Emptying out some notepads and emails for the end of the year ...
The little item a couple of weeks back about Secretary of State Natalie Tennant getting blindsided by opponents of Internet voting during a panel discussion in Connecticut drew comments from experts, both pro and con.
Fred Silverman of Bethesda, Md., who is writing a book on elections operations systems, faulted the academicians for attacking Tennant over her advocacy of online voting on the grounds it is impossible to create a 100 percent secure, hacker-free system.
"What few elections officials advertise is that a pervasive 2 percent error rate is part of all election systems, including digital ones," Silverman advised. "That's caused by a bewildering variety of process failures in handling ballots, voters and technology."
(Of course, we all remember the hanging chads in the 2000 presidential election ...)
He said a 2 percent error rate generally goes unnoticed, since the margin of victory in most of the 35,000-plus elections in the U.S. each election cycle exceeds that 2 percent.
"While there are concerted attempts to subvert results, the effect of such efforts is tiny compared to the effect of the systemic error rate, especially when it's ignored. The risk for fraud or other integrity collapse exists for all of them, including Internet approaches," he stated.
"If West Virginia's Internet-based elections system serves West Virginia citizens in the service of their country, shame on (MIT professor Ron) Rivest and (Michigan professor Alex) Halderman for holding it up as some special new potential elections calamity," Silverman said.
Instead of dissing Tennant's "honest efforts to serve voters," Silverman suggested the professors should use their Internet expertise to improve security of Internet voting systems.
Conversely, Jeremy Epstein of Fairfax, Va., suggested the reason no computer experts came to Tennant's defense at the symposium, "is that there are almost no such people."
"It's like a debate between a flat-earth enthusiast and a group of physicists, and having the flat-earther say they were bullied because there were no physicists at the debate who agreed with their position. Science is science, despite what Secretary Tennant seems to believe," Epstein wrote.
(My opinion has been that, if the Internet is secure enough for us to do banking transactions, it must be secure enough for voting. Of course, that was before I got a call earlier this month from one of my credit card companies asking if I had just made a $200 purchase from a grocery store in London, England ...)
***
Regarding last week's item, about how Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin was able to work with all sides to come up with a compromise on the Marcellus Shale legislation, I should have clarified I was referring to legislators.
Surface-owners rights advocate Dave McMahon, said that of his 25 years' lobbying at the Legislature, "I've never been more left out of the process."
Emptying out some notepads and emails for the end of the year ...
The little item a couple of weeks back about Secretary of State Natalie Tennant getting blindsided by opponents of Internet voting during a panel discussion in Connecticut drew comments from experts, both pro and con.
Fred Silverman of Bethesda, Md., who is writing a book on elections operations systems, faulted the academicians for attacking Tennant over her advocacy of online voting on the grounds it is impossible to create a 100 percent secure, hacker-free system.
"What few elections officials advertise is that a pervasive 2 percent error rate is part of all election systems, including digital ones," Silverman advised. "That's caused by a bewildering variety of process failures in handling ballots, voters and technology."
(Of course, we all remember the hanging chads in the 2000 presidential election ...)
He said a 2 percent error rate generally goes unnoticed, since the margin of victory in most of the 35,000-plus elections in the U.S. each election cycle exceeds that 2 percent.
"While there are concerted attempts to subvert results, the effect of such efforts is tiny compared to the effect of the systemic error rate, especially when it's ignored. The risk for fraud or other integrity collapse exists for all of them, including Internet approaches," he stated.
"If West Virginia's Internet-based elections system serves West Virginia citizens in the service of their country, shame on (MIT professor Ron) Rivest and (Michigan professor Alex) Halderman for holding it up as some special new potential elections calamity," Silverman said.
Instead of dissing Tennant's "honest efforts to serve voters," Silverman suggested the professors should use their Internet expertise to improve security of Internet voting systems.
Conversely, Jeremy Epstein of Fairfax, Va., suggested the reason no computer experts came to Tennant's defense at the symposium, "is that there are almost no such people."
"It's like a debate between a flat-earth enthusiast and a group of physicists, and having the flat-earther say they were bullied because there were no physicists at the debate who agreed with their position. Science is science, despite what Secretary Tennant seems to believe," Epstein wrote.
(My opinion has been that, if the Internet is secure enough for us to do banking transactions, it must be secure enough for voting. Of course, that was before I got a call earlier this month from one of my credit card companies asking if I had just made a $200 purchase from a grocery store in London, England ...)
***
Regarding last week's item, about how Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin was able to work with all sides to come up with a compromise on the Marcellus Shale legislation, I should have clarified I was referring to legislators.
Surface-owners rights advocate Dave McMahon, said that of his 25 years' lobbying at the Legislature, "I've never been more left out of the process."
McMahon said he tried to set up a meeting with chief of staff RobAlsop prior to the special session, and also sent a memorandum to the Tomblin administration outlining issues with the proposed legislation, but never heard back on either.
***
Former state Regional Jails Authority executive director Terry Miller has found a new job (or jobs). Miller was fired in October 2010, a month after two female employees at the Regional Jails central office, including his personal secretary, filed sexual harassment complaints against him.
Miller has been hired by Kanawha County as a part-time security officer at Coonskin Park. He also has a second part-time job as a security guard at Yeager Airport.
Commission President Kent Carper said he has no qualms about Miller working for the county.
"I know Terry Miller. Terry Miller is a good person," Carper said, adding, "He's dedicated, and he has a unblemished record in law enforcement."
***
Finally, regarding the ongoing debate about adding traffic lights to Kanawha Boulevard to make it more pedestrian-friendly, no amount of traffic control is going to matter, as long as there are ignorant drivers out there who are either oblivious to, or downright hostile toward pedestrians, bicyclists and joggers.
I say that with personal experience, after being hit by a pick-up truck running a red light at the intersection of Quarrier and Dickinson downtown back on the afternoon of Dec. 10.
"The light wasn't quite red yet," the driver said, as I lay there on the pavement. (That was his first lie; the second was that he would come back and check on me as soon as he parked his truck.)
Fortunately, it was a glancing blow, and other than a sore left leg, and sprained left hand (used to break my fall after doing a 180 in mid-air), I determined I was otherwise in one piece.
When I emailed my friend Brenda to tell her what happened, she suggested I go to the hospital and get checked out. I responded that I wasn't going because I don't like doctors, and besides, I said, my molecular structure is denser than that of normal humans.
"You're right about one thing," she replied. "You're dense."
