Subject: Newsletter on Internet voting, privacy and security issues

From: Ed Gerck <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 13 Apr 2000 00:41:21 -0700

List:

I would like to extend an invitation to the IETF list to read "The 
Bell" -- the first newsletter entirely dedicated to Internet voting and 
collaborative decision-making in Internet protocols (including the use 
of digital certificates and the resulting security/privacy concerns from
potentially non-anonymous voting). Electronic and hard copy subscriptions 
are available at www.thebell.net

Safevote [1] is sponsoring the newsletter as an open forum.  Regarding 
the name "The Bell", the idea was to use the image of a bell because 
mission bells were used in colonial California for telling time, 
announcing events, and for passing on news from one city to another. 
This newsletter intends to serve similar purposes and is also a public 
service open and free for all who may want it.

With monthly 16-page issues, the "The Bell" will focus on privacy, 
security and technology used in Internet voting. 

In Internet tradition, the newsletter is available free over the 
Internet (PDF format), or at an annual cost of $30 for first class 
mail delivery in hard copy.   The first issue contains an extensive 
marketing study of the year 2000 U.S. public elections market - a 
study that will be serialized in upcoming issues.  It also includes 
an article on today's public voting systems used in the United States 
by election expert Roy G. Saltman and an essay by myself outlining the
need for a strong separation between identification and authentication
in order to ensure fair Internet voting protocols.

Internet voting and its potential impact on society will increasingly
call upon us to understand and keep abreast of the latest developments 
in various fields of work. As a developer in this market, I see a 
widening gap between the 100-year-old voting technologies in use today 
and what Internet voting protocols need to take into account. The Bell is 
dedicated to help fill this gap -- perhaps with your help as well.

Cheers,

Ed Gerck

[1] Safevote (www.safevote.com) is a founding member of the Internet 
Voting Technology Alliance (www.ivta.org) and develops OEM (Original 
Equipment Manufacturer) systems for Internet voting, polling, public 
elections, bidding, consensus assessment and other Internet decision-
making applications. The Bell is edited at Safevote. The May 2000 issue 
is now available at the "The Bell" Web site, www.thebell.net