choof.org

November 17, 2004

A Quick Response to Anne Applebaum

I wrote a little response to Anne Applebaum's column in today's Post, in which she wrote:

In ATMs, Not Votes, We Trust
By Anne Applebaum
Wednesday, November 17, 2004; Page A27

When the ATM asks whether I want a receipt, I usually say no. When a Web site wants my credit card number, I usually say yes. When I pay bills online, there is no paper record of the transaction. In my failure to demand physical evidence when money changes hands, I am not very unusual. Most Americans now conduct at least some of their financial transactions without paper, or at least sleep happily knowing that others do. Yet when it comes to voting -- a far simpler and more straightforward activity than electronic bank transfers -- we suddenly become positively 19th century in our need for a physical record.

It is, if you think about it, quite inexplicable.

I really don't like this attitude of inevitability when it comes to new technology. Designed properly, new technologies can give us more, not less. When we settle with this attitude we are ensured that we will get less. Also, there is a major problem with the people who write about technology--they tend to be members of the "elite," and they simply don't think about the problems and consequences that others face when consumer protections are not in place. Anyway.

Greetings Ms. Applebaum,
Regarding today's editorial:

"It is, if you think about it, quite inexplicable."

No, it is explicable. You receive regular statements about bank activity and balances. You can balance your checkbook. Banks are liable for fraud that occurs on your account. If you withdraw money on my ATM card, or if you forge one of my checks, the bank is liable.

The legal liability gives one protection from ATM security, which isn't perfect. See http://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/03/national/03ATM.html The banking industry has done everything it can to hide ATM security problems. They've even obtained gag orders to stop public dissemination of the problem. Top computer security experts--Ross Anderson and others at the Cambridge Computer Science Lab work on this. See http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mkb23/phantom/

Now on the other hand, what proof/accountability exists in a situation where your vote isn't counted? You have law to protect you from black-box ATM technology. What is there to address black-box voting technology?

Paper is good for some things. For instance, when it comes to electronic billing, and you have a dispute, how are you going to prove anything? What if you have an electronic contract and wish cancel your phone service? How do you know that the version on the website is the same that you signed nine months ago?

These problems have yet to be worked out. But they need serious treatment, and the consideration that people involved in billing and contract disputes aren't usually well-educated, politically-connected editors of important newspapers.

Regards,
Chris

Posted by chris at November 17, 2004 09:30 AM

Comments

"In my failure to demand physical evidence when money changes hands, I am not very unusual"

I don't *think* so. I, and most people I know, *do* take a printed receipt from every ATM transaction. And while I haven't exactly conducted a nationwide survey, I know *I* actually save copies / receipts of every online banking / purchase transaction. Hell, I save my credit card receipts when I buy something from a brick & mortar store -- doesn't everyone? Yeah, I tend to throw it into a box once I get home -- but if I *have to*, I can hunt through that box and find a disputed receipt.

Posted by: Craig at November 21, 2004 10:18 AM