Five principles opening Veronocracy’s proposal to discussion. Each asks how power should be constrained as well as how it should be exercised.
The force of a claim should not depend solely on the position of its author. The grounds for decisions should be open to independent examination.
Being able to examine a decision’s reasons, the information used and where that information came from.
Verification must not dismiss human experience simply because it cannot be measured.
Freedom also requires a meaningful say in the information collected about us and how it is used.
Being able to see how a profile about you is used and to challenge that use.
Agency cannot be reduced to a checkbox beneath a long consent form.
Equality is incomplete without safe and fair access to the networks that shape opportunity and public participation. Here, networks include digital infrastructure, platforms and the human connections formed through them.
Leaving a platform should not mean losing all your relationships and accumulated digital work.
Having a connection does not by itself mean being able to participate equally.
Systems that affect people should be auditable, explainable and open to challenge. How an error can be corrected matters as much as the reasons for a decision.
Learning which information influenced an automated assessment and being able to request a meaningful review.
Providing an explanation does not automatically make a decision fair.
The authority to certify what is real should not belong to a single state, company or model. Those who verify must themselves remain open to challenge.
Being able to test the same claim through independent sources and different methods.
Plurality does not mean treating every claim as equally true.