The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), which develops the standards behind our internet protocols, uses what it calls “rough consensus” to reconcile the tension between authoritative and democratic governance, given a hard-to-define constituency: “Our credo is that we don’t let a single individual dictate decisions (a king or president), nor should decisions be made by a vote.”132 In a consensus-seeking model, the goal is not to “win” votes or come to a unanimous agreement, but rather to ensure that there’s a forum for people to raise and discuss their concerns, and that nobody feels
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