- 10 Things You Should Know Before You Bid
So you have decided to enter the domain of Online Auctions to supplement your business supplies or there are items that are just too unique to find them in the local strip mall. Well the good news is that Online Auction Sites have matured enough as marketplaces that one can find business items along side the consumer products that made them famous. To protect yourself there is a few things that you need to know so you don't end up a victim of scammers, or overpay for items.
Here are your 10 Tips to help you have a pleasant successful auction experience:
1. Know the going price and value of the item before you bid. If the item is new to you or brand new, check to see what price others are charging for it. This can be done online by a quick check of your favorite search engine, look into catalogs, and/or a visit to your favorite store/merchant if convenient. If the product is used or reconditioned, of course you will want, and expect to pay way less than the retail value. This will give you a leg up and make sure you don't overpay, a common malady on these sites.
2. If the item's description or picture isn't detailed enough for you, contact the seller to get more
information or a better picture before you bid. You don't want to take a chance to waste your hard earned money on the wrong item, or something different than what you wanted. Yes this does happen often where bids are placed and items won, only to have the buyer realize that what they got wasn't what they thought they were getting. Ask before you bid.
3. Know the highest price you will bid for the item and stick with it. Don't get caught up in a bidding war; you may end up paying more than the item's worth. Don't forget to add in the shipping price when determining how much you are going to bid. Of course if you are looking at other Online sites to compare prices, you need to consider their rates for shipping and handling as well. Naturally if comparing prices from offline sites, factor in your travel time fuel costs, and if the item needs to be delivered or you can carry it out yourself.
4. Visit a few online auctions before bidding because some sellers auction the same or similar items in many auctions. Also if the seller has more than one of the items in stock, they might have more than one listing. Look at all the listings you might find a better price from the same seller if you are patient and do your homework. You usually can purchase the item for a lower price in a unpopular auction because there are less bidders.
5. Be knowledgeable about the time the auction ends. You also want to know how long it will take to ship the item to you. A lot of times sellers will specify that they may take a certain number of days before the can ship the item. If you need the item by a certain date, you'll want to estimate the time it will take to receive it. Of course you can always contact the seller during the auction to see if they offer different shipping rates for overnight service. The worse they can say is no, but many times they will accommodate you.
6. Read the payment options the seller accepts before you bid on their item. If they only accept
checks or money orders, it may take even longer to get the item because the payment has to clear. Steer clear if the only payment option is International Money Order and the seller is overseas. This is usually an indication of a possible scam. Try to protect yourself with either credit card orders through secure servers or other online payment services like PayPal. This way you are protected against fraud.
7. Look to see if the seller offers a warranty or money back guarantee before bidding on a product. You don't want to get stuck with a item that does not work, is broken or you're not satisfied with for other reasons (the old bait and switch is not as common, but does happen from time to time). Most have time frames for returns, and other conditions, but generally most will allow returns for legitimate reasons.
8. Online auctions will, sometimes, allow you to check the sellers' auction history. Check to see what other people's experience has been with the seller. Have other people complained about the their items, services or business practices? How have the complaints been resolved? You do have a right to know before you decide to bid. Also of those that have complained, what is their history, are they chronic whiners?
9. It's important to place a bid early in the auction to show other bidders you are interested in the item. If someone does out bid you, don't be afraid to out bid them. Remember not to go over your maximum
bid price. Of course almost all the auction sites do allow for what they call “Proxy Bids” which allow you to place your maximum bid up front, then the bid is incremented up as others join in the bidding. It is a tool that allows you to set your max bid, but sees that you pay the lowest possible winning bid. This way you don't have to continuously look at the auctions to see how you are doing.
10.Another reason to know when the auction ends; you can place a last minute bid. There is software that allows you to place last minute bids. This is discouraged, but not illegal. It is a process called “Sniping”. So if the item has more watchers than bidders, then perhaps a few “snipers” are lurking to come in at the last minute and grab the item. There may however be other bidders that may not be keeping track of when the auction ends or may not have the time to bid again. These are the best type of competition if you must have any.
