My letter to the Hartford Courant today.
To the Editor,
The article in the Sunday July, 10 Smarter Living Section, “Democracy in The Digital Age”, is a one-sided disservice to readers. The article, abbreviated from Consumer Reports original, provides a one-sided case for online voting. The article quotes the CEO of a company selling online voting at a huge expense to governments around the world. She touts the benefits without detailing the risks. The system she touts as secure, has never been proven secure. It has never been subjected to a public security test. Unlike the printed version, the original article at Consumer Reports details the risks of online voting, quoting a nationally known voting integrity advocate and a recognized computer scientist specializing in electronic voting, . How ironic that the lead article in the same section, “Protecting Your Data”, points out how risky it is to do banking transactions over the internet from free wi-fi sites. If the unedited Consumer Reports article was provided, readers would have learned why, with all its risks, Internet banking is actually much safer than online voting.
Here is the “full” abbreviated Courant Article: <read>
Original Consumer Reports article quoting Pam Smith and Aviel Rubin <read>
