DAVAO CITY – A poll watchdog on Friday, April 22 warned that the latest breach in the Commission on Election’s (Comelec) data system pose serious implications for both the security and privacy of the voters.
Rick Bahague, convener of Kontra Daya, said the leaked personal information of the 55 million registered voters rendered them vulnerable to identity theft, the unauthorized use of other’s identity for fraud or other similar crimes.
“A more worrisome implication of the Comelec data leak is that the exposed voter information can be used as an added tool to commit electoral fraud. It now serves as a data source for targeted intimidation of voters, vote buying, and harassment,” Bahague said.
Kontra Daya said Comelec should take the case of data breach seriously and should not downplay it as a simple security breach.
“It is amazing that a Commission full of lawyers cannot understand and comprehend that privacy is a basic human right and that the data leak is a violation of every voter’s right to it,” the poll watch dog said.
The group added that it is only Comelec, among the government agencies, which puts a “little value for privacy and data integrity will trivialize this situation.”
The poll body should be held liable for this incompetence, Kontra Daya pointed out. The group has also asked Comelec if the Election Management System (EMS), a component of the automated election system, ”is not similarly compromised”.
“EMS is responsible for ballot template generation, SD card configuration, results generation and other tasks. It also stores counts of voters per precinct. Questions remain as to the safeguards being employed by the Comelec to ensure the accuracy, reliability and transparency of the system,” the group added.
Bahague claims the act of Comelec to disregard the necessary safeguards for the automated election system and the downplaying of the voters’ information leak sharply “reflects the Commission’s insincerity in conducting credible, accurate, peaceful and transparent elections come May 9.”
“The people should be vigilant against electoral fraud, possible identity theft, and voter disenfranchisement” he said.
Kontra Daya said that “we voluntarily submit these information with an implicit assurance from Comelec that these will be kept private and not be published publicly on the internet.” (davaotoday.com)
