Level Up Code of Conduct

Credits LevelUp Last Updated 2022-10

Level Up Code of Conduct

The Level Up Community is formed by a diverse group of practitioners, with different backgrounds and approaches, working across the world to support their communities. The community is committed to providing a safe and welcoming environment for addressing and discussing issues related to holistic and digital security training and education for the communities in which we work. In particular, we aim to banish any shame or stigma surrounding digital security mistakes, so we encourage all those involved to approach interactions with open, listening and supportive attitudes, and to engage constructively with others at all times.

More specifically, Level Up community spaces are committed to promote the following values:

Confidentiality: We will handle all incoming information confidentially and will not disclose it to third parties without consent. We will handle incoming information responsibly and protect it against inadvertent disclosure to unauthorised parties. The security of the methods of storing and transmitting information inside or outside the Level Up will be appropriate to its sensitivity.
Collaboration: We have a strong commitment towards fostering solidarity, connection, cooperation and a sense of community in our convening spaces.
Inclusivity: We believe in the importance of diversity in a way that fosters non-discrimination, free expression, participation and equality.
Do-No-Harm: We are aware of how our actions, behaviors and ways of communicating can have a positive or negative effect on the people surrounding us, and try to mitigate these as much as possible. We are aware of the elements affecting our own position of power, and make space for acknowledging these structures within Level Up spaces. The Level Up Community is dedicated to providing a harassment-free experience for everyone, regardless of gender, gender identity and expression, age, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, ethnicity, religion (or lack thereof), technology choices, skill set or level of knowledge. We do not tolerate harassment of community members in any form. Anyone who violates this code of conduct may be sanctioned or expelled from these spaces at the discretion of the Level Up Response Team.

Scope

This code of conduct applies to all Level Up community spaces, either in online interactions or associated events or social gatherings. Members and participants are responsible for knowing the values promoted by the Level Up community, which are detailed in this document, and abiding by the rules detailed below. If you are being, or have previously been, harassed by a person involved in the organizational security community outside our spaces, we still want to know about it & take action on it. We will take all good-faith reports of harassment seriously. Harassment

Harassment may occur online or in person. Examples of unacceptable behavior include:

Offensive comments which reinforce social structures of domination and/or are related to gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, mental illness, neuro(a)typicality, physical appearance, body size, age, race, or religion.
Offensive comments and flamewars about other people’s choices of recommended practices, skills, procedures and tools.
Unwelcome comments regarding a person’s lifestyle choices and practices, including those related to food, health, parenting, drugs, and employment.
Deliberate misgendering or use of ‘dead’ or rejected names.
Gratuitous or off-topic sexual images or behavior in spaces where they’re not appropriate.
Unwelcome sexual attention.
Physical contact, including simulated physical contact (e.g., textual descriptions like “hug” or “backrub”) after request to stop.
Threats of violence and/or the incitement of violence towards any individual, including encouraging a person to commit suicide or to engage in self-harm.
Deliberate intimidation.
Stalking or following.
Harassing photography or recording, including logging online activity for harassment purposes.
Sustained disruption of discussion, talks or other events.
Pattern of inappropriate social contact, such as requesting/assuming inappropriate levels of intimacy with others.
Continued one-on-one communication after requests to cease.
Deliberate “outing” of any aspect of a person’s identity without their consent except as necessary to protect vulnerable people from intentional abuse.
Publication of non-harassing private communication.
Publishing another persons’ private information, such as physical or electronic addresses, without explicit permission.
Advocating for, or encouraging, any of the above behaviour.
Drugging food or drink.
Violating the privacy policy of an event in order to attract negative attention to an attendee.
Enlisting the help of others, whether in person or online, in order to target a member.

We prioritise marginalised people’s safety over privileged people’s comfort.

Our team will not act on complaints regarding:

‘Reverse’ -isms, including ‘reverse racism,’ ‘reverse sexism,’ and ‘cisphobia’.
Reasonable communication of boundaries, such as “leave me alone,” “go away,” or “I’m not discussing this with you.”
Communicating in a ‘tone’ you don’t find congenial.
Criticising racist, sexist, cissexist, or otherwise oppressive behavior or assumptions.

Let someone leave a conversation that makes them uncomfortable, and do not follow people who asked to be left alone. If you discuss difficult topics that may be traumatic for participants, provide warnings so people may leave a conversation or plan coping strategies.

Reporting

If you are being harassed, notice that someone else is being harassed, or have any other concerns, please notify by sending an email to the Level Up List administrators levelup-admin@lists.riseup.net which currently consists of: Carol, Nic, Dirk, Michael.

Reports are confidential. You will not be asked to take actions that make you feel unsafe. If the person who is harassing you is part of the Response Team, they will be recused from handling your incident. You can also email the subset of List Admins not including the person who is harassing you. We will respond as promptly as we can within 2 weeks.

Response and consequences

Participants asked to stop any harassing behavior are expected to comply immediately. If a participant engages in harassing behavior, the Response Team may take any action they deem appropriate, up to and including expulsion from all Level Up spaces and identification of the participant as a harasser to other Level Up members or the general public.

The Response Team will contact the reported person in order to inform them about the process and give them an opportunity to respond. The Response Team reserves the right to exclude people from the organizational security community based on their past behavior, including behavior outside Level Up spaces. We will respect confidentiality requests for the purpose of protecting victims of abuse. At our discretion, we may privately warn third parties about reported persons, if we believe that doing so will increase the safety of partners or people involved with the Level Up community. We will not name harassment victims without their affirmative consent.

Licensing

This policy is licensed under the Creative Commons Zero license. It is public domain, no credit and no open licensing of your version is required. This Code of Conduct was adapted from the Rapid Response Network’s Code of Practice, which is itself based on the example policy from the Geek Feminism wiki, created by the Geek Feminism community, and also the Code Of Conduct Generator. It was also adapted from the OrgSec.Community Code of Conduct which was also inspired by the Internet Freedom Festival Code of Conduct.