India's poll panel declines Google voting services offer over security concerns

[InfoSec News <alerts () infosecnews org>]

http://www.networkworld.com/news/2014/010914-india39s-poll-panel-declines-google-277556.html

By John Ribeiro
IDG News Service
January 09, 2014

A proposal by Google to offer voter lookup services was declined by the 
Election Commission of India, after cybersecurity experts and political 
parties voiced concern about the plan's security implications.

The commission on Thursday confirmed that it had seen a Google 
presentation for electoral lookup services to provide information to 
voters. "However after due consideration, the Commission has decided not 
to pursue the proposal any further," it said in a statement.

Google offered the commission, in a presentation on Tuesday, facilities 
for free online voter registration, search and other services, the Press 
Trust of India reported. The report drew criticism on the belief that the 
collaboration would provide Google with access to a vast amount of data on 
Indians.

To register online as a voter on the commission website, people have to 
provide their email IDs and mobile phone numbers, said Jiten Jain, a 
member of Indian Infosec Consortium, a group of cybersecurity experts. By 
the tie-up with the commission, Google would have access to the email IDs, 
mobile phone numbers and the IP addresses of voters who register online, 
he added.

[...]



--
Subscribe to InfoSec News
http://www.infosecnews.org/subscribe-to-infosec-news/