Moscow Begins Crypto-Elections Testing: Thumbs Nose At U.S.
Content adapted from this Zerohedge.com article : Source
Russia is embracing blockchain.
image courtesy of CoinTelegraph
According to Coindesk, the city of Moscow is unveiling an Ethereum-based version of its voting system called Active Citizen. By putting the votes on the blockchain, as long as the code is solid, then the results cannot be disputed.
Since the introduction of blockchain almost a decade ago, many have discussed the merits of using this system for voting. One of the biggest drawbacks to present voting systems is that the results are repeatedly contested. Accusations of voter fraud are made in countries all over the world including the United States.
The lastest investation into the 2016 Presidential Election shows how severe this can be. The idea that another country was able to alter the outcome of an election is something that blockchain would take care of.
Votes need to be on the blockchain.
Nothing in our current society is more important than removing the spectre of corruption from our elections. While I personally think voting is a complete waste of time (Don’t Vote! It only encourages them, is my motto) the reality is a tremendous amount of power is commanded through the siren’s call of the democratic mandate voting confers on a society.
The problem with implementing this system is many organizations depend upon voting antics to win. Major political parties are not above "ballot box stuffing" to get what they want. We will be able to determine the level of corruption by how loudly on protests the idea of such a move.
Active vote has been around a while as an Oracle-based system. For the Ethereum-based system Moscow is starting small …
…allowing residents to [cast votes for measures][5] ranging from the name of their new metro train to the color of the seats in a new sports arena. But in an effort to soothe people's concerns over whether to trust the city in its vote counting, it's added a private version of the [ethereum][6] blockchain to that project's architecture.
"Of course, sometimes we hear that not all the votes are trusted," said Andrey Belozerov, the strategy and innovations advisor to the city's CIO. "So, we decided to use a blockchain for the Active Citizen project, as a platform of electronic trust."
The ethereum-based platform, which allows anyone to [audit the open-source results][7], has been downloaded by more than 100 node operators since its December launch.
The irony in all this is that for all the accusations of Russian meddling, the United States has not mentioned using blockchain as a way to protect the sanctity of the elections. Instead, it is the accused who is taking the steps to move towards this end.
Makes you wonder how badly the American leadership wants honest elections.
Haha, there's obviously a lot of corruption when it comes to voting and elections and that's why the US would not even mention this possibility. But I would like to see this happen everywhere, as I think it would make our world at least a little bit more honest...
ABOUT! How would like to believe it)))
It definitely makes the American leadership suspicious, but not only in the US, right now, the world is facing a level of corruption like never seen before, and that's probably one of the main reasons the Blockchain Technology has not yet exploded, there are to many interests of corrupt people to be protected.
With this revolutionary technology, many would lose their income from corruption... what an inconvenient.
Great. This will be the most revolutionary idea ever. We talk about election, there are a number of things that happen, most especially corruption. As noticed, cryptocurrencies have no human control over them and they can reproduce a trustworthy result compared to the manual or the online system.
Moreover, if we expect such revolutionary election to happen, then offcourse we will be ready to have leaders who represent the population, but also who have not cheated or worked with some nation's separatists to forge the election.
I also this revolutionary idea to reach in Africa one day, though some people have not yet heard about cryptos. Our leaders play with the numbers and corrupt the system, but this can not happen with cryptos " you either win or lose" no middle part.
Finally, I believe that one day the world will be able cryptos on its fulness. I mean no more Fiat money and just dealing with cryptos.
I long to see that day.
@jona12/Uganda
I do hope Active Citizen starts operating. This is going to revolutionize voting, starting with Russia. World over there is a wrong perception about elections, the losing side never comes to terms with the results. Blockchain voting has the power to cover this loop hole whenever it comes to elections. I do believe it makes voting more secure and easier.
In terms of security, the coins would secure a person voting and not allow any election official to change a vote as we would have a vote recorded only one time and for the specific candidate one wants hence making each vote become immutable after it is recorded. This would as well verify that no votes were changed or removed, and no illegitimate votes were added. On addition to this, blockchain voting would make sure those who are voting are who they say they really are and whether they are allowed to vote.
In terms of making voting easy; It allows anyone to use it.. as it is a matter of knowing how to use a phone.
We have to agree that with this technology everyone would agree on the final count of the votes since each person can keep track of the tallies of the votes making it easy for them to count the vote themselves.
Voting system is one of the most vulnerable ones out there. Together with the financial system they need to be radically changed in order to serve the many and not the few ! Implementation of blockchain is extremely important if we want a better future for our childdren. It is a the human to serve himself rather than the masses.
If they manage to hire a single person who is well informed about crypto to implement this (and not have clueless officials proceed to override all of this person's decisions), unless they roll their own system entirely from scratch, it is by far most likely that they will fork graphene (the toolkit that BitShares, STEEM, PeerPlays, and Muse are based on). They will remove voting functionality, They will also tweak a BUNCH of other things in ways that would break a decentralized chain, since their threat model will exclude the possibility of rogue block producing nodes on the blockchain. By the time it is ready to launch, it would also be the official system for Russian companies to hold ICOs - because why build two things when you already have one really powerful one that can do both without breaking a sweat.
I don't care which government is the first to use blockchain to validate truth, but just do it because it's better than any human. It will set off a chain reaction. Blockchain is the future and a true democracy.A solid, open source, decentralized and secure voting system is the political nightmare of the current crop of overlords.Just have to see how Russia uses the blockchain .A true democracy is decentralized.The encrypted info would go on the Voting Blockchain, using Ether tech. All distributed globally, for instant computer-based analysis of voting stats. Blockchain will change the world . Blockchain is the future .
Probably a good idea, the mind boggles to the amount of applications the blockchain my have in the future, cheers mike
Oh man, too bad they aren't using the public Ethereum blockchain. Still very cool!
Very excellent I have heard that on behalf of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova wrote in her account on Facebook on social networking late on Tuesday night that "this statement of the US Foreign Ministry, which will not be alone, as I believe, is a direct intervention in the process Elections as well as in the internal affairs of the State. "
Russian diplomacy has pointed out that the US State Department's position is ironic, because it is the Americans who have called RT and Sputnik to name foreign agents, pursue Russian media around the world and devote enormous money to the so-called Russian propaganda.
US State Department spokesman Clay Noel earlier expressed concern over the decision of the Central Election Commission of Russia on Monday to reject the registration of opposition Alexei Navalni candidate for the presidential elections in March 2018 next
My greetings to you, O hero, I want to know your opinion in my simple participation. @zer0hedge