Code of conduct

The goal of this Code of Conduct is to make explicit the type of conduct which is expected, and the behaviour that is unacceptable. We expect all voices to be welcomed at our events and in our community, and strive to empower everyone to feel able to participate fully. We therefore exclude anyone from participating if they feel they cannot or will not adhere to the laid-out principles.

These guidelines apply to all projects that the Datenanfragen.de e. V. hosts/organises, in particular:

• All public areas of participation, including but not limited to discussion forums, mailing lists, chat rooms, issue trackers, social media, and events such as conferences and workshops.
• All private areas of participation, including but not limited to email and closed platforms such as Matrix private chats.
• Any project that Datenanfragen.de e. V. leads on or partners in.

Notwithstanding the above, a different Code of Conduct can be adopted for specific situations, especially events and collaborations, given that it is at least as strict as this Code of Conduct.

All members of the Datenanfragen.de e. V., all maintainers and contributors to its projects, all partners on a given project, and all other participants such as in events are expected to adhere to this Code of Conduct.

The following behaviours are expected:

• Lead by example by being considerate in your actions and decisions.
• Be respectful in speech and action, especially in disagreement.
• Be mindful that many of the contributors are volunteers. Respect their choices with regard to which tasks they do and when.
• Respect decisions taken democratically and voice your concerns constructively.
• Welcome new perspectives, even if they challenge the path you are on.
• Help new or insecure participants and encourage them to participate.
• Refrain from demeaning, discriminatory, or harassing behaviour and speech.
• We all make mistakes, and when we do, we take responsibility for them.
• Be mindful of your fellow participants. If someone is in distress, or if someone is in violation of these guidelines, reach out and speak up.

We do not tolerate harassment of participants in any form. Harassment includes, but is not limited to, offensive verbal comments, deliberate intimidation, harassing photography or recording, inappropriate physical contact and unwanted sexual attention. What is or feels like harassment is in part subjective, but often results from an imbalance of power within society and our community.

This non-exhaustive list shows examples of behaviours that are unacceptable from all participants:

• Violence and threats of violence.
• Derogatory comments of any form, including related to gender and expression, sexual orientation, disability, mental illness, neuro(a)typicality, physical appearance, body size, race, religion, age, or socio-economic status.
• Sexualized images or behaviour.
• Posting or threatening to post other people’s personally identifying information (“doxing”).
• Deliberate misgendering or use of former names, or improper titles.
• Inappropriate photography or recording.
• Physical contact without affirmative consent.
• Unwelcome sexual attention. This includes sexualised comments or jokes, inappropriate touching, groping, and unwelcome sexual or flirtatious advances.
• Mocking, ridiculing, or mimicking another’s culture, accent, appearance, or custom.
• Persistent mansplaining.
• Spreading of misinformation and conspiracy theories.
• Deliberate intimidation, stalking or following (online or in person).
• Sustained disruption of events, especially talks and workshops.
• Applying pressure on contributors.
• Repeatedly interrupting conversations, and especially steering them towards unrelated topics.
• Spam.
• Knowingly endangering the health of other participants, for example by attending an in-person event when you are infectious.
• Disregarding or mocking the rules the community or group has given itself or decisions it has taken.
• Advocating for, or encouraging, any of the above behaviour.

Unacceptable behaviour from any participant, especially in any public or private forum around projects we are involved in, including of those with decision-making authority, will not be tolerated.

Anyone asked to stop unacceptable behaviour is expected to comply immediately.

If a participant engages in unacceptable behaviour, any action deemed appropriate will be taken, up to and including:

• a temporary ban
• permanent expulsion from participatory forums
• requiring that the harasser refund any travel grants and similar they received
• excluding the harasser from membership of the association
• suggesting the permanent termination of the membership to the general assembly of the association (in consultation with the harassed party)
• reporting to local law enforcement for criminal offences (when appropriate in consultation with the harassed party).

Action, which has been taken can be appealed by the harasser or harassed party to the board of the association, in the period between one to six months after action has been taken. An appeal has no delaying effect with regards to the imposed actions. It will only check if the anti-harassment team handled the report responsibly and not judge or investigate the accusations from the report.

If you are subject to, or witness of, unacceptable behaviour, or have any other concerns, please email conduct@datenanfragen.de (PGP key: 6638 17E7 7D01 8B53 7E08 6928 2E16 9F53 4FF2 F0D9) or submit an encrypted report via the web form at https://www.datarequests.org/misconduct (anonymous reports are possible this way). During an event, we might establish other points of contact, too.

We will handle all reports with discretion and will inform you before we take action if you would like to.

Your report will be handled by our person(s) appointed for anti-harassment by the general assembly, currently: Lorenz Sieben (chairperson) If your report concerns one of these people, you can address it to the remaining members of the anti-harassment team, which will then not involve the concerned member. If your report concerns all members of the anti-harassment team, you can address it to uninvolved board members, who will then follow the same procedure.

In your report, please do your best to include:

• Your contact information (unless you wish to report anonymously)
• Identifying information (e.g. names, nicknames, pseudonyms) of the participant who has violated the Code of Conduct
• The behaviour that was in violation
• The approximate time of the behaviour
• If possible, where the Code of Conduct violation happened
• The circumstances surrounding the incident
• Other people involved in the incident
• If you believe the incident is ongoing, please let us know!
• If there is a publicly available record (e.g. mailing list record), please include a link
• Any additional helpful information

We will take all reports seriously, look into them, follow up with the reporter/harassed party whether action should be taken (unless it is an anonymous report), and we decide what action to take. We are no law enforcement and will not do a complete investigation or collection of evidence. Rather, we want to make sure that everyone, especially marginalized people, are safe within the community and will take immediate action accordingly.

All reports will be kept confidential. When we discuss incidents with people who are reported, we will anonymize details as much as we can to protect reporter privacy. In some cases, we may determine that a public statement will need to be made. If that’s the case, the identities of all harassed and reporters will remain confidential unless those individuals instruct us otherwise.

We will store information from reports for up to 3 years after the last action was taken against the person to determine repeat violating behaviour. The stored information includes:

• The identifying information of the participant who has violated the Code of Conduct
• The behaviour that was in violation
• The approximate time of the behaviour
• Where the Code of Conduct violation happened

Notes on the handling of the case by the anti-harassment team are stored for six months after action has been taken to allow for the handling of appeals.

Access to this information is limited to the anti-harassment team. When the composition of the anti-harassment team changes, this information is shared with them.

We will also store information on actions we took as a response to violations in order to execute them, such as lifetime bans or ultimatums, for as long as the action is necessary. Access to this information is limited to the board of the association. This includes:

• The action to be taken
• The duration for how long the action will be in effect
• Identifying information of the affected person or entity

In the case of an appeal, the following additional information is made available to the board of the association:

• The behaviour that was in violation
• Statements from the appealing person and the anti-harassment team on how the case was handled
• The notes by the anti-harassment team on the handling of the situation

This Code of Conduct is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. It was adapted from the British Open Knowledge Foundation with input from Geek feminism’s policy resources and “Responding to reports” page and the OpenCon code of conduct.