# Outreach Letter: Mozilla Foundation

**Date:** 22 November 2025
**To:** Mozilla Foundation
**From:** Palimpsest Stewardship Council
**Subject:** Protecting Creator Rights and Cultural Context in the Open Web Era

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Dear Mozilla Foundation,

We write to you with deep admiration for Mozilla's unwavering commitment to an open, accessible, and human-centred internet. For over two decades, Mozilla has championed user agency, privacy, transparency, and the belief that technology should serve people—not the other way round.

## The Palimpsest License: Creator Rights for the Open Web

The **Palimpsest License** extends Mozilla's human-centred principles to creative works in the age of artificial intelligence. Just as Mozilla has defended user privacy against surveillance capitalism and browser monopolies, Palimpsest defends creator autonomy against AI training extraction and cultural decontextualisation.

## Shared Values, Parallel Challenges

Mozilla's mission and Palimpsest's framework share profound alignment:

### 1. Human Agency and Consent
**Mozilla:** Users should control their data and digital experiences.
**Palimpsest:** Creators should control how their works are used in AI training.

Both frameworks insist on **informed consent** rather than assumed extraction rights.

### 2. Transparency and Openness
**Mozilla:** Open source code, open standards, open web.
**Palimpsest:** Transparent AI training data, disclosed synthetic lineage, preserved attribution metadata.

Both reject opacity that enables exploitation.

### 3. Cultural Diversity and Inclusion
**Mozilla:** Supporting global communities, multilingual web, accessible design.
**Palimpsest:** Protecting cultural heritage, diaspora narratives, indigenous knowledge, symbolic meaning.

Both recognise that technology must serve diverse human contexts.

### 4. Privacy and Data Protection
**Mozilla:** Tracking protection, privacy-focused products, anti-surveillance advocacy.
**Palimpsest:** Metadata preservation, attribution control, consent mechanisms for creative data.

Both defend against extractive systems that commodify human expression.

## Why This Matters to Mozilla's Mission

### 1. Open Web Standards
As W3C develops standards for AI-generated content and synthetic media, questions of attribution, consent, and cultural context become critical. Palimpsest provides a framework for:
- Machine-readable attribution metadata (JSON-LD, RDFa)
- Synthetic lineage tags in AI-generated web content
- Cultural context preservation in content transformation

### 2. Firefox and Content Creation
Firefox users include writers, artists, journalists, and cultural workers who deserve tools that respect their creative rights. Palimpsest could inform:
- Browser features for detecting AI training scraping
- Attribution verification for AI-generated content
- Content creator tools for managing AI training consent

### 3. Common Voice and Ethical AI
Mozilla's Common Voice demonstrates ethical AI training: transparent, consent-based, community-governed. Palimpsest extends those principles to:
- Creative works beyond voice data
- Cultural heritage and narrative content
- Symbolic and emotional expression

### 4. Privacy and Creative Work
Just as Mozilla defends user privacy, creative works deserve protection from:
- Unconsented AI training extraction
- Cultural context stripping
- Attribution erasure in synthetic derivatives

## How Palimpsest Works

### Technical Features
1. **Informed Consent for AI Training** – Explicit permission required before works can train non-interpretive AI systems
2. **Synthetic Lineage Tags** – Machine-readable metadata (JSON-LD) that persists through AI transformations
3. **Quantum-Proof Traceability** – Future-resistant attribution mechanisms
4. **Metadata Preservation** – Mandatory cultural context and attribution in all derivatives

### Legal Framework
- **Primary jurisdiction:** Netherlands (Dutch Civil Code)
- **Enforcement:** Scottish courts
- **Bilingual:** Dutch (legally binding) + English (globally accessible)
- **Governance:** Transparent, community-driven Stewardship Council

### Ethical Principles
- **Emotional lineage** – Preserving narrative intent and cultural resonance
- **Symbolic attribution** – Credit that honours cultural context
- **Community sovereignty** – Supporting DAOs, cooperatives, indigenous councils
- **Accessibility-first** – Screen readers, plain language, low-bandwidth formats

## Proposed Collaboration Opportunities

We would welcome Mozilla's perspective and potential partnership in the following areas:

### 1. Web Standards and Metadata
Collaborating on:
- JSON-LD schemas for creative work attribution
- HTML/RDFa metadata for AI training consent
- Browser APIs for creator rights management
- Synthetic content attribution standards

### 2. Browser Features for Creator Protection
Exploring:
- AI scraping detection and notification
- Attribution verification for AI-generated content
- Creator consent management tools
- Cultural context preservation in content transformation

### 3. Ethical AI Principles
Building on Common Voice's model to establish:
- Best practices for AI training consent
- Transparent training data documentation
- Community governance for AI datasets
- Revenue sharing for creative training data

### 4. Privacy and Creative Rights
Extending privacy principles to creative work:
- Content extraction tracking (analogous to tracking protection)
- Creator data portability
- Attribution control (analogous to cookie consent)
- Cultural context as protected metadata

### 5. Educational Resources and Advocacy
Creating materials that help creators:
- Understand AI training and their rights
- Implement appropriate licensing (including Palimpsest)
- Use browser tools for creator protection
- Participate in policy advocacy

## Invitation to Dialogue

We would be honoured to present the Palimpsest framework to Mozilla and explore how our organisations might collaborate to protect creator rights whilst maintaining an open, accessible web.

Would you be available for an initial conversation? We are flexible regarding format—video conference, written exchange, or participation in relevant Mozilla working groups or initiatives.

## Contact Information

**Palimpsest Stewardship Council**
Email: [contact information to be provided]
Repository: https://github.com/[repository-path]
Documentation: [documentation URL]

Thank you for your consideration. Mozilla has demonstrated that principled technology development can serve human flourishing rather than corporate extraction. We aspire to extend those values to ensuring creative works retain their meaning, attribution, and cultural context in the age of artificial intelligence.

With profound respect for Mozilla's mission,

**The Palimpsest Stewardship Council**

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## Appendices Available Upon Request

- Full text of Palimpsest License v0.4 (English and Dutch)
- Technical specifications: JSON-LD metadata and synthetic lineage tags
- Browser integration concepts for creator rights
- Case studies: Ethical AI training and cultural heritage protection
- Comparative frameworks: Privacy protection and attribution control
