November 2000 - cypherpunks-legacy

CDR: Close Elections and Causality
by Tim May 15 Nov '00

15 Nov '00

* In a close, nearly-tied election, should a re-vote be allowed? * In a close sports game, should all potential "fork" decisions (referee calls) be reviewed and the game rolled-back...even hours later? Should critical plays be re-played the next day? * Did the woman who voted at 9 a.m. but whose vote was counted at the _end_ of the final count, and whose vote seemingly "caused" one candidate to win and another to lose _actually_ "cause" the outcome? * Did Oregon, for example, whose votes were counted last and whose votes put a candidate over the top actually "cause" the outcome? First, a few words about causality. Most people think they know about cause-and-effect. The earth turns, and this "causes" the sun to rise. A rooster crows, but this is _not_ the cause of the sun coming up...so we know from modern science. But how about this example: a golfer is about to be defeated in a tournament. He hits his ball, it appears to be going wide, then it hits a tree branch and bounces toward the hole. It goes in. The golfer wins. It turns out (pointed out by Patrick Suppes 30 years ago in one of his textbooks) that nearly every person will say something like "The tree branch _caused_ him to win." That is, the tree branch is seen as an intervening agent which altered history. The weird thing is that a ball bouncing off a tree branch is quite clearly a _scattering_ event. In our crypto and information theory terms, we would say it "increases entropy," it randomizes the outcome. The fact that sometimes the randomization or scattering works to the benefit of one player does not mean much about "causation." How this relates to voting: In close elections, as in close sports games, as in the golf example, there will be many events which are later claimed to be "hinge points," or forks. -- Someone will say that a highway being closed prevented them from getting to the polling place in time, and that there additional vote "would have made the difference." They want a re-vote. -- Someone who voted at 9 a.m. will be characterized as having "caused" the outcome to be as it was...which is an obvious misuse of "causation" (just by the basic ontology that her vote at 9 a.m. could not have "caused" other votes to be as they were). -- The most commonly heard version of this "causation fallacy" is the usual stuff about how "Oregon made the difference. The voters in Oregon caused Al Gore to win." Do the mental experiment of assuming votes were tallied in the _other direction_, with votes on the West Coast counted and reported _before_ votes to the east. Then the comments would be about how "Rhode Island made the difference...the voters in Rhode Island caused Al Gore to be elected." Again, a misuse of the term "causation." Ironically, the book I recommended several weeks ago, Judea Pearl's "Causality," is very apropos here. It _caused_ me to better understand these points. OK, how about re-votes? Many are calling for a re-vote in Palm County, Florida. Various issues are cited, and the "voters in Palm County will make the difference" point is heard often. "The vote in Florida will cause one or the other of the candidate to win." "The outcome hinges on the vote in Palm County." First off, the points above, about causality and who gets counted last, apply. Second, at the time of the "approximately simultaneous" vote on Tuesday, no particular state, no particular county, and no particular precinct had any way of "knowing" that it would be a hinge site. Thus, some people didn't bother to vote, some were careless in reading the ballot instructions, some just made random marks, some were drunk, all of the usual stuff happening in polling places across the country. This despite the estimated $3 billion spent on wooing voters. Deciding that one of those states or one of those counties was "decisive" (caused the outcome, was a hinge point, etc.) and thus should be given a chance to hold a new vote, has numerous implications for fairness: * instead of being just another voter, just another voting site, the N residents will now have the weight of the entire election outcome on their shoulders * intensive lobbying for votes will occur, far beyond the original lobbying (when I say "far beyond" I mean by several orders of magnitude...it might be that all residents would have to be sequestered from the time of the announcement of a re-vote to the actual re-vote just to ensure that bribes are not offered, etc.). * the claims by some that people would simply "repeat their votes, except without the confusing ballot issue" are naive. Sensing their new role as determiners of the outcome, many would change their original votes (And of course there would be no way of knowing if someone had changed their vote, for obvious reasons that ballots are not linkable to the voter.) * and there are the points about the ballot raised earlier: the ballot had been used before, there were no legal challenges made, the voting commission was led by a Democrat who had approved the ballot, the ballot was published in newspapers, etc. In summary, close elections and close sports games often seemingly depend on minor factors. These minor factors are, paradoxically and incorrectly, ascribed to be the "causes" of later events. Lastly, allowing a re-vote when the hinge points have already been identified is a serious distortion of the process. Rules are rules. The time to object is beforehand. Unless extremely serious voter fraud is found, results should not be thrown out when those results are in accordance with the rules. In no cases should a re-vote of a "hinge county" be allowed for less-than-massive-fraud reasons. And, of course, Palm County will _not_ be given a second chance to vote in this election. I guarantee it. --Tim May -- ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, ComSec 3DES: 831-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, "Cyphernomicon" | black markets, collapse of governments.

