Transaction provenance protocol

To manage data on the basis of how it is used, the community must be able to see who is using it for what. Standards around tracking reuse allow a couple of important community-level assets:

• Transparency about where value is being generated, which then allows redistribution back to data contributors of any value the commons has generated.

• That same feature of the commons also enables control and enforcement: it informs decisions about the forming and terminating of relationships, allows misuse to be detected, and supports sanctions.

Technology such as the blockchain and distributed ledger systems in general may be one way to enable this kind of traceability.