About the Accord — who drafts it and who pays for it
About
Who is behind the Accord, who pays for it, and what the drafters stand to gain — set out plainly, because the first question anyone sensible asks about an initiative like this is who is actually involved.
Correspondence · [email protected]
Who is involved
The Accord is at an early stage and the honest answer is that the list is short. Rather than imply breadth that does not yet exist, this page reports the position as it stands and is updated as it changes.
| Category | In conversation | Reviewing the draft | Signed in principle |
|---|---|---|---|
| Publishers | — | — | Signature not yet open |
| Libraries & consortia | — | — | Signature not yet open |
| Learned societies | — | — | Signature not yet open |
| Author groups | — | — | Signature not yet open |
| Standards bodies | — | — | Signature not yet open |
Organisations are listed by name only with their explicit permission. Reviewing the draft is not endorsement and is never reported as such.
The secretariat
Drafting, the comment register and the mechanics of the consultation are currently carried out by a secretariat function provided by Citations LLC, a company building metering and settlement infrastructure for AI-mediated use of published content. This is a commercial company and it has a commercial interest in the Accord's subject matter. Specifically:
- Citations LLC would be a candidate to serve as an infrastructure operator under the Accord, though the Accord neither appoints it nor requires any signatory to use it.
- The costs of drafting, hosting and running this consultation are borne by Citations LLC. No signatory, commenter or prospective member has been asked for money and none will be before the Council exists to decide how the alliance is funded.
- The secretariat holds no vote and, once the Council is constituted, holds no drafting authority either.
If that arrangement is a reason for you not to participate, it is a reasonable position and we would rather you told us than quietly declined. Comments on the governance arrangements are as welcome as comments on the text, and are published the same way.
Comment and attribution policy
Publication
All comments are published in full and unedited, in batches each Friday. Comments are not summarised, paraphrased or selected. Dispositions state whether a comment was accepted, accepted with modification, declined or deferred, with reasoning — reasoning is given most fully for declines.
Attribution
Attribution is opt-in at three levels: name and organisation, organisation only, or category only with attribution withheld. Category is always published so that readers can judge the balance of responses. Attribution may be changed or withdrawn at any time, including after publication, by contacting the secretariat; the register records that a change was made but not what the previous attribution was.
What is not published
Email addresses are never published. Material that is defamatory, discloses a third party's confidential information, or is unlawful will not be published; where that occurs the register records that a comment was withheld, the category of commenter, and the reason.
Endorsement
Commenting implies no endorsement. No commenter will be described, listed or cited as a supporter, participant or partner on the basis of having commented. This applies to this site, to any presentation given by the secretariat, and to any material published about the Accord.
Privacy, data and erasure
What we hold. Your name, email address, organisation and commenter category; the text of your comment; and a one-way hash of the IP address you submitted from, kept for abuse detection. We do not use analytics or advertising trackers, and we set no cookies except a session cookie for secretariat staff.
Why. Your email is processed on the basis of your consent, given by confirming the address. Comment text is processed on the basis of legitimate interest in maintaining an accurate public record of a consultation.
How long. Published comments and their dispositions are retained indefinitely, as the public record of the consultation. Email addresses are deleted twelve months after the Council is constituted, or on request. Unconfirmed submissions are deleted after 30 days.
Your rights. You may request a copy of what we hold, correct it, withdraw your attribution from a published comment, or ask for erasure. Attribution is always removed on request. The text of a published comment may be retained in anonymised form where doing so is necessary to keep the public record coherent; if you object to that, tell us and we will discuss it rather than refuse by policy.
Contact
Secretariat · [email protected]
Press and speaking requests · [email protected]
Machine-readable register · /register.json