tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-66093525421976552382011-11-27T23:23:27.125ZA new perspective on the ongoing modernisation of the voting process in the UK. Daniel Gray is a senior developer for a leading UK software house that is very active in the field of eDemocracy and eVoting (disclaimer: this blog is a reflection of my personal opinions and are not those of my employer).Daniel Graynoreply@blogger.comBlogger591100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6609352542197655238.post-67416032570142390082007-11-28T10:54:00.000Z2007-11-28T10:56:20.008Z

E-Voting systems are, by their very nature, complex systems that involve segregation of processes, advanced cryptography and rigorous development methods, and Jason is correct to point out that administration of such complex systems is a difficult area to address. It is therefore unsurprising that many of the current implementations of e-Voting systems have been, shall we say, lacking in a number

Daniel Graynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6609352542197655238.post-45329256793029355362007-06-25T14:08:00.000Z2007-06-25T14:17:56.416Z

You can't have missed that ORG have release their report on this years pilots. Unsurprisingly they've declared them a 'threat' to democracy, couldn't have seen that coming could we? A few problems with their reporting method though:The outcome of the report had already been decided, i.e. eVoting bad.Individual reports on pilots are not available, instead we get the edited highlights, i.e. the

Daniel Graynoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6609352542197655238.post-40622266647522406602007-05-13T20:43:00.000Z2007-05-13T20:49:38.045Z

Remember the site www.electronic-voting.org that I blogged about a while back? Well there must be something in the water as the author of that site has... guessed what? Devised an evoting system!This makes the 3rd sceptic who's developing / distributing an evoting system, which seems to be a growing trend; attack the existing suppliers with your own product alongside.Our friend Mr Kitcat has

Daniel Graynoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6609352542197655238.post-26571703666008262162007-04-29T20:14:00.000Z2007-04-29T20:17:50.704Z

They've picked up a story I was going to post about anyway:UK Voters Want to Vote OnlineSome interesting comments in the story (bear in mind the majority of contributors are from the US, so they tend not to know about the odd bits of UK legislation):"One of my biggest gripes about elections is how simplified the issues have become, and how difficult it is to understand what each candidate *really

Daniel Graynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6609352542197655238.post-72877490739333690572007-04-28T00:26:00.000Z2007-04-28T00:37:05.286Z

Jason's seems to be turning again. Despite eVoting being incredibly dangerous and a huge threat to democracy he's now posting links to OSS eVoting projects! (Shurely shome mistake?)The article's very interesting, as it seems to contradict a number of arguments that Jason has raised, namely that of interception, alteration, co-ercion, receipts, etc.I'll see if I can sniff out the source of this,

Daniel Graynoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6609352542197655238.post-48459271386406484532007-04-26T18:53:00.000Z2007-04-26T18:55:16.269Z

Still no word from ORG / Jason on which pilots they've been allowed to observe. They've been refused access to one pilot, which Jason seems reluctant to name (wonder why?).One of the requirements for observers is that they're independent and impartial. Do ORG meet these requirements? They've already stated their clear opposition to electronic voting (although they haven't given me the

Daniel Graynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6609352542197655238.post-12767169762205451852007-04-26T18:44:00.000Z2007-04-26T18:53:20.874Z

Further to my previous post, it seems some people aren't too happy about the level of donations being made to the LibDems by JRRT :http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/03/02/nlibs02.xmlhttp://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200102/cmselect/cmstnprv/755/75508.htmhttp://www.order-order.com/2006/10/libdems-bung-may-be-needed-soon.html

Daniel Graynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6609352542197655238.post-16578793423136780212007-04-26T12:36:00.000Z2007-04-26T12:45:10.089Z

So ORG got a grant of £24,000 from the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust?Let's have a quick look at some of the political orgs JRRT have also made grants to:2006Liberal Democrats£1,802,500 allocated as follows: * £537,500 towards the development costs of a database; * £200,000 for diversity measures to provide support to women, black, minority ethnic and disabled candidates; * £500,000

Daniel Graynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6609352542197655238.post-31156162143938213272007-04-16T08:25:00.000Z2007-04-24T16:19:46.185Z

