Status: draft for comment

This is v0.1. It is meant to be argued with. Open an issue or a pull request in the standards repo.

The openness gate

A rail may only enter the Alliance pipeline if it commits to all six:

  1. Open standards — specifications are public, versioned and forkable.
  2. Open access — any qualifying participant can join on equal terms.
  3. No capture — no single actor can gatekeep, meter or privatise the rail.
  4. Data rights — people and providers keep control of their own data.
  5. Exit rights — members can leave and interoperate without penalty.
  6. Public governance — decisions and finances are transparent by default.

Hand-off criteria

A rail graduates out of the Alliance when a durable public steward can operate it, the governance is in place, and at least two independent implementations interoperate against the published standard.