Species-ID:Ownership and sponsors
THIS IS A DRAFT PROPOSAL!
Species-ID is is community-owned project. This means:
- Any data like text and media files of this project are available for public download, similar to how Wikipedia is downloadable.
- The complete server (a virtual machine, based entirely on Open Source software) as well as all registration data are accessible by a consortium of service sponsors willing to guarantee the service (see below).
In line with the open source and open content spirit, no single organisation can decide to discontinue the service. Even if all service sponsors should decide to terminate the service, a third party could restart the service based on the public backup copies.
The trust model implies one limitation: all activity on this site must be public. The project may enforce a limited number of write-protections to certain content, but cannot read protect "confidential" content. Furthermore, while copyright remains with the creators, all content must be licensed under a Creative Commons license (see Copyrights).
Technical services of this site are maintained by the the service sponsors of the "BiowikiFarm", see there. By sharing the responsibility in the operation, the service sponsors further express their interest in building trust in the community, that a single service sponsor will not exert control over the content authors of projects beyond what is legally required (e. g., removal of illegal content). Details of governance and conflict resolution in the service sponsorship are defined in the Biowikifarm Service Sponsorship Charter.
See also the project Charter.
