Security quotes of the week

In other words, Russia is set to introduce its first online voting system. The system will be tested in a Moscow neighborhood that will elect a single member to the capital's city council in September. The details of how the experiment will work are not yet known; the State Duma's proposal on Internet voting does not include logistical specifics. The Central Election Commission's reference materials on the matter simply reference "absentee voting, blockchain technology." When Dmitry Vyatkin, one of the bill's co-sponsors, attempted to describe how exactly blockchains would be involved in the system, his explanation was entirely disconnected from the actual functions of that technology. A discussion of this new type of voting is planned for an upcoming public forum in Moscow.

The report is a neat illustration of what I've called the adoption curve for oppressive technology, which goes, "refugee, immigrant, prisoner, mental patient, children, welfare recipient, blue collar worker, white collar worker."