About Open Digital Policies

A community-maintained library of model policy language for the digital age.

The problem

Digital technology shapes our energy systems, our privacy, our access to public services, and our relationship with government. Policy decisions made right now — about AI, data centers, algorithmic accountability, digital accessibility, and the right to repair — will determine who benefits from digital technology and who bears its costs for decades to come.

Most digital policy is written behind closed doors, in language inaccessible to the communities most affected. When communities want to advocate for better policy, they often have to start from scratch — drafting language, researching precedents, and reinventing what others have already figured out.

What ODP does

Open Digital Policies makes good policy language a public good.

Every policy model in this repository is:

  • Grounded in enacted law — built from real-world legislation and policy, not invented from scratch
  • Structured for use — the four-pillar structure (Principles → Standards → Implementation → Governance) makes it navigable for advocates, lawyers, and elected officials alike
  • Honest about trade-offs — every domain names the core tension explicitly rather than pretending the policy is simple
  • Open for improvement — published under CC BY 4.0, maintained on GitHub, open to pull requests and issues
  • Not legal advice — model language requires adaptation by qualified legal practitioners before formal adoption

Guiding values

These values inform every policy model:

  • People before infrastructure — technology serves human needs, not the reverse
  • Planet as a stakeholder — digital infrastructure has a material footprint: energy, water, e-waste
  • Sovereignty by default — communities should be able to understand, audit, and exit the digital systems they depend on
  • Openness as a public good — open standards, open source software, and open data enable democratic accountability
  • Access is a right — digital public services must work for everyone, including people with disabilities
  • Safety and innovation together — the false choice between them is a lobbying strategy, not a technical reality

Who is this for?

  • Community advocates — use the Principles and Standards sections to make the case to elected officials and institutions
  • Government staff — use the Standards and Implementation sections to find tested language for procurement and policy
  • Lawyers and policy practitioners — use the real-world examples and model language as starting points for local adaptation
  • Researchers — use the cross-domain dependency maps, adoption tracker, and gap sections to identify where evidence and analysis are needed
  • Journalists — use the model language to benchmark what your jurisdiction is or isn't doing

How to contribute

The most valuable contributions are real-world examples of enacted legislation — especially from jurisdictions outside Europe and North America, which are currently underrepresented.

See CONTRIBUTING.md for full guidance on how to add examples, improve model language, translate, or flag gaps.

You don't need to be a lawyer or a developer to contribute. The most common contributions are: spotting a gap, finding an example, or improving plain language.

License

All policy models and documentation are published under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0). You are free to share and adapt this material for any purpose, including commercial use, provided you give appropriate credit.

Open Digital Policies is maintained at github.com/mgifford/DigitalPolicies. Issues, pull requests, and forks are welcome.