This interesting chart was created by my student Cheilla, based on a reading she found relating to our previous week on Online Politics. It highlights why Online Voting is so difficult, compared with traditional eCommerce transactions. I believe that this is a comparison many of us might have made before.
Citing Cheilla: “Many people have wondered why there is no online election available currently. Well, security is absolutely the main reason. It is so vulnerable to make online election since there are plenty talented hackers out there. Meanwhile, e-Commerce, distributing, buying, selling, marketing and servicing of products or services through the Internet (“Electronic Commerce”, 2007), keeps going on. So, I found a discussion on http://www.schneier.com about “Internet Voting vs. Large Value e-Commerce”. People were arguing about the reason why big transaction in the e-Commerce could be protected and online election could not. I came up with this table as the summary of the answers.”
Incidentally, I’ve reopened the COM125 Study Guide (wiki) as part of their final exam preparations. This time I’m giving points for submissions, so the motivation to collaborate on print-worthy notes should be greater. It’s already shaping up pretty well if you’re interested to take a look…
References
Cripto-Gram newsletter – Internet Voting vs. Large Value e-Commerce by Schneier, B. (2001)
COM125: Intro to Internet 