Parlement

29/11/05 15:27

irc

Logs of the #parlement channel on server irc.freenode.net

You can use this applet (it requires you to have java) or a tool like gaim

You are all welcome to join!

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200 messages...

27/06/06 20:43

Testing

You can use the system right now:

click on the n more links to drill down into the available elements
click on the links to propose new sub elements
click on or buttons to vote against or for an element

No complex registration required, you can participate anonymously or just fill a pseudo (top right corner) in order to be differentiated. This pseudo can be password protected and email verified, or not. You choose.

I’m open to suggestions and follow closely everything said (every forum also being a mailing list, it’s easy to follow and answer to)!

Tell me what you think!

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60 messages...

26/11/05 20:56

Security

Of course a large scale Direct Democracy relying on electrons is difficult to accept, due to one very valid reason: we can’t trust internet.

It is so easy to change rules, to break into servers, to subvert data. Can we ever use it for such an important things as politics?

There is a way, a simple one relying on three elements:

p2p servers
pgp signatures
electoral lists

Anybody can setup a server that replicate the data of other servers.

Read more… / Lire plus…

When you cast a vote you sign it with your private key.

Anybody can setup electoral lists that contain public keys.

There you have it. Basic isn’t it? Of course it requires that all data is totally transparent, to the point it can be replicated among any number of server. No anonimity (in the basic and simplest setup).

pgp signatures being what they are, can not be subverted (nowadays and in the near future), thus the votes can take any path available to them. They can be cast from any server. But to be sure that one’s vote is not simply erased from that first node, it is recommended to check that it has been replicated to a few other ones. Or better, to send it directly to different servers.

There can be any number of participants, votes or issues, but at the end of the day the results are calculated using one electoral list and on one server. Everybody can check if thoses results are valid or not.

This doesn’t bring 100% security, no such thing can exist even in the physical world, but it can bring trust. An active trust, if you care about the issues, the process, the participants, you can supervise it and make sure it goes as it should. The more eyes, the more trust.

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26/11/05 21:58
Anonymity

In the virtual world, it is impossible to be totally anonymous while still ensuring that one person can only vote once. Because at one moment or another you need to link a vote to a person.

In the physical world this connection is lost in the voting box. But on internet everything can be traced, no matter what you do you can never be totally certain that a relation is lost.

So to have anonymity a scheme can be constructed using trust. Trust that a voter can have into a third party of his choice. It is a trustee who will vouch for the voter’s reinscription on the electoral list using a pseudonym.

Thus you have two identities, the real person, known and accounted on the electoral list, but unable to vote because she is marked as anonymous. And a pseudonym.
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3 messages...
- <JackWilliamBell>
  I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about this subject. At this point I am convinced that true anonymity is impossible on the Internet; but effective anonymity is possible. (This has to do with the relative resources and knowledge levels of those trying to track down the identity of a person as opposed to the relative resources and knowledge levels of the person trying to avoid being outed. Obviously governments and large institutions have greater resources and knowledge levels than most individuals.)
  
  More importantly, I think we need to have a reasonably secure way to create anonymous identities: ie identities which a person may use in forums, but only that person can use and which cannot easily be traced back to that person. That way people could speak freely about politics or expose corruption without anyone else being able to pose as them and muddy the message.
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  2 messages...
  - <echarp>
    +1
    
    On Sun, Apr 22, 2007 at 11:27:00AM +0200, JackWilliamBell wrote:
    
    I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about this subject. At this point I am convinced that true anonymity is impossible on the Internet; but effective anonymity is possible.
    
    I’m of the same opinion.
    
    Read more… / Lire plus…
    
    (This has to do with the relative resources and knowledge levels of those trying to track down the identity of a person as opposed to the relative resources and knowledge levels of the person trying to avoid being outed. Obviously governments and large institutions have greater resources and knowledge levels than most individuals.)
    
    True anonymity is almost impossible on the net, because there is simply too much information there. It’s very difficult to actually remove or hide any.
    
    More importantly, I think we need to have a reasonably secure way to create anonymous identities: ie identities which a person may use in forums, but only that person can use and which cannot easily be traced back to that person. That way people could speak freely about politics or expose corruption without anyone else being able to pose as them and muddy the message.
    
    Trusted third party that any user chooses, or that any user can setup. The whole point of it, is to have a pot where are mixed many, what is coming out is thus one among others, without possibilities to specifically pinpoint it.
    
    Of course, the larger the pot, the more anonymity.
    
    That third party will also come under scrutiny, his role being to help others have their voice.
    
    “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.
    
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20/05/06 22:57

Our constitution

Writing the European Constitution and involving the people in the process of Europe’s integration.

A wiki is kept here

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12 messages...

19/04/06 13:13

top-politics

This group was started with the goal of creating a network of different initiatives which reside on the TOP (Transparent Open Public) principles of political activities.

We hope that we will soon be able to share concepts, ideas and suggestions about the Internet as a media, OpenSource as a paradigm and Democracy as the ultimate goal.

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139 messages...