This site has been removed, but is still available from Google: http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:www.safevote.com/news.htm+safevote+inc. &hl=en This is Google's cache of http://www.safevote.com/news.htm. Google's cache is the snapshot that we took of the page as we crawled the web. The page may have changed since that time. Click here for the current page without highlighting. 4. January 24, 2000 Safevote Discusses Security of Internet Voting with White House�s E-Commerce Group WASHINGTON D.C. -- Representatives of Safevote, Inc. met last week with President Bill Clinton�s E-Commerce Working Group, at the White House. Safevote, Inc., of San Rafael, Calif., highlighted the differences between e-commerce and the ability to vote over the Internet, while also announcing its initiative to lead the industry sector to form an Internet voting technology alliance, both as a call for furthering the discussion and for peer review of current technologies used for Internet voting. �The ability to vote over the Internet presents an entirely different set of challenges than those presented by shopping or banking or even in proxy voting on the Internet,� said Dr. Ed Gerck, vice president of technology for Safevote. "People not familiar both with Internet technology and with public elections might however believe that e-commerce solutions can be adapted to Internet voting. But that is far from true. Internet voting is dependent on voter anonymity, secret transactions, correctness for all transactions, and more. For example, in credit card transactions fraud is compensated by insurance. This situation is not acceptable in elections. Also, an auditor must be able to reproduce the results while ensuring equally the anonymity of the voter and the secrecy of the vote.� The White House�s E-Commerce Working Group, overseen by Vice President Al Gore, was formed to advise President Clinton on matters affecting e-commerce, including Internet voting. In the United States, according to interviews with election officials conducted by Safevote, a single vote costs U.S. taxpayers between $1 and $7 -- in elections conducted primarily with paper ballots. Some jurisdictions throughout the country are considering a switch to electronic -- and ultimately, to Internet � systems. �When you are talking about an election, fraud cannot be handled in terms of statistical failure covered by insurance � we need a much higher level of assurances and they need to be fail-safe,� commented Kurt Neumann, newly appointed vice president of marketing for Safevote. Safevote technology for Internet voting is considered to be at the leading edge, employing multi-party decision systems. The technology provides a comprehensive framework for Internet decision-making with applications for voting, polling, public elections, bidding, consensus assessment and a variety of solutions. Safevote, in San Rafael, California, can be reached at +1-415-482-9300 or found on the Web at http://www.safevote.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- 3. January 20, 2000 Brazilian Internet Voting Vendor Signs Contract By Margret Johnston IDG News Service, Washington Bureau WASHINGTON (01/20/2000) - A Brazilian network security company with a decade-long relationship with the country�s election authority has signed a contract with the U.S. company Safevote Inc. that will give Brazilians their first opportunity to cast ballots over the Internet in this year�s federal election, the two companies said today. Safevote, of San Rafael, California, will provide software tools and protocols necessary to ensure that ballots cast over the Internet are secure, anonymous and authenticated, Kurt Neumann, vice president of marketing for Modulo Security Solutions, said after a symposium on the future of Internet voting sponsored by the Brookings Institution. In Brazil, where voting is mandatory, an estimated 90 million people are expected to vote [electronically] in the November elections for the Senate and the House of Representatives. That election will provide the first opportunity for Brazilians to cast ballots over the Internet. Initially, however, only about 200,000 absentee voters will be able to cast their ballots over the Internet at designated voting stations. �This will be at embassies, schools and other polling stations where there will be a means of authenticating and monitoring the process,� Neumann said. �You�ll have a lot of the same things you have with current system, the difference is the votes will be transmitted over the Internet.� Brazil this year will spend about US$200 million on expanding its electronic voting system, including the purchase of 300,000 PCs, Neumann said. All the machines are equipped with a network port, which will make it possible for them to connect to the Internet in the future, he said. Though Internet voting will be limited to absentee ballots this year, the technology Brazil is putting in place can be applied on a much larger scale, Neumann said. Modulo, whose key business in Brazil is in providing network system integration for online banking, has played a role in Brazil�s electronic voting network since 1990. Safevote�s software and protocols run on any operating system, including the proprietary Unix operating system currently in use in Brazil�s electronic voting network, Neumann said. �We think it�s the soundest security architecture. That�s why we made the deal with Safevote,� Neumann said. Another advantage to Safevote�s technology, according to Alberto Bastos, chief operating officer of Modulo, is that it allows Modulo to provide an Internet voting system without changing the current user and management interfaces. Cisco Systems Inc., Microsoft Corp., Entrust Technologies Inc. and Compaq Computer Corp. also provide hardware and software to the voting system. Cisco co-sponsored the symposium, and the company�s chief executive officer, John Chambers, participated in the panel discussion along with the governors of New York and California. Chambers, and Govs. George Pataki of New York and Gray Davis of California, said they believed that Internet voting would become a reality in the United States within a matter of years, but they also cautioned that there is a need to maintain the integrity of the voting process and ensure that people with access to computers don�t gain an unfair advantage. �We will probably start off evolving this process, first putting this capability in the polling stations and automating what�s already there,� Chambers said. Modulo can be found on the Web at http://www.modulo.com; Safevote, in San Rafael, California, can be reached at +1-415-482-9300 or found on the Web at http://www.safevote.