:: NEWS COCKTAIL aka BlahBlahBlog ::
"Everything is being compressed into tiny tablets. You take a little pill of news every day - 23 minutes - and that's supposed to be enough." -Walter Cronkite, RE TV news. The Web has changed that for many, however, and here is an extra dose for your daily news cocktail. This prescription tends to include surveillance and now war-related links, along with the occasional pop culture junk and whatever else seizes my attention as I scan online news sites.:: 5.27.2004 ::
:: "E-Vote Printers' High-Stakes Test" ::
From Wired News
By Kim Zetter
Some outside election officials are hoping the new e-voting system that Nevada will be using this year -- a touch-screen machine that produces a voter-verified paper trail -- will cause the state many problems. If it does, it will prove their point that adding a paper trail to touch-screen machines is a bad idea.
"That's what we're hearing, that a lot of election officials hope we fail because they don't want to be bothered with paper ballots," said Steve George, spokesman for Nevada's secretary of state.
Several states, responding to public outcry for a physical record of votes, have mandated or announced legislative plans to demand that e-voting systems print a paper record so voters can verify that the machine registered their vote accurately before the record drops into a ballot box. The states include California, Illinois, Missouri, Nevada, Vermont, Washington and West Virginia.
But many county election officials oppose the idea, saying printers will create more problems for poll workers if they break down or run out of paper, and they will cause longer poll lines if voters take more time to check their ballots. The officials also don't relish the election recounts and lawsuits that could arise if paper records don't match final digital vote tallies.
Nevada will be the first to implement a paper-trail system this year. The state plans to use modified touch-screen machines manufactured by Sequoia Voting Systems in seven counties during its September primary and November presidential election. That is, if the printers attached to the machines pass certification. The device malfunctioned during federal testing last week and stopped printing after eight hours, said Alan Glover, the clerk-recorder for Carson City County. But state officials weren't worried.
"All (voting systems) have problems, that's why they do the testing," George said.
Read more here.
ALSO from Wired News
GAO: Fed Data Mining Extensive
In a new report, the investigative arm of the government finds that data mining by federal agencies is ubiquitous. A watchdog group offers a second report suggesting ways to protect privacy. By Kim Zetter.
'Buffalo Spammer' Sent to Slammer
Notorious junk e-mailer Harold Carmack will spend at least three-and-a-half years behind bars for violating New York's forgery and identity-theft laws.
Tightening the Reins on Gmail
Amid growing concerns about Google's free e-mail service, California's state senate votes in favor of a law designed to protect the privacy of its users.
Green Cars Strive to End Oil Era
Students and carmakers gather to show off their alternative-fuel vehicles, and with gas prices on the rise again, more drivers are paying attention. John Gartner reports from Trenton, New Jersey.
posted by me
:: 10:48:00 PM [+] ::
...
