Ask HN: How to Fight Bribes with Web3?
I was a strong supporter of web3 until today when someone I trust, told me that some official received bribe in bitcoins. How to fight such cases?
Bribery is a problem that's not limited to cryptocurrency (and has almost nothing to do with Web 3). The way to tackle bribery, in a society where it has become endemic, is to have an independent commission tasked with carrying out sting operations and financial investigations against targets they have received anonymous tips about. Volunteers can be given small rewards and temporary immunity for taking part in the sting operations, or whistleblowing undisclosed assets.
To answer the obvious questions:
* What if the commission itself is corrupt? The finances of its members (and their families) should be public documents, and their pay / budget should be modest (to attract only people who care about the problem, perhaps retired school teachers, or people seconded from a foreign government with a good reputation).
* What if the commission is politically biased? It should be given quotas for the party affiliation and level of seniority of the targets. For example, if a senator from one major party is convicted, then a senator from another major party must be convicted before the first party is targeted again. To prove good faith, the party that introduces this commission should set the quota such that their own party is subject to more scrutiny.
* Why would a politician introduce a system that limits their own corruption? Firstly, because it will win them votes, and secondly, they can limit the commission to tackling corruption in local politics (and small businesses) in their first term, then tackle regional politics (and medium businesses) in the second term, then national politics (and big businesses) in a third (possibly their successor's) term, by which time the national politicians should have seen the writing on the wall and retired with their ill-gotten gains.