Following these tips will help ease you through the process and hopefully keep you from being a victim of overpaying or worse. It is amazing how many items are actually up for auction, and who knows maybe you will start putting your products or services up for bis as well (yes it is being done, but that is the subject for another article).
Mahalo.
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For more resources to help you with your Online Marketing check out
http://www.renspubhouse.com/marketing.html
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Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
How to Buy Business Items From Online Auction Sites - 10 Things You Should Know Before You Bid
How to Buy Business Items From Online Auction Sites - 10 Things You Should Know Before You Bid
So you have decided to enter the domain of Online Auctions to supplement your business supplies or there are items that are just too unique to find them in the local strip mall. Well the good news is that Online Auction Sites have matured enough as marketplaces that one can find business items along side the consumer products that made them famous. To protect yourself there is a few things that you need to know so you don't end up a victim of scammers, or overpay for items.
Here are your 10 Tips to help you have a pleasant successful auction experience:
1. Know the going price and value of the item before you bid. If the item is new to you or brand new, check to see what price others are charging for it. This can be done online by a quick check of your favorite search engine, look into catalogs, and/or a visit to your favorite store/merchant if convenient. If the product is used or reconditioned, of course you will want, and expect to pay way less than the retail value. This will give you a leg up and make sure you don't overpay, a common malady on these sites.
2. If the item's description or picture isn't detailed enough for you, contact the seller to get more
information or a better picture before you bid. You don't want to take a chance to waste your hard earned money on the wrong item, or something different than what you wanted. Yes this does happen often where bids are placed and items won, only to have the buyer realize that what they got wasn't what they thought they were getting. Ask before you bid.
3. Know the highest price you will bid for the item and stick with it. Don't get caught up in a bidding war; you may end up paying more than the item's worth. Don't forget to add in the shipping price when determining how much you are going to bid. Of course if you are looking at other Online sites to compare prices, you need to consider their rates for shipping and handling as well. Naturally if comparing prices from offline sites, factor in your travel time fuel costs, and if the item needs to be delivered or you can carry it out yourself.
4. Visit a few online auctions before bidding because some sellers auction the same or similar items in many auctions. Also if the seller has more than one of the items in stock, they might have more than one listing. Look at all the listings you might find a better price from the same seller if you are patient and do your homework. You usually can purchase the item for a lower price in a unpopular auction because there are less bidders.
5. Be knowledgeable about the time the auction ends. You also want to know how long it will take to ship the item to you. A lot of times sellers will specify that they may take a certain number of days before the can ship the item. If you need the item by a certain date, you'll want to estimate the time it will take to receive it. Of course you can always contact the seller during the auction to see if they offer different shipping rates for overnight service. The worse they can say is no, but many times they will accommodate you.
6. Read the payment options the seller accepts before you bid on their item. If they only accept
checks or money orders, it may take even longer to get the item because the payment has to clear. Steer clear if the only payment option is International Money Order and the seller is overseas. This is usually an indication of a possible scam. Try to protect yourself with either credit card orders through secure servers or other online payment services like PayPal. This way you are protected against fraud.
7. Look to see if the seller offers a warranty or money back guarantee before bidding on a product. You don't want to get stuck with a item that does not work, is broken or you're not satisfied with for other reasons (the old bait and switch is not as common, but does happen from time to time). Most have time frames for returns, and other conditions, but generally most will allow returns for legitimate reasons.
8. Online auctions will, sometimes, allow you to check the sellers' auction history. Check to see what other people's experience has been with the seller. Have other people complained about the their items, services or business practices? How have the complaints been resolved? You do have a right to know before you decide to bid. Also of those that have complained, what is their history, are they chronic whiners?
9. It's important to place a bid early in the auction to show other bidders you are interested in the item. If someone does out bid you, don't be afraid to out bid them. Remember not to go over your maximum
bid price. Of course almost all the auction sites do allow for what they call “Proxy Bids” which allow you to place your maximum bid up front, then the bid is incremented up as others join in the bidding. It is a tool that allows you to set your max bid, but sees that you pay the lowest possible winning bid. This way you don't have to continuously look at the auctions to see how you are doing.
