Open source auditing tool boosts election integrity

By Ryan Paul

We have looked closely in the past at the importance of post-election audits and the essential role that they play in guaranteeing election integrity. Many state and local governments have been slow to institute adequate audit procedures, but that could soon change. Colorado's Boulder County has taken a big step forward with a comprehensive auditing strategy that leverages open source software to boost election integrity.

Boulder County adopted ElectionAudits, an open source software program that implements a "risk-limiting" audit system modeled after the concepts described in Principles and Best Practices for Post Election Audits—a guide that is endorsed by the Brennan Center for Justice, Verified Voting, and a number of various state-based election integrity advocacy groups.

In a risk-limiting audit, the sample size of randomly selected ballots in each precinct is based on the margin of victory. A higher volume of records will be analyzed in tight contests where the winner's lead was narrow. Experts say that this kind of audit is more reliable and statistically rigorous than audits that use a predetermined fixed percentage of ballots for every precinct.

ElectionAudits supports several different techniques for computing sample sizes in risk-limiting elections, including the "negative-exponential" method (NEGEXP) and the "probability proportional to error bounds, with replacement" method (PPEBWR). Boulder County used NEGEXP, which was first introduced in a paper that was published earlier this year by Northeastern University researcher Javed A. Aslam and MIT researchers Ronald L. Rivest and Raluca A. Popa. Their paper, On Auditing Elections When Precincts Have Different Sizes, compares several different methodologies and suggests that NEGEXP "appears to have near-optimal efficiency."

Presentation slide by Raluca A. Popa

The ElectionAudits software, which was largely developed by Neal McBurnett, is built with the Python programming language and the Django framework. The source code is available for download from the project's version control repository and is distributed under the MIT license. Some of the source code for the election computations was adapted from a Python script written by Rivest, who is best known for his role in creating the RSA encryption algorithm and is a member of the Election Assistance Commission's technical guidelines development committee.

ElectionAudits was used in Boulder following the general election to conduct what election officials say could be the most extensive risk-limiting audit in history. The county plans to encourage broader adoption of the methodology and hopes that it will be endorsed by the Colorado Election Reform Commission.

"The overall results give us more confidence than ever in the reported results for this election, based on the close agreement between the hand counts and machine counts," a representative of Boulder County said in a statement. "The audit also set new standards for transparency and verifiability. All the detail on results to be audited was published on the web before the random selection of batches to be audited was done. Peer-reviewed procedures for ensuring verifiably random dice throws and selections were used."

The development of the ElectionAudits software is a big step in the right direction for election integrity and accountable democracy. Modern voting technology poses significant challenges, but it is clear that open software and collaborative innovation can make a big difference and help ensure that the election process remains transparent.

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"I'm Linux" Video Contest Will Probably Be a Forking Mess

By Jack Loftus

Move over Hodgman and that hipster kid who briefly dated Drew Barrymore, because there's a new advertising campaign in town that hopes to take Linux into the mainstream. With commercials.

It's true. The Linux Foundation saw those successful I'm a Mac commercials, and Jerry Seinfeld playing with Bill Gates, and they wanted in. So they're having a video contest that will try and showcase "just what Linux means to those who use it, and hopefully inspires many to try it."

That means you, the Linux user at home, will get to submit a video that rivals what Apple and Microsoft's multi-million dollar ad agencies have had years to hone and perfect with focus groups and trained, funny actors. But that's the beauty of the penguin, right? Grassroots development, supported by a passionate community of users, all topped off by a network of cranky forum dwellers who'll attack anything negative written about their OS within milliseconds of its publication.

The winner of the I'm Linux contest will receive a free (as in beer) trip to Tokyo to participate in the Linux Foundation Japan Linux Symposium in October 2009. The winning video will be screened at the Linux Foundation Collaboration Summit in San Francisco on April 8, 2009.

Novell actually did this already back at BrainShare in 2007, but we'll see if the community at large can do them one better:

[Linux Foundation via Slashdot]

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Legal Downloads Growing Faster Than Piracy

Nicholas Carlson

The recession is not driving music lovers to piracy. Just away from their CD players.

The volume of legal music downloaded in Q3 increased 29% over the same period a year ago. That beats the growth in illegal music downloads over peer-to-peer networks, which rose 23% y/y.

