The Okopipi Project

I have been reading about this project since I first saw an article on the attacks and subsequent closure of Blue Frog's software in Linux Journal. I was not a Blue Frog user, and I am not a programmer in the classic sense of the word. I do however have the ability to read and understand code, and make modifications to existing code. I also can learn programming languages quickly. I do however have constraints on my time like many on here. I feel liuke implementing some sort of funding could kickstart this project.

My idea stems from the discussions of people worried about the repercussions of funding such a project. Especially the fallout that could come similar to what happened to Blue Frog. I agree a lot of money could be made by marketing such software to the public. There are some very good ideas regarding the donations of users via paypal, with a commitee to decide fund dispersal. Let me propose the following:

1. A paypal account for donations to be used for the following:
A) Maintenance of the site, CVS, and server
B) Funding for programmers time.
C) Payments to those who are helping to test/build the data portion

2. An anonymous ID method that provides the following:
A) Anyone who wants to contribute/test is issued a unique ID number.
B) No data for that ID number is collected or saved in a database that can be compromized.
C) Contributions are submitted using an encrypted form of this ID number.
D) Testers login using an encrypted for of this ID Number

3. The commitee who decides dispersal of funds:
A) Is only identified by the ID system outlined above.
B) Consists of people representing Development, Testing, Marketing, etc.
C) All funds are dispersed on a unanimous voting basis.

In the long run...any money made on this product could continue to be dispersed in this way, with those who contribute the most in its development and growth getting bigger "shares" of the payout. The system would remain anonymous, so that those who would wish to target the development community would have a harder time locating people on an individual basis.

Like I said, its only an idea....