ictdchick

So with all the recent news on Kenya’s elections and subsequent (concurrent?) riots, it crosses my mind that there is a great need for transparent+verifiable, reliable, and low-cost voting systems in developing countries. I know that a lot of people at UC Berkeley and other universities are working on e-voting, both on the implementation/computer science side, and on the policy side. But of course much of this work is targeted towards federal United States voting requirements, which entail all sorts of things like audit trails, voter anonymity (both to protect individuals, and to prevent them from selling votes), as well as probably lots more esoteric accessibility requirements, not to mention our weird electoral system and lots of absentee ballots.
Imagine if Diebold or Pitney-Bowes came up with a low cost electronic voting system that could not be compromised (okay, given, that’s still a hard problem) and could be used by governments of developing countries to hold reliable elections. Read the rest of this entry »

NPR’s All Things Considered recently interviewed Nicholas de Torrente of Doctors Without Borders (the American branch of Medicins Sans Frontiers) about their recently published their top ten under-reported humanitarian stories of 2007:

• Displaced Fleeing War in Somalia Face Humanitarian Crisis
• Political and Economic Turmoil Sparks Health-Care Crisis in Zimbabwe
• Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis Spreads As New Drugs Go Untested
• Expanded Use of Nutrient Dense Ready-to-Use Foods Crucial for Reducing Childhood Malnutrition
• Civilians Increasingly Under Fire in Sri Lankan Conflict
• Conditions Worsen in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo
• Living Precariously in Colombia’s Conflict Zones
• Humanitarian Aid Restricted in Myanmar
• Civilians Caught Between Armed Groups in Central African Republic
• As Chechen Conflict Ebbs, Critical Humanitarian Needs Still Remain

Read the rest of this entry »