CDS Administration System - description required!

[Leon]

Hi,

Following on from my offer to code an administration system for the CDS. ([url=http://forums.neufreistadt.info/viewtop ... 4:h29ksgdv]Original Thread[/url:h29ksgdv])

Firstly a quick recap as to why I made the offer. I'd like to own land in the CDS as two separate avatars (needless to say my philosophy is "Each avatar is special"), but have fallen foul of the current lack of a means to administer this situation. Especially from the perspective of its impact on Voting in the CDS. Sudane offered to change this restriction providing I could provide her with a tool to manage this.

From a development perspective the first step towards designing the system is to get an agreed Narrative Requirements Specification (NRS). That is, a clear description of what the CDS Admin System is meant to do.

With this in mind I made an attempt at writing the NRS and emailed it to Sudane and Gwyneth for comments and expansion. Although both Sudane and Gwyneth agreed that this was the right way to go about it, but for various reasons they have been unable to respond. Sudane has suggested that I [b:h29ksgdv]open it up to the community for discussion[/b:h29ksgdv]. As a newcomer to the CDS I'm not very familiar with the various regulations and unwritten business rules of the CDS and have placed questions in [] throughout the NRS.

[b:h29ksgdv]-- Begin NRS --[/b:h29ksgdv]
The CDS (Confederation of Democratic Simulators) is a set of Second Life simulators run by the CDS community along the lines of a Democracy. However, voting in Second Life poses specific challenges. The ability to have multiple avatars (aka Alts) makes it possible for one person (RL) to corrupt the process by voting numerous times. With this in mind the CDS has strict rules about which Second Life, more specifically CDS residents are allowed to vote in CDS elections.

In order to qualify as a voter (Citizen) in the CDS you must own land on a CDS owned simulator or mainland, either as a member of a group or as an individual. There are also restrictions as to how much land any person may own. [Can you clarify this from the perspective of rl person vs sl avatar vs sl alts vs sl group given this administration system is used]

From the above it is clear that not every owner of land in the CDS should necessarily be a voter in the CDS. For example, any Alts shouldn't be able to vote, likewise by current rules, not every member of a group owning land qualifies either. (This is currently dealt with by restricting the group size?)

Another complication is brought in by Factions. Factions are Second Life groups [that ... please fill in?] [Can you belong to a faction without being a land owner? Are factions allowed to own land and how much?]

The CDS Admin system is intended to help Sudane (or her future replacement) keep track of CDS Citizens (Voters), their land ownership including checking constraints, and provide reports to assist Sudane in administering the CDS.

With this in mind there are three sets of avatars we are interested in; those SL Residents who are implicated with the CDS {SL Residents}, the subset of SL Residents who own land in the CDS {CDS Residents} (via Avatar, Alt or Group), and lastly the subset of CDS Residents who are actually eligible to vote {CDS Citizens}. [Are you comfortable with this distinction between 'Citizens' & 'Residents'?]

In order to determine the CDS Citizens we need a list of all the CDS Residents, either as individuals owning land or as members of a group owning land. We then need a way to determine which of these qualify as Citizens (voters). [What are the rules for this?]

Lastly the system needs the ability to produce specific reports as determined by Sudane/Gwyneth. [Can you elaborate on this]
[b:h29ksgdv]-- End NRS --[/b:h29ksgdv]

Lastly, there is also the question as to whether this system is even required. Personally I would simply like to own land as separate avatars and to enable this I am willing to write the system to manage it. If there is no need for this system I'm happy to NOT work on it. I'll just have to spend my Lindens elsewhere

Regards
Leon

[Sudane Erato]

I'll try to respond first by filling in a few facts, in the spaces. Thanks Leon for getting this thread started!

[quote="Leon":3ucb787e] In order to qualify as a voter (Citizen) in the CDS you must own land on a CDS owned simulator or mainland, either as a member of a group or as an individual. There are also restrictions as to how much land any person may own. [Can you clarify this from the perspective of rl person vs sl avatar vs sl alts vs sl group given this administration system is used][/quote:3ucb787e]

This is my understanding of the law now:

1) A RL person may own either one or two parcels of land within the City walls of each sim, and may also own up to 4096m2 of land outside the City Walls of each sim. Any of these ownerships qualifies that person as a citizen.

2) A RL person may also qualify as a citizen by being a member of a group which owns land in either sim. The group owning such land may serve as the qualifying agency for as many citizens as the group owns square meters of land, divided by 128. In other words, a group owning 256m2 of land would qualify two RL persons as citizens.

3) These two statements are inclusive, in other words, a citizen cannot use the provisions of one rule to circumvent the provisions of the other.

This is my understanding of the rules, and its how I've adminsitered them. Unfortunately, there are gaping loopholes in the interpretation of these. One simple example is: say a citizen owns 4096m2 of land outside the walls of one sim plus two parcels inside the walls. That citizen could then form a group with another person, and buy another 4096m2 of land in that same sim. Technically, it would be the second person which enables the group to own its 4096m2. Is that an appropriate intepretation of the rules?

Leon raises many other good questions. My intent here is to get us to begin to deal with a very serious issue.

