The Things Network Manifesto

Everything that carries power will be connected to Internet eventually.

Controlling the network that makes this possible means controlling the world. We believe that this power should not be restricted to a few people, companies or nations. Instead this should be distributed over as many people as possible without the possibility to be taken away by anyone. We therefore founded "The Things Network".

The Things Network is an open source, free initiative with the following properties:

• It connects sensors and actuators, called "Things", with transceivers called "Things Gateways" to servers called "Things Access".
• The first connection is "Over The Air", the second is "Over The Net". The distributed implementation of these concepts is called "The Things Network".
• Anyone shall be free to set up "Things" and connect to "Things Gateways" that may or may not be their own.
• Anyone shall be free to set up "Things Gateways" and connect to "Things Access" that may or may not be their own. Their "Things Gateways" will give access to all "Things" in a net neutral manner, limited by the maximum available capacity alone.
• Anyone shall be free to set up "Things Access" and allow anonymous connections from the Internet. Their "Things Access" will give access to all "Things Gateways" in a net neutral manner, limited by the maximum available capacity alone. Furthermore their "Things Access" will allow connection of other "Things Access" servers for the distribution of data.
• The "Over The Air" and "Over The Net" networks shall be protocol agnostic, as long as these protocols are not proprietary, open source and free of rights.
• Anyone who perpetrates a "Things Access" or a "Things Gateway" will do so free of charge for all connecting devices and servers.
• Anyone making use of the network is allowed to do so for any reason or cause, possibly limited by local law, fully at own risk and realizing that services are provided "as is" and may be terminated for any reason at any moment. The use may be open for anybody, limited to customers, commercial, not-for-profit, or in any other fashion. "The Things Network" providers will not pose restrictions upon its users.

We invite you to sign this Manifesto, and uphold its principles to the best of your abilities.