content/pages/policies.md

   1 ---
   2 Title: The Policies
   3 ---
   4
   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 &mdash; 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
  19 Nickname ownership
  20 ==================
  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
  43 Channel ownership
  44 =================
  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
  58 the channel has joined it. Further information, policies and guidelines relating
  59 to channel ownership can be found under [group registration](http://freenode.net/groupreg).
  60
  61 On-topic Use
  62 ============
  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
  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
  74
  75 Off-topic Use
  76 =============
  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.
  83
  84 Unlawful activities and related support activities are considered off-topic, as are
  85 inappropriate advertising, heavy media file trading, proprietary game software modding,
  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.
  96 We do NOT endorse or encourage discrimination on the grounds of e.g. race, religion, gender or sexual preference and
  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
 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.
 106
 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.
 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
 113 information, provided by you as a user of the freenode project, about any unlawful activities. This is true whether you
 114 are talking about your own activities or those of someone else. Please be aware that we have this responsibility.
 115
 116 freenode and financial transactions
 117 =============
 118
 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.
 124
 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.
 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
 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.
 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
 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
 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).