Bill: One Person, One Citizenship, One Vote

... If we do agree that there will be one person and one vote, than we must create a voting system which tries to verify this and have an SC willing to discretely investigate unusual results. I wanted to state this specifically, as one person one vote requires verification and enforcement. How do you feel about one person one vote given that we will need to verify and enforce?... However, if we do decide to make that a law, we will have to verify and enforce it and it's only a matter of time before someone is caught. What do we do with them then? What is the punishment for voting twice in our democracy?... If we choose to make voting verifiable, then votes cannot be be unretrievably private. If they are, then, if someone finds a way to vote twice, we'll never know which of the votes were fraudulent.....

... How would you all feel about me returning with election results saying that 26 of 20 votes are in? ... My solution with the current system is to include an IP address and a hash number that uniquely identifies an avatar and is only reversible by someone who knows the secret hash key. It seems like an excellent compromise. There's guaranteed mathematical secrecy that is only undone in the event of a inquiry....

Aren't we supposed to be doing something new here?

Here's a very good point. If someone does want to have multiple alts in Neualtenburg and they have access to SL through various computers at work and home, how would we ever know? LL itself can't even track or stop such behavior. However, if we do decide to make that a law, we will have to verify and enforce it and it's only a matter of time before someone is caught. What do we do with them then? What is the punishment for voting twice in our democracy?

(Also, why did you reverse your opinion on this Sudane?)

In the list of demands given above, numbers 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 violate the constitution, so I'll skip those. The important ones are 1 and 2.

If we choose to make voting verifiable, then votes cannot be be unretrievably private. If they are, then, if someone finds a way to vote twice, we'll never know which of the votes were fraudulent. This includes the bug in the software that allowed a single person to vote twice as well as alt voting. How would you all feel about me returning with election results saying that 26 of 20 votes are in?

LL itself can't even track or stop such behavior. However, if we do decide to make that a law, we will have to verify and enforce it and it's only a matter of time before someone is caught.

"Since the concept of 'one human being citizen, one vote' is central and primary to the spirit and intention of the community of Neualtenburg, it is assumed that all citizens will respect and adhere to this principle."

I did not reverse my position on this matter.

Let me be really clear how I feel about this (if it isn't already). One avatar; one vote. Ulrika, if you want to go divide your lot into 20 pieces, just so you can get a controlling vote in the RA, then go do it.

"One human being citizen, one vote" underlies everything. If it isn't clear, then it should be written.

I have withdrawn any reference to abolishing factions, since there is no support for that.

I propose that vote be done by avatar, verified easily from a voter list. There is no issue of the total number of votes differing or exceeding the total number of voters, since only those avatars appearing on the public list of citizens can vote.

I see that you voted for allowing alts to vote. Is that your solution? It would eliminate the need for enforcement of the voting rules, however it leads to a break down in the democratic system due to individuals having more votes than others and the inability to ferret out fraud.

It's a difficult decision, allowing unregulated voting with no way to track fraud or having regulated voting with enforcement and verification.

~Ulrika~

The fact that you suppose I did, and acuse me of being your "alts can vote" statistic, is typical of the type of espionage that you seem to be fond of. As to the issue at hand, for the fourth or fifth time, ....

Even if folks give the info willingly, it seems to me to be a violation, because to not give the info is to not vote, and not join Neualtenburg. I for one wont be giving you any IP information or an acounting of my alts, or my RL friends who may be using my IP or anythign of such a nature, and if you ever feel the need to ask me about it I will abuse report you.

I also find it distasteful that in a "government" that is hardly off the ground, the first bill we will be passing is a security bill, so that the Polizei can spy on our private lives.

... I simply mentioned it because anyone can see the results here and the fact that you chose one alt one vote. I was just asking why you voted for it, that's all.

... Please don't accuse me of conducting espionage. I'm really getting tired of this over-the-top reactionary political rhetoric. It's a stupid web poll not a wire tap.

Sorry my mistake. I don't do a lot of polls and did not remember this one.

I meant "espionage" in the literal sense of the word. "The activity of spying to gather secret information, such as about another government or company." I did not mean it in a mean way. Come on, you talk about this all the time (although you dont use that word), it's one of the things you seem to love the most, I thought.

