Makena: There are already off-the-shelf mobile voting software on the market, but you built your own. How is your app different from what’s already out there?
Bradley: Four years ago, we assembled a team of different companies with different areas of expertise to build this system. End-to-end encrypted and end-to-end verified. It is air-gapped and features multi-factor authentication and biometric screening. Most importantly, it’s open source. I think we still have 8-10 months of internal work left. Next, we plan to submit it to Defcon and NIST to get all their feedback. I’ll publish it when I’m satisfied. It will be open source and free. At that point, any government can use the code directly and tailor it to its jurisdiction’s needs, or hire a vendor to run the code.
Phase 3 then begins. That’s why I wrote the book. The technical part was tough, but even more difficult was actually passing laws in each place to make local voting legally available.
McKenna: No matter how safe it is to vote anywhere, former President Donald Trump has made it a habit to question the integrity of elections. Could mobile voting make the situation even worse?
Bradley: Does voter fraud actually exist? The answer is no.
This is a myth created by Trump because he cannot accept the concept of losing. But accept that even if it’s not real, it exists because he says so. He’s willing to cover any form of voting, including in-person voting, mail-in voting and early voting, if he thinks it could be in his favor.
I am not proposing to abolish the current voting format. We claim that the voting format we have constructed is exponentially more secure than other voting formats. I’m just saying let’s make this an additional option. Some people may use it, some may not. My daughter, who just turned 18, uses it. My father, who is already 80 years old, probably doesn’t think so. that’s ok.
chat room
Have you ever voted through your phone or app? What do you think this can do for elections?
If you have any comments, please send them to mail@wired.com.
And from the mailbox: In response to a chat room question last week, Paul wrote to me saying how “surprised” President Trump’s own supporters don’t think rushing new business is “sketchy.” Is this the right thing to do?” What do I think? Many details about Trump’s crypto business are still unknown, but I suspect this whole endeavor has less to do with making money and more to do with winning votes from the crypto base. I’m sure. Both Harris and Trump have been calling it that this election cycle, so I think that’s the real basis.
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what else are you reading
🔗 Behind the Rise of Kamala Harris: Silicon Valley’s Richest Woman: Research conducted on behalf of Laurene Powell Jobs (Kamala Harris’ best friend) reveals that Silicon Valley’s big donors are It helped oppose President Biden’s re-election bid. (New York Times)
🔗 How Google spun the ad tech industry around it: Google’s ad tech antitrust trial began earlier this month, with prosecutors alleging that the company manipulated ad auctions to favor its own products over competitors’ products. He submitted evidence that he was given preferential treatment. (The Verge)
🔗 Two Suspects Charged with $230 Million in Crypto Theft: Two crypto fraudsters have been arrested on suspicion of theft after allegedly scamming people out of more than $230 million in crypto. …and you can see how they used it up on TikTok. (The Block)
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We took a little break this week due to pods, but check out all the recent episodes here.
And as a very non-political recommendation, watch Uzumaki on Max when it comes out on Sunday, September 29th. I’ve been waiting for this show for years and just finished re-reading the manga ahead of its release. If you see it, please let us know what you think! 🌀🐌🌀
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