... it still doesn't make it true, and Becky Hogge of all people should know this isn't true:"in an election, your identity cannot be associated with your vote without your privacy being breached"From a New Statesman article. Go disinformation!Edit : I see what she's done there. Only mention the link of ballot to voter in the context of eVoting as a way of rubbishing electronic voting... nice

Daniel Graynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6609352542197655238.post-8272279868629868522007-04-03T22:06:00.000Z2007-04-03T22:07:49.132Z

"Criticism comes easier than craftsmanship."Zeuxis

Daniel Graynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6609352542197655238.post-39417205934870758162007-03-30T21:12:00.000Z2007-04-03T16:15:18.066Z

Some very silly thinking from Jason :"Then Ms Prentice tells us that because electors will be able to provide a password of their choice the potential for credentials being stolen or misused will be reduced. Which is rather doubtful in my view. The password picked by the elector has to be sent to the election office, an obvious address for cherry-picking from the post. Furthermore these passwords

Daniel Graynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6609352542197655238.post-22271388898558904322007-03-18T13:08:00.000Z2007-03-18T23:23:33.462Z

Sorry it's been a while, but I've started a fairly heavy development cycle at work, and haven't had the time to post (along with playing EVE). As promised here's the results of a brief analysis I've been doing of the GNU.Free codebase.Encryption TechniquesA lot of attention has been paid to encryption of the data going from the clients to servers / inter server on this system, but then the

Daniel Graynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6609352542197655238.post-78792535390335853072007-03-03T08:09:00.000Z2007-03-03T08:18:42.890Z

Have a look at that eVoting article on the Blindside Wiki... some interesting links to Open Source eVoting projects. Also note that the majority of changes have been made by Glyn (ORG)... are ORG silently advocating OSS as a solution for eVoting in the UK? I hope not, as their eVoting campaign pages clearly state they oppose any electronic voting solutions.Still it would explain why GNU.Free (

Daniel Graynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6609352542197655238.post-37455977653395739152007-03-02T16:38:00.000Z2007-03-02T16:40:53.014Z

Interesting article over the El Reg about the setting up of Blindside that includes this choice quote:The big question: can you do real information gathering on a publicly accessible wiki without finding it filled with "the awkward squad"?Too late.

Daniel Graynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6609352542197655238.post-17695460924578243482007-03-02T14:12:00.000Z2007-03-02T14:14:44.539Z

"Never attribute to malice what can be adequately explained by stupidity"Hanlon's Razor

Daniel Graynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6609352542197655238.post-43962181273166268832007-03-01T21:43:00.000Z2007-03-01T21:44:10.978Z

I've been diving into the GNU.Free code recently in the evening (it's fun in a perverse way), thought I'd share this gorgeous little tidbit from one of the server classes:/* SECURITY NOTE: VERY IMPORTANT! */// constant to store value being used as FREE port number// For security reasons I recommend this is changed every electionprivate static final int freePort = 1111;That's right Jason, switch

Daniel Graynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6609352542197655238.post-17434705848892825902007-03-01T21:26:00.000Z2007-03-01T21:35:32.769Z

If you've read Sir Grahms recent speech at the AEA you'll know he expressed serious concerns around the process of voter registration. He has called for the introduction of a number of measures around registration to strength the system and help prevent fraud... whether it be on paper ballots, postal ballots or eBallots (did I just make that one up?). And his concerns lead him to ask that this

Daniel Graynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6609352542197655238.post-23006944320148455372007-03-01T11:46:00.000Z2007-03-01T11:47:24.516Z

"Men are not against you; they are merely for themselves."Gene Fowler

Daniel Graynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6609352542197655238.post-3962934559178984322007-02-28T09:41:00.000Z2007-02-28T09:44:31.369Z

I've got a request for the good people at ORG. Could you clarify the scope of your objections to eVoting in the UK?Are you opposed to :Any eVoting systemAny eVoting system that doesn't include VVPATAny eVoting system that isn't OSS / include VVPATAny eVoting system that is commercial, but has a code release policyThere's some confusion I think in the ORG ranks on this. I've read different

