[irc/freenode/web-7.0.git] / content / pages / policies.md

---
Title: The Policies
---

Purpose
==================
The freenode project exists to help peer-directed project communities flourish.
Peer-directed projects combine open, informal participation with broad licensing
and wide dissemination of output.

freenode provides facilities to peer-directed project communities, including those
of free and open source software (FOSS). The IRC component of freenode is a
self-referential medium, existing mainly to service IRC users &mdash; but the network
was created to serve groups that exist outside of IRC. freenode is designed to encourage
community members to improve their skills in the areas of cooperative effort, interpersonal 
communication and project coordination, and to create a real-time bridge to the outside world
for our target communities.

Nickname ownership
==================

Nicknames are allocated on a first-come, first-served basis, to the first person
who registers the name with NickServ. However, we expect users to act in good
faith and reserve the right to remove a nickname registration where we believe
that this has not been the case.
Nickname and account registrations expire ten weeks after they are last used.
For nicknames, ‘used’ means that you were using the nickname while logged in to
the account which owns it. For accounts, ‘used’ means that you logged in to the
account, regardless of the nickname you used to do so. Nicknames which are the
primary account name only expire when the entire account is expired.

In some cases, such as for very old accounts, we may, at our discretion, extend
the expiry time of a nickname or account. We will not normally do this beyond 15
weeks past the last use.

Some nicknames and accounts, including but not limited to some of those owned by
current or former network staff, do not expire at all. These accounts can be
identified by the ‘Hold’ flag in their NickServ info output.

Nicknames and accounts which are expired will not automatically be dropped.
Please contact network staff if you would like to take over an expired nickname.

Channel ownership
=================

Channels on freenode fall into one of two categories. Primary channels, which
begin with a single # character, are reserved for on-topic projects. If you’d
like to take over one of these channels, then you’ll need to be associated in
some way with the project in question. Topical, or ‘about’ channels, begin with
two # characters, and these are allocated on a first-come, first-served basis to
the first person who registers it with ChanServ. As with nicknames, however, we
reserve the right to remove or alter registrations where we believe they have
not been made in good faith.

Primary channels do not expire with inactivity, though they can be claimed at
any time by a representative of an on-topic project with the appropriate name.
Topical channels expire after 60 days in which no user on the access list for
the channel has joined it. Further information, policies and guidelines relating
to channel ownership can be found under [group registration](http://freenode.net/groupreg).

On-topic Use
============

freenode’s primary goal is to encourage and foster the development and use of
free and open source software projects and other peer-directed communities
producing broadly licensed creative output. Any project falling under this broad
description is likely to be considered on-topic for the purposes of primary
channel naming and other project services which we may provide, but individual
decisions may be made at the discretion of staff. 

We strongly urge you to adhere to the [channel guidelines](http://freenode.net/changuide) and [catalyst guidelines](http://freenode.net/catalysts).


Off-topic Use
=============

We expect all users of the network, whether affiliated with a project or not, to
act in good faith and in accordance with both their local laws and those
applicable where freenode operates. Use of freenode and its facilities is a
privilege, not a right, and may be withdrawn where we believe that this has not
been the case.

Unlawful activities and related support activities are considered off-topic, as are
inappropriate advertising, heavy media file trading, proprietary game software modding,
warez, porn and various forms of antisocial behaviour, including (but not limited to) 
political, racial, ethnic, religious or gender-related invective.

In accordance with UK law freenode has no tolerance for any activity that could be construed
as: 

* incitement to racial hatred
* incitement to religious hatred

or any other behaviour meant to deliberately put upon a person harassment, alarm or distress.
We do NOT endorse or encourage discrimination on the grounds of e.g. race, religion, gender or sexual preference and 
operate with a zero-tolerance policy for libel and defamation.

While we believe in the concept of freedom of thought and freedom of expression, freenode does not
operate on the basis of absolute freedom of speech, and we impose limitations, e.g. on "hate speech".

We expect all members of the community to be respectful of one another and of the privacy of others, 
and we reserve the right to terminate anyone's access to our services at our discretion.

While we encourage registered groups (projects) and channel owners to adopt our channel guidelines and catalyst guidelines, projects are free to set their own policies for their namespaces as long as such policies do not contravene network policy, and many projects choose to extend their code of conduct and similar agreements to their presence on freenode. In the event that a project makes the decision to ban a user from their channel(s), we ask that such bans be respected and note that ban evasion may result in a network ban.

Please note that the examples above are examples only and do not constitute an exhaustive list. In line with our policies, philosophies and guidelines we will review each case individually and the response and actions may differ from case to case.

