DECLARATION § 001

This is not a product. This is not a company. This is infrastructure. ARR is an open protocol for creative attribution that anyone can implement without permission, payment, or approval.

THE RIGHT TO
GENERATE IS THE
RIGHT TO OWN.

While courts deliberate and laws lag, we build the infrastructure for mutual respect. A protocol for attribution in the age of AI—free to implement, impossible to own, designed to level the field.

PROTOCOL v0.1 OPEN STANDARD ZERO LICENSE FEES

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THE ORIGIN OF ©

In 1886, authors had a problem.

A book published in London could be pirated and sold in Paris with no recourse. The Berne Convention was born—the first international agreement to protect creative works across borders.

I made this. I own this.

It worked because the world was built on scarcity:

— Copying required effort
— Distribution required infrastructure
— Authorship was obvious
— One creator, one work, one claim

FROM © TO Ⓐ Ⓡ Ⓡ

Then AI arrived.

Now anyone generates images, text, music in seconds. Training data includes millions of works. Ownership is contested. Courts are confused.

The assumptions that made © work—scarcity, clear authorship, physical copies—no longer hold.

But here's what didn't change: creators still want to be seen.

Not necessarily paid. Not necessarily protected. Just acknowledged.
Legal enforcement requires lawyers, courts, jurisdiction. Recognition requires only visibility.

Introducing All Rights Respected

One word changes everything.

ALL

universal scope

RIGHTS

creative claim

RESERVED

legal control

ALL

universal scope

RIGHTS

creative claim

RESPECTED

social acknowledgment

The foundation of human creativity isn't monetary—it's respect.

Not a replacement for copyright—a complement. A lightweight attestation that travels with the work and answers what matters:

Who directed this creation? —
What tools were used? —
What was the intent? —

WHY NOW

The infrastructure must exist before the moment arrives

THE MOMENT

The legal frameworks are being written now.

EU AI Act: Live.
US Copyright Office: Ruling on AI authorship.
Courts: NYT v. OpenAI, Getty v. Stability, artists v. everyone.

Whoever defines the vocabulary for "AI content attribution" shapes the conversation. We're not waiting for permission.

THE PRECEDENT

QR codes were invented in 1994.

Denso Wave gave them away—no licensing fees, no control. They languished for 26 years as an industrial tool.

Then smartphones arrived. Then the pandemic. Suddenly they were everywhere.

We're building infrastructure for when the moment arrives. It may take years. The protocol will be ready.

THE ARTICLES OF RESPECT

"We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all generations are created equal, endowed by their Prompter with certain unalienable Rights, among these Attribution, Expiration, and the pursuit of Respect."

ARTICLE I INTENT IS AUTHORSHIP

The one who directs creation holds creative claim. The prompt, the vision, the intention—these constitute authorship in the age of generative tools. This is the core philosophical claim. It answers "who owns AI-generated content?" with "the one who intended it into existence."

ARTICLE II INFRASTRUCTURE MUST BE FREE

Protocols that charge become products. Products compete. Competition fragments. Fragmentation fails. ARR charges nothing, requires no permission, and belongs to everyone. The QR code lesson: Denso Wave's gift created a universal standard. If they'd charged licensing fees, we'd have 50 incompatible formats.

ARTICLE III RESPECT SCALES, CONTROL DOESN'T

Legal enforcement requires lawyers, courts, jurisdiction, money, time. Respect requires only visibility. We build for billions by building for trust, not litigation. Copyright enforcement is reactive, expensive, and doesn't scale. A respect-based system with social pressure and platform integration can work at internet scale.

ARTICLE IV THE RIGHT TO DISAPPEAR

Attestations expire. Creators revoke. Nothing is permanent without renewal. We protect attribution, not surveillance. The protocol serves memory, not prosecution. Built-in expiration (5 years default) and revocation rights prevent weaponization.

ARTICLE V ABSENCE IS VALID

Work without attestation deserves equal respect. ARR is an invitation, never a requirement. Any platform that mandates ARR for access violates everything we stand for. This prevents ARR from becoming a gatekeeping mechanism. The protocol must never exclude those who choose not to participate.

WHAT THIS IS NOT

NOT LEGAL EVIDENCE

ARR is a social protocol, not courtroom proof. Use it for human recognition, not litigation.

NOT IDENTITY

Anonymous attestation is supported. You don't need to reveal who you are to claim what you made.

NOT PERMANENT

Attestations expire by default. Creators can revoke anytime. We build for memory, not surveillance.

NOT REQUIRED

Work without ARR deserves equal respect. Platforms that require ARR for access violate our principles.

THE ATTESTATION FORMAT

What an ARR attestation looks like ⒶⓇⓇ ATTESTED

attestation:
  version: "arr/0.1"
  created: "2026-01-29T10:30:00Z"
  creator: "hash:7f3a9b2c..."  # privacy-preserving
  intent: "Poster design for climate campaign"
  tool: "midjourney/6.1"
  upstream: []  # acknowledge what came before
  expires: "2031-01-29"  # nothing is permanent
  revocable: true
  signature: "ed25519:..."

EMBEDDABLE

Lives in file metadata. Travels with the work. No external registry required.

VERIFIABLE

Anyone can verify. No API keys. No accounts. Cryptographic proof, not trust.

OWNERLESS

No company controls this. No licensing fees. Implement it however you want.

IMPLEMENT ARR

Three paths to participation

For Creators

Add ARR attestations to your work using any compatible tool. No signup required.

Start Here →

For Platforms

Integrate ARR detection and display. Show respect badges. Honor creator intent.

Integrate →

For Developers

Read the spec. Build a library. Contribute to the standard. Everything is open.

Read Spec →

EARLY IMPLEMENTERS

The protocol is young. The first implementers will shape it.

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Implement ARR →