Daniel Graynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6609352542197655238.post-68072760836199060392007-02-28T09:34:00.000Z2007-02-28T09:42:41.810Z

I managed to have some good discussions yesterday about the issue of hating eVoting and distributing an eVoting system.I know my previous idea was complex so a number of new ideas were put forward:Jason has no idea of the contradicition inherent in saying eVoting is a danger to democracy and then distributing an eVoting systemJason builds his credibility in the eVoting sphere upon GNU.Free (and

Daniel Graynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6609352542197655238.post-52839525665100207162007-02-28T09:29:00.000Z2007-02-28T09:34:28.322Z

I spent yesterday afternoon at the AEA conference in Brighton, very strange experience as there was a clutch of people waiting for me, ready to shake my hand and be my friend! Turns out I've become something of a darling within eVoting circles, without really trying.Apparently Jason was there (on Monday, along with two "helpers", Ania and Becky) pretending to be a "student", although he didn't

Daniel Graynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6609352542197655238.post-39885672572060560072007-02-25T11:12:00.000Z2007-02-25T11:25:55.074Z

I know I've asked this question many times before : "Why if Jason Kitcat is so set against eVoting is the source for GNU.Free still available on his website?".I've had problems resolving these two, surely if you're set against something you're not going to attempt to provide a mechanism for doing it.I asked Jason about this (for about the fourth time) on his site and received a response basically

Daniel Graynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6609352542197655238.post-8363498874532567642007-02-21T09:11:00.000Z2007-02-21T09:13:55.929Z

From November last year, suprisingly (given all the problems the Americans have had with their suppliers) the tone is quite upbeat. The answers provided by Hugh Thompson indicate his willingness to accept eVoting within the framework of... good auditting and well defined security procedures! Just like I was advocating. We really need to get together.Linky

Daniel Graynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6609352542197655238.post-37761715700053319602007-02-20T14:01:00.000Z2007-02-20T14:02:12.651Z

Looks like the Estonians are gearing up for their next online parliamentary election.Good luck guys.

Daniel Graynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6609352542197655238.post-60397603849067331382007-02-15T10:25:00.000Z2007-02-15T10:34:13.063Z

It's been a while since I've nearly snarfed (the top definition, not the one about sniffing bike seats), but just came close. There's was a well balanced report on Click On last night on the BBC I was listening to again (about the Estonian experience), when I remembered that Mr Kitcat had commented on this at some point in the past. A quick search of his site turned up this article which contains

Daniel Graynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6609352542197655238.post-39558838611840133572007-02-14T16:54:00.000Z2007-02-14T16:56:05.794Z

Glad to see you're taking an interest as well. Any chance you could convince Jason to answer some of my questions, particularly re: Postal votes & why the heck GNU.Free is still available?

Daniel Graynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6609352542197655238.post-17912075841106887612007-02-14T16:02:00.000Z2007-02-14T16:04:27.492Z

Just came across this article on the Time magazine website about a very strange individual who seems to be at the root of some of the anti-eVoting movement in the US. I'll let you draw your own conclusions...

Daniel Graynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6609352542197655238.post-90040019678959416992007-02-13T09:49:00.000Z2007-02-13T09:53:58.598Z

The source for GNU.Free is still available at the j-dom.org site (linky). I'm still unclear as to why this tremendous threat to democracy is still available online, particularly since the author now feels that eVoting is the worst thing to happen to the world since the A-bomb, why hasn't it been removed? To prove his programming credentials? In the vain hope that someone, somewhere will pickup

Daniel Graynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6609352542197655238.post-7483802941005319452007-02-12T16:45:00.000Z2007-02-08T15:44:45.165Z

"There are concerns about voters' perceptions of these issues. Electronic voting is potentially far more secure than the existing system. At present, I could walk into the polling station, say that I was Mr. Smith of 23, the High street, get a ballot paper, and vote. That system is insecure, but we still have confidence in it because if the real Mr. Smith comes along later and is told that he has

