Parlement

• 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.

  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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  • 26/02/07 07:26 <mmk> +1 -1
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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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  • 31/01/07 02:56 <Serge> +1 -1
  • 05/10/06 11:00 <echarp> +1 -1

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