Citizen
An on-chain "proof of humanity" peer-based public identity/voter registry. Using HD Marscoin wallets and decentralized IPFS nodes to store and attest Martian citizenship.
Martian Citizen Registry: an on-chain "proof of humanity" registry using decentralized and cryptographically secured file storage to create a private/public identity attestation system.
Joining the General Public
Identity verification systems are key to civic interactions. Because of their central importance to all human interactions, they frequently become targets of "attacks." Legacy systems in most nation states consist of massive data silos in national, federal, and private institutions and often retain an overabundance of data on individuals, violating the basic human right to privacy. On the other hand, fully decentralized systems that allow member participation without relying on any real-world evidence are vulnerable to Sybil attacks, voter fraud, and manipulation by third parties.
We propose a community-driven identity attestation system in which an initial community clearly outlines the terms of on-boarding new members. Using clear programmatic guidelines utilizing a minimum of personal identifiable information, this system establishes a Public Voter Registry.
This public registry allows members of the community to identify themselves and others cryptographically and securely without giving away any private data they do not intend to share beyond the Axioms of the Voter Registry itself.
The three Axioms upon which this public registry is built consist of:
A full name and Nickname
A live picture
A liveness video with evidence of the citizen's civic wallet address (public address)
The Martian Republic thus provides basic user ID including a liveness test, which could be further improved with kiosk-style self-service terminals (for instance upon arrival on Mars).
Safeguarding the Republic
After an initial registration, the new "member of the general public" is vetted by the community of existing citizens. Unlike systems in which votes and power are tied to money (one vote per unit of monetary account) which favor the wealthy and influential, or systems in which opaque and unclear "hidden" legacy databases requiring trust in a central authority pretend to "manage" the legitimacy of individuals participating in society (state database for driver's licenses or voter registrations maintained by unelected officials behind closed doors) the Martian Republic Public Registry crowd-sources the security of its own base of Republican participation.
One of the most basic civic duties of each citizen thus becomes simply checking new and old entries in the public registry for fraudulent or attempted duplicate entries. Citizens will decide as a group how many endorsements or delisting votes a record needs before it becomes either a valid citizen or is allowed to be delisted, minimizing abuse in both directions and transparently defining and streamlining immigration policies as basic rules written into the code of the Martian Republic itself.
From Public to Citizen
Once a new registrant's identity has been established and his profile added to the "proof of humanity" database (our Public Registry), existing citizens can then vouch for him. The data for each user (a basic JSON entry) lives decentralized in IPFS storage where a cloud of file servers is constantly replicating and caching information without human supervision. During registration the identity JSON package is hashed into the blockchain and thus becomes clearly and permanently linked to a Marscoin address, the registrant's public/civic address. (Users can maintain any number of wallets for all kinds of different purposes, but will be required to use one public address, tied to their Public Registry, for all their civic interactions requiring identity verification.)
Endorsements
Once an applicant's data has been successfully notarized, meaning the small transaction created by the submission form containing the hash of identifying data has been confirmed on the Marscoin blockchain, the Martian Republic server lists the applicant as a member of the General Public.
Becoming a Citizen
In order to become a citizen, a member of the General Public has to receive 1 endorsement per 10 total citizens, rounded up. Currently we cap the necessary endorsements at 5 past 50 citizens. Rules like these make up the basic constitutional configuration - Constitution - of the Republic and should be voted upon for updates, requiring the highest level of participation and thresholds to pass.
Once a member of the General Public passes the threshold of endorsements, his/her status is automatically upgraded to citizen and he/she will be able to participate in the next proposal vote.
How does the Martian Republic know about status changes?
As all notarizations occur publicly on the blockchain, any participant of the Martian Republic can verify that a particular member has received the number of endorsements required for citizenship.
Locally Caching Publicly Visible Civic Activities
In the course of a Marscoin user participating in the Martian Republic, an open-source background script analyzes all incoming transactions for civic transactions (Marscoin transactions with certain kinds of embedded data) and caches their results locally - but as the data is transparently available and public, anyone can easily verify that the agreed-upon rules are being followed.
Election results, for instance, will not count votes cast by public addresses lacking full citizenship endorsement.
Civic Duties
At the moment, what distinguishes citizens from the general public is the ability to submit proposals and participate in the voting on such proposals. Additionally citizens can endorse new members of the general public and thus help them get closer to citizenship. This list of civic duties is certain to grow over time.
Furthermore citizens are encouraged to help applicants in their signup process (perhaps donating some Marscoin to fund their wallets).
Within the Martian Republic, it is the responsibility of all citizens to examine the Public Registry in order to ensure newcomers are real human beings and deserve to be endorsed. Similarly citizens will examine the Voter Registry, which comprises the subset of citizens within the Public Registry.
Summary of Access Levels
Wallet User
Send and receive Marscoin to/from any Marscoin address
Member of the General Public
Send and receive Marscoin to/from any Marscoin address
Sign public messages
Participate in forum discussions
Martian Republic Citizen
Send and receive Marscoin to/from any Marscoin address
Sign public messages
Participate in forum discussions
Create proposals
Vote on proposals
Vouch for new registrants to help them attain citizenship
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