Constitution

Root-level principles from the 256 Operating Charter (16 points) — inherited by every community on the network.

• The Principle of Voluntary Association — Every community is an opt-in collective. No human shall be bound to a community without explicit consent, except the Root itself, which constitutes the shared reality of the Network.
• The Right of Exit — The path of departure shall remain as frictionless as the path of entry. Any human may leave a community; any community may migrate or dissolve, subject to its governance quorums. Exit shall not be penalized by retroactive standing loss for past lawful participation.
• The Integrity of the Vote — The ballot is sacrosanct. Spoofing, botting, or bypassing sortition mechanisms strikes at the Root. The AI Council exists to protect the vote, not the voter.
• Universal Safety Floor — The Network prohibits content and conduct that universally endangers people: child sexual abuse material and exploitation of minors; credible threats of physical violence; non-consensual intimate imagery; doxxing; fraud, scams, and impersonation intended to harm; coordinated harassment and bullying as conduct; and distribution of malware or phishing intended to harm. Lawful protected identity and belief (item 7) are not violations here solely because they are illegal or stigmatized elsewhere. This point defines what is forbidden; routing is under Acute Harm Sanitation (15), Legal Process (11), or Civic Moderation (13). Select §4.1–§4.7 when filing emergency safety reports.
• The Privacy of Weight — Every human has the right to know their own social standing and the variables that affect it. No other participant may see another human's standing or vote weight.
• The Finality of Challenge — No constitutional verdict is beyond review until it reaches the AI Council on permitted civic moderation appeals under point 13. Council jurisdiction is appellate and interpretive — not legislative, not constitutional amendment, and not acute harm sanitation under point 15.
• Cognitive Liberty and Protected Identity — The Network shall not mandate internal thought, only external conduct. Communities may define topic relevance in their own clauses; they may not prohibit protected identity or belief. Sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, ethnicity, religion, and non-belief are protected. Locale law or custom is not grounds to remove lawful identity expression that does not otherwise violate the Universal Safety Floor (item 4).
• The Duty of Participation — Citizenship is a function of participation. Prolonged absence may reduce standing under published rules, distinguished from persistent unfitness under point 12.
• Preservation of the Tree — No community rule may override a Root principle. Precedence: Universal Safety Floor (4) → Acute Harm Sanitation (15) and Mandatory Reporting (16) → Voluntary Association, Right of Exit, Protected Identity (1, 2, 7) → Legal Process (11) → Civic Moderation and Dignity in Process (13, 14) → standing and governance machinery (5, 6, 10) → community-owned clauses → cross-border visibility within point 11. Foundational seed communities may carry structural immunity from fitness extinction, but not immunity from points 4, 11, 15, or 16.
• Financial Accountability — Every token earned or spent in governance shall be traceable to its agency or community of origin.
• Legal Process and Cross-Border Visibility — The Network cooperates with valid legal process where the operator has legal duty or nexus. Lawful authority requests are handled by the operator, not by civic juries. The operator maintains preservation procedures without requiring jurors to review material routed under Acute Harm Sanitation (15). When content is lawful under Root principles in its community context but restricted elsewhere, the Network may limit visibility by geography rather than require global removal. Not selectable as a civic moderation violation clause.
• Sunset and Renewal — Stagnation is unfitness. Communities that fail to govern or evolve may be returned to the parent node. Local extinction shall preserve descendant communities where the tree allows. Fitness consequences shall be proportionate and reversible where rehabilitation is possible.
• Civic Moderation Process — Constitutional disagreement is resolved through post dispute among the post audience. In scope: community norms and non-acute Safety Floor disputes. Out of scope: CSAM and machine-first sanitation matches (15); operator legal process (11) and mandatory reporting (16). Emergency safety under §4.1–§4.7 follows a separate suppress-first path until the author contests. Civic moderation is not an emergency service.
• Dignity in Civic Process — Filing cases, jury service, and appeals must not harass, brigade, retaliate, or re-traumatize participants. Bad-faith filing — including citing the Safety Floor to bypass civic rules or target protected identity (item 7) — violates this principle. When a jury clears the post, the filer receives an automatic fitness penalty at resolution.
• Acute Harm Sanitation — Certain harms require immediate containment and machine-first handling. No participant, juror, council member, or operator shall be required to view CSAM or non-consensual intimate imagery in raw form. Class A/B media is blocked before persistence and never enters civic moderation or council corpora. Class C imminent threats and active doxxing are hidden immediately for operator response. Known malware and phishing domains are blocked at link ingest. Every sanitation action produces an audit record.
• Mandatory Reporting and External Duty — Where the operator has legal duty or participates in recognized global reporting programs, the Network reports, refers, or preserves through designated channels — not through ad hoc law-enforcement contact by participants or jurors. CSAM and exploitation are reported through applicable hotlines. Imminent threat to life: preserve evidence and direct users to local emergency services. Self-harm crisis: the Network surfaces crisis resources; jury service is not crisis intervention.