ABOUT THE FOUNDATION
THE HAT COMMUNITY FOUNDATION (HCF) IS A NON-STOCK ORGANISATION REGULATING THE DEPLOYMENT AND USE OF HAT MICROSERVERS.
CHAMPIONING THE DEMOCRATIZATION OF DATA WITH HAT MICROSERVERS
Built on the trust principles and standards of the Hub of All Thing Research Projects, the HAT Microservers provided by Dataswyft is unique in enabling each individual Microserver owner to (effectively) own, control and process their own data, and allowing for decentralised AI. This benefits the businesses with whom server owners can choose to reveal information or share data and insights for benefits. All parties gain from increased opportunity whilst the Foundation-enabled multi-stakeholder governance ensures greater legitimacy, accountability and alignment of interest to deliver long-term success.
The HCF is established as a company limited by guarantee (a for-profit, non-stock enterprise with no beneficial ownership), acting as an impartial and legitimate non-statutory regulator responsible for the “regulation of a digital exchange for the exchange of personal information for the public benefit”. Its role therefore is to ensure that the commercial interest of Dataswyft and ecosystem players are balanced with those of server owners in accordance with the HAT ideals for the democratisation of data and its self-sovereignty.
The HCF owns a guardian share of Dataswyft and sits on its board, to ensure directors perform their fiduciary duty to uphold Dataswyft’s complementary social purpose “to operate for the public benefit a digital exchange for the exchange of personal information including data processing, hosting and related activities”. Dataswyft deploys and operate the HAT Microserver technology under licence from the Foundation.
HCF’s vision is for an independent and accountable network of Data Accounts with trusted usage of self-sovereign data and responsible AI worldwide.
HCF was established following guidance from the RCUK-funded, six-university HAT project to nurture and regulate the the use of HAT Microservers on behalf of Server owners. Specifically, it aims to work with third-party organisations to champion the rights and needs of Server owners to ensure they are not disadvantaged by commercial actors within the ecosystem. Given the ideals of the Hub of All Things, this approach is of benefit to all.
OVERSIGHT & REGULATION
HCF’s principal roles are to lead and oversee multi-stakeholder governance of the use of HAT Microservers and act as its non-statutory regulator.
Governance is about how a community is steered, through the making and implementing of many decisions which may be operational, commercial, technical or regulatory. The HCF is building a multi-stakeholder approach to governance of the HAT Microserver usage based on a balanced membership across stakeholder groups as the ecosystem expands. Whilst remaining primarily accountable to Server owners, this enables all stakeholders to have a voice in how the ecosystem develops without any one faction taking control. In particular this allows stakeholders to contribute to development of the values and technical standards on which the HAT ideals for data privacy, ownership, visibility, value and control are based. This ensures that together, we maintain the legitimacy and accountability of the HAT trust framework.
Much of the governance activity is delegated to Dataswyft to operate the ecosystem within defined boundaries – of value and behaviour, and technical standards – based on the HAT ideals under HCF’s oversight.
Regulation is about boundaries; the setting and application of control mechanisms (policies and rules) designed to ensure that certain behaviours do not occur within the community while others do. Some regulation in the HAT ecosystem is produced by external regulators (typically governments and governmental bodies) while others will be developed within the ecosystem under the regulatory oversight of HCF working on behalf of Server owners.
In its regulatory role, HCF leads on making policy and setting the boundaries or standards, and monitoring and enforcing compliance with these standards. As the network develops, HCF is assisted in this task by standards bodies, independent third-party auditor(s) and an independent Ethics and Governance Board.
ORGANISATION & STEWARDSHIP
To underpin its regulatory role, HCF also has organising and stewardship roles: to represent Server owners and its members who are drawn from all stakeholders, and to hold Dataswyft to account for the public purpose of the ecosystem.
The HCF organises representation from its members, drawn from all stakeholders including Server owners, to collate the collective intelligence towards continuous improvement and development of the ecosystem to the benefit of all. This ensures that all actors have a stakeholding in building the policy and standards that are the basis of the unique HAT trust framework. HCF must do this so that no single group or faction can take control or have a disproportionate say. HCF must organise to remain the conscience of the ecosystem on behalf of PDA owners.
Stewardship is about maintaining the public purpose of the ecosystem, and Dataswyft in particular as the ecosystem operator. HCF does this by holding a guardian share in Dataswyft that acts as a “purpose lock” such that the Dataswift board must recognise the purpose “to operate for the public benefit a digital exchange for the exchange of personal information including data processing, hosting and related activities” alongside the financial interests of shareholders. The guardian share also requires Dataswyft to consult with HCF about certain types of exit that may threaten the public purpose: under these circumstances the HCF is obliged to consider the potential impact on current and future Server owners.
As the ecosystem develops it is anticipated that HCF’s stewardship role will also encompass coordination of open-source development: learning from ongoing research and open-source projects to continuously improve and develop the underlying HAT Microserver standards and technology.