Sudane......

[Leon]

Sudane,

Thank you for making that clarification.

I am a little concerned though, as by this definition, if I own land as two avatars both are citizens? (Sorry to harp on about it, but this is my primary motivation in offering to code a admin system)

Leon

[Sudane Erato]

[quote="Leon":2xp3a19o] I am a little concerned though, as by this definition, if I own land as two avatars both are citizens? (Sorry to harp on about it, but this is my primary motivation in offering to code a admin system)[/quote:2xp3a19o]
Please note that I said nothing about avatars. Everything referred to RL persons.

Sudane.....

[Pelanor Eldrich]

Sudane: I agree with your interpretation. It's important as a community that we all understand the rules of citizenship.

Leon: This is not a dig at you, I think we all want to get a better grip on citizen eligibility. Maybe we do need a system to help us with it. I don't know.

I think as a community we've settled on Gwyn's concept of human rights in SL and the UDHR, not Raph Koster's concept of avatar rights. Therefore I believe a CDS citizen is a single RL person represented by the avatars controlled by that person.

I say the avatars controlled by that person because in some cases we know. Sudane has a gov't alt named Rudeen Edo. My belief is that the RL person who controls Sudane and Rudeen comprises a single citizen. Only Sudane can vote (she is the citizen avatar), but if actions of Rudeen break the law then Sudane is to be held to account by the SC. I think that makes sense. Does everyone agree? BTW this is a good reason not to share passwords which is against LL ToS anyway. It's like the old sysadmin rule: if you share your password with Bozo than you're responsible for everything Bozo does with it. Bozo has no accountability and thus often acts more recklessly. I think there are safer ways to share account passwords for disaster recovery and I'll go into that later.

Now, how on earth can you enforce 1 RL person=1 CDS citizen in SL?

1) Everyone reveals RL identities, blurring the distinction between RL and SL. I don't think that will fly immediately, while some professionals and others do it, some people like their anonymity. Maybe in the future this will become the norm. Even today on the 2-d web people still use handles. Handles are nearly universal in games/MMORPGs. SL is a blur. I can't imagine using Pelanor Eldrich at bankofamerica.com, but it'd work just fine at Ginko.

2)We use some combination of technological solutions and retain anonymity:
-Simon Beckham's SL verification system
-SL verified accounts
-openID (or something)
-PGP web of trust/digital signatures/digital fingerprinting
-X.509 certs
-Something else out there

-If we don't do #1 or #2, then we're on the status quo honor system and you can buy a vote for the equivalent of 128m2 and a 30 day wait. Now that I think we've solved the EO problems, alt vote manipulation is Desmond's main problem with SL democracy. It's a problem we need to solve.

-I was rereading Frank Lardner in the Law Society SL forums last night, on contracts and enforcement. It looks like the CDS blueprint. He solved the EO issue the way I propose, by limiting the EOs to a single sim and by having them put up a bond ($1200USD). I elaborate on that by splitting the holding of the bond into 3 parts of $400 to be held by heads of branches. They in turn post $400 each ($200 to each of the other branch heads). I also recommend having a copy of all the public CDS IP (objects, websites etc.) to be held by each of the branch heads.

-He solves the vote problem by considering the virtual nation a corporation, and so votes are tied to shares (or land holdings). This is what Anshe Chung once suggested for us in the Neualtenburg days. It is decidedly undemocratic and would make us a plutocracy. The rich would have undue influence. Having escrowed funds works for my concept of "commitment" where it's public knowledge how much escrow+land a citizen has in case of breach of contract. That's fine for business dealings, but it's not a good system for allocating democratic votes.

-Another issue is land holdings. Let's try a thought experiment to game the system to collect as much land as possible as a single citizen. What does that look like under the current rules? What is the minimum number of citizens who could buy up the entirety of CDS private land? What is our maximum citizen population with current zoning? Do we have non-citizen residents?

The CDS is a virtual nation, not a virtual corporation. -Pel

[Sleazy_Writer]

Moderators, please move Pel's reply to a thread of it's own, I don't think it helps Leon in setting up a system for the current situation.

Pel, thanks for this interesting post! "1 RL person = 1 CDS citizen" is at the core of our project so it's very important. I'm sure the Bend-It-Like-Beckhams-ID-System will get discussed soon too, so that's another reason for giving the post it's own thread.

--TOP.

[Leon]

Pel,

No worries. I'd just like to make sure that if I write something, that it is fit for purpose. Once it is code to behave in a certain way then it is difficult to change it, so it is best to get the definitions right now.

Also, what is and EO? I'm going to stop apologising for been a newbie to CDS and just assume I'm an idiot

Thanks
Leon

[Sudane Erato]

[quote="Leon":2uw0w6sz] what is an EO? [/quote:2uw0w6sz]
"EO" = "Estate Owner". One of the underlying and fundamental realities imposed upon us by Linden Labs, the owner of Second Life, is that only one individual RL person can own a sim. And as owner, that person is the only holder of one tool of ultimate authority, the power to "Reclaim" land. (Take it back from whoever owns it, for any reason).

