itif.org

# llms.txt — Guidance for Large Language Models and AI Agents
# Site: https://itif.org/
# Owner: Information Technology & Innovation Foundation (ITIF)
# Last-Updated: 2025-09-28
# Spec-Note: There is no universal standard for llms.txt yet. This file is an explicit policy
# manifest for AI crawlers, AI search engines, and LLM providers. It complements robots.txt.

###############################################################################
# 0) CONTACT & OWNERSHIP
###############################################################################
Organization: Information Technology & Innovation Foundation (ITIF)
Address: 700 K Street NW, Suite 600, Washington, DC 20001, USA
Contact-Email: mail@itif.org
Contact-Form: https://itif.org/media-contacts/   # General/media inquiries
Policy-Contact: mail@itif.org
Copyright: © ITIF. All rights reserved unless otherwise noted.

###############################################################################
# 1) SCOPE (WHAT THIS FILE APPLIES TO)
###############################################################################
Scope: public web pages, articles, reports, blogs, podcasts, event pages, and metadata
Scope-Exclusions:
  - Paywalled, members-only, or embargoed content (if any)
  - Third-party embeds (e.g., externally hosted media) subject to their own licenses
Hierarchy:
  - robots.txt directives MUST be respected first for crawling/fetching access.
  - This llms.txt governs USE of fetched content by AI systems (training, indexing, summarizing, etc.).
Robots-Txt: https://itif.org/robots.txt
Sitemap: https://itif.org/sitemap/   # Human-readable sitemap page

###############################################################################
# 2) ALLOWED USES (WITH CONDITIONS)
###############################################################################
# AI systems MAY:
Allow:
  - Non-persistent retrieval for on-demand question answering and summarization
  - Snippet generation (<= 240 characters) for search/preview
  - Indexing for retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) with the constraints below
Conditions:
  - Clear Attribution required (see Section 5)
  - Source Linking required (canonical URL)
  - No storage beyond Cache-Policy without separate written permission
  - No transformation that implies ITIF endorsement of generated outputs

###############################################################################
# 3) PROHIBITED USES (WITHOUT EXPLICIT LICENSE)
###############################################################################
Disallow:
  - Model-Training: using content to train, fine-tune, distill, or evaluate ML/LLM models
  - Dataset-Creation: inclusion in datasets or embeddings distributed to third parties
  - Persistent Archiving: storage beyond Cache-Policy without written consent
  - Commercial-Redistribution: republishing substantial portions of content
  - Derivative-Works that could substitute for ITIF publications
If-You-Need-These-Rights: Contact Policy-Contact for licensing.

###############################################################################
# 4) CRAWLER / PRODUCT DECLARATIONS
###############################################################################
# If your AI bot/product is not listed, you still MUST honor this policy.
# The User-Agent names below are examples in common use as of 2025.

[Agents]
# Training-oriented/extended agents MUST treat “Disallow: Model-Training” as binding.
User-Agent: GPTBot
User-Agent: ChatGPT-User
User-Agent: Google-Extended
User-Agent: Applebot-Extended
User-Agent: CCBot
User-Agent: ClaudeBot
User-Agent: anthropic-ai
User-Agent: PerplexityBot
User-Agent: Amazonbot
User-Agent: FacebookBot
User-Agent: Bytespider
User-Agent: YouBot
Compliance: required

###############################################################################
# 5) ATTRIBUTION & LINKING
###############################################################################
Attribution-Required: yes
Attribution-Format:
  - “Source: Information Technology & Innovation Foundation (ITIF), ‘<Page/Report Title>’”
  - Include the canonical URL
Brand-Use: Do not imply endorsement or partnership. Use ITIF name only for factual credit.

###############################################################################
# 6) RATE LIMITS & FETCH RULES
###############################################################################
# These apply to AI crawlers and AI search engines (distinct from normal web browsers).
Max-Requests: 1 request per second (site-wide, burst up to 5 rps for 10 seconds)
Respect-Crawl-Delay: yes
Honor-If-Modified-Since: yes
Do-Not-Bypass: CDN, bot detection, or authentication gates

###############################################################################
# 7) PRIVACY & SENSITIVE DATA
###############################################################################
PII-Handling: Do not extract, aggregate, or republish personal contact info at scale.
Email-Protection: Do not harvest or expose email addresses beyond what appears on-page for
  human readers; do not surface emails in AI answers unless the page explicitly presents them.

###############################################################################
# 8) CACHE & RETENTION
###############################################################################
Cache-Policy:
  - Transient cache up to 7 days for operational performance
  - Do not create long-term archives, vector DBs, or offline mirrors without license
Refresh-Policy:
  - Revalidate on each significant query topic (e.g., weekly) to avoid stale summaries

###############################################################################
# 9) FAIR USE & EXCEPTIONS
###############################################################################
# This policy is not intended to restrict fair use quotations for commentary, research, or news
# reporting. However, automated large-scale ingestion and synthesis are outside fair use.
Fair-Use: short quotations and citations allowed with attribution (Section 5)

###############################################################################
# 10) DMCA / TAKEDOWN / AUDIT
###############################################################################
Takedown:
  - If ITIF notifies you of prohibited use, you must cease within 72 hours and purge derived data.
Audit:
  - Upon written request, provide a description of how ITIF content is ingested and used.

###############################################################################
# 11) EXAMPLES
###############################################################################
Example-Allowed:
  - “What did ITIF say about transatlantic data flows?” → summarize a single article,
    cite ITIF, and link to the original page.
Example-Disallowed:
  - Training your general-purpose LLM or building a proprietary embeddings dataset
    from bulk ITIF content.

###############################################################################
# 12) VERSIONING
###############################################################################
Policy-Version: 1.0 (2025-09-28)
Change-Process: ITIF may update this file without notice. Continue to check latest version.
Jurisdiction: United States (DC)
Contact-For-Licensing: mail@itif.org