Daniel Graynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6609352542197655238.post-27595595095499702972007-01-31T22:43:00.000Z2007-02-01T12:53:12.009Z

Happy new year. Sorry it's been a while since my last post, the joys of Christmas and the New Year huh? Well the DCA have revealed which authorities are running pilots this year and the nay-sayers are off!Looks like the Open Rights Group have teamed up with our friend Mr Kitcat for their opposition to the May 2007 eVoting Pilots.Unfortunately for them they've let him produce a lot of the

Daniel Graynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6609352542197655238.post-41387219997321201912006-12-17T08:57:00.001Z2006-12-17T09:15:08.173Z

There's an interesting (though that may be the wrong word) article over on Jason Kitcats blog at the moment about the "privatisation of democracy".I can agree with Jason that the practice of refusing to supply US election officials with equipment because of them exposing the equipment to scrutiny is wrong (that's just an official doing their duty), but I can't agree with the overall tone of the

Daniel Graynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6609352542197655238.post-23132153376159138092006-12-12T09:14:00.000Z2006-12-12T09:34:30.638Z

I'm assuming from the angle that Jason Kitcat came in onto this subject that he agrees that pre-encrypted ballots do successfully protect votes on the wire from alteration and inspection? He's not offered any counterclaims in this respect so I think it's safe to assume he does agree (not that he could ever say so).I'm not sure which description Jason was reading with regard to the allocation of

Daniel Graynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6609352542197655238.post-45549770062421096532006-12-11T19:47:00.000Z2006-12-11T20:15:42.143Z

This is the next part of a series of responses to Mr Kitcats monster post about yours truly.In defence of the problem found in the GNU.Free codebase I blogged about previously (quick question, why oh why, if you thought electronic voting was a bad idea, would you leave the source for a bad eVoting implementation laying around on the Internet? Maybe so you could point at it and say how clever you

Daniel Graynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6609352542197655238.post-65378154123736903432006-12-11T19:44:00.000Z2006-12-11T19:46:53.926Z

I've just realised that I've never defined the scope of my advocation for eVoting (an oversight on my part). I'd like to make it clear that I'm an advocate of remote eVoting, and currently am not a great fan of electronic voting machines in polling stations.One of the reasons behind this is the difficulty in assuring and securing such a large number of voting machines.

Daniel Graynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6609352542197655238.post-6991020278537863072006-12-11T16:48:00.000Z2006-12-11T16:52:04.635Z

Does anyone have, or know where to procure, the command set for a GemPlus GXPPRO R3 STD smartcard? Typically the ISO 7816-4 specification doesn't include useful things like standardised CREATE FILE commands, and without the specifics of the card you're a little boned.I've tried contacting GemPlus... but so for no dice.

Daniel Graynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6609352542197655238.post-86187567985250199212006-12-11T14:02:00.000Z2006-12-11T14:03:42.705Z

A semi-official definition of clue stick, a.k.a. the clue-by-four, can be found here (includes some citations).

Daniel Graynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6609352542197655238.post-71067565366888697052006-12-10T15:35:00.000Z2006-12-10T15:41:34.888Z

Looks like JK didn't do the fixing I thought he did... which makes the whole thing even funnier. Kinda smacks of the attitudes of certain US voting equipment manufacturers huh?

Daniel Graynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6609352542197655238.post-87851702850976669622006-12-10T09:01:00.000Z2006-12-10T09:13:12.564Z

I think I'l start my reponses to Jason Kitcats monster post about me with the low hanging fruit, that being the issues of voter coercion and selling in remote voting.Note the use of the phrase remote voting rather than eVoting (I'll get to that at the end).Jason is correct that the destruction of the initial voter credentials allows the attacker to prevent a second vote from being cast that

Daniel Graynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6609352542197655238.post-89197659504905806132006-12-09T10:42:00.000Z2006-12-09T10:45:13.080Z

Nothing to do with voting, but this is just chuffing hilarious. Verizon quoted a customer at a rate of 0.02 cents per kilobyte and then charged at a rate of 0.02 dollars per kilobyte. What follows is a quite hilarious series of conversations about how to do math... more on Georges blog.

