I pledge to wear a body camera that live streams or video records all my public and private work-related activities. If for any reason I fail to video record a work-related interaction, by the end of the current day I will provide a detailed summary of it, either publicly or to the designated constituents regulatory body.
I pledge to properly maintain and not alter the functionality of the devices used to video stream/record or to store the recordings.
I pledge to not restrict access or classify any of the video footage that does not have the potential to cause injury to the interest of the constituents upon whom I create laws for.
I pledge to attend as many work-related activities that are related to the law-making and law-imposing processes as I can.
I pledge to advocate for laws that remove confidentiality clauses and impose this pledge on all the other legislators.
I pledge to not claim confidentiality clauses or privileges related to my work unless my video footage should be classified as required under the existing laws.
I pledge to advocate for the immediate dismissal of the legislators who adhered to this pledge and were demonstrated to have avoided video recording of their work-related activities.
I pledge to store and make publicly available the video footage of my work for at least one year after it was first made available.
I pledge to cease my lawmaking position as soon as I no longer comply with this pledge.
I pledge to inquire with the local lawmaking candidates or the existing legislators if they are willing to adhere to the Self Transparency Pledge (e.g. "Will you wear a body camera to live stream or record all your work-related interactions, to get my support?").
I pledge to video record the lawmaking-related interactions I have with my existing legislators or the legislator candidates and make the video footage public if I think its content is helpful for my community's knowledge.
I pledge to do all that's legally possible to obtain proof of my voting preferences, if my voting helps decide what the laws are or who the legislators should be, and make publicly available said voting preferences if I so choose.
I pledge to do all that's legally possible to help identify and report the legislators who adhered the transparency pledge but avoid video recording of their work-related activities.
I pledge to support candidates and legislators who adhere to the Self Transparency Pledge and withdraw my support if the candidates are proven to have broken the pledge.
1. How much should a legislator live stream or record their own work-related activities to fully achieve the self-transparency standard?
To meet the Self Transparency standard, a legislator should live stream or video record every second the legislator performs work-related duties, from at least one angle, and all that footage should eventually be made publicly available for at least one year. In the rare cases when the recording doesn't take place because of equipment malfunctioning or other reasons, by the end of the current day a detailed summary of the missed recording should be provided.
2. What devices should be used as body cameras and what type of capabilities should they have?
A phone or any video camera with live streaming and recording capabilities is enough to comply with this pledge. However, an ideal body camera would have some advanced functionalities (as described in FAQ #13).
3. Does it matter which online platform I live stream on?
No, as long as anyone can access it without having to authenticate. Legislative bodies can create their own streaming platforms as they see fit.
4. What about recording the activity of electronic devices, such as computers, laptops, tablets, or phones?
Legislators should have such devices controlled by the constituents' regulatory bodies, secured and monitored by such bodies. Legislators are to perform work-related activities only on such devices under the monitored accounts. Legislators can have their own personal accounts on those devices or other personal electronic devices, which are not secured or monitored, but they are not to perform work-related activities on them unless they record those activities and provide them to the regulatory bodies.
5. What should the footage backup, classification, retention, or security policies be?
These are to be discussed and decided by each jurisdiction, many of them already have such guidelines in place. Some guidelines are:
- at least one year of unrestricted and unmonitored public access to each footage recording should be provided;
- a backup should exist in a different physical location;
- the software controlling the device should be fully open source, from authentication, video capturing, recording stamper, encryption, storage transfer, retention policy, etc. This is important so one cannot alter the original video footage or generate fake footage.
6. What exactly is a legislator?
A person who makes laws. Depending on the country, those could include: the politicians, appointed technocrats, monarchs, etc. Generally countries have multiple levels of governance: federal (country wide), state/provincial and municipal (city). These levels can be divided in multiple branches, generally legislative, executive and judicial. All those people in all those positions who are responsible for making the laws, from presidents, to ministers, senators, representatives, mayors, city councilors, etc.
7. What are the work/lawmaking related activities that need to be recorded?
Any public or private discussions or events that are even remotely related to the duties of a legislator's employment, the laws that are to be amended, created or imposed.
8. What about bathroom breaks?
The legislators should turn off their body-cameras or dismount them from their bodies during their bathroom breaks, lunch breaks and any other personal time, as long as no lawmaking-related activities or discussions are taking place during such times. If such activities or discussions take place, they should be documented.
9. Isn't this level of transparency too radical?
This pledge doesn't advocate for one to be transparent in regards to one's personal life or weaknesses, as long as they are not intertwined with work responsibilities. As of now the legislator positions are fully voluntary, so live streaming or recording the work-related activities, for public to review and understand how the laws come to be, is not radical.
The secrets on how the laws are created belong to the public, not to the legislators who create and impose them. Recording a legislator's actions would also protect the legislator from future false accusations.
10. How can I help promote the Self Transparency Pledge?
Inquire with your local legislators or candidates if they are willing to wear body cameras and publicize their answers within your community.
Make up your own hashtags on social media, or use hashtags such as #selftransparency #selftransparencypledge #bodycamsforpoliticians #bodycamsforlegislators #bodycamsfortheelected.
11. How do I know if the text of the pledge or FAQs was edited?
The text on this page is not to be edited without publicly storing the previous versions, the date when the text was edited, and the changes that were made from the previous version. Current version: 'v1 - July 1 2023'. Previous versions: 'N/A'.
For a complete list of the Frequently Asked Questions, please see: selftransparency.org/faq.html