Unlawful Activity
=============
freenode cannot condone or support behaviour which is clearly unlawful. While we do not have the resources
to closely monitor the thousands of channels on the network, volunteers are required by policy to pass on credible
information, provided by you as a user of the freenode project, about any unlawful activities. This is true whether you
are talking about your own activities or those of someone else. Please be aware that we have this responsibility.

freenode and financial transactions
=============

We appreciate that end users may sometimes wish to reward a project or a project
contributor after having had a positive support experience in a project channel
and it is great when this results in a donation to the project in question or
perhaps a micropayment to the contributor concerned or the purchase of an item
from the contributor's wish list. 

Nevertheless, we would urge our users to carry out their own due diligence
before entering into financial transactions of any kind and stress that any
financial transactions entered into on the freenode network must be undertaken
entirely at the user's risk and freenode accepts no liability for any losses
incurred as the result of such transactions. 

Public Logging
=============
If you're considering publishing channel logs, think it through. The freenode network is an interactive environment. Even on public channels, most users don't weigh their comments with the idea that they'll be enshrined in perpetuity. For that reason, few participants publish logs.

If you're publishing logs on an ongoing basis, your channel topic should reflect that fact. Consider providing a way for users to make comments without logging, and get permission from the channel owners before you start. If you're thinking of "anonymizing" your logs (removing information that identifies the specific users), be aware that it's difficult to do it well—replies and general context often provide identifying information which is hard to filter.

If you just want to publish a single conversation, be careful to get permission from each participant. Provide as much context as you can. Avoid the temptation to publish or distribute logs without permission in order to portray someone in a bad light. The reputation you save will most likely be your own.

Privacy Policy and Data Retention
=============
This section describes how freenode makes use of the information you provide when you use the freenode network, freenode.net and freenode.live websites (hereinafter collectively referred to as 'freenode services').

If you are asked to provide information when using freenode services, such information will not be used for any purposes other than those described in this section.

freenode collects and uses certain information about users in order to provide services and enable certain functions.

freenode may collect the following information:
* Nickname/handle on the freenode network
* E-mail address
* IP address/hostname
* Name and project affiliation

Collecting the above data helps freenode deliver its services to you.

Specifically, freenode may use data:
* To improve the provided services.
* To enable you to reset your password/recover your account.
* To contact you in relation to group registrations and associated channel namespace management.
* To respond to a specific enquiry made via e-mail or the support system.
* To provide information in connection with conference registrations, sponsorship enquiries and similar relating to the freenode network and freenode #live conference.

Any personal information freenode holds about you will be stored and processed under data protection policy, in line with the Data Protection Act 1998.

Please note that the freenode websites and network may contain links to other websites, and freenode has no control of websites outside of the freenode.net and freenode.live domains. If you provide information to a website or service to which freenode links, freenode shall not be responsible for its protection and privacy.

freenode retains data for the purpose of debugging and restoration for a maximum of 60 days. This means that any data freenode holds, will be purged 60 days after the date at which you last connected to the freenode network or deleted your freenode account.

freenode policies are updated from time to time, and the latest version of policy will be published on this page.

This policy was last updated on: 23 December 2017

If you have any questions about freenode policies, please e-mail policy@freenode.net.

