mefenglPolis: Open-source platform for large-scale civic deliberation
What are some strategies a platform like this can take against spam or influence bots? Tying real life identities to users would certainly limit that(though identity theft and account selling could still happen), but that adds friction to joining, poses security risks, and many people might feel less comfortable putting their opinions openly online where backlash could impact real life.
We really need proof of soul systems to exist, extended to also have a proof of citizenship. While the proof of soul systems can plausible be done in a decentralized manner, proof of citizenship is much harder, and in my opinion this is one of (the few) things the government should really do.
What about Zero-Knowledge Identity? Use zero knowledge proofs to prove that I have an eID without actually providing my identity.
EFF has a good write-up about zero-knowledge:
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/07/zero-knowledge-proofs-...
> What ZKPs don’t do is mitigate verifier abuse or limit their requests, such as over-asking for information they don’t need or limiting the number of times they request your age over time. They don’t prevent websites or applications from collecting other kinds of observable personally identifiable information like your IP address or other device information while interacting with them.
Zero Knowledge Proofs Alone Are Not a Digital ID Solution to Protecting User Privacy
In the past few years, governments across the world have rolled out digital identification options, and now there are efforts encouraging online companies to implement identity and age verification requirements with digital ID in mind. This blog is the first in this short series that will explain...
The arguments they make is a good example of "Don't let perfect be the enemy of good".
If we allow incumbents to make photo age verification and upload of ID to third-parties to be the solution, we will have a much worse solution.
Exactly. And I do think that a world where zkp ids are taken for granted is one where the issues they point to will be more surmountable than today.
Interesting. While that is true I don't see how it's an argument against. Over-asking + ZKP certainly seems superior to over-asking + without ZKP. Without ZKP in a world where you constantly need to identify yourself you have absolutely no privacy.
And going forward I think that any communication without establishing some kind of trust boundary will just be noise.