Successful collaboration involves sharing information. However, parties may disagree on how the information they need to share should be used. We argue that many of these concerns reduce to 'the copy problem': once a bit of information is copied and shared, the sender can no longer control how the recipient uses it. From the perspective of each collaborator, this presents a dilemma that can inhibit collaboration. The copy problem is often amplified by three related problems which we term the bundling, edit, and recursive enforcement problems. We find that while the copy problem is not solvable, aspects of these amplifying problems have been addressed in a variety of disconnected fields. We observe that combining these efforts could improve the governability of information flows and thereby incentivise collaboration. We propose a five-part framework which groups these efforts into specific capabilities and offers a foundation for their integration into an overarching vision we call "structured transparency". We conclude by surveying an array of use-cases that illustrate the structured transparency principles and their related capabilities.

翻译：成功协作涉及信息共享。然而，各方可能对共享信息的用途存在分歧。我们认为，这些担忧大多可归结为“复制问题”：一旦信息被复制和共享，发送方便无法再控制接收方如何使用它。从每个协作者的角度看，这构成了一种可能抑制协作的困境。复制问题常被三个相关问题放大，我们将其称为捆绑问题、编辑问题和递归执行问题。我们发现，尽管复制问题无法解决，但这些放大问题的某些方面已在多个看似无关的领域得到探讨。我们观察到，将这些成果整合起来可提升信息流的可治理性，从而激励协作。我们提出一个五部分框架，将这些成果归入特定能力范畴，并为它们整合成我们称为“结构化透明”的总体愿景奠定基础。最后，我们调研了一系列用例，以阐明结构化透明原则及其相关能力。