In addition to these policies, you may wish to read our [Catalyst Guidelines](https://freenode.net/catalysts), [Channel Guidelines](https://freenode.net/changuide), [Philosophy](https://freenode.net/philosophy), [Group Registration Information](https://freenode.net/groupreg) and [this KB article on Conduct](https://freenode.net/kb/answer/conduct).
Commit	Line	Data
c5293e15	1	---
fd9248e7 CD	2	Title: The Policies
	3	---
	4
0358ffc8 CD	5	Purpose
	6	==================
	7	The freenode project exists to help peer-directed project communities flourish.
	8	Peer-directed projects combine open, informal participation with broad licensing
	9	and wide dissemination of output.
	10
	11	freenode provides facilities to peer-directed project communities, including those
	12	of free and open source software (FOSS). The IRC component of freenode is a
	13	self-referential medium, existing mainly to service IRC users — but the network
	14	was created to serve groups that exist outside of IRC. freenode is designed to encourage
	15	community members to improve their skills in the areas of cooperative effort, interpersonal
	16	communication and project coordination, and to create a real-time bridge to the outside world
	17	for our target communities.
	18
31bd0d13 EK	19	Nickname ownership
31bd0d13 EK	20	==================
fd9248e7 CD	21
	22	Nicknames are allocated on a first-come, first-served basis, to the first person
	23	who registers the name with NickServ. However, we expect users to act in good
	24	faith and reserve the right to remove a nickname registration where we believe
	25	that this has not been the case.
	26	Nickname and account registrations expire ten weeks after they are last used.
	27	For nicknames, ‘used’ means that you were using the nickname while logged in to
	28	the account which owns it. For accounts, ‘used’ means that you logged in to the
	29	account, regardless of the nickname you used to do so. Nicknames which are the
	30	primary account name only expire when the entire account is expired.
	31
	32	In some cases, such as for very old accounts, we may, at our discretion, extend
	33	the expiry time of a nickname or account. We will not normally do this beyond 15
	34	weeks past the last use.
	35
	36	Some nicknames and accounts, including but not limited to some of those owned by
	37	current or former network staff, do not expire at all. These accounts can be
	38	identified by the ‘Hold’ flag in their NickServ info output.
	39
	40	Nicknames and accounts which are expired will not automatically be dropped.
	41	Please contact network staff if you would like to take over an expired nickname.
	42
31bd0d13 EK	43	Channel ownership
31bd0d13 EK	44	=================
fd9248e7 CD	45
	46	Channels on freenode fall into one of two categories. Primary channels, which
	47	begin with a single # character, are reserved for on-topic projects. If you’d
	48	like to take over one of these channels, then you’ll need to be associated in
	49	some way with the project in question. Topical, or ‘about’ channels, begin with
	50	two # characters, and these are allocated on a first-come, first-served basis to
	51	the first person who registers it with ChanServ. As with nicknames, however, we
	52	reserve the right to remove or alter registrations where we believe they have
	53	not been made in good faith.
	54
	55	Primary channels do not expire with inactivity, though they can be claimed at
	56	any time by a representative of an on-topic project with the appropriate name.
	57	Topical channels expire after 60 days in which no user on the access list for
0358ffc8 CD	58	the channel has joined it. Further information, policies and guidelines relating
0358ffc8 CD	59	to channel ownership can be found under [group registration](http://freenode.net/groupreg).
fd9248e7	60
31bd0d13 EK	61	On-topic Use
31bd0d13 EK	62	============
fd9248e7 CD	63
	64	freenode’s primary goal is to encourage and foster the development and use of
	65	free and open source software projects and other peer-directed communities
	66	producing broadly licensed creative output. Any project falling under this broad
	67	description is likely to be considered on-topic for the purposes of primary
	68	channel naming and other project services which we may provide, but individual
0358ffc8 CD	69	decisions may be made at the discretion of staff.
	70
	71	We strongly urge you to adhere to the [channel guidelines](http://freenode.net/changuide) and [catalyst guidelines](http://freenode.net/catalysts).
	72
	73
fd9248e7	74
31bd0d13 EK	75	Off-topic Use
31bd0d13 EK	76	=============
fd9248e7 CD	77
	78	We expect all users of the network, whether affiliated with a project or not, to
	79	act in good faith and in accordance with both their local laws and those
	80	applicable where freenode operates. Use of freenode and its facilities is a
	81	privilege, not a right, and may be withdrawn where we believe that this has not
	82	been the case.
7576a1fd	83
200af81b	84	Unlawful activities and related support activities are considered off-topic, as are
293ff873	85	inappropriate advertising, heavy media file trading, proprietary game software modding,
0358ffc8 CD	86	warez, porn and various forms of antisocial behaviour, including (but not limited to)
	87	political, racial, ethnic, religious or gender-related invective.
	88
	89	In accordance with UK law freenode has no tolerance for any activity that could be construed
	90	as:
	91
	92	* incitement to racial hatred
	93	* incitement to religious hatred
	94
	95	or any other behaviour meant to deliberately put upon a person harassment, alarm or distress.
2aacf529	96	We do NOT endorse or encourage discrimination on the grounds of e.g. race, religion, gender or sexual preference and
0358ffc8 CD	97	operate with a zero-tolerance policy for libel and defamation.
	98
	99	While we believe in the concept of freedom of thought and freedom of expression, freenode does not
	100	operate on the basis of absolute freedom of speech, and we impose limitations, e.g. on "hate speech".
	101
	102	We expect all members of the community to be respectful of one another and of the privacy of others,
	103	and we reserve the right to terminate anyone's access to our services at our discretion.
