An Electronic Future needs a Paper Trail

I love living in The Future. Sure I might not have a flying car, or a rocket pack, and I can't go on holiday to the Moon, but I can spout my dumb ramblings to an entire world (in theory at least). I have a "communicator" that allows me to ring almost anyone, almost anywhere. And I can be on one side of the world one day, and another the next. Or hell, sometimes the previous day.

But The Future isn't always awesome. Especially when it comes to voting. I think old politicians are trying to appear "with it" by modernizing something which doesn't need it.

Watch this.



In Sixty seconds they manage to open a e-voting machine and replace it's ROM. This basically means they've replaced it's memory chip with one of its own. Maybe it will just destroy all the votes cast from then on. Maybe it will make every vote count for "Evil Candidate Alpha." Of course those Ideas are stupid. But in a "First Past the Post" System. You don't have to do either. Just make it register enough votes that you get 51% and you're away. Thankfully this message it's being made clear.

We need a paper trail. We need literally tons of evidence.

No computer is secure. By definition it can't be. It's a device that does only two things. Copy and Edit. And if you're trying to stop it doing that then you might as well try to hold back the sea with your hands.