Web Co-operatives

Web Co-operatives are a modern variant on the Co-operative Business approach that utilise the instant voting capabilities of the Internet to enable members to make collective business decisions.

Although by its very nature the definition of a Web Co-operative is an ever changing entity, Liveline.coop the founders of the Web Co-operative Foundation, decreed a constitution, by which all legitimate Web-Coops must abide, to ensure that the spirit of the Foundation is always maintained.

Web Co-operative Constitution

# Every major business decision must be put to vote
# The number of users must never be limited
# Every user must vote to maintain the right
# >25% of profits must always go to charity
# Funding is to be entirely by donations and sponsorship4

The first Web-Co-operative was set up in January 2007. It is called Liveline.TV and is a Digital Media Channel. The Company was set up with a board of 4 founding members; Hugh Carling, Kyle Rollins, Thomas Woodnutt and Patrick Affleck. It is based in The Muse at 269, an art gallery in the Portobello Road, West London.

The birth and growth of the Web Co-operative movement is documented in detail in an online blog at the Liveline.TV website, hosted on Windows Live Spaces.