# Abuse Committee Policy

## 1. Document Purpose

The purpose of this policy document is to describe how Undernet's Abuse Committee (Abuse-Com) is structured and how it fulfills its
role within Undernet.

According to the Undernet Charter:
> The Abuse Committee handles complaints relating to Server Operator (SO) abuse and G-Lines, and manages connection limit exceptions.

## 2. Committee Structure

Abuse-Com is led by one or more Committee Coordinator(s). The committee has multiple sub-teams, which will be simply referred to as teams in this document. Each team has one or more team leader(s), who are assigned by the abuse coordinator.

## 3. Committee Teams

The Abuse Committee consists of a core team and multiple sub-teams. Each sub-team has their own responsibilities, members, and leader– all reporting to their team leader(s), who reports to the Abuse Coordinator(s). The primary functions of each team are:

#### 3.1 Abuse Team (core)
* Answering G-Line inquiries
* Handling reports of Server Operator and Server Administrators abuse
* Responding to inquiries from law enforcement officers

#### 3.2 Abuse-Exploits
* Reducing abuse from drones and other compromised clients
* Providing tools to opers to help them address network abuse
* Encouraging oper engagement to address abuse on the network
* Documenting the way abuse is addressed and sharing knowledge with opers who wish to be more engaged

All interested Server Operators are welcome to be members of the Abuse-Exploits team.

#### 3.3 Limits
* Managing global network connection limits in euworld
* Responding to user requests for clone limit increases

#### 3.4 CSE-Abuse (Child Sex Exploitation)
* Monitoring child sex exploitation channels.
* Closing channels that meet one of the following criteria:
1. Channel name, topic or activity implies sex or nudity involving under aged people
2. Channel name, topic or activity implies that young people are at risk there (places for people to meet with younger people - no sex or nudity has to be involved)
* Closing channels where an appropriate law enforcement officer confirms underaged pictures are shared in the channel

#### 3.5 Usernames-Abuse

* Suspending usernames used for abuse where it directly benefits the network

Given the suspension of usernames can negatively affect real users (by restricting associated channel and bot access), and doing so can cause retaliation, suspension decisions are often made with care and may first involve discussion amongst Usernames-Abuse team members.

Common reasons for username suspension include:
* Floodbots join/part flooding a channel while authenticated
* Persistent spambots or exploit spreaders
* Impersonation of network services or staff
* Usernames stolen from other legitimate users

Suspensions are not typically done for ‘multiple usernames’ except in extreme circumstances (i.e., 5 or more). It is more preferable to prevent the excessive registrations in the first place, or suspend very soon after registration.

A list of abuse teams and their leaders is available here: [**Abuse-teams.md**](teams.md)

It is the CC’s (Committee Coordinator) responsibility to liaise with the AS (Administrative Secretary) to ensure the committee team list is kept up to date.

## 4. Committee Scope

The Abuse Committee applies previously approved rules by the AB (*world AUP, etc.), but does not define them. The *world AUP (Acceptable Use Policy) is documented externally in [../../acceptable-use-policies/uworld.md](../../acceptable-use-policies/uworld.md)

The Abuse Committee handles IRC operator abuse complaints, G-Line questions and issues, and manages connection limit exceptions. It is also the first contact for law enforcement agencies to contact our organization.

The Abuse Committee handles background check for new server operators as described in the [operators.md document](../../operators.md)

While the Abuse team should be a leader and encourage people to address network abuse, the responsibility of fighting network abuse is not in the team’s hands entirely.

Any Server Operator (SO) may participate in addressing network abuse even if they are not part of the abuse committee or any of its teams, as long as they respect the AUP and act professionally.

If an SO believes a rule is not adequate, they should first talk to the Abuse Coordinator(s). Ultimately, it is not the Abuse Coordinator(s)'s role to choose which rules do or do not apply. The SO can ask their SA to bring the discussion to the AB or start a discussion themself if the SO is also an SA.

Abuse-Com is responsible for maintaining global network connection limits in euworld through allowances by network subnet.

The Abuse Coordinator(s) do not manage services, with the exception of the Undernet RBL. They have the necessary euworld access to suspend opers and admins, and other responsibilities defined within this scope definition.

## 5. Code of Conduct

All members of the Abuse Committee's teams are expected to abide by the Undernet Charter's [Code of Conduct](https://charter.undernet.org/coc.html)

Within Abuse-Com, the Abuse coordinator(s) are responsible for addressing poor behavior during their abuse team related duties.

For opers and admins in general, anyone can intervene and point out when the code of conduct (CoC) is not respected. The application of the code of conduct is a shared responsibility. SO, SA and users can contact [[e-mail]](mailto:[e-mail]) for CoC issues, but it is not a necessity. The SA can be contacted directly too. For serious or repeated issues, the situation should be brought to the AB’s attention for discussion.

## 6. Making Changes

### 6.1. Changes in Abuse Coordinators

* A Coordinator may resign by notifying the Undernet AB.
* The resigning Coordinator may name another active Coordinator to effectively remove their seat.
* Should there be no other active Abuse Coordinator, a resigning Coordinator must nominate a successor.
* A successor or an additional coordinator may only be added according to the Charter sections [4.3 - Seconds](https://charter.undernet.org/changes.html#seconds) and [4.4 - Objections](https://charter.undernet.org/changes.html#objections)

### 6.2 Changes in Team Leaders

Team Leaders are normally given a lot of autonomy to manage their team. An Abuse Coordinator may be a member of a team, provide advice and recommendation, but they shouldn't interfere in the teams unless they feel that:

1. what is occurring isn't in accordance with what has been previously approved by the Administrative Body (AB); or
2. the team leader is not adequately performing their duties.

### 6.3. Changes to Policy

Changes to this policy document must always be communicated to the AB, following standard processes detailed in Undernet Charter sections [4.3 - Seconds](https://charter.undernet.org/changes.html#seconds) and [4.4 - Objections](https://charter.undernet.org/changes.html#objections).

Whilst voting is not required for change, Objections may be made if an AB member wishes to send the proposed change to vote.