Congress' Tech Agenda

A reader writes: "Fox News is running a story on Congress' Tech Agenda. We have all been reading about plenty of legislation as each bill is introduced or considered, but it's nice to see a major news outlet picking up on the larger trend."

Re:What do you do when...

[mikeophile]

I would expect that when Senator Disney...er Hollings seems to be introducing sane legislation, it's just a candy-coating for the riders his handlers...er lobbyists have insisted upon.

Great...

[MrByte420]

but it's nice to see a major news outlet picking up on the larger trend."

Now I just can't wait for a credible one to do so too...

Re:What do you do when...

[Melantha_Bacchae]

The flaws in the electoral system are irrelevant when you have problems in the voting system itself. Exit polls are used to verify the integrity of foreign elections. For the past few years, exit polls have been failing to predict accurately the outcome of elections in America. And no, the problem isn't in the poll system, which works well enough to verify elections outside the US.

The problem: exit polls have failed in inverse proportion to electronic voting systems being adopted. These systems are closed source, frequently unaudited, and are more and more not giving any sort of paper receipt that the voter can check and verify that that was their vote.

Enter Microsoft. Yep, that's right, that voting machine software and the database behind it might be a Microsoft product. Why pay three times more than Enron (2000 elections) when Microsoft's proprietary voting system can just elect whoever Microsoft likes once Microsoft has enough market share in the voting system market? Audit? Why you can't audit Microsoft! That would endanger their precious IP! [Insert grumbling about "terrorist scum" here.]

You know, we ought to do something about this, before we get Bill Gates elected president by an electronic landslide. All in favor of accountable voting systems, raise your hands.

"Ridiculous, you have no claim. I'll sue you for interfering with private enterprise."
Kumoyama, Happy Enterprises, "Mothra vs. Godzilla", 1964

Congress' Tech Agenda: SNEAK PREVIEW!

[Anonymous Coward]

Topic 1: Stopping our VCRs from blinking 12:00
Topic 2: Figuring out why Winders keeps 'crashing'.
Topic 3: Gettin' that there computer to say hello, like on that Independence Day movie.

Important tech discussion this session! Oh, I can't wait!