terms.txt proposal sets out terms for AI web access

A post highlighting a research paper describes terms.txt as a way for websites to specify machine-access terms by path and purpose. It says the proposal pairs the file with a signed exchange using Web Bot Auth signatures, signed intent, delegation tokens, HTTP 402 negotiation and signed receipts, enforced by the website’s server. The post also notes that the paper separates what the exchange can enforce, what it can only audit and what is left to contracts.