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| solidarity_economy_hosting [2026/05/04 20:50] – jade | solidarity_economy_hosting [2026/05/04 21:41] (current) – [Qualifying Businesses] jade | ||
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| ===== Summary ===== | ===== Summary ===== | ||
| - | Merri-bek Tech will work with select local businesses which run environmentally sustainable FOSS web hosting. We will ensure users experience a seamless local experience while providing a pathway for users payments to go to the hosting providers they use most. | + | Merri-bek Tech will work with select local businesses which run environmentally sustainable FOSS web hosting. We will ensure users experience a seamless local experience while providing a pathway for user payments to go to the hosting providers they use most. |
| Unlike the LoRes approach of running small servers on Raspberry Pis, the businesses we work with may choose to run larger servers for more centralised offerings, however they will still be part of the LoRes Mesh, will be running on renewables, and will be largely within the local region. | Unlike the LoRes approach of running small servers on Raspberry Pis, the businesses we work with may choose to run larger servers for more centralised offerings, however they will still be part of the LoRes Mesh, will be running on renewables, and will be largely within the local region. | ||
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| - The business must not provide returns to investors. It may service loans for equipment and related setup costs. | - The business must not provide returns to investors. It may service loans for equipment and related setup costs. | ||
| - The business must enshrine it's Solidarity Economy alignment in it's structure. The simplest way to do this is for it to be a registered Co-operative. Other legal structures are possible though, and unincorporated collectives will be considered if they clarify their structure in other ways. | - The business must enshrine it's Solidarity Economy alignment in it's structure. The simplest way to do this is for it to be a registered Co-operative. Other legal structures are possible though, and unincorporated collectives will be considered if they clarify their structure in other ways. | ||
| - | - The business must meaningfully participate in labour solidarity, eg: by having full union membership | + | - The business must meaningfully participate in labour solidarity, eg: by having full union membership |
| - **Enshrining commons stewardship** (risks 1, 5) | - **Enshrining commons stewardship** (risks 1, 5) | ||
| - The business must have a method for addressing the rights of it's current users, and those in the region who's needs are similar to it's offering but may be excluded for some reason. Elements of [[https:// | - The business must have a method for addressing the rights of it's current users, and those in the region who's needs are similar to it's offering but may be excluded for some reason. Elements of [[https:// | ||
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| - This should include a plan to avoid inequality within the business, which could include a cap in the ratio of highest to lowest earner, policy around the gender pay gap, or other approaches. | - This should include a plan to avoid inequality within the business, which could include a cap in the ratio of highest to lowest earner, policy around the gender pay gap, or other approaches. | ||
| - Total labour payments for the business must not pass a threshold per-person which is agreed between MBT and all partner businesses. This is initially set at the australian [[https:// | - Total labour payments for the business must not pass a threshold per-person which is agreed between MBT and all partner businesses. This is initially set at the australian [[https:// | ||
| + | - **Sustainable and FOSS** (goal 1) | ||
| + | - While the business can also engage in other operations, all it's services withing a MBT regional context should be Qualifying Services on Qualifying Servers. | ||
| + | - The business must contribute back financially to the FOSS projects that it hosts, to an amount that is at least 10% of it's gross revenue. | ||
| + | - **Participate in Land Back** (goal 4) | ||
| + | - If the business is run by settlers, it must contribute a percentage of it's gross revenue to land-back financial programs such as "pay the rent". That percentages is set by MBT in consultation with all partner businesses, and is initially 10%. | ||
| + | ===== Qualifying Services ===== | ||
| + | |||
| + | The services that the business runs that are advertised through the MBT region or run on servers that are part of that must meet the following criteria: | ||
| + | |||
| + | - **FOSS** (goal 1) | ||
| + | - All hosted software services must be Free and Open Source Software, with the note that: | ||
| + | - Software licenses that restrict harms or restrict the software to liberatory uses, such as the [[https:// | ||
| + | - **LoRes Compatible** | ||
| + | - If a software service is something that is covered by **LoRes**, and it is being delivered to the general public, then the LoRes approach must be available and recommended. Other approaches are also able to be delivered alongside, and recommended for specific customer segments and use-cases. | ||
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| + | ===== Qualifying Servers ===== | ||
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| + | The servers that the business operates to run it's hosting services as part of this arrangement must meet the following criteria: | ||
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| + | - **Local:** All servers must be in the designated region (ideally) or within 1km of the region boundary, with the exception of: | ||
| + | - Cloud/ | ||
| + | - **Powered by Renewables: | ||
| + | - Renewable power generation must be on-site (ideally), or arranged through a local grass-roots run community installation within the region. | ||
| + | - **Resilient fallback:** Within one year of operation, all server locations must remain online for a three-day power outage, providing at least the level of functionality currently supported by LoRes. That does not mean all computers must be powered for three days, it's fine for large servers to turn off and leave lower powered servers to provide this functionality | ||