Posted 11:34 AM (0) comments

Rigging the Election [updated 5:10 PM]

Lots of news outlets are picking up stories on a recent paper published by three researchers at Johns Hopkins University (aided and abetted by a guy from Rice University) which purports to show all of the perceived problems with so-called "electronic voting". Specifically, the gentlemen appear to be up in arms that source code can't be examined, so they took the opportunity to analyze purported source code which may or may not have been pilfered from an industry FTP server.

Its all very academic (except, of course, for the line: "...it places our very democracy at risk." ).

There is no more risk from an electronic voting terminal than there is from a system based on paper ballots, tabulating machines (the old "voting booths" with the levers that both closed/opened a curtain and registered the vote) or punch card systems. There are, though, decided advantages to the electronic voting terminals in terms of cost and mobility.

So cost goes down, but risk stays the same - sounds like we should be rushing to add electronic voting terminals not throwing up roadblocks!

Update: Diebold, the vendor of the software in question, was quick to point out the numerous flaws in the testing, methodology and logic of the academics.

Posted 9:23 AM (0) comments

Gartner spreads FUD again

According to The Register, ("Delay Linux apps, look at Windows, Unix, says Gartner") the Gartner Group is urging enterprises to avoid new Linux projects because of uncertainty about SCO's claims that their Unix intellectual property has been illegally included in the open-source OS. But really, what's the worst that can happen?

If SCO is completely vindicated, then those running Linux (kernel version 2.4 or later) will have to pay a license fee which Gartner estimates at US$500 - 700 per serve. That's still less than licensing the equivalent OS horsepower of Windows, Solaris, HPuX or other Unix systems (and you'd better stir clear of AIX, I'd imagine, based on SCO's law suit against IBM).

Analyst groups are supposed to cut through the Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt, not help spread it. Gartner is doing a huge disservice to the clients who spend large amounts of money with them looking for realistic forecasts.

Posted 3:20 PM (0) comments

Newsflash: People want Less Spam!

In yet another "dog bites man" photo opportunity for New York's grandstanding politicos (this time its Senator Charles Schumer), your tax dollars organized a press conference to announce that people don't like spam (the email stuff, not the mystery meat). As reported by CNet ("Study: Do-not-spam plan winning support"), "...79 percent said they want laws to ban or limit spam." Well, duh. Only 79%? Senator Chuck proposes a "Do Not Spam" list akin to the current "Do Not Call" list. Since we don't know whether the Do Not Call list is effective or not just yet (and won't, really, for at least six months) its hard to work up the enthusiasm - at least on my part - to expand the "do not" lists (anybody else want a "do not knock on my door" list?).

As any email consultant who's being truthful will tell you, though, its not a question of outlawing spam but of enforcing those laws. What we usually end up with are proposals for "solutions" which are so draconian that the cure is worse than the disease. Vipul Ved Prakash, founder and chief scientist for Cloudmark, has an interesting piece in MIT Technology Insider which demonstrates why improved filtering technology (admittedly, the product Cloudmark wants to push) is a much better solution than others suggested because it doesn't require fundamental changes in the way we create, send and read email. Don't Break E-Mail To Save It is a thoughtful and thought provoking look at an admitted problem without the hysteria Chuckie Schumer is trying to incite.

Posted 8:58 AM (0) comments

Horse's Heads and other anatomical features [updated]

SCO has let another shoe drop (evidently those folks in Linden, UT have lots of feet - most of them of the left variety). Now that they've gotten Novell to turn over the copyright to Unix, they've told everyone using Linux (kernel version 2.4 or better) to pony up protection money. If you buy a UnixWare license, according to Don Darl MacBride, SCO won't sue you for using pirated code in your Linux.

Many people have asked SCO to give at least one example of code "stolen" from Unix and implanted in Linux. Up to now, SCO has ignored these pleas claiming it could damage its case against IBM. That's fine, but they can't then demand payment based on their unsupported claims.

When the mob does this its called extortion. The federal government created the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO act) to combat this and other criminal activity. Perhaps its time the Attorney General investigated this latest "protection racket" aimed at America's businesses.

Update: An Australian group also believes this is out and out extortion and is doing something about it. Open Source Victoria wants the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) to "investigate The SCO Group's activities in light of its unsubstantiated claims and extortive legal threats for money against possibly hundreds of thousands of Australians". I'd expect some enterprising US state attorney general ( Connecticut, here's the chance you've been waiting for!) to jump on this quickly and either call for a grand jury or simply initiate a suit.

Posted 8:34 AM (0) comments

Privacy yet Again

Information Week is once again lamenting The Death Of Privacy but the telling comment is this:

"...the very concept of privacy, especially in public spaces, is going to be radically overhauled..."

Guys, there is not and should not be an expectation of privacy in a public place! The technology doesn't change anything except that instead of relying on the poor recollection of a human we now can rely on digitally recorded sight and sound. That means the whole concept of "my word against yours" or "he said, she said" when arguing over events which took place in public could soon become a thing of the past! The savings in litigation would be enormous.

I want more surveillance cameras in more public places. I want more people carrying picture phones. Viva technology!

Uh-oh! Steve Wozniak has a new project ("Wozniak's latest project: GPS locator tags for everything") that'll twist the knickers right off the pecksniffian privacy provocateurs. On the other hand, Woz's new idea has almost all the latest techie buzz words: personal networking, wireless, peer-to-peer, RFID, Identity Management - if Wozniak could only wrap it up in a "web services" envelop he would have all of today's hottest buzz words in one small, relatively inexpensive product! Didn't he do something like that 25 years ago?