List: I would like to extend an invitation to the list to read "The Bell" -- the first newsletter entirely dedicated to Internet voting and collaborative decision-making in Internet protocols. Electronic and hard copy subscriptions are available at www.thebell.net. Safevote [1] is sponsoring the newsletter as an open forum. Regarding the name "The Bell", the idea was to use the image of a bell because mission bells were used in colonial California for telling time, announcing events, and for passing on news from one city to another. This newsletter intends to serve similar purposes and is also a public service open and free for all who may want it. With monthly 16-page issues, the "The Bell" will focus on privacy, security and technology used in Internet voting. In Internet tradition, the newsletter is available free over the Internet (PDF format), or at an annual cost of $30 for first class mail delivery in hard copy. The first issue contains an extensive marketing study of the year 2000 U.S. public elections market - a study that will be serialized in upcoming issues. It also includes an article on today's public voting systems used in the United States by election expert Roy G. Saltman and an essay by myself outlining the need for a strong separation between identification and authentication in order to ensure fair Internet voting protocols. Internet voting and its potential impact on society will increasingly call upon us to understand and keep abreast of the latest developments in various fields of work. As a developer in this market, I see a widening gap between the 100-year-old voting technologies in use today and what Internet voting needs to take into account. The Bell is dedicated to help fill this gap -- perhaps with your help as well. Cheers, Ed Gerck [1] Safevote (www.safevote.com) is a founding member of the Internet Voting Technology Alliance (www.ivta.org) and develops OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) systems for Internet voting, polling, public elections, bidding, consensus assessment and other Internet decision- making applications. The Bell is edited at Safevote. The May 2000 issue is now available at the "The Bell" Web site, www.thebell.net