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CDR: Wired article on Jim Bell, links to search warrant and photo
by Declan McCullagh 15 Nov '00

15 Nov '00

http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,40102,00.html IRS Raids Cypherpunk's House by Declan McCullagh (declan(a)wired.com) 2:00 a.m. Nov. 11, 2000 PST WASHINGTON -- When a dozen armed federal agents invaded Jim Bell's home this week, he wasn't exactly surprised. Ever since Bell, a cypherpunk whom the U.S. government has dubbed a techno-terrorist, was released from prison in April, he's predicted another confrontation with the Feds. "They're basically trying to harass me," Bell said in a telephone interview. He has not been arrested or charged with a crime. In 1996, Bell attracted the unwelcome attention of the IRS and the U.S. Secret Service after they learned he was talking up a plan to promote the assassination of miscreant bureaucrats through an unholy mix of encryption, anonymity and digital cash. Bell even gave his scheme a catchy title: "Assassination Politics." Four years, three arrests and one plea-bargain later, Bell was released from the medium-security federal penitentiary in Phoenix, Arizona. Since then, he's been busy trying to prove allegations of illegal surveillance on the part of the Feds, including his charge that they unlawfully bugged his home. For Bell, that meant spending the last six months compiling personal information about IRS and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms agents, a move that appears to have led to the six-hour search of his home in Vancouver, Washington. Government offices were closed on Friday, and representatives were unavailable for comment. But the agents' search warrant cites "evidence of violations" of a federal law that prohibits intimidation of IRS agents. [...] *********** I've included links to the original documents in this article: http://www.cluebot.com/article.pl?sid=00/11/11/101218&mode=nested Feds Raid Cypherpunk Jim Bell posted by declan on Saturday November 11, @05:58AM from the now-who-saw-this-coming? dept. Crypto-convict Jim Bell, best known for popularizing the idea of offing Feds through anonymity, encryption, and digital cash, was raided this week by the IRS and BATF. He has not been arrested and is irate, vengeful, and computer-less, but otherwise fine. This happened just half a year after he was released from prison. We've placed JPGs online of the search warrant, vehicle search warrant, justification, and list of items taken. Note the justification includes items related to his "Assassination Politics" scheme. We also offer some background and a surprisingly flattering color slide photo I took of Bell. ********* Photo: http://www.mccullagh.org/image/9/jim-bell-3.html

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CDR: Fwd: Second Site
by ellie900＠usa.com 15 Nov '00

15 Nov '00

YET ANOTHER CHANGE!! PLEASE TAKE A MOMENT TO CHECK OUT THE IMPROVEMENTS http://3638141293/36/1059436/newflash.htm

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CDR: Invitation
by customercare＠net21.com.sg 15 Nov '00

15 Nov '00

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None
by morris 15 Nov '00

15 Nov '00

i hate you

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CDR: November DoveBid News
by News＠DoveBid.com 14 Nov '00

