Re: [ALSC-Forum] An idea and some thoughts

[Esther Dyson]

although many corporate shares are voted by institutions on behalf of 
individuals who have no knowledge of that process.... FWIW.

Esther

At 12:31 AM 8/31/2001, Kent Crispin wrote:

>On Thu, Aug 30, 2001 at 06:07:42PM -0700, desertbobp wrote:
> > Has anyone in this august group ever considered the process used for 
> on-line
> > voting of shares of stock?  I do this all the time and it seems to work
> > well.  I don't know how secure it is, but if you consider the possiblities
> > of using this mechanism to conduct a proxy war for control of a 
> company, you
> > would have to think they have at least given the security issue some 
> serious
> > thought.  Check it out.
> >
> >  http://www.proxyvote.com/
>
>Check out http://www.vortex.com/privacy/priv.09.14 (text starts partway
>down the page).  There they describe a different proxy voting service,
>but the point remains.
>
>In general, voting in for profit corporations is very different than the
>kind of vote we have here, and it is completely inappropriate for the
>task.  In particular, votes are explicitly bought -- the more shares you
>own, the more votes you get.  Not only does this change the voting
>mechanics, it also drastically alters the opportunities and the
>incentives for cheating.  Moreover, the reporting and secrecy
>requirements are completely different -- your ownership of shares is
>recorded, with the vote that goes along with them.
>
>--
>Kent Crispin                               "Be good, and you will be
>kent@songbird.com                           lonesome." -- Mark Twain



Esther Dyson                    Always make new mistakes!
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