Overall demand for music declined 2% in the third quarter, research group NPD reports. More of their numbers:

• Fifteen percent of Internet users purchased music from online music stores, such as iTunes and AmazonMP3, which is an increase of 2 percentage points over last year and equates to approximately 2.8 million additional music-download customers.
• The volume of CDs purchased declined by 19 percent in Q3 compared to last year.
• Year-over-year consumer demand for music among Internet users in the U.S. fell 2 percent in the third quarter (Q3) of 2008.
• CD sales volume were among teens (down 34 percent) and among adults age 26 to 35 (down 36 percent). CD purchases by adults age 36 and older showed a more moderate decline of 10 percent.

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Robot submarine repairing broken internet

Middle East still suffering major internet outage, robot sub being used to fix broken cables in Mediterannean

French crews are rapidly trying to repair undersea cables to stop the Middle East and India experiencing potential major internet blackouts, as reported over the weekend.

A robot submarine (called "Hector") is being used to locate the broken cables to bring them to the surface of the Mediterranean to be reconnected.

It is not yet confirmed what caused the cables to snap, though the breakage is most likely to be connected to an errant ship's anchor or earth tremors deep in the Med between Sicily and Tunisia. Most probably by an anchor, according to experts on the scene.

TechRadar will of course be bringing you regular updates on this story as it breaks.

Immense knock-on effects

Wide areas across the Middle East remain without any internet connections, with experts from France Telecom Marine rather worryingly claiming that the fault may take days to repair – which could have immense knock-on effects on local economies affected.

France Telecom Marine spokesman Louis-Michel Aymard told the Associated Press: "We have to fix the cable fibre by fibre, and it's a very huge cable."

France Telecom has put the ETA on the repair of cable SEA-ME-WE4 by 25 December and SEA-ME-WE3 by the end of the year.

A third line severed in the same incident, FLAG, is not operated by the same consortium and is set to be repaired by another ship.

By Adam Hartley

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Nvidia bids to dislodge Intel as rivalry gets ugly

Posted by Brooke Crothers

Intel and Nvidia are entering into a new, nasty phase of competition. What's at stake? Only the future of the personal computer.

Although the Santa Clara, Calif., neighbors (located only a couple of miles from each other) have never really been on speaking terms, the rivalry is intensifying with the emergence of the Netbook--small, lightweight laptops priced below $500.

The competitive backdrop is still the same--Intel's longstanding (and very successful) vision of a CPU-centric universe versus Nvidia's creed that graphics processing matters more and more in a multimedia-intensive world.

The challenge for Nvidia is that as laptops downsize into Netbooks, a graphics vacuum has been created. And Nvidia abhors a graphics vacuum.

Nvidia's vision of the Netbook core

(Credit: Nvidia)

Inside almost every Acer, Asus, Hewlett-Packard, and Dell Netbook beats an Intel silicon core. Intel accounts for both central processing unit (CPU) and graphics processing unit (GPU)--the latter in the form of the Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950.

Nvidia wants in. It maintains that Intel-only Netbooks choke on high-quality multimedia content and, as a result, consumers will demand better graphics hardware as the Netbook increases in size to 10-inch diagonal screen sizes and beyond. (The Netbook began as a tiny 8- or 9-inch form factor, but it has been moving to 10-inch and even a 12-inch screens, in the case of Dell's Inspiron Mini 12 Netbook.)

This is where it gets complicated. Intel has fairly strict parameters for the Netbook. It would rather not see Atom-based systems with 12-inch screens or extra silicon (read: horsepower) that kicks thermals (read: power consumption) into laptop territory. Need I explain why? (Cannibalization.) Netbooks should not aspire to be notebooks because the Atom processor is not nearly as capable as a Core 2 Duo, according to Intel.

At a recent demonstration, Nvidia claimed that 1080p video is smoother with a GeForce 9400M graphics assist to the Atom processor (screen on left shows lower CPU utilization).

(Credit: Brooke Crothers)

Nvidia, on the other hand, sees the silicon and screen size as an artificial restriction. It believes that Atom is a fairly capable processor that simply lacks a capable graphics engine.

And here's where it gets nasty: chipsets. Apple serves as a perfect example of why it may get rough-and-tumble, and what's at stake. In the newest MacBooks, Nvidia not only seized graphics turf from Intel, but it also took the chipset socket. Intel was relegated to supplying only the processor. That's analogous to Nvidia snagging a piece of prime Manhattan real estate right from under Intel's nose. While Intel holds on to Times Square, Nvidia walks off with Rockefeller Center.

