ACM Washington Update, Vol. 12.5 (May 16, 2008) CONTENTS
[1] Newsletter Highlights
[2] USACM Chair Testifies on Electronic Employment Verification
[3] USACM Applauds New Voting System Standards
[4] USACM Cautions Against Filtering
[5] Emergency E-Voting Legislation Goes Down In House
[6] Advanced Placement Computer Science Exams Change
[7] National Academies Releases Interim Report on Voter Registration
Databases
[8] About USACM
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Link | 7:52 pm ET
USACM Chair Testifies on Electronic Employment Eligibility We mentioned this last week, but are just getting to posting about the hearing on the blog.
On May 6, Eugene H. Spafford, chair of USACM, testified before the Social Security Subcommittee of the House Ways and Means Committee on electronic employment verification systems (EEVS). USACM has testified before on this issue, with Dr. Peter Neumann speaking to the same subcommittee on the same topic last June. Citing several potential problems, some already evident, in a pilot system (E-Verify) operated by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) to electronically check on employee work eligibility. Dr. Spafford urged Congress to include sufficient safeguards to ensure that both employers and employees are adequately protected from technical failures and abuses of the system.
Dr. Spafford identified three major concerns regarding E-Verify: the accuracy and timeliness of system results; the security and privacy protection afforded to information kept in the system; and the technical feasibility of multiple approaches to creating such a system. He added that these concerns are also applicable to related programs such as the REAL ID Act, which established standards for state-issued driver’s licenses, and US-VISIT, a U.S. immigration and border management system.
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Link | 5:06 pm ET
USACM Applauds New Voting System Standards We are doing a bit of catchup as we are behind on posting to the blog. On Monday USACM filed detailed comments with the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) on the draft 2007 Federal Voluntary Voting System Guidelines. Calling the standards a welcome step forward, USACM supported several important concepts in the draft – including software independence – and noted the improved accessibility and usability provisions.
So what are the Voluntary Voting System Guidelines? Some background might be useful to start.
The Help America Vote Act (HAVA) created the Technical Guidelines Development Committee (TGDC), staffed by NIST and chaired by its Director, to recommend Federal voting system standards to the EAC. These standards are used as the basis for certifying voting systems. While voluntary, many states have mandated vendors follow them.
Since HAVA was enacted the TGDC released the 2005 Voluntary Voting System Guidelines, which were an incremental update of the 2002 Federal Election Commission standards. The 2007 draft is a sweeping and fundamental change from the 2005 standards, incorporating several new important concepts such as software independence, innovation class, and open-ended vulnerability testing. Many of these concepts have been the subject of intense debate for the past year and were the focus of USACM’s comments.
The TGDC submitted the standards to the EAC last year, and the EAC has the power to modify, reject and/or adopt the standards. Monday was the end of the public comment period on the standards, and USACM commented on numerous parts of the draft. Below is a press release highlighting the major points and we encourage you to read the complete draft of our comments.
The EAC now has to process the reportedly 2000+ comments it received on the draft standards. In doing so, the EAC could adopt the TGDC draft as is, make changes, or reject the entire document. The first and the third scenarios seem unlikely, so we can expect the EAC to makes changes, but what they will be and in what time frame is anybody’s guess. Stay tuned to our blog for more coverage.
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Link | 3:43 pm ET
