Cloud computing systems help Los Angeles with redistricting
24 May 2011 17:16:54
While the old model of political redistricting involved expensive proprietary software and professional politicians making the final decisions, Los Angeles County's voters will be running the show this time, thanks to cloud computing.
The new plan is centered on a cloud service available to all 4.5 million registered Los Angeles County voters, according to Computerworld. The service - dubbed the Public Access Plan - allows voters to view redistricting plans, submit their own and comment on others' efforts, the tech publication said.
Martin Zimmerman, the county's asisstant CEO, told Computerworld that getting the people's input was an important consideration.
"The county wants to promote the widest practicable citizen involvement in the redistricting process," he said in an interview with the tech news source.
Questions still remain about how the final decisions will be made, Computerworld noted, but sources told the publication that it was likely that Los Angeles' system is the wave of the future.
Experts say concerns about the privacy of sensitive data in the cloud may pose a barrier to wider adoption, however.
-McAfee Cloud Security
