What did I really vote for? On the usability of verifiable e-voting schemes

E-voting has been embraced by a number of countries, delivering benefits in terms of efficiency and accessibility. End-to-end verifiable e-voting schemes facilitate verification of the integrity of individual votes during the election process. In particular, methods for cast-as-intended verification enable voters to confirm that their cast votes have not been manipulated by the voting client. A well-known technique for effecting cast-as-intended verification is the Benaloh Challenge. The usability of this challenge is crucial because voters have to be actively engaged in the verification process. In this paper, we report on a usability evaluation of three different approaches of the Benaloh Challenge in the remote e-voting context. We performed a comparative user study with 95 participants. We conclude with a recommendation for which approaches should be provided to afford verification in real-world elections and suggest usability improvements

The Fourth Amendment\u27s National Security Exception: Its History and Limits

Since 2001, federal prosecutors have indicted and convicted hundreds of defendants for terrorism, espionage, and other national security crimes.\u27 And for every prosecution, there are dozens of investigations into foreign threats that never result in a trial. Between 2001 and 2010, for example, the federal government obtained 16,306 foreign intelligence warrants in the course of its security operations. Between 2004 and 2011, the Federal Bureau of Investigations ( FBI ) issued 119,192 National Security Letters for records deemed to be pertinent to national security investigations. Despite these numbers, security investigations and prosecutions proceed on uncertain constitutional footing. The rights of terrorism suspects to receive Miranda warnings, confront accusers, and obtain civilian trials are unclear.6 Similar constitutional questions surround the Fourth Amendment and its application to national security matters. The balance between the Fourth Amendment\u27s protections and the President\u27s inherent power to defend the nation has become a focus of litigation in recent years yet still remains murky. To clarify the constitutional parameters of national security investigations, this Article examines the Fourth Amendment\u27s historical influence in security affairs. Claims about historical practice pervade debates over modern surveillance programs, including those about the Bush Administration\u27s warrantless wiretapping program and recent amendments to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act ( FISA ). These historical treatments remain cursory, however, and have failed to detail how the Fourth Amendment regulated national security operations in the pre- September 11 era

The new trends of global developments and Turkish world

This article aims at describing the challenges and opportunities facing Turkey in the international environment at a time of extraordinary flux and offers some conclusions about its further possible interactions with the Turkic world. The analysis should be of interest to contribute to informed debate about the country's role in the modern stage of globalization

AN INNOVATIVE ANGLE IN THE APPLICATION OF CRYPTOGRAPHY TO NETWORK SECURITY

Network Security is protecting data transmitted over a    network and privacy is of utmost importance. Rapid developments in information technology makes Data Security a challenging issue of data communications in the global networked world. Vital information of offices and organizations has to be guarded from unauthorized persons who may tamper with the information. Sensitive information is exposed to threats like masquerades, corruption or denial of services [1, 2].  Secure systems need to maintain integrity and privacy of data [3]. Designing an appropriate security system to protect proprietary information requires developing a set of appropriate solutions for specific risk scenarios. One important tool to protect information is the use of cryptography for hiding contents of a message and Confidentiality of network communications. The applications of cryptography go beyond networks, business and customers. This paper suggests a new direction in using cryptography for network security

Cryptocurrency Concerns, Crimes, and Legal Consequences

This note addresses the current issues with the law and digital currencies, federal agencies’ current classifications of cryptocurrencies, problems with those classifications, and solutions to better regulate, classify, and prosecute virtual-currency crimes. The history of digital currencies, the history of criminal activity involving money, and how the creation and widespread use of cryptocurrencies has allowed criminals to find new ways to hide money that make it difficult for law enforcement to catch will be discussed. The article analyzes current and past cases involving different courts’ interpretations and prosecution of cryptocurrencies and concludes by offering solutions to the potential issues of the current “solutions” to crypto crimes and why those solutions seem problematic

From SARS to Avian Influenza: The Role of International Factors in China's Approach to Infectious Disease Control

Background: Over the past decades global environmental change, globalization, urbanization, and the rise in movement of people have increased the risk for pandemic disease outbreaks. As environmental exposures do not respect state borders, a globalist concept of global healthresponse has developed, which requires transparency and cooperation for coordinated responses to disease outbreaks. Countries that avoid cooperation on health issues for social or political reasons can endanger the global community. Objectives: The aim of this study was to examine the rapid change in China's infectious disease policy between 2000 and 2013, from actively rejecting the assistance of international health experts during the HIV/AIDS and severe acute respiratory syndrome crises to following best-practice disease response policies and cooperating with international health actors during the 2013 avian influenza outbreak. Methods: Using international relations theory, I examined whether international political factors had a major influence on this change. Using the case studies of international reputation, socialization with international organizations, and the securitization of infectious disease, this study examined the influence of international and domestic pressures on Chinese infectious disease policy. Findings: Although international relations theory, especially theories popular in global health diplomacy literature, provide valuable insight into the role of international factors and foreign policy interests in China's changing approach to infectious disease control, it cannot provide viable explanations without considering the domestic interests of the Chinese government. Conclusion: Analysis of state responses to infectious disease using international relations theories must consider domestic political factors

Structural Constitutionalism as Counterterrorism

During the past decade, federal courts have adjudicated proliferating challenges to novel policy responses to terrorism. Judges often resolve the individual rights and statutory interpretation questions implicated in those controversies by deploying presumptions or rules of thumb derived from the Constitution\u27s Separation of Powers. These structural constitutional presumptions serve as heuristics to facilitate adjudication and to enable judicial bypass of difficult legal, policy, and factual questions. This Article challenges the use of such structural presumptions in counterterrorism cases. Drawing upon recent empirical research in political science, political psychology, and security studies, it demonstrates that abstract eighteenth-century Separation of Powers ideals do not translate into robust and empirically defensible generalizations for twenty-first-century security decisions. Structural constitutionalism thus cannot serve as a foundation for heuristics or shortcuts in the judicial consideration of new security measures. To the extent courts properly pass on the legality of counterterrorism policies, judges should rely instead on the ordinary tools of doctrine, statutory construction, and fact finding. The ensuing jurisprudence of counterterrorism would look much more like ordinary public law