CDR: Re: A secure voting protocol
From: Ken Brown[SMTP:k.brown@ccs.bbk.ac.uk]
Bill Stewart wrote:
and that the people who voted all existed and were unique,
That's the hard part. Do you have to give id to vote? Here we don't, so impersonation is possible. Rare I think (doing it enough times to influence a nationwide, or even a city or county -wide election would be risky) although it is rumoured to be traditional in parts of Northern Ireland - from where it was rumoured to have been exported to parts of north America :-)
One solution I've seen used in 3rd world countries is to require people who have just voted to dip a forefinger into a cup of intense, penetrating dye, which they are very unlikely to be able to remove in one day. I can state from personal experience that Silver Nitrate solution will produce stains on skin which gradually blacken in the light, and don't come off till your skin wears off. Mixing the dye with a transport agent such as DMSO would also work. Peter Trei
"Trei, Peter" wrote:
One solution I've seen used in 3rd world countries is to require people who have just voted to dip a forefinger into a cup of intense, penetrating dye, which they are very unlikely to be able to remove in one day.
Wouldn't some sort of wax spread on the hand prevent such a dye from working once peeled off? i.e. I'm thinking along the lines of liquid latex or crazy glue like substances... :) -- ----------------------Kaos-Keraunos-Kybernetos--------------------------- + ^ + :Surveillance cameras|Passwords are like underwear. You don't /|\ \|/ :aren't security. A |share them, you don't hang them on your/\|/\ <--*-->:camera won't stop a |monitor, or under your keyboard, you \/|\/ /|\ :masked killer, but |don't email them, or put them on a web \|/ + v + :will violate privacy|site, and you must change them very often. --------_sunder_@_sunder_._net_------- http://www.sunder.net ------------
At 12:34 PM -0500 11/14/00, sunder wrote:
"Trei, Peter" wrote:
One solution I've seen used in 3rd world countries is to require people who have just voted to dip a forefinger into a cup of intense, penetrating dye, which they are very unlikely to be able to remove in one day.
Wouldn't some sort of wax spread on the hand prevent such a dye from working once peeled off? i.e. I'm thinking along the lines of liquid latex or crazy glue like substances... :)
The dye works well. While hackers like us can _imagine_ ways to circumvent the dye, most such circumventions are hard to actually pull off. In any case, a better solution (no pun intended) than the current system in which folks in Milwaukee got to vote multiple times. And better for various reasons than requiring identification credentials. --Tim May -- (This .sig file has not been significantly changed since 1992. As the election debacle unfolds, it is time to prepare a new one. Stay tuned.)
participants (3)
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sunder -
Tim May -
Trei, Peter