To put it charitably, Intel doesn't like to lose socket space. But that is exactly what Nvidia is aiming for with Netbooks.

Will Nvidia be able to convince Netbook makers like Acer and Asus to make the switch, in the face of Intel's very persuasive bundling offers? (The word "persuasive" may not be strong enough.) These vendors may not be as open-minded as Apple, which has always prided itself on a feisty independence (i.e., no one takes center stage but Apple, and no Intel stickers).

Nvidia's GeForce 9400M may appear initially (perhaps circa the Computex convention in June) in Netbooks from smaller vendors. Larger suppliers may wait to see if turbo-charged graphics are the Netbook wave of the future--or not.

Brooke Crothers is a former editor at large at CNET News.com, and has been an editor for the Asian weekly version of the Wall Street Journal. He writes for the CNET Blog Network, and is not a current employee of CNET. Contact him at mbcrothers@gmail.com. Disclosure.

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Super Electrofluorescent Profanity Machine Tells Time With Intermittent Swear Words

By Jack Loftus

Truly the masochist's dream clock, the Super Electrofluorescent Profanity Machine gives you the time and then lays down a litany of cuss words and other fine four-letter fare from the English language.

Designed, built and marketed solely by "Koolatron," the clock/display was cobbled together using "vintage Cold War-era Soviet vacuum fluorescent tubes and custom driver circuitry."

According to the designer, every four-letter English word could potentially pop up on the display. To prevent incomprehensible gibberish from ruining your day the device is programmed to display pronounceable words, not random letters. [Etsy via technabob]

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iPod the 'best Christmas gift ever' (iPhone 3G comes in 38th)

Posted by Chris Matyszczyk

What is it about the holiday season that makes retailers emit polls like burps at the company party?

I have just been assaulted by a profoundly scientific effort, stimulated by cashback.co.uk, the "site that pays you to shop." (which seems less of a point of difference now than in other holiday seasons, as every retailer seems only too delighted to pay you to shop this year.)

I have not been able to find out just who the respondents were, but can only assume they were among the folks who earn $10 every time they introduce a friend to the cashback.co.uk family.

Whoever they were, they were united in their belief that the iPod would have been the chosen gift of the Three Wise Men. A spokesperson for the site told The Daily Telegraph: "The iPod has really taken the world by storm and is an ideal present for anyone of any age." Well, for anyone of the 150 million or so who doesn't already have one, perhaps.

Still, as humanity teeters on the curb of Destruction Drive, wondering whether to step into the middle of the road in order to be struck lifeless by reality, one really does wonder just what resides in these respondents' minds.

Jim and Trisha would surely both love slippers.

(Credit: CC Davey Nin)

Because the second-best Christmas gift ever is, apparently, diamond earrings. The third is the quite indefatigably entertaining Wii. While the iPhone 3G languishes in some considerable pain and disillusionment at No 38.

What might these wise and thoughtful respondents have possibly imagined could be better than an iPhone 3G?

Well, at No. 30 they chose a Grease DVD. Which some might find a little "Travolting." Especially as No. 31 was a boxed set of 24.

But this travesty of intelligence and sensitivity is trumped into nanosignificance by the choice, at No. 18, of slippers.

Most will not be surprised that Barbie, having shaken off some difficult associations with Pamela Anderson and the spouses of certain politicians, stood rock solid at No. 10. However, the presence of pajamas at No. 33 might leave some wanting to disappear beneath their comforters until the End of Days.

And will anyone not feel involuntary spasms when discovering that following closely on the clasps of choice number 4--Tiffany earrings--as the gift that says "I love you" without the "I'd bankrupt myself for you"--a box of Ferrero Rocher chocolates?

In case you still had lingering doubts that the respondents to this survey might have been either imbibing considerable amounts of Baileys Irish Cream Liqueur (yes, No. 23) or the bored inhabitants of an institution for those of indeterminate mind, might I direct you to No. 34?

Yes, four places above one of the most dazzling phones ever created, was that essential, exciting, heartfelt, 34th best Christmas gift ever--a bottle of de-icer.

All is not lost, though. The iPhone was 3 places above the Footspa.

Chris Matyszczyk is an award-winning creative director who advises major corporations on content creation and marketing. He brings an irreverent, sarcastic, and sometimes ironic voice to the tech world. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CNET.

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