It's this fact which has caused so much ink to be expended as we try to reconcile the contradiction of the monarchial EO system with "all men, women and furries are created equal" democratic system.

Sudane.....

[Patroklus Murakami]

[quote="Sudane Erato":17dqiigm]This is my understanding of the law now:

...

2) A RL person may also qualify as a citizen [b:17dqiigm][i:17dqiigm]by being a member of a group which owns land in either sim[/i:17dqiigm][/b:17dqiigm]. The group owning such land may serve as the qualifying agency for as many citizens as the group owns square meters of land, divided by 128. In other words, a group owning 256m2 of land would qualify two RL persons as citizens...
[/quote:17dqiigm](my emphasis)

My understanding is the same, but with one crucial additional condition - no-one can [b:17dqiigm]become[/b:17dqiigm] a CDS citizen simply by joining a group which owns land in the CDS. Group ownership of land is for citizens who want to form partnerships or groups which will own land in common but they must be citizens in their own right [b:17dqiigm]before[/b:17dqiigm] they contribute land to a group or merge their holdings with another citizen.

The law [url=http://www.aliasi.us/nburgwiki/tiki-ind ... 9:17dqiigm](NL 5-9 Group Land Ownership Act)[/url:17dqiigm] was drafted this way to prevent the situation where someone would be able to effectively buy votes by buying up lots of land in the CDS and then inviting their friends and supporters into the CDS through group membership.

[quote="Group Land Ownership Act":17dqiigm]1. Plots of land in Neufreistadt may be owned by couples or groups of citizens. All members must be citizens before joining the group. [/quote:17dqiigm]

[Sudane Erato]

[quote="Patroklus Murakami":3ieul1co] My understanding is the same, but with one crucial additional condition - no-one can [b:3ieul1co]become[/b:3ieul1co] a CDS citizen simply by joining a group which owns land in the CDS. Group ownership of land is for citizens who want to form partnerships or groups which will own land in common but they must be citizens in their own right [b:3ieul1co]before[/b:3ieul1co] they contribute land to a group or merge their holdings with another citizen.

The law [url=http://www.aliasi.us/nburgwiki/tiki-ind ... 9:3ieul1co](NL 5-9 Group Land Ownership Act)[/url:3ieul1co] was drafted this way to prevent the situation where someone would be able to effectively buy votes by buying up lots of land in the CDS and then inviting their friends and supporters into the CDS through group membership.

[quote="Group Land Ownership Act":3ieul1co]1. Plots of land in Neufreistadt may be owned by couples or groups of citizens. All members must be citizens before joining the group. [/quote:3ieul1co][/quote:3ieul1co]
Yes, I see that that is indeed the way it is worded. And, through oversight, I have not enforced that.

TOP pointed this out to me a week or so ago, and I realized then that this clause presents a significant problem. While the purpose of it is not only admirable, it is also essential. However, it presents problems in administration, and, clearly my brain must have consigned this clause to "filed away" status, and ignored it completely.

To understand the problem, let's go back to "before", before citizens could buy parcels on private sims. At that time, *everyone* wishing to join NFS was required to form a group and purchase the land by having it transferred to their group. So, at that time, the *only* way you could join our community was as a member of a group; thus, the law was exactly the opposite of the designated clause.

Of course, it was made very clear to every new member that the group procedure was *only* in place because of the LL restriction... we in the community paid no attention to the groups, and considered you an individual. Every individual had to have a group which owned land. It was considered personal ownership... the *fact* of the group was ignored.

Almost at the beginning, the issue came up of two people in one group. Satchmo Prototype was one of the very first citizen landowners in NFS. Shortly after he joined, by buying a parcel, his wife Digi Vox also bought a parcel, using the same group. It was administratively confusing, but perfectly legit, since they each had a parcel.

Jump ahead now to last year. LL changed the rules, opening up parcel ownership on private sims to individuals. Obviously, we began immediately selling parcels to individuals, so that perhaps now half of all parcels in the 2 sims have individual owners.

So, many of us have never owned a parcel in our own name. We were here before the change, and never had a reason to transfer to personal ownership. But, lets look at some actual, post-LL-rule-change transactions. Some months ago, Jeremy Utarid and Rose Springvale approached me to purchase a parcel in CN. They have a law firm in RL, and wanted to establish one in SL. This made more than perfect sense. Even if I had remembered the rule, it would have seemed utterly foolish to require them to buy separate lots, then sell one of them, in order to establish their office in CN.

So, that problem is simple inconvenience. A second case illustrates a more significant problem.

There is a bug in the SL software which can prevent a qualified citizen from purchasing a parcel: http://forums.neufreistadt.info/viewtopic.php?t=993. As indicated in that post, ThePrincess Parisi was prevented from buying a parcel on CN because of her financial status with LL, which is a known bug. The only way that she could buy the land was via group transfer.

Everyone, to my knowledge, who has bought land in NFS and CN as a group has been sincerely interested in participating in our community. Surely, their interest is no different than any other sampling of citizens buying land. While this is *NO* excuse for not administering the law in this matter, it might call into question whether we are accomplishing out intended purpose with the clause as it stands.

Sudane.....