Using the Internet To Subvert Democracy

david_adams writes "All the recent talk about various polls and elections being pranked or hijacked, serious and silly alike, prompted me to write an article about the technical realities behind online polling, and the political fallout of ever becoming subject to online voting for serious elections. Even if we were to be able to limit voting to legitimate, legal voters, the realities of social networking and the rise of Internet-based movements would dramatically alter the political landscape if online voting were to become commonplace."

Missing option?

[Tokerat]

CowboyNeal

Re:Elections and online voting.

[symbolset]

Until computers are granted suffrage they ought not be trusted to count votes.

Re:Dumb article.

[blitzkrieg3]

(translation: Internet people would be heard for the first time)

And considering the types of subcultures the Internet puts out (ahem: 4chan) I'm not sure that's a good thing.

Re:Robustness

[taucross]

It's not subversion, but one could still consider it forked.

Subvert 'Democracy'?-HahHahHaHooHeeeHah!

[rts008]

"All the recent talk about various polls and elections being pranked or hijacked, serious and silly alike, prompted me to write an article about the technical realities behind online polling, and the political fallout of ever becoming subject to online voting for serious elections. Even if we were to be able to limit voting to legitimate, legal voters, the realities of social networking and the rise of Internet-based movements would dramatically alter the political landscape if online voting were to become commonplace.

"[all emphasis mine]

Yes!1 Yes!1 Abso-fscking-lutely!1!
Let's put EVERY-FSCKING-THING that determines/influences our political process online!...ASAP!
The only realistic questions become then are:

1. "Should we concentrate on learning Russian, Chinese, or both?" (least pessimistic scenario)
2. Will 'Twitter' [wikipedia.org] take over Congress, and sentient life?(do not confuse the two to your detriment)
3. ???
4.Profit!!!**

What could possibly go wrong???? (Hint: I am learning Russian)

** Can I still post on /. if I voted for CowboyNeal?

Re:Dumb article.

[Anonymous Coward]

i find it hard to believe there was no mischief behind moot getting 16m votes

Mischief? 4chan? Pffft. We never go any further than shenanigans, I'll have you know!

At one point moot may have > 300% of the vote, however. Also, marblecake, also the game.

Re:Ladies and gentlemen, the future:

[Opportunist]

They already made a movie [imdb.com] of it.

End Women's Suffrage -- on YouTube

[supercrisp]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUP9Jm9SqvY [youtube.com]