you notice I highlight this fact in a sense -- that no such study has been done into the security of EVM's by a third party, and as you bring out, a comparitive study which can only happen once the former happens.
>While I have to agree that EVMs have their own loopholes, I do not >see how they are any less safe than ballots
Sriramkrishnan Srinivasan
essential but a bit far-fetched
obviously, using EVMs brings with it a whole new world of security related issues.. as is the case with any technology.. it makes things easier for both the 'law enforcers' and the 'law breakers'...
but tampering at the manufacturing stage is a bit too far-fetched...
a.) at the manufacturing stage, you dont know which EVM is going to be used and which is not (there are a lot of spares always)
b.) you dont know which EVM is going to which poll booth
c.) who are the candidates in that polling booth and so on and so forth...
study of all concerns is needed and essential so that the 'law enforcers' can try to be one step ahead of the 'law breakers' but being paranoid at this stage is probably unnecessary... so 'fears of a co ordinated fraud starting at the manufacturing stage of the EVM's themselves' is unfounded...
I would say that your
I would say that your confidence in the system is misplaced. Security Technology today is advanced enough to propogate many attacks which are well out of the realm of common guesss. That a rootkit cannot be installed at the manufacturing stage ( and that the attack cannot be backed up on the ground ) to sabotage an EVM is an example of such misplaced confidence.
We sometimes place trust in products, based on our notions of "can" and "cannot do". Have you been reading about Sony's rootkits on their media off late. No one thought that a company like Sony would install rootkits on their products, or that they would actually collect such inforamtion. But they did..
The problem becomes more imminent once these machines get networked.
Rather than arguing the technical details, I only point at the fact that NO other democracy uses EVM's. Does it not seem odd that countries like the US and the UK that do practically everything on the net or electronically, do not use EVM's ??
Perhaps there is a lesson in this to be learnt. This is one of weighing pro's and cons. I believe that the pro's of EVM's do not outweight the potential cons -- or at least they do not given that a comprehensive study in the open domain has not been carried out.
Reply
Hey, factual question:
i remember something about Florida using/planning to use EVM's for the last presidential election. There was a a huge debate about it - but as I remember they went ahead with it - not sure of all this. just giving u fodder. lol.
Florida Scandal
Thanks for your input. You are right about the Florida elections and as you point out, there was a huge debate. A google search will point you in the direction of the numerous conspiracy theories around the Florida EVM's.
The point to be noted in India is large scale deployment of a voting technology, that is not proven secure and there is little study around it in the open domain to make it secure.
Given India's unique circumstances, EVM's will no doubt solve the immediate problems we have. Caution is warrented so as not to set the ground for larger problems in the future.
Sriramkrishnan Srinivasan