Values

These values define us and our alignment with others:

1. You own your own identity. Government-given and permissioned identity credentials are part of that identity.

2. You may have several different identities, called personas.

3. You own your own data.

4. No one else can access your data without your permission. We will never have the keys to your data.

5. You give as much or as little of your data as you want to give to others. If a third party requires a certain amount of your data, you decide whether you want to enter into that deal or not. All data sharing is done by contract.

6. You do not monetize your data by selling it to advertisers.

7. There is only one “authoritative source” of any datum. Everything that uses it or refers to it is a live link back to the source. No copies.

8. You can control your relationships. You can turn them on and off, unless a contract specifies otherwise.

9. There are no apps and no accounts. You can specify your “wants” and data will come to you via offers and services. You can accept any offer you like, which implements a contract between both parties.

10. You can specify your “haves” and create offers that others can respond to.

11. You are responsible for the storage and maintenance of your data, and our services will make that easy.

12. You are responsible for obeying any laws that apply to you, though our tools will help you do that.

13. To the extent that it fulfills our mission, our software and tools will be open-source. There may be times when APIs will be better for our users than open-source.

14. We will remain a nonprofit, though we expect to create services that help bring us income. Anyone will be allowed to compete with us to offer those services - we have no special access to information and resources.

15. We want to share and make use of software by others. If someone offers a better solution, we generally prefer to adopt that solution rather than compete.