[chapter-delegates] e-voting system for ISOC board

[Andres Oliva]

Dear Jim,

100% secure systems simply does not exist when it comes to large
democracies. Internet society (note minuscule) shall be the biggest
democratic system. New ISOC paying individual membership system is not an
exception of security holes. Actual democracy, after more than 200 years, is
not yet 100% secure. Think about Florida. Nevertheless this is not a reason
to avoid its implementation, it means there is a need to develop it.

Here you have an idea to guarantee the one man, one (free) vote idea in the
international arena:

ISOC could establish or promote the establishment of an International
Digital Identity Network.

I'm aware that some international standards about digital identity have been
developed, but I don't really know if there is an international network
alike  already being developed (EU?). If this is the case, we could use it
to guarantee free voting for individual membership. Otherwise I think it
could be a nice project for ISOC with great possibilities in the field of
international trade and the most important: international e-democracy!.

National and regional digital identity registrars have become popular
throughout the (developed) world. This network could be used:

 - To list all the existing local, regional, national, international,
private and public digital identity registrars. (education pillar)
 - To certificate those that are reliable. (standards pillar)
 - To analyze the different existing procedures. (standards pillar)
 - To establish internationally recognized digital identity standards.
(standards pillar)
 - To create a specialized know-how and technological cooperation network.
(eduaction/public policy pillar)
 - To help the establishment of digital identity registrars in the
developing countries. (education/public policy pillar)
 - To survey abuses on the use of digital identities. (public policy pillar)
 - To achieve internationally recognized digital identities. (public policy
pillar)
 - To promote the use of digital identity to foster e-democracy. (public
policy pillar)
 - To have one, and only one, vote for each member in the ISOC Trustees
elections (for free, of course!;-).

To promote this Network could be as easy as having the chapters convincing
the local registars to participate (money and/or services) in the Network.

Please send your comments.

Best regards,

	Andres Oliva


> -----Mensaje original-----
> De: James M Galvin [mailto:galvin at elistx.com]
> Enviado el: viernes, 18 de marzo de 2005 20:53
> Para: Franck Martin
> CC: chapter-delegates at lists.isoc.org
> Asunto: Re: [chapter-delegates] e-voting system for ISOC board
>
>
> Franck,
>
> E-voting is hard.  I know this.  I'm a technologist and I've devoted
> considerable resources to understanding the problem and the potential
> solutions.
>
> Consider the issue of identity.  In a physical voting system we accept
> certain flaws in identifying people because we apply procedures commonly
> referred to as "check and balances".  These procedures include things
> like witnesses, physical signatures, and physical presence among other
> things.  We know the system is not perfect but it is pretty good and in
> general it is extremely difficult to bias or swing an election.  In
> essence, there exists a trusted infrastructure within which the election
> takes place.
>
> That trusted infrastructure does not exist on the Internet.  It might be
> possible to create it, but then you will find it is not possible to have
> one that works everywhere, all the time.  People expect ISOC to ensure
> that it reaches out to everyone, all the time.  We certainly do try but
> you have to admit it can be difficult some times.
>
> Even without that issue, it is a significant undertaking to build a trust
> infrastructure.  It is not something that you can just "turn on" one day.
> It will take time, perhaps years, for it to include a majority of our
> members.
>
> My request for proposals was not a trick.  It was a serious question.  I
> have read all the suggestions to date but I simply do not have the time
> to respond to each and every one.  I was hoping that someone would feel
> really excited about their suggestion and they would want both to repeat
> it and to fill out some of the details.  Principles always sound like
> good ideas until you get into the implementation details.  Besides, I may
> have overlooked something so getting help is a good thing.
>
> Jim
>
> PS.  Consider too, that if e-voting were easy, everybody would already be
> doing it.  And by that I mean a system that scales to tens of thousands
> of people with little if any manual intervention and works everywhere in
> the world.
>
>
>
>
> --On Wednesday, March 16, 2005 11:54 AM +1200 Franck Martin
> <franck at sopac.org> wrote:
>
> > James,
> >
> > Nice trick ;)
> >
> > I know it too. It is called send back the work to the person who asked
> > for it..
> >
> > So here is my trick:
> >
> > Please review the whole thread because numerous propositions were made
> > on how to make a free member vote. You may have missed all these
> > discussions but hey, we have an archive! ;) ( I give you a hint,
> > because I'm really nice with you, it has to do with the indonesia
> > chapter)
> >
> > And here I pull the rabbit from the hat:
> > As VP Chapters and I'm sure there is a VP membership, the onus is on
> > YOU to propose us a system. Members give objectives to the board and
> > the board implements them (not the other way). I think there is
> > sufficient literature out there for you to come with an acceptable
> > system, where a member will be identified (not by money) and given a
> > right to vote for one or more representatives.
> >
> > We are making progress...  :)
> >
> > Cheers
> > PS: Assume you are lucky, because I did not ask you to do a state of
> > the art in e-voting and explaining the advantages and disadvantages of
> > each system in regards to ISOC
> >
> > James M Galvin wrote:
> >
> > >
> > >
> > > --On Wednesday, March 16, 2005 10:25 AM +1200 Franck Martin
> > > <franck at sopac.org> wrote:
> > >
> > >> the heart of the problem is that! one member = one vote
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > So, let's explore this.  In detail.
> > >
> > > If you have a suggestion for how we can achieve this let me ask that
> > > you do the following.
> > >
> > > Please start a new message with a relevant subject line for each
> > > suggestion.  I will promise to participate in a detailed discussion
> > > of  each suggestion so we can explore whether or not it will work for
> > > ISOC.
> > >
> > > Jim Galvin
> > > VP Chapters
>
>
>