Update of the Council of Europe recommendation on legal, operational and technical standards for e-voting – a legal perspective

The Council of Europe 2004 Recommendation on e-voting (Rec(2004)11) is a soft law instrument containing legal, operational and technical standards for e-voting. An ad-hoc Committee of Experts on E-voting (CAHVE) started work on its update in 2015. This paper focuses on the place of Rec(2004)11 in the regulatory framework for e-voting as well as on issues related to its update. We discuss the main results of the first phase of the update and some specific legal questions related to the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) in elections. The main challenge for such an instrument is to fully and correctly translate broader principles of the European Electoral Heritage into standards and requirements for e-voting that remain pertinent as technology evolves

Implementation of electronic voting and the matter of security

Electronic voting (as well as computer-aided voting) is an interesting subject for many countries around the world. The idea to implement e-voting into elections and referenda is widely discussed not only by members of parliaments and governments throughout the world but also by regular voters, IT specialists, engineers or people who work in organisations/associations supporting application of ICT in government. This idea is strengthened by the fact, that e-voting is successfully applied in Estonia and Switzerland for several years. However, in some European states (e.g. in the Netherlands, Norway and Austria) the attempts to implement that form of participation in elections fell out to be unsuccessful. This article aims at providing an answer to the question about the matters of security during implementation of electronic voting systems, which are more and more popular as an additional form of voting during elections or referenda. The theoretical context of the considerations is based on the concepts of electronic democracy (as a new paradigm of democratic power in contemporary states) and voting supported by ICT (understood as the essential tool for e-democracy). Apart from theoretical considerations on the e-voting itself, this text includes references to the most important motives that accompany e-voting implementation and then it delivers arguments on various aspects of security within the e-voting system

Why Adopt E-voting? Study on Village Leader Elections in Musi Rawas, South Sumatera

This article elaborates the e-voting adoption in village leader elections held in Musi Rawas Regency, South Sumatera, during the period of 2013 to early 2015. This paper aims at answering the question of why the government of Musi Rawas has adopted e-voting in the village leader elections. More specifically, this paper aims at identifying the motives underlying the policy to adopt e-voting in village leader elections in Musi Rawas. This article is based on the field research held between February and March, 2015. The research employs the qualitative approach. Data is collected through in-depth interview, observation, and news collected from mass media. Interviews were conducted with Mayors of Musi Rawas and the other informants that know the problems. Besides that, the research also conducted observation in three villages which held village leader elections with e-voting: Wonokerto Village, Pelawe Village, and BTS Ulu Village. Observation is the mechanism to compare between the information from interview with the empirical practice of e-voting. This article finds out that the first motive of the adoption of e-voting in the village leader election is to reduce violations of procedure. The second motive is to make the elections more efficient in term of time and money and to make the voters easier to vote. Nevertheless, the Government of Musi Rawas needs to pay attention to the technical aspect in order to make the village leader election is conducted in line with the ideal principle of election

Sistema de voto electrónico basado en blockchain

En todo proceso electoral, la seguridad de las elecciones es un factor que siempre se trata de proteger y aún más cuando hay tecnología de por medio. En tal sentido, los sistemas de voto electrónico se vienen utilizando desde el siglo XIX para automatizar algún proceso interno en cualquier proceso electoral. Actualmente, existen diversos sistemas de voto electrónico que han traído grandes beneficios a los procesos electorales, entre ellos ahorro ecológico, eficiencia en el conteo de votos y accesibilidad a los electores que se encuentran en el extranjero. Sin embargo, a la par del crecimiento de la inserción de la tecnología dentro de los procesos electorales también ha crecido las vulnerabilidades y ataques informáticos a dichos sistemas. Dichas vulnerabilidades se han reflejado en el bajo nivel de seguridad que poseen los sistemas de voto electrónico, las cuales este proyecto las ha agrupado en 3 categorías: la información centralizada y no accesible para los actores en cada fase del proceso electoral que abarca un sistema de voto electrónico, la ausencia de mecanismos que permiten la verificación de la integridad de los datos y la falta de cumplimiento de estándares legales y técnicos en el desarrollo de un sistema de voto electrónico. Para poder afrontar dichas deficiencias se presenta la tecnología blockchain y los contratos inteligentes, los cuales serán las principales herramientas que por su estructura descentralizada e inmutable permiten proponer una solución. Este proyecto propone el análisis, diseño e implementación de un sistema de voto electrónico para procesos electorales bajo estándares legales y técnicos que brinden transparencia y robustez en las fases de preparación, registro, votación, emisión de voto, escrutinio y auditoría aplicado a las elecciones generales en el Perú

Internet Voting in Austria: History, Development, and Building Blocks for the Future

