Every day, you generate value. When you search on Google, post on social media, or even walk down the street with your phone in your pocket, you are creating data.
For the last twenty years, Big Tech companies have mined this resource for free. They have taken your behavior, your creativity, and your personal information, and used it to train Artificial Intelligence models worth trillions of dollars.
They call it “innovation.” We call it Digital Feudalism. You do the work; they keep the wealth.
Article 13 of the COMMONS manifesto is our Digital Bill of Rights. It establishes a simple legal principle: Your data is your property.
The “Data Dividend”
In the COMMONS economy, we do not allow assets to be extracted for free.
Under Article 13, we are introducing the National Data License.
- The Principle: If a corporation wants to train an AI model using the collective data of UK citizens (our language, our images, our health data), they must pay for a license.
- The Payment: This isn’t a tax; it’s a royalty. The fees paid by Big Tech go directly into the Citizens’ Wealth Trust (alongside the Sovereign Share from Article 2).
This turns the “AI threat” into an “AI Dividend.” As Artificial Intelligence gets smarter and more profitable, your National Dividend goes up. We are capturing the value of automation for the people who powered it.
Ownership of Your Digital Self
We are also giving you back control.
Currently, you sign “Terms and Conditions” that act like a blank check. Article 13 introduces Unbundled Consent.
- You will have a legal right to say: “You can use my data to show me ads, but you cannot use it to train your AI.”
- You will have the right to Data Portability. If you leave a social network, you take your “Social Graph” (your friends and connections) with you. This breaks the monopoly power of the tech giants and allows new British startups to compete.
The “Algorithmic Audit”
Algorithms now decide if you get a loan, if you get an interview, or even if you get investigated by the police. But these algorithms are “Black Boxes”—secret and unaccountable.
Article 13 enforces the Right to Explanation.
- Any algorithm that makes a significant decision about a citizen’s life must be open to inspection by a new regulator: The Office of Digital Ethics.
- If the computer says “No,” it must be able to explain why in plain English. If it can’t, the decision is illegal.
Sovereign Cloud
Finally, we are protecting national security. Currently, the NHS and the Government store vast amounts of sensitive British data on servers owned by foreign tech giants.
We are building the Sovereign Cloud.
- Critical national infrastructure data must be hosted on servers physically located in the UK, subject to UK law, and owned by the Commons.
- We will not outsource the memory of the nation.
The Final Frontier
Article 13 completes our vision of the Asset State.
We have moved from owning the land (Article 3) to owning the corporate economy (Article 2), and now to owning the digital future.
We are building a society where technology serves the people, not the other way around. A society where you are not just a “user” to be mined, but a citizen to be rewarded.
This is the COMMONS Manifesto.
13 Articles. One vision. A wealthy, free, and fair Britain.
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