CONTENTS
[1] Newsletter Highlights
[2] USACM-EC Member Will Speak on Electronic Voting
[3] New Primer on IT Workforce Based on ACM Work
[4] Online Activity Tracked Without Explicit Consent
[5] Voting Machine Vendor Admits Problem with Its Software
[6] Column: Science Policy Isn’t Always about Science
[7] About USACM
[An archive of all previous editions of Washington Update is available at
http://www.acm.org/usacm/update/]
[1] NEWSLETTER HIGHLIGHTS
Even with the August recess and the party conventions, there was still activity worth noting in Washington. There is more detail on each item below, as well as on our weblog at http://www.acm.org/usacm/weblog:
* Harry Hochheiser, USACM-EC member and Assistant Professor at Towson University, will speak on electronic voting before the D.C. area chapter of ACM
* Coming out of a roundtable where ACM participated, the Woodrow Wilson Center has released its report on IT workforce issues
* Letters exchanged with the House Energy and Commerce Committee show that some internet companies are conducting deep packet inspection without users’ consent
* Premier Election Solutions, the company formerly known as Diebold, recently acknowledged an error in their voting machine software that would lead to dropped votes
* Cameron Wilson, Director of Public Policy for ACM and Peter Harsha, Director of Government Affairs for the Computing Research Association wrote about the relationship between science, policy and politics in the most recent Communications of the ACM
[2] USACM-EC MEMBER WILL SPEAK ON ELECTRONIC VOTING
Harry Hochheiser, Assistant Professor at Towson University and member of the USACM Executive Committee, will speak in September on “Voting: The Evolving Political and Technical Landscape” His remarks will be part of the regular series of speakers hosted by the Washington, D.C. chapter of the Association for Computing Machinery. The series is free and open to the public, and will take place at Funger Hall, Room 221, on the George Washington University campus.
Dr. Hochheiser will speak at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, September 11. Funger Hall is at 2201 G Street, N.W. in Washington. From the event description on the DC ACM website:
“As the 2008 presidential elections near, voting technologies are still the topic of considerable debate among policy makers and technicians. Some jurisdictions have abandoned electronic voting machines in favor of paper ballots, others have required paper trails. Advocates argue for or against different options, while researchers evaluate voting technologies and propose new alternative designs. This talk will explore recent developments in voting technologies and regulations, from both policy and research perspectives.
“About the speaker:
Dr. Hochheiser is an Assistant Professor in Towson University’s Department of Computer and Information Sciences. His research interests include human-computer interaction, with a focus on accessibility and universal usability; information visualization; bioinformatics; and computing and public policy.
“As a member of the Executive Committee of the ACM US Public Policy Committee (USACM), Dr. Hochheiser has been involved in ACM’s study of Voter Registration Databases, and in drafting USACM comments on proposed voting guidelines.”
[3] NEW PRIMER ON IT WORKFORCE BASED ON ACM WORK
In June, ACM, along with the Computing Research Association (CRA) and the National Center for Women in Information Technology (NCWIT), hosted a roundtable discussion with government affairs officials from some of the top IT companies (Microsoft, Cisco, HP, Google, etc.). The goal was to give these companies perspective on workforce issues that the professional computing organizations find while working within our community. The full report from this workshop is now available. You can find it online at:
http://www.acm.org/usacm/weblog/wp-content/ITBizRoundtable_2008.pdf
Most of the report focuses on diversity, research and education. Lucy Sanders, Executive Director at NCWIT started the session off with a talk on diversity issues. Peter Harsha, Director of Government Affairs at CRA spoke about research issues. Cameron Wilson from ACM gave a talk on education issues – particularly focused on K-12 education.
The report is well worth a read for a quick primer on some of the key IT workforce issues.
[4] ONLINE ACTIVITY TRACKED WITHOUT EXPLICIT CONSENT
In connection with a hearing this summer, the House Energy and Commerce Committee has been inquiring into the online tracking activity of various internet companies. In August several companies (but not all) responded to letters from the Committee asking them to describe their activities. Some internet companies have been using targeted-advertising technology without the explicit consent of consumers. More than a third of the 33 companies that received letters have indicated they do not conduct behavioral advertising - advertising based on users’ internet activity based on deep packet inspection.