A Declaration of the Rights of Avatars

When a time comes that new modes and venues exist for communities, and said modes are different enough from the existing ones that question arises as to the applicability of past custom and law; and when said venues have become a forum for interaction and society for the general public regardless of the intent of the creators of said venue; and at a time when said communities and spaces are rising in popularity and are now widely exploited for commercial gain; it behooves those involved in said communities and venues to affirm and declare the inalienable rights of the members of said communities. Therefore herein have been set forth those rights which are inalienable rights of the inhabitants of virtual spaces of all sorts, in their form henceforth referred to as avatars, in order that this declaration may continually remind those who hold power over virtual spaces and the avatars contained therein of their duties and responsibilities; in order that the forms of administration of a virtual space may be at any time compared to that of other virtual spaces; and in order that the grievances of players may hereafter be judged against the explicit rights set forth, to better govern the virtual space and improve the general welfare and happiness of all.

Therefore this document holds the following truths to be self-evident: That avatars are the manifestation of actual people in an online medium, and that their utterances, actions, thoughts, and emotions should be considered to be as valid as the utterances, actions, thoughts, and emotions of people in any other forum, venue, location, or space. That the well-established rights of man approved by the National Assembly of France on August 26th of 1789 do therefore apply to avatars in full measure saving only the aspects of said rights that do not pertain in a virtual space or which must be abrogated in order to ensure the continued existence of the space in question. That by the act of affirming membership in the community within the virtual space, the avatars form a social contract with the community, forming a populace which may and must self-affirm and self-impose rights and concomitant restrictions upon their behavior. That the nature of virtual spaces is such that there must, by physical law, always be a higher power or administrator who maintains the space and has complete power over all participants, but who is undeniably part of the community formed within the space and who must therefore take action in accord with that which benefits the space as well as the participants, and who therefore also has the rights of avatars and may have other rights as well. That the ease of moving between virtual spaces and the potential transience of the community do not limit or reduce the level of emotional and social involvement that avatars may have with the community, and that therefore the ease of moving between virtual spaces and the potential transience of the community do not in any way limit, curtail, or remove these rights from avatars on the alleged grounds that avatars can always simply leave.

Articles:

1. Avatars are created free and equal in rights. Special powers or privileges shall be founded solely on the common good, and not based on whim, favoritism, nepotism, or the caprice of those who hold power. Those who act as ordinary avatars within the space shall all have only the rights of normal avatars.

2. The aim of virtual communities is the common good of its citizenry, from which arise the rights of avatars. Foremost among these rights is the right to be treated as people and not as disembodied, meaningless, soulless puppets. Inherent in this right are therefore the natural and inalienable rights of man. These rights are liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression.

3. The principle of all sovereignty in a virtual space resides in the inalterable fact that somewhere there resides an individual who controls the hardware on which the virtual space is running, and the software with which it is created, and the database which makes up its existence. However, the body populace has the right to know and demand the enforcement of the standards by which this individual uses this power over the community, as authority must proceed from the community; a community that does not know the standards by which the administrators use their power is a community which permits its administrators to have no standards, and is therefore a community abetting in tyranny.

4. Liberty consists of the freedom to do anything which injures no one else including the weal of the community as a whole and as an entity instantiated on hardware and by software; the exercise of the natural rights of avatars are therefore limited solely by the rights of other avatars sharing the same space and participating in the same community. These limits can only be determined by a clear code of conduct.

5. The code of conduct can only prohibit those actions and utterances that are hurtful to society, inclusive of the harm that may be done to the fabric of the virtual space via hurt done to the hardware, software, or data; and likewise inclusive of the harm that may be done to the individual who maintains said hardware, software, or data, in that harm done to this individual may result in direct harm done to the community.

