Hows this plays out will be vital in the coming years. The internet is playing a very big role in communication and there are a lot of powerful forces who have become comfortable in manipulating and diverting communication for their own ends, the internet is presenting new challenges to this hegemony.

The biggest challenge and most important key is wither it is based on an open source or proprietary solution. The open source does generally follow the proprietary solutions by about 5-7 years on average, but does vary depending on the application. The strength of proprietary solutions is in the resources for development and secrecy in coding structure. This does lead to a big weakness with those that have access to the code can easily subvert it, there are many cases of electoral fraud supporting this.

With an open source solution the strength is is the code with a lot of peer review being applied. On the technical level, it is not just the application software but also the operating system and hardware that does need review to ensure integrity.

Another big issue is with identifying the electoral base. With so many fake and fraudulent identities on the internet there are a lot of security issues and challenges with making certain that each person only has one vote. The social media sites are awash with false identities, the banking system does better in managing this but is still subject to identity fraud.

Next is getting the bull by the horns and opening up the public books. Even if you work in government this can be a very difficult and challenging processes as many cultural norms protect financial secrecy. When corruption is just a part of daily practices resistance and lies are common. It will take time and understanding to work through these issues.

Finally, it is going to take a lot of resources to establish and manage. I do not see the United Nations is yet ready to take on these issues for global coverage of public governance. I do expect there would be some openness to the concept and others wanting to subvert this power. The best I can recommend is to just get started on it, built it up from a local level and good luck. I am expecting similar systems starting to come out, sharing ideas and working on different parts of the problem. In the end it will be up to the public if they are going to accept such a solution.

You have got a lot of good ideas there and with our system of government so hopelessly messed up a change is coming. The more we talk about and work towards something better, the better the chance that the system will be working for us instead of us working for the system.

Does anyone else have anything to add to this idea of getting rid of the middleman (politicians) by replacing them with an online direct to the public voting system?

Originally posted by kwakakev
Hows this plays out will be vital in the coming years. The internet is playing a very big role in communication and there are a lot of powerful forces who have become comfortable in manipulating and diverting communication for their own ends, the internet is presenting new challenges to this hegemony.

The biggest challenge and most important key is wither it is based on an open source or proprietary solution. The open source does generally follow the proprietary solutions by about 5-7 years on average, but does vary depending on the application. The strength of proprietary solutions is in the resources for development and secrecy in coding structure. This does lead to a big weakness with those that have access to the code can easily subvert it, there are many cases of electoral fraud supporting this.

With an open source solution the strength is is the code with a lot of peer review being applied. On the technical level, it is not just the application software but also the operating system and hardware that does need review to ensure integrity.

Another big issue is with identifying the electoral base. With so many fake and fraudulent identities on the internet there are a lot of security issues and challenges with making certain that each person only has one vote. The social media sites are awash with false identities, the banking system does better in managing this but is still subject to identity fraud.

Next is getting the bull by the horns and opening up the public books. Even if you work in government this can be a very difficult and challenging processes as many cultural norms protect financial secrecy. When corruption is just a part of daily practices resistance and lies are common. It will take time and understanding to work through these issues.

Finally, it is going to take a lot of resources to establish and manage. I do not see the United Nations is yet ready to take on these issues for global coverage of public governance. I do expect there would be some openness to the concept and others wanting to subvert this power. The best I can recommend is to just get started on it, built it up from a local level and good luck. I am expecting similar systems starting to come out, sharing ideas and working on different parts of the problem. In the end it will be up to the public if they are going to accept such a solution.

You have got a lot of good ideas there and with our system of government so hopelessly messed up a change is coming. The more we talk about and work towards something better, the better the chance that the system will be working for us instead of us working for the system.

That is a problem. Those in power will not like this idea as it diverts their current means of manipulating policy like through direct lobbying through a single or limited number of politicians (including the corrupt kind). I believe all humans are corruptible so this element has to be removed from government. By removing the politicians and having the mass public vote on every issue on an automatic, transparent and well structured online voting system it would reduce corruption as lobbyists would have to lobby the mass public in very expensive ads and even then, due to the transparent nature of such a system, other people can see past the bull and market against corrupt or ill lobbying ads.

I believe that as long as it follows an open protocol standard, like TCP/HTTP/HTML, that such a website can run for years without a massive overhaul. The system would have to be client-server based with all logic and primary functionality running at the server. I also believe that an open software solution is best with peer-review from several independent, non-related and non-profit institutions and the public at large. It should be built that the coding cannot be hacked or manipulated. I strongly believe simple is best for security and usability.

To ensure one person cannot vote more than once per item, each citizen, with social security number, would have to be physically mailed a GUID/UUID with custom password of their choice to log into the online system. They have to protect both as well as they protect their social security number and passports. Also, password changes will have to be mailed (avoid email) or displayed over HTTPS. Mailed is best. Account suspension will have to be phoned, or online over HTTPS, in using their GUID/UUID + password (existing or previous old one) + social security number to suspend their account in case of suspicion of identity theft.

No doubt there are challenges in implementing such as system and they have nothing to do with the programming of it. People reluctant to release power, corruption in government and simple but sticky and slow red tape are the real problem. Perhaps we should challenge Google or Facebook to build this system. Imaging that, "Google Government". They have the money and resources to challenge pretty much anyone. Personally I'd love to work with them and develop such a solution.