网上签名倡议书：可能性、问题与前景
Signing Initiative Petitions Online: Possibilities, Problems and Prospects
摘要：
许多人预计互联网将改变美国政治，最有可能的方向是增加公民的直接参与，并迫使政府官员更快地回应选民的关切。最近加利福尼亚州提出的一项具有这些目标的倡议将授权在互联网上使用加密的数字签名来确定候选人、倡议和其他投票措施的资格。互联网签名收集的支持者说，这将大大降低资格倡议的成本，从而减少有组织的，资金充足的利益集团的影响力。他们还认为，这将增加公众对政治进程的参与，并增加公众对具体措施的了解。然而，反对者质疑互联网安全是否足以防止广泛的滥用，并认为这项措施将对那些无法访问互联网的人造成不利影响。除了安全、成本和访问问题之外，还有更大的问题，即互联网签名收集对直接民主的影响。这是否会鼓励更多和更知情的公众参与政治进程？或者，它会用投票措施淹没选民，并普遍恶化倡议进程本身目前的问题？因为我们缺乏关于这些问题的可靠数据，所以今天对它们的回答在很大程度上是理论性的。然而，我们可以相当肯定的是，互联网请愿书签名，就像互联网投票一样，将产生意想不到的后果。
英文摘要：
Many people expect the Internet to change American politics, most likely in the direction of increasing direct citizen participation and forcing government officials to respond more quickly to voter concerns. A recent California initiative with these objectives would authorize use of encrypted digital signatures over the Internet to qualify candidates, initiatives, and other ballot measures. Proponents of Internet signature gathering say it will significantly lower the cost of qualifying initiatives and thereby reduce the influence of organized, well-financed interest groups. They also believe it will increase both public participation in the political process and public understanding about specific measures. However, opponents question whether Internet security is adequate to prevent widespread abuse and argue that the measure would create disadvantages for those who lack access to the Internet. Beyond issues of security, cost, and access lie larger questions about the effects of Internet signature gathering on direct democracy. Would it encourage greater and more informed public participation in the political process? Or would it flood voters with ballot measures and generally worsen current problems with the initiative process itself? Because we lack good data on these questions, answers to them today are largely conjectural. We can be fairly sure, however, that Internet petition signing, like Internet voting, will have unintended consequences.
机构、总结、中文摘要均由AI分析而来，可能存在错误，请以论文正文为准。
