5 ms·

What if the UUID is secret?

s_q_b 10y ago
You still have to trust the machine that prints it. Which, I will admit, is still better than the current system. However, there are public ledger voting systems with stronger anonymity guarantees. So, my opinion is that if we're going to do it all over again, we might as well do it right.
- grzm 10y ago
  "You still have to trust the machine that prints it" And if I'm understanding correctly (and I might not be), you can confirm that the printout is accurate.
  - s_q_b 10y ago
    Well, sort of. You have to trust that the printed ID is unique.
    - grzm 10y ago
      Good point. That'd be an issue with any verification system isn't it? Edit to add: If you can confirm that all of the ids are unique and that the total number of ids are correct, that would go a long way towards verification, along with checking arbitrary receipts against the results, regardless if the ids are pre-printed or printed afterward. I'd prefer not having any printers involved though. Pre-printed ballots would work just fine and there's one less piece of equipment involved during the actual vote.
grzm 10y ago
I'm not sure what that would mean. How do you keep the UUID secret in a way that you can use for verification?
- benchaney 10y ago
  You send it to the person who it belongs to. Then when the want to check if their vote went through properly, they can look up the vote that corresponds to their UUID.
  - grzm 10y ago
    Okay. What prevents someone else from accessing the UUID, either before or after its sent to the person it belongs to? I could be missing something, but I think this is still vulnerable to coercion or vote selling.
    - benchaney 10y ago
      How would they go about accessing it? Presumably people can protect information they deem private. Like their social security number for instance.
      - grzm 10y ago
        Threats of physical violence? Bribes? There are ways to design the system that guarantee that the voter can verify they voted but can't prove who they voted for. No need to keep the UUID secret. It's very desirable to have a system that we can trust even if conditions aren't necessarily antagonistic. BTW, thanks for engaging in this discussion. It's important and it's helping me rethink through all of this.
        benchaney 10y ago
        Those are problems with all voting systems. In the current system someone could Threaten/Bribe you to take a selfie with your ballet after it has been filled out.
        grzm 10y ago
        Okay. I'll grant that there are likely ways to potentially coerce or sell votes in any system. If there are straightforward, inexpensive ways to make it more difficult to do so, we should.

s_q_b 10y ago

You still have to trust the machine that prints it. Which, I will admit, is still better than the current system. However, there are public ledger voting systems with stronger anonymity guarantees. So, my opinion is that if we're going to do it all over again, we might as well do it right.

grzm 10y ago
"You still have to trust the machine that prints it" And if I'm understanding correctly (and I might not be), you can confirm that the printout is accurate.
- s_q_b 10y ago
  Well, sort of. You have to trust that the printed ID is unique.
  - grzm 10y ago
    Good point. That'd be an issue with any verification system isn't it? Edit to add: If you can confirm that all of the ids are unique and that the total number of ids are correct, that would go a long way towards verification, along with checking arbitrary receipts against the results, regardless if the ids are pre-printed or printed afterward. I'd prefer not having any printers involved though. Pre-printed ballots would work just fine and there's one less piece of equipment involved during the actual vote.

grzm 10y ago

I'm not sure what that would mean. How do you keep the UUID secret in a way that you can use for verification?

benchaney 10y ago
You send it to the person who it belongs to. Then when the want to check if their vote went through properly, they can look up the vote that corresponds to their UUID.
- grzm 10y ago
  Okay. What prevents someone else from accessing the UUID, either before or after its sent to the person it belongs to? I could be missing something, but I think this is still vulnerable to coercion or vote selling.
  - benchaney 10y ago
    How would they go about accessing it? Presumably people can protect information they deem private. Like their social security number for instance.
    - grzm 10y ago
      Threats of physical violence? Bribes? There are ways to design the system that guarantee that the voter can verify they voted but can't prove who they voted for. No need to keep the UUID secret. It's very desirable to have a system that we can trust even if conditions aren't necessarily antagonistic. BTW, thanks for engaging in this discussion. It's important and it's helping me rethink through all of this.
      - benchaney 10y ago
        Those are problems with all voting systems. In the current system someone could Threaten/Bribe you to take a selfie with your ballet after it has been filled out.
        grzm 10y ago
        Okay. I'll grant that there are likely ways to potentially coerce or sell votes in any system. If there are straightforward, inexpensive ways to make it more difficult to do so, we should.