This dissertation aims to investigate the origins of Internet voting, analyze several deployments of Internet voting technology in Austria and identify - based on these accumulated experiences - building blocks that can be useful in decision-making on and planning of future uses of Internet voting technology within Austria and throughout the world. In line with the goals of this thesis, it will address the following research questions: - How did Internet voting originate? - What experiences were noted in the process of implementing Internet voting in Austria? - What building blocks can be identified for developing future Internet voting both inside and outside Austria? Internet voting is part of a transformational movement that applies information and communication technologies to daily business activities. It is only logical that elections are also considered for applying electronic (remote) communication technologies. While early efforts were driven by the belief that elections could make easy use of the Internet, it was shown that while the principles have to be interpreted and consequently applied in a different way, the same principles can still be derived for Internet voting, like integrity, secrecy, transparency, accountability and public confidence. The need to have forms of decision making in electronic networks has been identified in its beginnings and has received continuous attention throughout its development. At the height of the excitement about the possibilities of the Internet, countries raced to become the first to run a legally binding election using electronic voting systems. While several candidates emerged (e.g., Costa Rica, Bosnia Herzegovina, Germany, United States), Estonia was victorious in 2005. To date, Estonia is the only country that has introduced this form of voting without any preconditions or other limitations. In Austria, the intentions to use information and communication technologies (ICT) in elections concentrated on parliamentary affairs. Spurred by the efforts around student elections in Germany, Austria sought to conduct Internet voting in 2000. In the years thereafter, considerable progress was made at WU Vienna University of Economics and Business (WU), and this progress spearheaded the debate in the early 2000s. At the beginning in the years 2001-2003, technical solutions were sought to verify voter eligibility and maintain voter privacy. Later, more sophisticated algorithms were developed, and functionalities like quotas in election commissions were added. The Federation of Students' elections in 2009 were a remarkable event that demonstrated highly contentious political debate around the topic. This debate continued after the elections, which were held in May 2009 and suffered from the intense debate and protests and consequential organizational shortcomings. The experiences also showed that accurate legal regulations are needed to show interaction with the constitutional legal texts and to ensure accountability to a remote electronic voting channel through legal means. International standards were a first step, but regulations based on actual experience were needed to show how remote electronic voting channels could be realized and how to avoid problems identified in pilot implementations. This practical knowledge also shows that sophisticated algorithms are not always the key to success. Rather, several key implementations make use of very basic technical means to realize the tasks given by law. One should not forget about the voters. They not only need to use such systems, but they also need to understand the processes in order to build trust. The constitutional court ruling lifted the election and ruled that the respective ordinance was not in line with the requirements of the law. Hereby, the court established higher requirements resulting barriers for offering Internet voting channels in future elections. While the election administration system, which was a pre-requisite for the Internet voting system, was discontinued in the election thereafter, it returned in recent elections where postal voting was offered. On the basis of the aforementioned experiences, twelve building blocks were compiled discovered. These include design decisions, such as the following: the form of electronic voting, adaptations of the legal base, the technical means for identification and secrecy, observation, control functions for the electoral commission, evaluation processes, transparency functions, ballot sheet designs, controlling the organizational context as well as providing options for planning and implementation. This framework therefore facilitates and eases the generation of feasibility studies and other analyses and decision making ahead of using Internet voting in an election. With little adaption it can also be used for the use of other voting technologies. This work utilizes theoretical work and knowledge from adaptations of legal texts. These texts cover a wide range of topics, including methods for implementing identification and anonymity functions in remote electronic voting as well as testing and certifying systems that require transparent procedures. The findings also show that implementing remote an electronic voting system is a complex topic. It requires trust in the election administration; otherwise, suspicion will arise when more technology is introduced and implemented in an election process. Remote electronic voting is one of the most challenging information technology (IT) projects

Interneto ir technologijų teisė

Šiame vadovėlyje nagrinėjamos bendrosios informacinių technologijų bei teisės sąveikos problemos ir pateikiami naujų technologijų teisės pagrindai. Vadovėlis yra skirtas visų lygių teisės studijų programų studentams, bet jame nagrinėjamos interneto, elektroninių ryšių, e. komercijos, e. sutarčių, e. įrodymų, nano- ir biotechnologijų bei robotikos teisinio reglamentavimo principai, intelektinės nuosavybės ir privatumo, asmens duomenų apsaugos elektroninėje erdvėje, elektroninių nusikaltimų ir kibernetinio saugumo pamatinės nuostatos turėtų sudominti ne tik studentus ir praktikuojančius teisininkus, bet ir informacinių technologijų specialistus bei visus tuos, kuriems kiekvieną dieną tenka naudotis informacinėmis technologijomis darbo ar asmeniniams tikslams

IV Міжнародний науковий конгрес "Society of Ambient Intelligence - 2021" (ISCSAI 2021). Кривий Ріг, Україна, 12-16 квітня 2021 року

IV Міжнародний науковий конгрес "Society of Ambient Intelligence - 2021" (ISCSAI 2021). Кривий Ріг, Україна, 12-16 квітня 2021 року - матеріали.IV International Scientific Congress “Society of Ambient Intelligence – 2021” (ISCSAI 2021). Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine, April 12-16, 2021 - proceedings