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State Voter Registration Databases Immediate Actions and Future Improvements: Interim Report (2008) / Chapter Skim
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D Security and Privacy
Pages 48-52

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From page 48...
... 2 There is an extensive body of National Research Council work on computer security issues, beginning with Computers at Risk: Safe Computing in the Information Age, 1990, and continuing with Cryptography's Role in Securing the Information Society, 1996; Trust in Cyberspace, 1999; Realizing the Potential of C4I: Fundamental Challenges, 1999; Making IT Better: Expanding IT Research to Meet Society's Needs, 2000; Cybersecurity Today and Tomorrow: Pay Now or Pay Later, 2002; Software for Dependable Systems: Sufficient Evidence? , 2007; and Toward a Safer and More Secure Cyberspace, 2007, all published by the National Academy [Academies]
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From page 49...
... For example, video surveillance cameras caught two intruders in Mississippi on June 23, 2006, stealing hard drives from 18 computers. Data files contained names, addresses, and SSNs of current and former city employees and registered voters as well as bank account information for employees paid through direct deposit and water system customers who paid bills electronically.6 Third, any realistic assessment of a system's security involves actual testing of the system's security by an adversary who is motivated to compromise it.
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From page 50...
... Nevertheless, the electronic availability of such information raises concerns about the privacy of that information, because electronic access greatly increases the ease with which it can be made available to anyone, including those who might abuse it. One of the thorniest issues regarding privacy is the tension it sometimes poses with transparency.
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From page 51...
... SOURCE: U.S. Public Policy Committee of the Association for Computing Machinery, Statewide Databases of Registered Voters: Study of Accuracy, Privacy, Usability, Security, and Reliability Issues, 2006, available at http://usacm.acm.org/usacm/PDF/VRD_report.pdf.
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From page 52...
... regulation and law to protect citizen interests -- for example, some states only allow political parties to obtain voter registration lists. A second set of privacy issues arises from matching and linking records.
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Key Terms

  • registration lists
  • public assistance
  • privacy issues
  • election officials
  • public information

  • privacy policies
  • information associated
  • computer security
  • statewide databases
  • policy committee

  • public disclosure
  • audit trails
  • security issues
  • registration databases
  • issues arises

  • specific individuals
  • insider access
  • reliability issues
  • statistical tabulations
  • computing machinery

  • paper voter
  • obtain voter
  • reduce voter
  • complete voter
  • electronic voter

  • voter database
  • voter fraud
  • chicago voter
  • consider including
  • asked voters


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