6. The code of conduct is the expression of the general will of the community and the will of the individual who maintains the hardware and software that makes up the virtual space. Every member of the community has the right to contribute either directly or via representatives in the shaping of the code of conduct as the culture of the virtual space evolves, particularly as it evolves in directions that the administrator did not predict; the ultimate right of the administrator to shape and define the code of conduct shall not be abrogated, but it is clear that the administrator therefore has the duty and responsibility to work with the community to arrive at a code of conduct that is shaped by the input of the community. As a member of the community himself, the administrator would be damaging the community itself if he failed in this responsibility, for abrogation of this right of avatars could result in the loss of population and therefore damage to the common weal.

7. No avatar shall be accused, muzzled, toaded, jailed, banned, or otherwise punished except in the cases and according to the forms prescribed by the code of conduct. Any one soliciting, transmitting, executing, or causing to be executed, any arbitrary order, shall be punished, even if said individual is one who has been granted special powers or privileges within the virtual space. But any avatar summoned or arrested in virtue of the code of conduct shall submit without delay, as resistance constitutes an offense.

8. The code of conduct shall provide for such punishments only as are strictly and obviously necessary, and no one shall suffer punishment except it be legally inflicted according to the provisions of a code of conduct promulgated before the commission of the offense; save in the case where the offense endangered the continued existence of the virtual space by attacking the hardware or software that provide the physical existence of the space.

9. As all avatars are held innocent until they shall have been declared guilty, if detainment, temporary banning, jailing, gluing, freezing, or toading shall be deemed indispensable, all harshness not essential to the securing of the prisoner's person shall be severely repressed by the code of conduct.

10. No one shall be disquieted on account of his opinions, provided their manifestation does not disturb the public order established by the code of conduct.

11. The free communication of ideas and opinions is one of the most precious of the rights of man. Every avatar may, accordingly, speak, write, chat, post, and print with freedom, but shall be responsible for such abuses of this freedom as shall be defined by the code of conduct, most particularly the abuse of affecting the performance of the space or the performance of a given avatar's representation of the space.

12. The security of the rights of avatars requires the existence of avatars with special powers and privileges, who are empowered to enforce the provisions of the code of conduct. These powers and privileges are therefore granted for the good of all and not for the personal advantage of those to whom they shall be entrusted. These powers and privileges are also therefore not an entitlement, and can and should be removed in any instance where they are no longer used for the good of all, even if the offense is merely inactivity.

13. A common contribution may, at the discretion of the individual who maintains the hardware, the software, and the data that make up the virtual space, be required in order to maintain the existence of avatars who enforce the code of conduct and to maintain the hardware and the software and the continued existence of the virtual space. Avatars have the right to know the nature and amount of the contribution in advance, and said required contribution should be equitably distributed among all the citizens without regard to their social position; special rights and privileges shall never pertain to the avatar who contributes more except insofar as the special powers and privileges require greater resources from the hardware, software, or data store, and would not be possible save for the resources obtainable with the contribution; and as long as any and all avatars are able to make this contribution and therefore gain the powers and privileges if they so choose; nor shall any articles of this declaration be contingent upon a contribution being made.

14. The community has the right to require of every administrator or individual with special powers and privileges granted for the purpose of administration, an account of his administration.

15. A virtual community in which the observance of the code of conduct is not assured and universal, nor the separation of powers defined, has no constitution at all.

16. Since property is an inviolable and sacred right, and the virtual equivalent is integrity and persistence of data, no one shall be deprived thereof except where public necessity, legally determined per the code of conduct, shall clearly demand it, and then only on condition that the avatar shall have been previously and equitably indemnified, saving only cases wherein the continued existence of the space is jeopardized by the existence or integrity of said data.

17. The administrators of the virtual space shall not abridge the freedom of assembly, save to preserve the performance and continued viability of the virtual space.

18. Avatars have the right to be secure in their persons, communications, designated private spaces, and effects, against unreasonable snooping, eavesdropping, searching and seizures, no activity pertaining thereto shall be undertaken by administrators save with probable cause supported by affirmation, particularly describing the goal of said investigations.

19. The enumeration in this document of rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by avatars.

Geez Louise, if you keep bumping threads I'm going to think I'm going crazy. I kept seeing all this "we" talk from Ulrika in this thread and was wondering if she'd suddenly decided to stick around with N'burg after all.

It's very disconcerting!

Now you're saying that you [Sudane] want one person one vote by the honor system with zero verification.