website/OPERATIONS.md

IPDB Operation and Rules

Definitions

• ascribe means ascribe GmbH, a corporation registered in Berlin, Germany. BigchainDB means the BigchainDB project operated by ascribe.
• Board means the Board of Directors of the Foundation.
• Caretakers means the member organizations of the Foundation.
• Caretaker Nodes means the instance of BigchainDB operated by a Caretaker.
• Foundation means the IPDB Foundation e.V., registered in Berlin, Germany.
• IPDB means the decentralized database based on BigchainDB and operated by the Foundation and its Caretakers.
• Keys means a public-private key pair generated by a Caretaker and used in IPDB.
• Transaction means a write operation to IPDB.
• User means an individual using IPDB, as defined by a unique Key.

Roadmap

• May 2016 - Announcements of a “public BigchainDB” at various conferences: Re:publica (Berlin, May 2-4, 2016), csv,conf,v2 (Berlin, May 3-4, 2016), OuiShare (Paris), including the announcement of some Caretakers and a private test net.
• June 8, 2016 - Announcement of IPDB at Internet Archive event, including announcement of additional Caretakers and a public test net.
• September 1, 2016 - Launch of public production net, along with billing system.

Structure

Mission Statement

• The Foundation’s mission is:

To support an open and decentralized Internet, resist censorship, and enable new kinds of transactions between individuals by developing and operating a decentralized database that can be used by anyone in the world and is based on BigchainDB.

Overview

• The Foundation is registered in Berlin, Germany, as an Eingetragemer Verein, or e.V., a registered voluntary association.
• The Foundation is governed by its members, the Caretakers, and by its Board.

Rules

• [INFO ON BYLAWS, INTERACTION WITH THESE RULES - NEEDS INPUT FROM LAWYERS]

Member Organizations: Caretakers

General Requirements

• A majority of Caretakers must be charitable organizations, not-for-profit organizations, or organizations with structures that are substantially the same as the ones listed above.
• To vote in favour of a new Caretaker, the existing Caretaker must have a good faith belief that the new Caretaker has a commitment to the values of an open, transparent, and decentralized Internet. This commitment should be stated in the new Caretaker’s mandate or mission statement, or demonstrated by the new Caretaker’s track record and current operations.

Adding Caretakers

• Caretakers can be added by a 2/3 majority vote of existing Caretakers.
• Organizations that wish to become Caretakers can:
  • be nominated by an existing Caretaker or the Board.
  • apply to be considered as a Caretaker.

Removing Caretakers

• Caretakers can be removed by a 2/3 majority vote of existing Caretakers if the subject Caretaker has:
  • Violated the Rules.
  • Manipulated or attempted to manipulate voting or the BigchainDB software to accept or reject a transaction inappropriately.
  • Manipulated or attempted to manipulate a past transaction.
• A Caretaker can be removed for any reason with a 3/4 vote of all Caretakers.

Board of Directors

Number of Directors

• At any given time there will be no more than 5 Directors.
• The Directors will include at least one individual who is employed by ascribe and at least one individual who is not employed by or a director of any of the Caretakers.

Electing Directors

• Directors can be nominated by the Caretakers or by the Board.
• The Directors will be elected by the Caretakers.

Term Limit

• Initial members of the Board will be appointed for a term of not more than three years.
• Directors will be elected for three year terms, staggered so no more than two Directors are replaced at a time.
• Directors are elected for one term with a two year duration.
• Directors are automatically nominated for reelection at the end of their term unless they ask to be excluded.
• Directors can serve a maximum of 3 consecutive terms.

Operations

Keys

Generating Keys

• Caretakers will generate Keys using [PROCESS].

Securing Keys

• Caretakers will provide their public key to the Foundation and will secure their private key.
• Private keys will be secured by [PROCESS]

Invalidating Keys

• Caretakers can vote by a 2/3 majority to invalidate Keys if:
  • They have reason to believe the Key has been compromised.
  • [OTHER]

Caretaker Nodes

Operating a Caretaker Node

• Caretaker Nodes can be operated virtually on a cloud service provider, or in hardware.

Caretaker Node Security

• Caretakers must abide by the following Security requirements in the operation of their Caretaker Node:
  • [DETAILS].

Transactions

Transaction Processing

• New Transactions are processed in accordance with BigchainDB.

User Transactions

• Anyone can send a Transaction to IPDB if that Transaction is signed with their Key.
• Users get [NUMBER] free transactions per month.
• Users who want more than [NUMBER] transactions can buy addional transactions from the Foundation or through a Transaction Agents.

Transaction Agents

• Users can purchase additional Transactions from Transaction Agents at a price negotiated with a Transaction Agent.
• Transaction Agents pay for Transactions at a rate set by the Foundation.
• Transaction Agents make a monthly payment to each of the Caretakers and the Foundation based on how many Transactions they sold during the previous month.
• Transaction Agents compete with one another on price and services.

Legal Requests

• Caretakers may only comply with duly issued legal requests for information, backed with documentation such as a court order or warrant.
• If any Caretaker or the Foundation receives a request invoving its role as a Caretaker, the recipient must notify the other Caretakers and the Foundation immediately.

Transaction Security

• If a Caretaker repeatedly votes against the majority of Caretakers, the Caretaker’s Key will be automatically revoked.
  • [DETAILS]
• If a Caretaker attempts to modify a past Transaction, the Caretaker’s status will be suspended automatically by the other Caretakers. The Caretaker can apply to be reinstated after a complete review of the incident, or 30 days, whichever is longer.

Governance

Board Meetings

• The Board will meet at least every 90 days. Board meetings must be conducted in person or by tele- or videoconference.
• A quorum of 4 Board members is required to call the meeting to order.

Votes by Board

• Votes by the Board must be conducted in person or by video conference.
• Votes by the Board pass with a simple majority.

Votes by Caretakers

• Votes by the Caretakers must be conducted in person, by video conference, or through the IPDB voting system.
• Votes taken by Caretakers will be binding on the Board if the vote passes with a 3/4 majority.

Changes to the Rules

• Changes to the Rules must be approved by a majority of the Board and a majority of the Caretakers.