This semester, Ed Felten and I are teaching a Freshman Seminar called “Facebook: The Social Impact of Social Networks.” This week, the class is discussing a recent article published in the journal Nature, entitled “A 61-Million-Person Experiment in Social Influence and Political Mobilization“. The study reveals that if Facebook shows you a list of your […]
Romance & "Reality" in the 2012 Presidential Campaign
November 5, 2012 by
Romance and “reality” are in conflict as the 2012 Presidential campaign approaches its election day apex. While the 2012 Presidential campaign lacks the historical resonance of the 2008 campaign, the 2012 campaign is notable, in part, for the attention many are giving to the quantitative analysis of polling data, most famously prepared by Nate Silver. […]
New Jersey Voting in the Aftermath of Hurricane Sandy
November 4, 2012 by
Hurricane Sandy has disrupted many aspects of life here in New Jersey. Even beyond the physical destruction, the state’s infrastructure is still coming back on line. Many homes are still without power and heat, and some roads are closed. Schools were closed all of last week, and some will be closed for longer. Sandy has […]
Oral Arguments 12/4 in NJ Voting-Machine Lawsuit
November 3, 2012 by
Note new date and time! This election day, New Jersey voters will vote–if electricity is restored and if they can get to the polls after the hurricane–on a model of voting machine that I have personally demonstrated how to hack. My hack is simple: prepare fraudulent vote-stealing software on a memory chip, make thousands of […]
Uncertified voting equipment
October 26, 2012 by
(Or, why doing the obvious thing to improve voter throughput in Harris County early voting would exacerbate a serious security vulnerability.) I voted today, using one of the many early voting centers in my county. I waited roughly 35 minutes before reaching a voting machine. Roughly 1/3 of the 40 voting machines at the location […]
