Subject: Netizen Elections: An issue of Identity

From: Bob Allisat <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 4 Nov 1998 07:43:06 -0500 (EST)

In proposing a Democratic Internet
 Governance model the critical issue
 that must be addressed is that of
 identity. We must be able to identify,
 verify and safe-guard each potential
 vote/voter. Fraud, spoofing, data-
 mining, impersonation and other error
 factors must all be reduced to levels
 found in normal, physical electoral
 procedures for Internet Demcracy to
 be not only possible but popular.
 For a potential vote without wide-
 spread involvement is the same as
 not voting at all.

 Utilizing the same technology used
 to verify Credit transactions over
 the Internet - encryption, data-
 base validation, secure servers -
 it is emminantly possible to do the
 same thing for the internet electorate.
 While mere possetion of a Credit
 Card is sufficient for buying items
 it is discriminatory in terms of
 the Cyber-vote. Some other standard
 must be found or invented in order
 to provide universal adult sufferage.
 I am fully confident in our massed
 technical and emmerging political
 expertise to accomplish this task.

 I predict we will establish first 
 the guidelines and outline of Democratic
 Internet Governance (with interim
 structures in place very soon) and
 then a fully robust and secure method
 of Internet electoral procedures and
 identification methodologies. A lot
 of my fair readers will have to adjust
 their attitudes for these developments.
 And there will be the odd error in
 days to come. But if we all work as one
 Internet Democracy will emmerge from
 our current collective confusion to
 clairify  the future in ways as yet
 unknown. Towards that end...

 Peace,

 Bob Allisat

 Free Community Network _ [email-masked] . http://fcn.net
 http://fcn.net/allisat