	104
48ad43a0 CD	105	While we encourage registered groups (projects) and channel owners to adopt our channel guidelines and catalyst guidelines, projects are free to set their own policies for their namespaces as long as such policies do not contravene network policy, and many projects choose to extend their code of conduct and similar agreements to their presence on freenode. In the event that a project makes the decision to ban a user from their channel(s), we ask that such bans be respected and note that ban evasion may result in a network ban.
48ad43a0 CD	106
b7ea6a2c	107	Please note that the examples above are examples only and do not constitute an exhaustive list. In line with our policies, philosophies and guidelines we will review each case individually and the response and actions may differ from case to case.
0358ffc8 CD	108
	109	Unlawful Activity
	110	=============
	111	freenode cannot condone or support behaviour which is clearly unlawful. While we do not have the resources
	112	to closely monitor the thousands of channels on the network, volunteers are required by policy to pass on credible
293ff873	113	information, provided by you as a user of the freenode project, about any unlawful activities. This is true whether you
0358ffc8 CD	114	are talking about your own activities or those of someone else. Please be aware that we have this responsibility.
0358ffc8 CD	115
7576a1fd CD	116	freenode and financial transactions
	117	=============
	118
552a6a2a	119	We appreciate that end users may sometimes wish to reward a project or a project
	120	contributor after having had a positive support experience in a project channel
	121	and it is great when this results in a donation to the project in question or
	122	perhaps a micropayment to the contributor concerned or the purchase of an item
	123	from the contributor's wish list.
7576a1fd	124
552a6a2a	125	Nevertheless, we would urge our users to carry out their own due diligence
	126	before entering into financial transactions of any kind and stress that any
	127	financial transactions entered into on the freenode network must be undertaken
	128	entirely at the user's risk and freenode accepts no liability for any losses
	129	incurred as the result of such transactions.
5870108e CD	130
	131	Public Logging
	132	=============
	133	If you're considering publishing channel logs, think it through. The freenode network is an interactive environment. Even on public channels, most users don't weigh their comments with the idea that they'll be enshrined in perpetuity. For that reason, few participants publish logs.
	134
5a77f970	135	If you're publishing logs on an ongoing basis, your channel topic should reflect that fact. Consider providing a way for users to make comments without logging, and get permission from the channel owners before you start. If you're thinking of "anonymizing" your logs (removing information that identifies the specific users), be aware that it's difficult to do it well—replies and general context often provide identifying information which is hard to filter.
5870108e CD	136
	137	If you just want to publish a single conversation, be careful to get permission from each participant. Provide as much context as you can. Avoid the temptation to publish or distribute logs without permission in order to portray someone in a bad light. The reputation you save will most likely be your own.
	138
f57fd6ed CD	139	Privacy Policy and Data Retention
	140	=============
	141	This section describes how freenode makes use of the information you provide when you use the freenode network, freenode.net and freenode.live websites (hereinafter collectively referred to as 'freenode services').
	142
	143	If you are asked to provide information when using freenode services, such information will not be used for any purposes other than those described in this section.
	144
	145	freenode collects and uses certain information about users in order to provide services and enable certain functions.
	146
	147	freenode may collect the following information:
	148	* Nickname/handle on the freenode network
	149	* E-mail address
	150	* IP address/hostname
	151	* Name and project affiliation
	152
	153	Collecting the above data helps freenode deliver its services to you.
	154
	155	Specifically, freenode may use data:
	156	* To improve the provided services.
	157	* To enable you to reset your password/recover your account.
	158	* To contact you in relation to group registrations and associated channel namespace management.
	159	* To respond to a specific enquiry made via e-mail or the support system.
	160	* To provide information in connection with conference registrations, sponsorship enquiries and similar relating to the freenode network and freenode #live conference.
	161
	162	Any personal information freenode holds about you will be stored and processed under data protection policy, in line with the Data Protection Act 1998.
	163
	164	Please note that the freenode websites and network may contain links to other websites, and freenode has no control of websites outside of the freenode.net and freenode.live domains. If you provide information to a website or service to which freenode links, freenode shall not be responsible for its protection and privacy.
	165
	166	freenode retains data for the purpose of debugging and restoration for a maximum of 60 days. This means that any data freenode holds, will be purged 60 days after the date at which you last connected to the freenode network or deleted your freenode account.
	167
	168	freenode policies are updated from time to time, and the latest version of policy will be published on this page.
	169
	170	This policy was last updated on: 23 December 2017
	171
	172	If you have any questions about freenode policies, please e-mail policy@freenode.net.
	173
5870108e	174	In addition to these policies, you may wish to read our [Catalyst Guidelines](https://freenode.net/catalysts), [Channel Guidelines](https://freenode.net/changuide), [Philosophy](https://freenode.net/philosophy), [Group Registration Information](https://freenode.net/groupreg) and [this KB article on Conduct](https://freenode.net/kb/answer/conduct).