10.Another reason to know when the auction ends; you can place a last minute bid. There is software that allows you to place last minute bids. This is discouraged, but not illegal. It is a process called “Sniping”. So if the item has more watchers than bidders, then perhaps a few “snipers” are lurking to come in at the last minute and grab the item. There may however be other bidders that may not be keeping track of when the auction ends or may not have the time to bid again. These are the best type of competition if you must have any.
Following these tips will help ease you through the process and hopefully keep you from being a victim of overpaying or worse. It is amazing how many items are actually up for auction, and who knows maybe you will start putting your products or services up for bis as well (yes it is being done, but that is the subject for another article).
Mahalo.
So you have decided to enter the domain of Online Auctions to supplement your business supplies or there are items that are just too unique to find them in the local strip mall. Well the good news is that Online Auction Sites have matured enough as marketplaces that one can find business items along side the consumer products that made them famous. To protect yourself there is a few things that you need to know so you don't end up a victim of scammers, or overpay for items.
Here are your 10 Tips to help you have a pleasant successful auction experience:
1. Know the going price and value of the item before you bid. If the item is new to you or brand new, check to see what price others are charging for it. This can be done online by a quick check of your favorite search engine, look into catalogs, and/or a visit to your favorite store/merchant if convenient. If the product is used or reconditioned, of course you will want, and expect to pay way less than the retail value. This will give you a leg up and make sure you don't overpay, a common malady on these sites.
2. If the item's description or picture isn't detailed enough for you, contact the seller to get more
information or a better picture before you bid. You don't want to take a chance to waste your hard earned money on the wrong item, or something different than what you wanted. Yes this does happen often where bids are placed and items won, only to have the buyer realize that what they got wasn't what they thought they were getting. Ask before you bid.
3. Know the highest price you will bid for the item and stick with it. Don't get caught up in a bidding war; you may end up paying more than the item's worth. Don't forget to add in the shipping price when determining how much you are going to bid. Of course if you are looking at other Online sites to compare prices, you need to consider their rates for shipping and handling as well. Naturally if comparing prices from offline sites, factor in your travel time fuel costs, and if the item needs to be delivered or you can carry it out yourself.
4. Visit a few online auctions before bidding because some sellers auction the same or similar items in many auctions. Also if the seller has more than one of the items in stock, they might have more than one listing. Look at all the listings you might find a better price from the same seller if you are patient and do your homework. You usually can purchase the item for a lower price in a unpopular auction because there are less bidders.
5. Be knowledgeable about the time the auction ends. You also want to know how long it will take to ship the item to you. A lot of times sellers will specify that they may take a certain number of days before the can ship the item. If you need the item by a certain date, you'll want to estimate the time it will take to receive it. Of course you can always contact the seller during the auction to see if they offer different shipping rates for overnight service. The worse they can say is no, but many times they will accommodate you.
6. Read the payment options the seller accepts before you bid on their item. If they only accept
checks or money orders, it may take even longer to get the item because the payment has to clear. Steer clear if the only payment option is International Money Order and the seller is overseas. This is usually an indication of a possible scam. Try to protect yourself with either credit card orders through secure servers or other online payment services like PayPal. This way you are protected against fraud.
7. Look to see if the seller offers a warranty or money back guarantee before bidding on a product. You don't want to get stuck with a item that does not work, is broken or you're not satisfied with for other reasons (the old bait and switch is not as common, but does happen from time to time). Most have time frames for returns, and other conditions, but generally most will allow returns for legitimate reasons.
8. Online auctions will, sometimes, allow you to check the sellers' auction history. Check to see what other people's experience has been with the seller. Have other people complained about the their items, services or business practices? How have the complaints been resolved? You do have a right to know before you decide to bid. Also of those that have complained, what is their history, are they chronic whiners?