14 Nov '00

DoveBid News Business Auctions Worldwide 11/15/00 http://www.dovebid.com Dear DoveBid Colleagues, Thank you for the feedback you provided to last month's newsletter. Your thoughts about DoveBid are very valuable to us. You can help ensure this monthly newsletter continues to keeps you abreast of the DoveBid services that are most valuable to you by providing us with feedback at mailto:news@dovebid.com. Ross Dove Chief Executive Officer DoveBid Inc. ================================================ DOVEBID NEWS CONTENTS 1. FINANCIAL SOLUTIONS THROUGH DOVEBID ALLIANCES 2. LIVE AND WEBCAST AUCTIONS AND LIQUIDATIONS - MARK YOUR CALENDAR FOR THESE UPCOMING EVENTS 3. FEATURED ONLINE AUCTIONS - BID NOW IN THESE ONLINE AUCTIONS 4. DOVEBID IN THE NEWS - DoveBid profiled as a HotDot Internet Award 2000 Winner 5. COMPANY PRESS RELEASES 6. SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS 7. FEEDBACK AND REMOVAL INSTRUCTIONS ================================================ FINANCIAL SOLUTIONS DoveBid believes that transaction support services are an integral element of our marketplace. In order to enhance the DoveBid customer experience, we have formed strategic alliances with industry leading service providers to offer buyers access to a variety of financial-related solutions, including financing, warranties and credit reports. FINANCING DoveBid has established relationships with LENDX and SierraCities, Inc., some of the world's largest asset-backed lenders. These lenders have financed the purchase of thousands of assets through auctions. In many cases, these financial service providers can provide instant access to needed capital required to make asset purchases. LENDX As a one-stop financing solution for the $233 billion corporate equipment finance market, the LENDX Exchange offers a simple to use yet powerful online equipment financing exchange, along with value-added information and services for both lenders/lessors and corporate borrowers/lessees. LENDX works closely with medium and large-sized lessees seeking at least $1 million annually in equipment financing and with the lessors who serve their needs. SierraCities Inc. SierraCites.com has created an end-to-end automated credit engine that is paperless, speedy and built specifically for fulfilling & settling on-line transactions. With terms ranging from 12-72 months and customer payment structures, SierraCities has the ability to satisfy any financing need. SierraCities' on-line format will accommodate transactions under $100,000 in a matter of minutes. WARRANTIES For peace of mind when buying an asset, purchase an extended service plan from WarrantyNow,Inc. 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For more information on DoveBid's Financial Solutions and other transaction support services, please visit our website at http://www.dovebid.com/company/serv_transaction.asp#finance, contact our Customer Care group at mailto: CustomerCare(a)dovebid.com or call (800) 665-1042. ========================================== LIVE AND WEBCAST AUCTIONS Cannon Valley Woodworking, Inc.--------------11/16/00, Kokomo, IN, USA http://www.dovebid.com/Auctions/AuctionDetail.asp?auctionID=315 Woodworking Machinery & Equipment Circuitos Internacionales-------------------------11/16/00, Hermosillo, Sonora C.P., Mexico http://www.dovebid.com/Auctions/AuctionDetail.asp?auctionID=290 Printed Circuit Board Manufacturing Facility Keppell Prince Engineering Pty Ltd.-----------11/17/00, Portland, Vic., Australia http://www.dovebid.com/Auctions/AuctionDetail.asp?auctionID=331 General Engineering Fourair Industries--------------------------------11/21/00, Keon Park, Vic. 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Ltd.------------------11/28/00, Melbourne Australia and Webcast Simulcast Locations http://www.dovebid.com/Auctions/AuctionDetail.asp?auctionID=312 Road Making and Earthmoving Plant and Equipment Dav Con Steel Processing Corp.------------------11/29/00, Gary, IN, USA http://www.dovebid.com/Auctions/AuctionDetail.asp?auctionID=316 Steel Shot Blast Machines, Draw Benches, Straighteners and Shears Lockheed Martin Corporation---------------------11/29/00, Pocatello, ID, USA http://www.dovebid.com/Auctions/AuctionDetail.asp?auctionID=227 Environmental Soil Reclamation Facility NEC Computers, Inc.--------------------------------11/29/00, Sacramento, CA, USA http://www.dovebid.com/Auctions/AuctionDetail.asp?auctionID=327 Computers/Peripherals & Data Processing, Electronic Commodities Kilmartin Industries-------------------------------11/30/00, Attleboro, MA, USA http://www.dovebid.com/Auctions/AuctionDetail.asp?auctionID=238 Coining Presses Ballarat East Gold Mine--------------------------12/5/00, Ballarat, Vic., Australia http://www.dovebid.com/Auctions/AuctionDetail.asp?auctionID=333 Gold Mining Plant and Equipment McPherson Broach & Machine Company---------------12/5/00, Warren, MI, USA http://www.dovebid.com/Auctions/AuctionDetail.asp?auctionID=349 Broach Grinding Equipment Arrowsmith International, Inc. & NUMACO---------12/6/00, Southfield, MI, USA http://www.dovebid.com/Auctions/AuctionDetail.asp?auctionID=242 Tool & Die Manufacturing Facility Covington Industries----------------------------------12/6/00, Opp, AL, USA http://www.dovebid.com/Auctions/AuctionDetail.asp?auctionID=353 Sewing Machines Annex Pattern Co.---------------------------------------12/7/00, Southfield, MI, USA http://www.dovebid.com/Auctions/AuctionDetail.asp?auctionID=345 Metalworking & Machine Tools Comdisco Telecom-------------------------------------12/7/00, Schaumburg, IL, USA http://www.dovebid.com/Auctions/AuctionDetail.asp?auctionID=310 Telecommunications Palm GmbH, Clemens Palm----------------------------------------12/12/00, Utze, Germany http://www.dovebid.com/Auctions/AuctionDetail.asp?auctionID=339 Machine Shops A.M.A. Fabrication and Steel, Inc.