Trust contracts are predicated on the establishment of a Legal Framework that requires members to agree on a legally binding set of criteria to manage the risk of participating in a contractual trust framework. This includes, but is not limited to terms for participation and termination, conformance to applicable laws and mandates such as Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA), HIPAA, and the Privacy Act; permitted uses of information exchanged between members, and waivers/exceptions if any. In this model, a trust contract makes the business and technical operational rules of a domain legally binding upon its members. Trust contracts are subject to jurisdictional, organizational and privacy policies that apply equally to all members. Trust contracts can have a time limit, whereupon the complete contract must be renegotiated.