9. It's important to place a bid early in the auction to show other bidders you are interested in the item. If someone does out bid you, don't be afraid to out bid them. Remember not to go over your maximum
bid price. Of course almost all the auction sites do allow for what they call “Proxy Bids” which allow you to place your maximum bid up front, then the bid is incremented up as others join in the bidding. It is a tool that allows you to set your max bid, but sees that you pay the lowest possible winning bid. This way you don't have to continuously look at the auctions to see how you are doing.
10.Another reason to know when the auction ends; you can place a last minute bid. There is software that allows you to place last minute bids. This is discouraged, but not illegal. It is a process called “Sniping”. So if the item has more watchers than bidders, then perhaps a few “snipers” are lurking to come in at the last minute and grab the item. There may however be other bidders that may not be keeping track of when the auction ends or may not have the time to bid again. These are the best type of competition if you must have any.
Following these tips will help ease you through the process and hopefully keep you from being a victim of overpaying or worse. It is amazing how many items are actually up for auction, and who knows maybe you will start putting your products or services up for bis as well (yes it is being done, but that is the subject for another article).
Mahalo.
Thursday, January 10, 2008
We Are in The Midst of a “Lack of A Crisis” Crisis!
We Are in The Midst of a “Lack of A Crisis” Crisis!
(or Crisis, Crisis, Who Stole My Crisis?)
Once upon a time television news, especially the major networks, were a trusted source of news and considered “must see TV” to find out what is going on in the world. Then of course came Cable TV and we were introduced to the concept of 24 hours news telecasts (but in truth they stopped the new news at midnight and picked up again around 6 A.M. Figuring nothing much happens during that time frame, and most people would be asleep anyway, so it really wasn't 24 hours). For the longest time these telecasts were of good quality, but then for some unknown reason, the heads of these networks decided that news should be entertaining. This was the beginning of the downward slide we see today. They dumbed down the newscasts and forced peppy preppy cheerleader newsreaders upon us. Luckily this came about the same time as the Internet was opened to the rest of us (originally it was the domain of researchers and academics) and we found we didn't have to put up with the brain dead newsreaders anymore. So ratings were falling off, advertisers were leaving the stations (or at least demanding to pay less for there advertising), and people were finding new ways of getting their news.
So how did these stations react? Easy make every little problem into a CRISIS!
Have you ever noticed how almost everyday we are involved, according to the nightly news readers, in a brand new crisis that threatens to end life as we know it? Only to have these stories being one off, and not only not the end of civilization, but just an isolated incident? How can these so-called “purveyors of truth” keep their jobs after all their lies? Why do people take it and not demand more truth in reporting of the news? Or is it no one is really watching anymore and so it all falls on deaf ears?
Of course when one station (they seem to rotate the announcing), announces a crisis, they all immediately follow suit (like lemmings to the seas) so as not to look like they are not “on the ball”. Then they all take turns trotting out the various “experts”, who for the most part sound as brain dead as the newsreaders interviewing them. Very little insight is ever given and each crisis seems to last about 4-7 days before the next one crops up without the previous one being solved, and mostly forgotten (until maybe next year if it is something cyclical like weather or price of gasoline/food/school supplies) by the stations ans for some reason, totally out of the blue the crisis seems to solve itself, as we find that the world is still here and life goes on.
Whew, I thought the lack of Okra crisis was going to get us for sure this time around.
Oh but it may be the snow crisis in Minnesota in January that will end civilization for ever. No? How about the er...uhm... what's next on the agenda?
Mahalo
(or Crisis, Crisis, Who Stole My Crisis?)
Once upon a time television news, especially the major networks, were a trusted source of news and considered “must see TV” to find out what is going on in the world. Then of course came Cable TV and we were introduced to the concept of 24 hours news telecasts (but in truth they stopped the new news at midnight and picked up again around 6 A.M. Figuring nothing much happens during that time frame, and most people would be asleep anyway, so it really wasn't 24 hours). For the longest time these telecasts were of good quality, but then for some unknown reason, the heads of these networks decided that news should be entertaining. This was the beginning of the downward slide we see today. They dumbed down the newscasts and forced peppy preppy cheerleader newsreaders upon us. Luckily this came about the same time as the Internet was opened to the rest of us (originally it was the domain of researchers and academics) and we found we didn't have to put up with the brain dead newsreaders anymore. So ratings were falling off, advertisers were leaving the stations (or at least demanding to pay less for there advertising), and people were finding new ways of getting their news.
