EAC - Voluntary Voting System Guidelines

Name : | Doug Jones
Organization : | N/A
Post Date : | 9/27/2005
Glossary Comments
Glossary Term : | Data Integrity
Definition : |
Comment : | In response to your request for comments on the draft glossary of voting system terminology, I offer the following, picking up with the letter D, having completed A through C in previous comments. As before, in each case, I am quoting the original and then offering an alternative definition. Invulnerability of the system to accidental intervention or deliberate, fraudulent manipulation that would result in errors in the processing of data. It is distinguished from data accuracy that encompasses internal, system-generated errors. -- Comment: Again, this definition is strange, partly because it defines integrity in terms of the strange definition for accuracy and partly because it ignores the definition of integrity given later. That definition is also bad, because it fails to distinguish system integrity from data integrity. Data Integrity: Integrity, as it applies to data, as opposed to system integrity. Typically, data integrity is assured by some form of checksum to allow detection of intentional or accidental alteration of the data, and by careful documentation of the chain of custody over the data, in order to limit who has the opportunity to alter the data. Where the term is used to refer to the integrity of any specific type of data, for example, ballot definition data or ballot image data, the term should be qualified. Data integrity and accuracy are related; the term accuracy focuses attention on errors themselves, while the term integrity focuses attention on the means to detect error or alteration.