Re: internet voting -- ICANN, SmartInitiatives, etc.

> From: Ed Gerck <egerck(_at_)nma(_dot_)com>
> > For example, if Mr. Gerck understood "bug" or "database" as most of us
> > do, he wouldn't talk about a "database paradigm" as a panacea against
> > bugs.  He would know that the phrase "database paradigm" is quite
> > evocative, but not in a good way.  If he meant familiar things by "digital"
> > and "analog," he wouldn't have said that making a hole in card stock is
> > analog but touching a keyboard or touch sensitive screen is digital.
> I never said what you wrote above.  In fact, I might say that you got it
> reversed in your last phrase.  And in everything else.
I could quote Mr. Gerck's words to show that he recently wrote each of
the things I claimed, but that would bore all of us and convince no one.
Mr. Gerck would remain convinced that he has been having a technical
discussion and not see how his words might say what most of us understood
them to mean.  He would honestly not understand why "legacy programmers"
are so picky about insignificant technical details and mere semantics.


> But, the subject in this thread was what the IETF was doing in terms of
> Internet voting protocols.  Attacking me, personally, will not make this
> thread more interesting, I believe.
> ...
No, this thread has been about advocating Mr. Gerck's products, and as
such, has no business here.  Discussions about Mr. Gerck's products might
but would probably not be appropriate in an IETF Working Group chartered
to consider voting protocols.  Even if Mr. Gerck were not mistaken about
the nature of his comments, they would be inappropriate here.

It might be appropriate to consider creating an IETF WG on voting
protocols, but as far as I recall, Mr. Gerck has not raised that issue.
Perhaps his sense of the likely consensus on that question matches mine.
I'm confident that politicians and salespeople will ensure that there is
no shortage of forums outside the IETF for discussing on-line voting.
Moreover, the focus of the IETF on technical trivia would be incompatible
with the needs of almost all participants in those discussions.


Vernon Schryver    vjs(_at_)rhyolite(_dot_)com