So how did these stations react? Easy make every little problem into a CRISIS!
Have you ever noticed how almost everyday we are involved, according to the nightly news readers, in a brand new crisis that threatens to end life as we know it? Only to have these stories being one off, and not only not the end of civilization, but just an isolated incident? How can these so-called “purveyors of truth” keep their jobs after all their lies? Why do people take it and not demand more truth in reporting of the news? Or is it no one is really watching anymore and so it all falls on deaf ears?
Of course when one station (they seem to rotate the announcing), announces a crisis, they all immediately follow suit (like lemmings to the seas) so as not to look like they are not “on the ball”. Then they all take turns trotting out the various “experts”, who for the most part sound as brain dead as the newsreaders interviewing them. Very little insight is ever given and each crisis seems to last about 4-7 days before the next one crops up without the previous one being solved, and mostly forgotten (until maybe next year if it is something cyclical like weather or price of gasoline/food/school supplies) by the stations ans for some reason, totally out of the blue the crisis seems to solve itself, as we find that the world is still here and life goes on.
Whew, I thought the lack of Okra crisis was going to get us for sure this time around.
Oh but it may be the snow crisis in Minnesota in January that will end civilization for ever. No? How about the er...uhm... what's next on the agenda?
Mahalo
Friday, January 04, 2008
Hockey Played “Old School”
Hockey is my sport of choice to watch once the temperatures fall below a certain point that causes discomfort and freezing of body parts. Of course growing up in Chicago we always had the Blackhawks to watch and cheer for, despite their constant disappointment via a deficit of championships.
Yet there we were religiously going out every night to the flooded area of the park and play until time to go home and sleep. In act one year when the teachers were on strike (they seemed to always strike in early January almost as if extending their Christmas vacation) we played from early morning until late at night and I got frostbite on my toes. Still it didn't bother me as I just became a goalie while wearing rubber boots after that for the rest of the season while mending. Ah the joys and fond memories of youth.
Yet here it is January 2008 and the NHL is putting on an outside game between real professional teams! I am of course referring to the game between the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Buffalo Sabres played in Ralph Wilson Stadium and televised on NBC. Yes it was a sight to see as Buffalo was enduring one of their typical January snow storms at the same time. It did provide for an interesting game and also triggered memories of times past.
It was of course a Marketing ploy and a good one at that as they did garner a lot of interest, over 71,000 paid to see the game live and braved the elements, and it did great ratings on TV. Now some might remember a couple of years ago that hockey was shown regularly on ESPN and ABC (both being Disney Corp properties) until the players were “Locked Out” for a year by management and they didn't play for a season. Of course at the time the interest in the US seemed to be waning, as the league kept expanding into “Non-Traditional Markets”. These included a couple of teams in Florida, one in Atlanta, and Phoenix.
This strike caused ESPN to cancel their contract and when the NHL tried to come back , only NBC came calling to give them a TV contract. NBC-Universal proceeded to exile the NHL to their sports station Outdoor Life Network (OLN). This of course had the sportswriters and commentators laughing and making fun out of this move as most people never heard of OLN. In fact most of the programming on OLN consisted of Bike Races like the “Tour De France” and Bull Riding. Of course us die hards found the station and enjoyed our Hockey. Though OLN and the NHL did a weird thing. They put the games on Monday and Tuesday nights. On ESPN they were on Wednesday and Thursday nights and that is what we were used to. On top of that NBC Universal didn't really market the games very much. It was as if they were ashamed to admit that they showed them.
