Concept · Governance & Ownership
Information Rights
Origin: VC term
Biological Parallel
Vervet monkeys enforce information rights: individuals who spot predators but fail to alarm face social exclusion and lost mating access. This mirrors investor information rights—those who provide capital (or vigilance effort) demand transparency about threats. The biological enforcement mechanism is reputation rather than contract, but the principle is identical: contributors who take on risk (exposed sentries, capital providers) earn rights to critical information. Groups without enforcement suffer 30-40% higher predation—the equivalent of investors operating blind without contractual disclosure rights.