* Schematic FIDONET ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION by Tom Jennings, 1:125/111 Yes, in some ways this is "yet anothre policy proposal", but I'm not really pushing to make them official. It is only meant to show what I think is possible, and a far more viable direction than some goddamn piece of legalese boilerplate that would-be bureaucrats want to foist upon us. This thing's main feature is that it is SHORT and UNDERSTANDABLE. It purposely does NOT cover operational details. It covers only things that seemed to me (me, not "Everyone") to be the things of international interest outside of operational details. Think of it as a schematic. I also apologize for it's length. I really tried to make it less than 66 lines, one American A-size page. You will note that it does not even mention ZCs. I can think of no useful function a ZC does, as far as sysops rights and such goes. I've been working on this thing for about a year. There are some notes-to-myself before the actual text begins. ------------------------------------- NOTES: The vote process requiring 2/3rds "yes" kinda forces sysop participation, or if no one cares (low voter turnout), expediency. IMCOMPLETE AREAS: --- Commercialism: how to word. "Prohibited" is too strong and impossible. "Purely commercial"? "Strongly discouraged"? --- I'd really like to define "overthrow". It would mean putting nodelist generation details in here. Yuck. How's this: OVERTHROW: Since a net or region determines who it's /0 is, it gets to say "Joe Schmoe is now our host, signed, sysops" everyone would be required to honor the change. Stability is the norm because of the coordinated effort required to get sysops in a net or region to agree to anything; the more overwhelmingly painful the problem, the more easily concensus will be reached. ---------------------------------------------------------------- FIDONET ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION PURPOSE: The purpose of FidoNet is unimpeded communication between individuals. No person or group has any more or less right to communicate than any other. No one moral or ethical code has precedence over any other. When conflicts arise, weight shall be given to solutions that favor freer, broader or expanded communications. Justice takes precedence over expediency. INFORMAL GUIDELINES: o No person shall impede the flow of traffic. o Reading other peoples' mail is extremely rude. o Tampering with mail for any reason is the most serious breach possible. o Meddling that affects the operation of another members system is only slightly less awful. o Thou shalt not annoy. o Thou shalt not be easily annoyed. DEFINITIONS: FidoNet addressing is logically heirarchical: zone, net, node, and point. (Points are treated as human callers and therefore are not otherwise part of FidoNet.) Zone:net/node.point addressing heirarchy in no way implies a social or organizational heirarchy, beyond net/region host responsibilities, defined below. A NODE is the atomic component of FidoNet. It is capable of receiving FidoNet mail as defined in applicable protocol documents, within the requirements in this document. A NET is an autonomous cluster of nodes within a limited geographical area. Criteria for forming nets include: host-routing of mail for inter-node effeciency and better sysop relations. It is generally desirable for nodes to be part of nets. A REGION is an arbitrary physical area for the sole purpose of providing a logical "net/node" address for nodes not within a net. A region host performs for netless nodes the same function as a net host, except they are not required to forward mail to nodes within their region. Region hosts have traditionally taken on other FidoNet responsibilities, such as compiling the nodelist, though this is not part of the definition of Region Host. REGION and NET hosts are otherwise equivelant, and are called HOSTS in this document. A ZONE is a generally-large physical area designed to handle the realities of global, inter-national FidoNet networking, including: alien telcos and protocols, disparate time schedules; and to increase network autonomy. Zone, net, region and node numbers are positive integers, starting with 1. 0 is a "magic value", and designates the "host" for that level; net/0 is NET HOST (aka Net Coordinator, NC), region/0 is REGION HOST (aka Region Coordinator, RC), and zone/0 (zone/0:0) is ZONE HOST (aka Zone Coordinator, ZC). Each zone shall designate one hour per day as "Zone Mail Hour", or ZMH, during which all members' systems shall be technically able to receive incoming FidoNet mail and files. Though it is not required to be "FidoNet only" during ZMH, the intent is to allow the receipt of otherwise-unscheduled mail from any other FidoNet node. Please refer to SYSOP RESPONSIBILITIES. SYSOPS RIGHTS Sysops have the right to choose their host via popular vote. A candidate is considered "elected" when s/he receives 2/3rds of the votes counted. If no candidate receives 2/3rds of the votes, elections must be repeated until a candidate receives 2/3rds of the counted votes. This explicitly allows for "none of the above", forcing new candidates to be found, as opposed to merely choosing "the lesser of N evils". Fairness and justice should prevail over efficiency or convenience; lives will not be lost in the meantime. Each net/region shall determine the length of an elected persons term. Under no circumstances shall it be more than one year. The voting method chosen must be auditable and verifyable, such that each net member can verify that their vote was recorded as intended. Voting parameters (term duration, voting method, etc) shall not be changed by an elected person. Net "membership" shall be determined by an having an entry in the nodelist for at two least previous and sequential revisions of the list. Each individual human sysop, one per physical node maximum, is granted one vote each. A vote can be called at any time 1/2 of the members declare it. This enumeration of rights in no way denies or limits any other rights sysops have. RESPONSIBILITIES AND LIMITATIONS Each net/region has three main tasks: 1. Maintain their nodelist fragment. 2. For nets only, route incoming mail for nodes within the net. 3. Help new sysops get "online". Each net/region has a 0th node, the "host". By definition, net hosts are required to accept mail for all nodes within that net, and arrange for that mail to be received by the addressed node, with emphasis put upon lowest cost. Net and region hosts act as an informal "clearing house" for information regarding that net or region. It is up to the net or region how it handles all other tasks. No node shall interfere with the flow of mail traffic in their net, regardless of content. (Carrier status.) Illegalities are to be handled by the legal system(s) applicable in your area. Morality and ethics are exclusively the realm of the communicating part(y)(ies). Each member is responsible for paying any expenses involved in their own mail delivery. If a net host would incur expense in delivering mail to other members of their net, then arrangement may be made for member(s) to receive their mail at their own expense (note that expense-incurring distribution of mail within a net is sometimes at odds with the intended definition of a "net", though sysops may in general organize in any fashion that pleases them but meets the other mimimum requirements.) Each member is responsible for maintaining an "operable" system, the parameters of which are to be determined by each net, with the exception of TECHNICAL ISSUES mentioned earlier. If a member cannot be contacted via FidoNet for an extended period of time, s/he may be dropped from the net. "Bombing runs" are highly discouraged -- generating large number of messages that clog the net. If you must "bomb" all nodes within a net, you are required to deliver each message individually, and not use host routing. (And take responsibility for the result.) EXCOMMUNICATION (ie. the Death Penalty) A member shall be removed from the net/region without that member sysops' consent only by the following process, which emphasizes fairness, process and justice over expediency: Three attempts are made to reach consensus within the group. Consensus means: no member (except the person in question) of the net/region blocks (objects) to the removal of the person. Any single member objecting prevents the removal. It is acceptable to stand aside (ie. no opinion). If consensus fails three times, at least 48 hours apart, a popular vote may taken. If 7/8ths of the voting members agree, the member may be removed from the net. Excommunication shall be for no longer than one month the first time; three months the second time; six months for each additional excommunication. The member in question is to be informed that an excommunication is under way. Once the member in question is informed, all excommunication processes and communications are to be made public. --- END