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Principles

We follow the seven co-op principles

Co-ops around the world share seven principles, first set down by the Rochdale Pioneers in England in 1844 and kept today by the International Cooperative Alliance. Root Compute follows all seven.

  1. Voluntary and open membership. Anyone who can use the co-op and accept the responsibilities of membership can join, without discrimination.
  2. Democratic member control. Members run the co-op and set its policies. One member, one vote.
  3. Member economic participation. Members contribute fairly to the co-op and democratically control its money. Surplus goes to building the co-op, back to members in proportion to how they use it, and to work the members approve.
  4. Autonomy and independence. The co-op is self-governing. Any deal with outside groups, governments included, or any outside money, has to keep it under members’ control.
  5. Education, training and information. Members, elected representatives, managers and employees get the education and training they need, and the public, especially young people, is told what co-ops are and why they matter.
  6. Cooperation among cooperatives. Co-ops serve their members best, and strengthen the co-op movement, by working together locally, nationally and around the world.
  7. Concern for community. The co-op works for the sustainable development of its communities, through policies its members approve.
Our own seven
  1. Members own it. One member, one vote. No shareholders, and it can never be sold for private gain.
  2. Your machine stays yours. You decide if, when and how much you share, and you can unplug any time.
  3. Privacy without exceptions. No prompts logged, no contents kept. We keep a receipt, never the contents.
  4. Nothing depends on us. All software is open, members keep copies, and no one person, founders included, holds the keys.
  5. Open books. Every dollar and every key change is public.
  6. Fair to everyone. There’s a free base ration for all, and contributors earn more.
  7. Honest about limits. We say what we don’t know yet, and when something has to be trimmed, the reason is shown to everyone.