OONI Code of Conduct

Last modified: October 18, 2022

Version: 1.2

OONI Code of Conduct

Statement of Intent

A primary goal of the OONI community is to be inclusive of many different contributors and to build a welcoming and enjoyable environment. We want to include contributors from the most varied and diverse backgrounds possible. We are committed to providing a friendly, safe and welcoming environment free from abuse, whether isolated or systemic. We explicitly acknowledge that tolerating abuse is a security problem. Allowing abusers and malicious people to disrupt our community puts our volunteers, developers, and users at risk.

This Code of Conduct applies to OONI as a whole, including all online and offline OONI community spaces, such as the OONI Slack channel and OONI mailing lists. It is intended to provide guidelines for community members, employees, sponsors and contractors.

It also applies to unacceptable behavior occurring outside the scope of community activities when such behavior has the potential to adversely affect the safety and well-being of community members. As members of the OONI community, we support and follow this Code and take care not to undermine it.

This Code of Conduct is not exhaustive or complete. It is an ongoing effort to summarize our shared understanding. We understand that keeping a living document relevant involves sustained effort.

Unacceptable behaviors

The following behaviors are unacceptable within our community. They should be reported to and investigated by the OONI Incident Response Committee to address the violations with an appropriate response.

Inappropriate content and derogatory language

Sharing inappropriate photo, video or audio content within community spaces will not be tolerated, as well as posting or displaying sexually explicit or violent material. Inappropriate content includes that which can offend, upset, mislead or in any other way hurt other community members.

Hurtful or harmful language related to experience, background, gender, race, ethnicity, nationality or other attributes is not acceptable. This includes intentional mis-gendering and questioning anyone’s gender identity. If you are not sure if the wording you are using can be interpreted as derogatory – don’t use it.

Privacy of community members

We are highly concerned about the privacy of our community members. If you want to record or share someone’s personal information or the information that might help to identify a person, please make sure to ask the person’s informed consent prior to doing so.

If you are unsure if certain information (which has been shared with you privately) should be shared publicly, or if you are unsure if a specific person would like to be publicly identified (following private conversations), please seek consent or authorization from relevant parties.

Please remember that #ooni (and all other public channels) on OONI Slack are open for everyone, and it is considered acceptable to share any information thereon publicly (outside OONI communities).

Unwelcome attention, including physical contact and sexual attention

Any unwelcome or persistent contact or attention that is violating personal space is not acceptable within our community. This includes physical contact, any attention including stalking or following (online or in person), pushing against someone’s stated boundaries, sexual attention (sexualized comments or jokes, inappropriate touching, groping, and unwelcome sexual advances) will not be tolerated in our community spaces.

Personal attacks

Personal attacks are unacceptable. All discussions must be conducted in a respectful way without insulting, targeted attacks, bullying, threatening, demeaning etc. Disrespect, personal insults, shaming or discriminatory language are unacceptable, particularly those related to:

The list above is illustrative and not exhaustive, it can be updated and elaborated if the context requires so.

Disruptive behavior

Sustained disruption of any community events, including talks, presentations and online conversations, will not be tolerated and will be reined up immediately. Similarly, spamming, trolling, bullying, flaming (verbally abusing), baiting (deliberately provoking other members for a conflict) or other attention-stealing behavior is not welcome within our online community spaces and will be interrupted immediately.

Deliberately undermining the spirit of this Code while following the letter, influencing or leading others to behave inappropriately, advocating for, or encouraging any of the above behavior will be treated the same as the unacceptable behavior itself.

Unacceptable behavior has consequences

We will not tolerate unacceptable behavior from any community member. We will not make exceptions for sponsors and those with decision-making authority. People in formal or informal leadership roles must model the highest standards of behavior.

Anyone asked by another community member to stop unacceptable behavior is expected to comply immediately. Violation of these guidelines can result in anyone being asked to leave an event or online space, either temporarily or for the duration of the event, or being banned from participation in spaces, or future events and activities in perpetuity.

Please do not intervene on someone else’s behalf unless you have their consent or think that inaction will lead to harm to the individual’s or the community’s well being.

Anyone reporting an issue to OONI’s Incident Response Committee can expect that their report will be taken seriously. Initial reports can be taken in written or verbal form. Once the report has been received you can expect a preliminary answer from the Incident Response Committee within 24 hours. Measures to ensure safety of the targeted person or people will be taken as soon as possible, if needed by issuing a warning and/ or temporary mute of the attacker.

Once the safety within the community space is guaranteed, the report will be promptly and thoroughly investigated by the Incident Response Committee. A meeting of the Incident Response Committee will be arranged at the closest availability of Committee members to decide on the appropriate response to address the violation of the Code of Conduct. On the basis of the internal Incident Committee’s discussion and voting among Committee members, the appropriate action will be taken, including but not limited to a warning, informal mediation, temporary ban or permanent expulsion from the community.

In addition, any participants who abuse the reporting process will be considered to be in violation of these guidelines and subject to the same consequences. Intentionally making false reports, especially to retaliate against or exclude someone, will not be tolerated.

Where to go for help

If you believe you’re subject to behavior that is not acceptable within our community or you’ve witnessed such type of behavior, please share such information with the Incident Response Committee through the form or by sending an email to coc@openobservatory.org. We accept anonymous reports but please keep in mind that if no contact method is provided, we won’t be able to follow-up on the case and it might limit the investigation.

The report will be received by all Incident Response Committee members:

  1. Elizaveta Yachmeneva (OONI), elizaveta@openobservatory.org
  2. Amanda Meng (IODA), a.meng@gatech.edu
  3. Felicia Anthonio (Access Now), felicia@accessnow.org
  4. Kelly Koh (Sinar Project), kelly@sinarproject.org
  5. Maria Xynou (OONI), maria@openobservatory.org
  6. Gurshabad Grover (OTF Information Controls Fellow), gurshabad@pm.me
  7. Federico Ceratto (OONI), federico@openobservatory.org

If you don’t feel comfortable sharing your report with the whole committee, please feel free to contact committee members individually.

The actions taken by the Incident Response Committee will vary on a case-by-case basis. We will make every effort to respond to the incident immediately. We will prioritize the safety of the person who has been harmed, or is at risk of harm. People who have been harmed or are at risk of harm can withdraw the incident report at any time. We will never act never do anything without the consent of the person who has been harmed or is at risk of harm, except in the situations where there is an imminent threat to the community.

Please also contact the Committee or individual members if you have questions or concerns about the Code of Conduct, or if you would like to contribute any changes to it.

License and attribution

This Code of Conduct is shared under a Creative Commons CC-BY-SA 4.0 International license.

This Code of Conduct is created by a community effort and inspired by The Tor Project Code of Conduct, Citizen Code of Conduct, and the Mozilla Community Participation Guidelines.