[council] Name council vote - ballot b10

[tony.ar.holmes@bt.com]

Council Colleagues
Having managed to finally get back on line today, it was with surprise and
regret that I found that my vote on the NC Rules of Procedure had not been
recorded. Indeed it took a while before I finally realised that the recorded
abstention was down to me!

I had in fact voted over the weekend before leaving for Switzerland, but had
done so in a period when I was experiencing major software problems with a
new PC. This resulted in the need for a complete software rebuild (the
second in two weeks) prior to my departure. Its subsequently taken hours on
the phone to my support staff before I managed to regain full access.  Seems
the problems were due to a couple of software programmes I was running in
background that caused compatibility problems with the latest builds.
However tracking that down was a long, painful experience!

I'd like to apologise to you all for the problems this has caused. I've
always had reservations over the use of electronic ballots conducted without
adequate validation/authentication procedures. This experience has certainly
hardened that view. I note Louis Touton's recent advice which also reflects
on this and his advice appears both timely and helpful.

Whilst many of us schedule our lives through the use of electronic devices,
even with good back-up procedures, experiences like this expose the
weaknesses that still exist. The old rule that 'anything is only as secure
as its weakest link' certainly proved correct in this case. Having been the
one to fall foul of the e-mail vote I therefore have a very different view
to some of those I've just read on the mailing list suggesting the rules are
changed. I'm sure there are alternatives which can take account of the fact
that we're spread across the globe, all busy people in different time zones.
In the circumstances I found myself I wouldn't have been able to check for
an electronic receipt, (I couldn't get access through the firewall) but
access to a web site or even voice message that informed me that some votes
hadn't been received would have been enough to prompt me to check. Is it
possible that a web site just stating the number of votes received by a set
time could provide some additional safeguards?  Another alternative is
perhaps to divert receipt messages to a web based e-mail account that can
always be accessed, but that isn't fool proof either.

Again, my sincere apologies for breaking the system.

Regards
Tony