-----------------------------12/12/00, Toledo, OH, USA http://www.dovebid.com/Auctions/AuctionDetail.asp?auctionID=351 Fabricating Equipment Huckins Tool & Die Co., Inc.--------------------------------12/12/00, South Bend, IN, USA http://www.dovebid.com/Auctions/AuctionDetail.asp?auctionID=350 CNC and Manual Metalworking Equipment PMC Fords Specialty------------------------------------------12/12/00, Fords, NJ, USA http://www.dovebid.com/Auctions/AuctionDetail.asp?auctionID=328 Chemical Processing Equipment Retool Machine Co.---------------------------------------12/13/00, Sterling Heights, MI, USA http://www.dovebid.com/Auctions/AuctionDetail.asp?auctionID=329 Toolroom Equipment Capral Aluminium Limited-------------------------------3/13/01, Granville, New South Wales, Australia http://www.dovebid.com/Auctions/AuctionDetail.asp?auctionID=354 General Engineering, Mobile Plant, Office Furniture =================================================== LIQUIDATIONS Alpha Bolt-------------------------------------------- Detroit, MI, USA http://www.dovebid.com/Auctions/AuctionDetail.asp?auctionID=145 Forging Equipment Applied Machine Technology, Inc.------------------Middletown, OH, USA http://www.dovebid.com/Auctions/AuctionDetail.asp?auctionID=244 CNCd Vertical Boring Mill Corus (Hoogovens)-----------------------------------Ijmuiden, The Netherlands http://www.dovebid.com/Auctions/AuctionDetail.asp?auctionID=344 Machine Tools Custom Manufacturing & Engineering-----------St. Petersburg, FL, USA http://www.dovebid.com/Auctions/AuctionDetail.asp?auctionID=217 Aerospace CNC & Toolroom Equipment FOCUS: Hope---------------------------------------- Detroit, MI, USA http://www.dovebid.com/Auctions/AuctionDetail.asp?auctionID=148 Parts Washer Jagenberg Maschinenbau GmbH & Co. KG---------Neuss, Germany http://www.dovebid.com/Auctions/AuctionDetail.asp?auctionID=268 Machine Tools Lockheed Martin Corporation--------------------------Pocatello, ID, USA http://www.dovebid.com/Auctions/AuctionDetail.asp?auctionID=231 Environmental Soil Reclamation Facility Magnebit Infosystems Inc.--------------------------------Ontario, Canada http://www.dovebid.com/Auctions/AuctionDetail.asp?auctionID=251 Floppy Disk Manufacturer OREAD, Inc.------------------------------------------Brisbane, CA, USA http://www.dovebid.com/Auctions/AuctionDetail.asp?auctionID=254 Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Equipment Phister & Vogel Division of United States Leather, Inc.-----Milwaukee, WI, USA http://www.dovebid.com/Auctions/AuctionDetail.asp?auctionID=266 Leather Tannery Ring Technologies---------------------------------Warren, MI, USA http://www.dovebid.com/Auctions/AuctionDetail.asp?auctionID=255 CNC Coordinate Measuring Machines Rolls Royce, Queens Eng. 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Engineering S.r.l.---------------------- Brescia, Italy http://www.dovebid.com/Auctions/AuctionDetail.asp?auctionID=275 CNC Lathe with Grinding Head Steunebrink Loon-en Transportbedrijf--------------Eelde, The Netherlands http://www.dovebid.com/Auctions/AuctionDetail.asp?auctionID=343 Divers Agricultural Machinery The Boeing Company--------------------------------Philadelphia, PA, USA http://www.dovebid.com/Auctions/AuctionDetail.asp?auctionID=73 Band Saw & Vacuum Blast Shot Peen System The Boeing Company Military Aircraft & Missile Systems Group-----St. Louis, MO, USA http://www.dovebid.com/Auctions/AuctionDetail.asp?auctionID=174 New CNC Gantry Mill & Other Machine Tools Ultrafem-------------------------------------------------Missoula, MT, USA http://www.dovebid.com/Auctions/AuctionDetail.asp?auctionID=149 Packaging Equipment ===================================================== FEATURED ONLINE AUCTIONS Bid around the clock from the comfort of your office or home computer on these online auctions: Agilent Technologies------------------------------11/15/00, Online Auction http://www.dovebid.com/Auctions/AuctionDetail.asp?auctionID=326 Electronic Test Equipment =================================================== DOVEBID IN THE NEWS "DoveBid Releases Results of Asian Auctions" By Demir Barlas, Line56.com, Oct 16, 2000 http://www.line56.com/articles/default.asp?NewsID=1524 In Depth: HotDot Internet Awards 2000 "Business to Business Dovebid: Teaching an old dog some new tricks" By Lizette Wilson, Bizjournals.com, Oct 20, 2000 http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/stories/2000/10/23/focus7.html "CTO answers the call of the auction block" By Dan Neel, InfoWorld, Nov 6, 2000 http://www.dovebid.com/company/news/p_001106_fjinfowld.asp ============================================================= COMPANY PRESS RELEASES WiredCapital P3 Finance Platform to Integrate with Online Capital Asset Remarketing Services http://www.dovebid.com/company/news/pr_001010_wiredcapital.asp DoveBid Sells Capital Assets in Excess of $3.6 Million in First Asian Webcasts http://www.dovebid.com/company/news/pr_001016_capital.asp DoveBid Auctions off Biotech Intellectual Property Portfolio for Over $950,000 http://www.dovebid.com/company/news/pr_001025_lxr.asp DoveBid adds Ten Webcast Affiliates to Webcast Network http://www.dovebid.com/company/news/pr_001108_dwn.asp ============================================================= SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS Ross Dove, DoveBid's CEO, will be speaking at the Line56Live! London Conference on the topic of "B2B Auctions - Buying and Selling" on December 5, 2000. ============================================================= FEEDBACK AND REMOVAL INSTRUCTIONS You have received this newsletter because you are a registered user at DoveBid. If you want to be removed from our distribution list, reply to this message with REMOVE in the subject heading. Please allow one week for your name to be removed from our distribution list. We want to make this newsletter useful for DoveBid registered users and welcome your feedback. Please send any comments to mailto:news@dovebid.com. Copyright DoveBid Inc., 2000. All rights reserved.