Last year OLN changed it's name to Versus and still shows the NHL. Still the marketing of the NHL is very weak and even something as special as an outside game received very little notice. In fact during the Sunday Night Football game on NBC, they mentioned the game, but not the time! Even though the anchor, Bob Costas, was presenting the game. Talk about bad marketing, it is no wonder that they suffer at the ratings game. Even their best regular show (30 Rock) is flailing away because of their poor marketing. Hey NBC you've got intelligent wonderful exciting programming, yet you fail to let anyone know!
Hockey is a wonderful and exciting game, and it deserves better. Between the NHL and NBC they need lots of help getting the word out that it is being shown. It is a Catch-22 where they promote because they don't think enough people are watching, yet people don't know to watch because they don't promote. Instead they try to promote copy-cat, me-too types of shows that nobody really watches and yet they keep dumbing down to get a certain demographic that doesn't seem to be able to comprehend the brilliance and intricacies of intelligent programming (but that is another article).
Such a shame that the suits just don't get it and don't realize what a goldmine they are sitting on because of their short-sightedness and total lack of vision.
Hey NBC Universal, promote the intelligent stuff and the ratings will come back, keep marketing the crap and stay a “me-too, copy-cat network”.
Mahalo.
Yet there we were religiously going out every night to the flooded area of the park and play until time to go home and sleep. In act one year when the teachers were on strike (they seemed to always strike in early January almost as if extending their Christmas vacation) we played from early morning until late at night and I got frostbite on my toes. Still it didn't bother me as I just became a goalie while wearing rubber boots after that for the rest of the season while mending. Ah the joys and fond memories of youth.
Yet here it is January 2008 and the NHL is putting on an outside game between real professional teams! I am of course referring to the game between the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Buffalo Sabres played in Ralph Wilson Stadium and televised on NBC. Yes it was a sight to see as Buffalo was enduring one of their typical January snow storms at the same time. It did provide for an interesting game and also triggered memories of times past.
It was of course a Marketing ploy and a good one at that as they did garner a lot of interest, over 71,000 paid to see the game live and braved the elements, and it did great ratings on TV. Now some might remember a couple of years ago that hockey was shown regularly on ESPN and ABC (both being Disney Corp properties) until the players were “Locked Out” for a year by management and they didn't play for a season. Of course at the time the interest in the US seemed to be waning, as the league kept expanding into “Non-Traditional Markets”. These included a couple of teams in Florida, one in Atlanta, and Phoenix.
This strike caused ESPN to cancel their contract and when the NHL tried to come back , only NBC came calling to give them a TV contract. NBC-Universal proceeded to exile the NHL to their sports station Outdoor Life Network (OLN). This of course had the sportswriters and commentators laughing and making fun out of this move as most people never heard of OLN. In fact most of the programming on OLN consisted of Bike Races like the “Tour De France” and Bull Riding. Of course us die hards found the station and enjoyed our Hockey. Though OLN and the NHL did a weird thing. They put the games on Monday and Tuesday nights. On ESPN they were on Wednesday and Thursday nights and that is what we were used to. On top of that NBC Universal didn't really market the games very much. It was as if they were ashamed to admit that they showed them.
Last year OLN changed it's name to Versus and still shows the NHL. Still the marketing of the NHL is very weak and even something as special as an outside game received very little notice. In fact during the Sunday Night Football game on NBC, they mentioned the game, but not the time! Even though the anchor, Bob Costas, was presenting the game. Talk about bad marketing, it is no wonder that they suffer at the ratings game. Even their best regular show (30 Rock) is flailing away because of their poor marketing. Hey NBC you've got intelligent wonderful exciting programming, yet you fail to let anyone know!
Hockey is a wonderful and exciting game, and it deserves better. Between the NHL and NBC they need lots of help getting the word out that it is being shown. It is a Catch-22 where they promote because they don't think enough people are watching, yet people don't know to watch because they don't promote. Instead they try to promote copy-cat, me-too types of shows that nobody really watches and yet they keep dumbing down to get a certain demographic that doesn't seem to be able to comprehend the brilliance and intricacies of intelligent programming (but that is another article).
