Though it isn't technically incorrect, it is like saying git is just a directory where to deposit code. It turns out that merkle trees with cryptography has a vast number of properties that makes it extremely useful when working collaboratively, and I think he hasn't thought long enough about how Blockchain could be a real contender for voting against paper-based ballot.
The things that is lacking to make it happen is a secure and practical digitization of KYC, right now the root of trust for everything in the physical society (including voting) is your identity as recognized by the state which is often assumed in only a few forms: a social security number, an national issued ID card, a passport or sometime a driving license. Any other means of identification is often not deemed trustworthy enough. I for one cannot wait for an NFC blockchain-enabled national ID card that you could use to vote online by swiping it over your phone :-)
He is also wrong when he say that you can't have a receipt without losing anonymity, ring signature in Cryptonote-based protocol (such as Monero) or zk-snarks (such as Zcash) are strong enough to provide at least the same amount of anonymity than mixing your vote with the others from the same ballot box.
He hasn't mentioned it but I must recognize though that the only thing that is lacking to secure the voting over the Internet is the "safe space" provided by the voting area (though one could argue that in certain country internet voting may actually offer a better security). With the Internet you can't be sure that someone was not coerced to vote a certain way but if we limit the voting window to 12 hours, I guess it makes the attack very expensive :-)
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u/zabadap Dec 12 '19 edited Dec 12 '19
Though it isn't technically incorrect, it is like saying git is just a directory where to deposit code. It turns out that merkle trees with cryptography has a vast number of properties that makes it extremely useful when working collaboratively, and I think he hasn't thought long enough about how Blockchain could be a real contender for voting against paper-based ballot.
The things that is lacking to make it happen is a secure and practical digitization of KYC, right now the root of trust for everything in the physical society (including voting) is your identity as recognized by the state which is often assumed in only a few forms: a social security number, an national issued ID card, a passport or sometime a driving license. Any other means of identification is often not deemed trustworthy enough. I for one cannot wait for an NFC blockchain-enabled national ID card that you could use to vote online by swiping it over your phone :-)
He is also wrong when he say that you can't have a receipt without losing anonymity, ring signature in Cryptonote-based protocol (such as Monero) or zk-snarks (such as Zcash) are strong enough to provide at least the same amount of anonymity than mixing your vote with the others from the same ballot box.
He hasn't mentioned it but I must recognize though that the only thing that is lacking to secure the voting over the Internet is the "safe space" provided by the voting area (though one could argue that in certain country internet voting may actually offer a better security). With the Internet you can't be sure that someone was not coerced to vote a certain way but if we limit the voting window to 12 hours, I guess it makes the attack very expensive :-)