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CDR: CIA Website Update
by John Young 14 Nov '00

14 Nov '00

Nothing on the site about 16,000 newly released secret docs on CIA murder-meddling in Chile. http://www.odci.gov/cia/update_service.html Date: Tue, 14 Nov 2000 10:30:02 -0500 (EST) : From: CIA Web Site Update <updates(a)ucia.gov> Subject: DCI/CIA Web Site Update E-mail Service Addition : Apparently-To: <jya(a)pipeline.com> Welcome to the Director of Central Intelligence and the Central Intelligence Agency's Web Site Update Service. You are subscribed to the list as jya(a)pipeline.com. As a participant in this program, we will notify you by e-mail whenever we add new documents to our Web Site. A reminder: We will not share your e-mail address with any third party except as stated in our Security notice at http://www.cia.gov/cia/notices.html#sec. Read our full Privacy notice at http://www.cia.gov/cia/notices.html#priv and the Web Site Update Service Privacy notice specific to this service at http://www.cia.gov/cia/notices.html#update.

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CDR: Internet is Too SLOW? Not money to Update PC? Can't protect yourself? Need MONEY? It is HERE! -GPPL
by spd4up＠yahoo.com 14 Nov '00

14 Nov '00

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CDR: Re: A secure voting protocol
by David Honig 14 Nov '00

14 Nov '00

At 02:45 PM 11/14/00 -0500, Trei, Peter wrote: >used a purple dye. If you actually knew any blacks (I'm using that >word instead of the currently PC 'African-American' because it's skin >color that's under discussion, and the discussion applies to people >outside the US as well), As well as Indians, Aussie aborigines, etc. in the US. >Also, if you want to get high tech, use a fluorescent dye mixed >with DMSO. It'll penetrate deep into the skin, and be visible under DMSO will let many dyes (and the DMSO) penetrate into your bloodstream. Bad implementation, good idea.