Daniel Graynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6609352542197655238.post-38288689975540412262006-12-08T16:27:00.000Z2006-12-08T16:29:12.194Z

Seen in a Slashdot sig :"He who dares not offend cannot be honest"- Thomas Paine

Daniel Graynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6609352542197655238.post-39490134856269619362006-12-08T15:04:00.000Z2006-12-08T15:22:51.425Z

Blimey! Finally had time to read and digest all of Jason Kitcats post about me. You really know you've arrived on the scene when someone spends all morning writing something that long huh? (and securing their site against some basic security problems).The main points I see from the article are:My confusion over voter trust in electoral processes vs electoral modelsVoter trust in pre-encrypted

Daniel Graynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6609352542197655238.post-67035547480674854472006-12-03T19:34:00.000Z2006-12-03T19:37:54.371Z

Just noticed that the article over on the Open Rights Group wiki concerning eVoting has been changed to remove a reference to pilots being funded by the Local Authorities (I'd appended a note to the effect that it wasn't being funded by the LAs).Yes, Jason is correct that not all of the cost is being met by DCA funding, but 95% of it is, with the Local Authorities only having to meet marketing

Daniel Graynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6609352542197655238.post-49090285815485236572006-12-03T19:31:00.000Z2006-12-03T19:34:00.475Z

I will be getting back to Jason Kitcats post about me, when time permits. I'll probably address a point at a time, as this blog isn't part of my job, and the family and hobbies take up a lot of my time at home.

Daniel Graynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6609352542197655238.post-6289917488192988502006-12-03T19:21:00.000Z2006-12-03T19:30:43.829Z

I've been asked about my professional history and qualifications, so here's a quick summary :Education11 GCSEs, 3 A Levels, HND in ComputingProfessional ExperienceCurrently employed as a Senior Consultant at a leading UK software house that specialises in secure transactional software (don't ask which, I don't want them dragged into this discussion as of yet, these are my opinions, not theirs),

Daniel Graynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6609352542197655238.post-53233425943061077152006-11-28T00:21:00.000Z2007-03-08T00:13:00.604Z

ammoQ has kindly confirmed by suspicions over at the The Daily WTF. Good to see it's visible to others.

Daniel Graynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6609352542197655238.post-15141074243080445232006-11-27T19:44:00.000Z2006-11-27T19:49:51.097Z

One specific thing from that Wired article I commented on the other day:"There's really no way to secure the transmission of votes over the internet," Jefferson said, pointing out that home PCs' vulnerability to viruses and other malicious code makes it impossible to assure that a vote is cast and counted the way it was intended.Yes there is. As was stated in my comments... pre-encrypted ballots

Daniel Graynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6609352542197655238.post-75034583466551439902006-11-27T19:39:00.000Z2006-11-27T19:43:45.161Z

Mother of all that's Holy! The Germans are manufacturing a device that could bring down the entire basis of our democracy overnight. The devils are producing "erasers" that can be used to alter the marks on paper ballots made using pencils. My colleague Neil has helpfully provided us all with an image of these infernal devices!Warning: The above is a joke - if you take it seriously then well... *

Daniel Graynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6609352542197655238.post-59669226657307099032006-11-27T12:23:00.000Z2006-11-27T19:31:56.839Z

Just happened up this site (linky) that makes some arguments against the use of electronic voting, and how it threatens the fundamental nature of democracy (insert special FX noises).The argument is made that a completely anonymous election can only be assumed to be correct if the electoral processes are open to verifiability by the electorate. Whilst the generalised process may be open to

Daniel Graynoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6609352542197655238.post-16250307071014577392006-11-27T01:00:00.000Z2006-11-27T01:12:48.597Z

Quick last post for the night. Check out this great vid of Mr Kitcat, the best bit is at the end :"Powercuts, sunspots" - Yes because it's beyond the wit of man to provide backup power at a hosting center. Or to provide a DR site that duplicates the systems in use at the main site isn't it? I visited hosting centres over the past couple of weeks that have multiple diesel generators that can power

