It really depends on what type of voting (polling) you are trying to
conduct and there
are different types of polling such as not only political but social,
product saftey, environmental,
consumer, religious ect that can be done with polling software which
you can download from the net and do any
type of polling that you wish to conduct.

Google on the words "polling software" or "Survey Software" and you'll
get many hits and URLs that will point you to them.

 But there are some  important issues that must be addressed and that
is what type of data are you farming (polling for analysis) and how do
you intend to use that data? The people that you intend to poll must be
notified and well informed about the type of poll and how are you
conducting it by either random sample, scientific or non-scientific
poll. They must be informed about how you'll guard their privacy rights
to data and to ensure its correctness and see to it that it doesn't get
sold to some company (which now a days is virtually impossible to do but
legislation is pending in congress right now to try prevent this from
happening) her this data will most likely sell it others for a big fee
without your permission.

I've read in the Outlook section of the washington Post a few days back
that data brokerage firms like doubleclick and ChoicePoint for instance;
have the legal right to sell your personal data to anyone it wants to
with or without your promission and the data is their property since
they host and brought that data from some other data brokerage. They see
all of your personal data as a valuable commodity to them. I know this
sounds cold but that's how they see it from their point of view.

 Data brokerages can buy and sell their rights to buy and or sell your
data to any data brokerage or ad agency and their is nothing that anyone
can do about this right now unless Congress and the US Supreme Court
have their way in reguards to this issue of personal data privacy.  Did
you know that Diebold the manufacturer of electronic voting machines is
in fact another data broker that supports the GOP and that they have the
right to sell your personal data like names and addresses to political
and other organizations for mass mailings and solicitations?

 As I've read in the newspapar unfortunately yes they have a legal
right to do so. I for one find this to be going too far in the wrong
direction in direct violation of people's privacy rights. This above all
is a serious breech of bounds and should not be tolerated at all! 

 Here are some interesting links on the issue of privacy rights and
data being sold by companies like ChoicePoint as a commodity:

>From the WashingtonPost.com

 Security Concerns Boosted VeriSign's Dot-Net Bid
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A62302-2005Apr18.html 

Clicking To Steal
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A58268-2005Apr16.html 

Consumers Not Told Of Security Breaches, Data Brokers Admit
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A51722-2005Apr13.html 

LexisNexis Data Breach Bigger Than Estimated
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A45756-2005Apr12.html 

States Scramble To Protect Data
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A38498-2005Apr8.html 





Marc Sims
Technician I
Technology Services
Prince George's Community College
301 Largo Rd.
Largo, MD 20774-2199
Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]

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