This investigation started with the Committee sending a letter to Embarq Corporation about an online advertising test conducted with their internet users. The committee also held a hearing on deep packet inspection and its privacy implications. The Committee followed this with letters to additional companies, which can be viewed online along with an explanatory press release. The committee has also posted responses that they have received to date. I should note, however, that the link to those letters is not readily available from the Committee’s website. You can find the letters online at:
http://energycommerce.house.gov/Press_110/080108.ResponsesDataCollectionLetter.shtml
The main concern is the lack of explicit consent for the online advertising tests. USACM issued a privacy policy in 2006 that emphasized the need for such consent when knowledge is collected online. Internet users need to know how their information - whether it’s about them or about what they do online - may be used, and should have the ability to consent to such collection and use. Since companies seemingly don’t follow fair information practices in this area, they will need encouragement. The announcement from Representative Markey (D-MA) that he will press for privacy legislation in the next Congress is encouraging; however, there will likely be obstacles for this effort. The reluctance of Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-FL), Ranking Member on the Telecommunications and Internet Subcommittee, to support regulation of online advertising suggests that the bill may have a tough time, or might go forward without provisions on targeted online advertising. We’ll see which of these predictions, if any, come true in 2009.
[5] VOTING MACHINE VENDOR ADMITS PROBLEM WITH ITS SOFTWARE
Premier Election Solutions, the company formerly known as Diebold, recently acknowledged an error in its voting machine software that would lead to dropped votes. The problem occurs when memory cards are transferred to a central counting point, so any system - optical scan or DRE - will be vulnerable if it uses a central count system. A Premier spokesman indicated roughly 1,750 jurisdictions use the system.
Following this year’s primary the State of Ohio noticed the problem of dropped votes and began investigating the voting machines. Premier was claiming, as late as May of this year, that the error was not of their making. They retreated from those claims after additional testing by both the State of Ohio and Premier. A quote from a Premier spokesman noting that the underlying logic error has been with the software for 10 years is not encouraging. While the error can be caught through crosschecking the central count tallies with individual precinct counts, a know flaw that has existed for 10 years raises questions about the overall quality of the system. Avoiding situations like these is one of the reasons why USACM supports the concept of Software Independence - where no fault in the software can affect the election results - in the next version of the Voluntary Voting System Guidelines.
[6] COLUMN: SCIENCE POLICY ISN’T ALWAYS ABOUT SCIENCE
In the most recent edition of Communications of the ACM, Cameron Wilson, Director of Public Policy for ACM, and Peter Harsha, Director of Government Affairs for the Computing Research Assocaition, have a column on the intersection of science, policy and politics. The column looks what impacts scientific and technical information have on the policy-making process. Below is an excerpt; if you are an ACM member, you can find the full CACM issue off ACM’s homepage (www.acm.org). The column starts on page 27.
“Decisions on public policy are not made in the abstract based on the best technical information, they are made by policymakers balancing numerous interests from numerous constituencies. Balancing these interests is a political calculus, not a scientific one. In developing it, scientific information is sometimes pivotal, sometimes sits on the sidelines, and sometimes ends up as a mix where compromise may or may not embrace a technical truth. It is difficult to predict what factors will motivate specific policy debates because the political system is ever changing.”
[7] ABOUT USACM
USACM is the U.S. Public Policy Committee of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). With over 88,000 members, ACM is the world’s largest educational and scientific computing society, uniting educators, researchers and professionals to inspire dialogue, share resources and address the field’s challenges. ACM strengthens the computing profession’s collective voice through strong leadership, promotion of the highest standards, and recognition of technical excellence. ACM supports the professional growth of its members by providing opportunities for life-long learning, career development, and professional networking.
USACM acts as the focal point for ACM’s interaction with the U.S. Congress and government organizations. It seeks to educate and assist policy-makers on legislative and regulatory matters of concern to the computing community.
For more information about USACM and ACM, see:
http://www.acm.org/usacm/about.html
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David B. posted this at 3:00 pm ET | Filed in ACM/USACM News | Permanent Link |Trackbacks
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