Canada's 'Random' Immigration Lottery Uses Excel, Which Isn't Actually Random
gizmodo.com
gizmodo.com
For cryptography purposes, yeah, not random enough. But to pick a name out of a list of names that is probably pretty randomly loaded into excel, I'd say yes, this is random enough to be fair.
Probably could be, along the lines of game-theory cake-sharing: "I cut, you choose." Say, one official supplies N names, another supplies N random numbers.
It's doing "I cut, he chooses, you don't get to eat."
How exploitable it is? What is the easiest vector of attack against the lottery?
If the poor rnd was the biggest flaw the system would probably be really good.
I don't know but peculiar choice of perspective seems baffling and undermines the credibility of source imho.
Also, the process might be random if the original input was, so the whole premise of the article might be moot. I find the style quite tabloid-like.