Such a shame that the suits just don't get it and don't realize what a goldmine they are sitting on because of their short-sightedness and total lack of vision.
Hey NBC Universal, promote the intelligent stuff and the ratings will come back, keep marketing the crap and stay a “me-too, copy-cat network”.
Mahalo.
Wednesday, January 02, 2008
E-Voting and the End of Democracy
Another election year is upon us and once again we hear about the wonders and ease of E-Voting.
Of course we always want to try to find ways to make our lives easier and anything that decreases work or actually using our brains seems to be considered advantageous to society as a whole. Yes machines are wonderful, and they really do enrich our lives if we do use them correctly and don't abuse their power.
But amazingly the more we seem to progress, the worse we seem to feel about it. I think it is mainly because the more we let machines do the work and thinking for us, the less we feel in control of our daily lives. Too often we hear that someone can't do their job because “The Computer is Down”, when all we want is change for a dollar. Too many people are too lazy to understand the why they do something and just accept things as a given, yet when an emergency arises can't function as they are just ignorant as can be wen faced with technology.
Luckily I was blessed with being born with an insatiable curiosity about how things work, and a very inquiring mindset. I studied science and economics and have seen enough behind the scenes to understand how to read between the lines. I also seem to be a bit of a cynic, yet I like to give people the benefit of the doubt.
But I regress....
The issue of using Computers to register and count votes (AKA E-Voting) has been coming up the last few elections. It is a hot topic as proponents see it as a panacea to stop all fraud and get quick and accurate counts without worrying about uncounted ballots or ballot box rigging, so they can have the results NOW and get back to their mind-numbing “reality” TV shows. Yet the opponents to E-Voting tend to look at all the negative press computers get about viruses other attacks and use that as reasons to ever trust computers.
The truth as always falls somewhere in between these two extremes.
Yes computers are wonderful tools and yes they can be made to be safe and secure, regardless of what you hear in the press, computers are safe and secure. However there are those times when security is breached, but it is usually found to be linked back to some sort of avoidable human error that can be avoided in the future with smarter humans.
The main question one should be asking is who is coding the program for these machines, and who is verifying that the programs work as they are advertised. It is very easy to make it so that the user sees one result, yet when the selection is tallied the result the machine registers is totally different. Take a simple survey on a web site for instance. How difficult do you think it would be to offer up a menu of choices, accept the user input, show the user what they chose, along with cumulative results, yet the back end database actually registers a different choice? How would one know that the cumulative results are actually what has been recorded and not just something the programmer coded in to show? It is surprisingly easy to do , and unless one is trained very hard to catch. What makes you think it isn't being done now at your favorite site now? You don't and it is impossible for you to prove.
Now just think about that and project that to a National or Local election. It can be easy to turn in a “Test Box” with the correct program that actually runs honestly and everything in it is above board. Yet when the machines are mass produced for distribution, the code is altered ever so slightly and in such a way as to fool a comparison program looking for changes. Heck the only thing that has to really change is the code in the collected database that can say, strip out every so many votes for candidate “A” and divert them to candidate “B”. Again it is way to easy to disguise this code from sloppy inspectors and you only need to alter a few key districts to manipulate the outcome. And who would know after the fact, since all the voters saw the results they were expecting pop up on the screen, yet in the back end hanky-panky was running amok.
This is how easy it is to steal an election in the computer age.
And of course we haven't even talked about outsourcing the work and how a foreign government can control the election though their own software and back doors into the systems, but that is a worry for another day.
Yet not all is doom and gloom. There are ways to control the chaos. For one, the database designers and coders should not be from the same company so there can be no collusion between the two. Collection techniques could be made so that a third company can write a program that collects what appears on the voter's screen and is recorded into a different database. Have random collection of data throughout the day at the different precincts by bonded representatives of all interested parties. They come to the polling places and check up on the Election Judges anyway (Yes I have been an Election Judge may times in the past). Right now we rely on these people to go over paper ballots and counts if there is a discrepancy so why not train them on electronic means, or get younger people in who understand the technology and retire the fuddy-duddy Luddites.