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- 2. January 19, 2000 World�s First Election Over the Internet to Use U.S. Company�s Technology San Rafael, Calif. � Safevote, Inc. has signed a contract to provide the technology which will allow voters to cast their ballots over the Internet in Brazil�s public elections � possibly as early as this year � a first for any national election in the world. Safevote will initially provide technology to ensure that absentee ballots cast over the Internet are anonymous, secure and authenticated. The entire system will be provided by Modulo Security Solutions, of Rio de Janeiro. Modulo�s systems also include components from Microsoft, Cisco, Entrust and Compaq. Modulo, the leading provider of Internet security in Latin America, began conducting electronic elections in Brazil in 1990, when 61 million ballots were cast via a closed computer network. An estimated 90 million voters will vote without paper ballots in the November 2000 election. Brazil constitutes the second largest democratic voting population in the world, with 110 million voters casting ballots. India is the largest, with 500 million voters, and the United States is third, with 100 million voters casting ballots. �Safevote technology will allow Modulo to go to the next level, to casting votes over the Internet,� said Alvaro Lima, president of Safevote in San Rafael, Calif. �The Internet is a �network of networks,� and the level of security required is much higher than for those used in electronic elections.� Key to the system is Safevote�s leading edge multi-party technology, which provides the tools and protocols needed to make a variety of secure, anonymous collaborative decisions over the Internet � from polling to private proxy voting and public elections. �The most interesting point of Safevote�s technology is that it will allow us to provide a unified Internet voting system without imposing changes to the current user and management interfaces,� said Alberto Bastos, chief operating officer of Modulo. �Most systems used for providing security depends on a series of links in a chain,� said Dr. Ed Gerck, vice president of technology of Safevote. �If you cut a link, the system fails. �We have developed a system that is based on the principle that every action needs both a trusted introducer and a trusted witness, creating a manifold of redundant paths. You have to cut a large number of links before the system fails. And when you are talking about an election, fraud cannot be handled in terms of statistical failure covered by insurance � we need a much higher level of assurances and they need to be fail-safe.� Safevote, Inc., located in San Rafael, Calif., provides systems for Internet decision-making with applications for voting, polling, public elections, bidding, consensus assessment and a variety of solutions. Safevote can be reached at +1-415-482-9300 or found on the Web at http://www.safevote.com To read a Microsoft case study of Modulo�s role in Brazil�s elections, see http://www.microsoft.com/security/resources/bnecasestudy.asp ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- 1. Sept. 15, 1999 Safevote to Provide Internet Decision-Making Capabilities San Rafael, Calif. � A newly formed company announced today that it will provide encryption and certification technology that can enable users to make anonymous and yet secure collaborative decisions over the Internet � an application that can be used for many purposes, such as voting, polling, bidding and other actions. SafevoteSM Inc., of San Rafael, Calif., is developing technology that enables a user to work within a multi-party system with a level of security as tight as required. In contrast, e-commerce transactions are based on links within a two- or at most a two-and-a-half-party system, such as between a consumer and an online store, or between a business and a consumer by means of a certifying authority (CA), and security cannot be stronger than the weakest link. �If we can use the Internet for shopping, banking transfers, filing income taxes, trading, and for proxy voting in shareholder meetings as approved by the SEC, why can�t we have public elections using the Internet?� asked Dr. Ed Gerck, vice president of technology for Safevote. �It is because voting is not the same kind of transaction. You need anonymity with authentication and verification � if you grab the voter you can�t see the vote, if you grab the vote you can�t see the voter, and yet non-repudiation must exist for both.� �Besides, in e-commerce, credit card companies accept a certain amount of fraud inherent in their business because, on average, the loss is covered by insurance,� Dr. Gerck said. �But you cannot accept an average level of fraud when you are conducting an election � or a one-shot business transaction. Also, insurance is not an acceptable mechanism for dealing with fraud in elections.� In order to make transactions secure, anonymous and verifiable, Safevote has developed a system that is based on the principle that every action needs both a trusted introducer and a trusted witness, creating a manifold of redundant links. �You have to cut a large number of links before the system fails, and the probability of failure can be tuned by defining the number and nature of the links according to a threat model adequate to each case at hand,� Dr. Gerck said. �We will provide three �less� -- less fraud, less cost and less time, when compared with current systems,� declared Alvaro Lima, president of Safevote. �Less is better,� added Lima. Safevote, in San Rafael, California, can be reached at +1-415-482-9300 or found on the Web at http://www.safevote.com Papers Links Press Kit Advisory Board IVTA Newsletter Our Business Partners Employment Opportunities ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- The contents of this entire site are � Copyright, Safevote Inc., 2000. All rights reserved, worldwide. Titles are SM of Safevote, Inc., where denoted by * and/or listed. Please read our Legal Notice and our statement on Privacy. Comments to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Best viewed with monitor 800x600, 256 colors, and Javascript enabled browser.