Daniel Graynoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6609352542197655238.post-21673010977995160382006-11-27T00:53:00.000Z2006-11-27T00:57:07.510Z

Just a quick post to clarify how the May 2007 eVoting pilots are being funding. They are not (as has been noted by a number of talking heads) being funded by the Local Authorities themselves, but rather by funds set aside by the Treasury for the DCA to use for the pilots. So don't worry, your Council Tax isn't being used to fund these wild and fanciful ideas that arrogant technologists such as

Daniel Graynoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6609352542197655238.post-35885474254400615852006-11-26T16:29:00.000Z2006-11-26T16:31:24.686Z

I've just integrated realtime web stats from these people into the site. Very good for something that's free (up to 9,000 page impressions per day). Extremely detailed analysis of visitor trends and navigation. To be honest I'm amazed they can afford to offer this level of detail in a free product!

Daniel Graynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6609352542197655238.post-75815175241975432082006-11-26T13:15:00.000Z2006-11-26T13:17:45.285Z

Rather than :"Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach."How about :"Those who can, do. Those who can't, consult."

Daniel Graynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6609352542197655238.post-71535925531798880192006-11-21T11:59:00.000Z2006-11-21T12:02:47.721Z

Time for a quick clue stick beating:Don't list sensitive files / folders in your robots.txt fileMore info can be found in The Web Robots FAQ.Also make sure you've turned directory browsing off and protected anything sensitive with even basic access controls, the Internet's a wild place. Very basic stuff really.

Daniel Graynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6609352542197655238.post-38993330934575726322006-11-18T12:57:00.001Z2006-11-18T12:58:20.655Z

On the ongoing "problems" with eVoting (linky), which are basically summed up as:General purpose PCs are inherently insecure and vulnerable to viruses and other attacks that could compromise votes without detection.Denial of service attacks could disenfranchise voters.Database hacks could change vote tallies.Putting voting into the home would destroy poll-booth privacy, exposing voters to

Daniel Graynoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6609352542197655238.post-35840223350211722372006-11-18T11:00:00.000Z2006-11-18T11:02:55.151Z

From Google:"How much easier it is to be critical than to be correct."- Benjamin Disraeli

Daniel Graynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6609352542197655238.post-15810278687239225312006-11-17T16:11:00.000Z2006-11-17T16:47:49.959Z

Interesting article just popped up on The Register :http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/11/17/downing_street_e-petitions/That links to the new beta Government e-petition site @http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/Look at the source of one of the forms (such as http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/Help-Sally-B/) and you can find a Base64 encoded string in one of the hidden form fields (called "ser"). Decode the string

Daniel Graynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6609352542197655238.post-16854803669700599862006-11-15T01:23:00.000Z2007-03-08T00:13:43.840Z

OSS can be great... sometimes. Other times it can produce some fairly terrible things, like this (taken from the now defunct GNU.Free project, laughably labeled at a 1.9 release) that only serve to act as security snake-oil:/*** Implements the org.apache.log4j.Appender interface to provide a secure* addition to GNU.FREE logging.** This class creates a chain of Message Digests, so that the every

Daniel Graynoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6609352542197655238.post-51979414619836659252006-11-13T20:35:00.000Z2006-11-15T01:32:37.247Z

I've recently been working on a test implementation of a ballot counter for Single Transferrable Votes both at work and at home. I've seen various descriptions of STV including this one on Wikipedia (which seems to have too many holes to mention).By far and away the best description I've been able to get hold of is that put forward by the Electoral Reform Society (linkies - model election -

Daniel Graynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6609352542197655238.post-28705700414718651182006-11-13T20:32:00.000Z2006-11-13T21:42:41.626Z

I have to say this new beta interface for Blogger is fairly impressive. I'd used the previous incarnation of Blogger before, as well as .Text for internal blogs at work, but this really is much better. The ability to arrange page elements without having to care about the underlying HTML is very liberating... just wish there was a way to build web apps without having to care about the HTML! (yes I

Daniel Graynoreply@blogger.com0