E-Voting is coming, but it doesn't have to be the end of Democracy if we do it smart and don't leave it up to the political parties to design the systems.
Chin up America, there is always hope.
Mahalo.
Of course we always want to try to find ways to make our lives easier and anything that decreases work or actually using our brains seems to be considered advantageous to society as a whole. Yes machines are wonderful, and they really do enrich our lives if we do use them correctly and don't abuse their power.
But amazingly the more we seem to progress, the worse we seem to feel about it. I think it is mainly because the more we let machines do the work and thinking for us, the less we feel in control of our daily lives. Too often we hear that someone can't do their job because “The Computer is Down”, when all we want is change for a dollar. Too many people are too lazy to understand the why they do something and just accept things as a given, yet when an emergency arises can't function as they are just ignorant as can be wen faced with technology.
Luckily I was blessed with being born with an insatiable curiosity about how things work, and a very inquiring mindset. I studied science and economics and have seen enough behind the scenes to understand how to read between the lines. I also seem to be a bit of a cynic, yet I like to give people the benefit of the doubt.
But I regress....
The issue of using Computers to register and count votes (AKA E-Voting) has been coming up the last few elections. It is a hot topic as proponents see it as a panacea to stop all fraud and get quick and accurate counts without worrying about uncounted ballots or ballot box rigging, so they can have the results NOW and get back to their mind-numbing “reality” TV shows. Yet the opponents to E-Voting tend to look at all the negative press computers get about viruses other attacks and use that as reasons to ever trust computers.
The truth as always falls somewhere in between these two extremes.
Yes computers are wonderful tools and yes they can be made to be safe and secure, regardless of what you hear in the press, computers are safe and secure. However there are those times when security is breached, but it is usually found to be linked back to some sort of avoidable human error that can be avoided in the future with smarter humans.
The main question one should be asking is who is coding the program for these machines, and who is verifying that the programs work as they are advertised. It is very easy to make it so that the user sees one result, yet when the selection is tallied the result the machine registers is totally different. Take a simple survey on a web site for instance. How difficult do you think it would be to offer up a menu of choices, accept the user input, show the user what they chose, along with cumulative results, yet the back end database actually registers a different choice? How would one know that the cumulative results are actually what has been recorded and not just something the programmer coded in to show? It is surprisingly easy to do , and unless one is trained very hard to catch. What makes you think it isn't being done now at your favorite site now? You don't and it is impossible for you to prove.
Now just think about that and project that to a National or Local election. It can be easy to turn in a “Test Box” with the correct program that actually runs honestly and everything in it is above board. Yet when the machines are mass produced for distribution, the code is altered ever so slightly and in such a way as to fool a comparison program looking for changes. Heck the only thing that has to really change is the code in the collected database that can say, strip out every so many votes for candidate “A” and divert them to candidate “B”. Again it is way to easy to disguise this code from sloppy inspectors and you only need to alter a few key districts to manipulate the outcome. And who would know after the fact, since all the voters saw the results they were expecting pop up on the screen, yet in the back end hanky-panky was running amok.
This is how easy it is to steal an election in the computer age.
And of course we haven't even talked about outsourcing the work and how a foreign government can control the election though their own software and back doors into the systems, but that is a worry for another day.
Yet not all is doom and gloom. There are ways to control the chaos. For one, the database designers and coders should not be from the same company so there can be no collusion between the two. Collection techniques could be made so that a third company can write a program that collects what appears on the voter's screen and is recorded into a different database. Have random collection of data throughout the day at the different precincts by bonded representatives of all interested parties. They come to the polling places and check up on the Election Judges anyway (Yes I have been an Election Judge may times in the past). Right now we rely on these people to go over paper ballots and counts if there is a discrepancy so why not train them on electronic means, or get younger people in who understand the technology and retire the fuddy-duddy Luddites.
E-Voting is coming, but it doesn't have to be the end of Democracy if we do it smart and don't leave it up to the political parties to design the systems.
Chin up America, there is always hope.
Mahalo.
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