Constitution of the Geo Web Network
I. Mission
We, the Participants of the Geo Web Network, are united together in the mission to build a shared physical-digital reality that strengthens social cohesion, promotes creative, economic, and scientific endeavors, and supports the pursuit of happiness for all.
II. Principles
The following Principles are established to create shared community values and transparent criteria for decision making in pursuit of the Geo Web’s Mission:
1. Public Good: The physical-digital reality of the Geo Web is only created and sustained through collective agreement and coordination. Therefore, the Network shall always remain a public good—collectively owned and available for use by any individual or group who wishes to be a Participant.
2. Credibly Neutral: Complete neutrality is not possible nor truly desirable if differences in capabilities, needs, and perspectives along with corrections for judged coordination failures are acknowledged. Therefore, the Network shall not discriminate for or against any specific Participant and provide clear, verifiable mechanisms for interaction and decision making that are broadly accepted as unbiased.
3. Democratic: Decentralized information processing (i.e. decision making) is the fairest and most effective tool for optimizing complex systems and weighing diverse needs and desires. Therefore, the Network shall be governed democratically with every Participant eligible, but not required, to participate in the governance of the Network.
4. Egalitarian: Effective networked software creates abundance that can lead to concentrated power and wealth that compounds and undermines the durability of the Network. Therefore, the Network shall optimize for widely distributed opportunities, mutually beneficial outcomes, and cooperative interactions to strengthen social cohesion on the Network.
5. User-Centric: Users have diverse preferences and goals. Their adoption of the Network gives the actions of Creators, Contributors, and Land Licensors meaning on the Network. Therefore, the Network will prioritize informed individual control in the User experience and strengthen their collective voice to support User adoption.
6. Permissionless: Gatekeepers and bottlenecks create inefficiency and stifle competition at scale. Therefore, the Geo Web shall seek to create new, more effective, and more efficient mechanisms for Participants to permissionlessly and directly receive economic benefit based on their contributions to the Network.
The Principles are ranked in order of priority. Meaning that when deciding between alternatives the higher-ranking Principle shall take priority. Decisions that harm lower-ranking Principles must only be enacted after exhausting alternatives that do not cause harm.
The pursuit of these Principles is progressive and continuously aspirational. Once adopted, these Principles may be updated and augmented through democratic processes to better support the Mission.
III. Definitions
Digital Land Registry: Collection of smart contracts that maintain digital land parcel coordinates, licensors IDs, ERC721 licenses, and linked information.
Network: Also referred to as the Geo Web, is an information network created by a set of open Protocols with a system of property for anchoring digital content to physical land.
Participant: Any individual or collective who consumes information from (User), contributes to (Contributor), builds upon (Creator), or licenses land (Land Licensors) on the Network.
Protocols: Software that defines and enables the core functionality of the Network. Includes the Digital Land Registry, partial common ownership administrative contracts, Geo Web Subgraph, Cadastre Interface, and other supporting materials found in [https://github.com/Geo-Web-Project].