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CDR: A secure voting protocol
by Ray Dillinger 14 Nov '00

14 Nov '00

Okay, this information is old hat to most folk here - but it seems relevant just now, and if the infrastructure had been in place for this election, it could have saved us a heck of a lot of trouble. Bear An Election Protocol: Or, a way for people in voting societies to exercise their franchise without stirring themselves to get down to the polls or, for that matter, leaving their computer. 1) Alice the voter creates twenty sets of ballots. Each set of ballots contains one ballot each for all the different things Alice could vote for. ie, if it's a presidential election, each set would contain: a ballot voting for the American Reform Party candidate, a ballot voting for the Constitutional Party candidate a ballot voting for the Democratic Party candidate, a ballot voting for the Green Party candidate, a ballot voting for the Libertarian Party candidate, a ballot voting for the Nazi Party candidate, a ballot voting for the Republican Party candidate, a ballot voting for the Socialist Party candidate, a ballot voting for the Whig Party candidate, et cetera. Each set of ballots also has an identification number, chosen at random from a number field big enough to make collisions unlikely. The identification number is on each ballot, and is common to all ballots in that set. For 3 * 10^8 voters, a 25-digit decimal number should make collisions acceptably unlikely. 2) Alice now blinds all the ballot sets with different blinding factors and transmits them to Bob the vote tabulator. She Also sends Bob a digitally signed message that says "I'm voting -- Alice". 3) Bob checks the digital signature, checks to make sure he hasn't already signed a ballot for Alice, picks one of the twenty sets, and communicates his choice to Alice. 4) Alice responds by sending Bob the blinding factors for the other nineteen sets of ballots. 5) Bob unblinds the nineteen sets of ballots, making sure that they all have exactly one ballot per candidate and that each set uses its own identification number. Satisfied that Alice is not trying to "pull a fast one", Bob then signs each ballot in the chosen set of ballots and returns them all to Alice. 6) Alice unblinds the ballot set while preserving Bob's signature. She now has a set of ballots signed by Bob. She encrypts the ballot reflecting her choice with Bob's public key and sends it to Bob anonymously. 7) Bob decrypts the ballot, checks his own signature to make sure it's valid, checks the identification number to make sure no other ballots from this set have been submitted already, writes down the identification number to check future ballots against, and increments his tally for the candidate Alice selected. 8) When the election is over, Bob publishes the ballots and the signed "I'm voting" messages. Alice can scan the published information to make sure that her vote is present and that the numbers all add up correctly. Alice can also check to make sure that there are NOT more ballots than there were "I'm voting" messages, preventing Bob from stuffing the ballot box. The protocol enforces the one vote per voter rule. If Alice tries to obtain more than one set of ballots, Bob will detect it in step 3. If Alice tries to submit more than one ballot from the same set, Bob will detect it in step 7. No one other than the voter can tell whom a particular voter voted for. Bob signs the ballots from the selected set under a blinding factor in step 5. When he later gets the unblinded ballot in step 6, he can check his signature, but cannot correlate it to any particular ballot he's signed. The only person who can prove who Alice voted for is Alice. She can communicate her submitted ballot to a third party before Bob publishes the results, and when Bob publishes the ballots the third party can make sure there's a ballot that matches. Bob is able to generate fake ballots, but he cannot generate signed "I'm voting" messages from eligible voters. Therefore if he uses fake ballots to try to stuff the ballot box, he will be detected in step 8. One exception to this is if people obtain ballots (giving him "I voted" messages) but do not then complete the protocol by submitting a vote. Bob can then enter a fake ballot without being detected. One fact about this protocol is that even though you cannot prove who anyone voted *for*, you can prove that they did or did not *vote*. This may or may not be a problem depending on the application. A vulnerability about this protocol is that Alice can transfer her vote if she wants to. To do this, Alice would unblind her ballots in step 6, and send the whole set to Carol. Carol could pretend to be Alice in step 7, and check in step 8 to make sure Alice didn't submit one of her own votes (invalidating Carol's purchased vote). So California Democratic supporters could swap ballots with Nevada Green supporters, enabling the Nevadans to vote Green in California (where it's "safe" to vote for a third party because there isn't a close race between the major parties one of whom they regard as EVIL) while the Californians voted Democratic in Nevada, where they'd stand a better chance of having their vote make a difference in the determination of electoral votes and keeping the EVIL guy out of office. Again, this may or may not be a problem depending on the application - in most voting situations, where there is no electoral college, there would be no motive to exchange ballots. But selling of ballots is also usually bad for the process, and the US seems to dislike transfer of ballots in general as regards its own elections - so I'm listing this as a vulnerability.

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