Membership in the ISOC – Code of Conduct

The Code of Conduct

* When designing, implementing, operating and using Internet technology and services,
* when formulating or influencing relevant policies, laws, and regulations,
* and in all professional and personal dealings an ISOC member will:

1. Take all reasonable care to ensure that his or her work and the products of his or her work cause
no avoidable danger or physical harm to any person.
2. Take all reasonable steps to minimise waste of natural resources, damage to the environment,
and damage to products of human skill and industry.
3. If his or her professional advice is not accepted, take all reasonable steps to ensure that all
persons neglecting or over-ruling this advice are aware of the possible danger or damage which
may result.
4. Avoid deploying technologies that defeat generally accepted technical principles of the Internet,
as documented primarily by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). In particular, avoid
technologies that tend to subdivide access to the Internet rather than preserving its universal,
unique, and international nature, except as required by security mechanisms mentioned in the next
paragraph.
5. Pay particular attention to the protection of Internet services against disaster and against a
physical or electronic attack, and to the protection of the integrity and privacy of stored or
transmitted information.
6. Take all reasonable steps, including education and the wide spreading of knowledge, to ensure
the Internet can be available, accessible, and useful to everyone.
7. Only offer or claim to offer opinions or services that lie within the member's actual knowledge or
competence.
8. In the case of financial or material conflict between personal and professional interests, or
between two professional interests, declare this conflict to all interested parties and if appropriate in
public.
9. Respect the generally accepted norms of Internet etiquette for human communications,
especially by avoiding communications that are false or are likely to be considered as discourteous,
objectionable, malicious, unwanted, or causing unjustified loss of prestige. Avoid fraudulent or
deceptive statements.
10. Respect the rights of all Internet users to privacy of, and freedom of access to, information and
communication; promote these rights within the limits of his or her power.
11. Treat all users and colleagues fairly and on equal terms.
12. Respect legitimate intellectual property rights, do not plagiarize the work of others, and give
credit to the originators of ideas.
13. Encourage others to follow this code of conduct, and discourage breaches of this code. Offer
and accept honest and constructive criticisms of opinions and work as they relate to this code.
14. Not associate with, and not allow ISOC's name to be associated with, persons or organizations
consistently in breach of this code.

                                           Copyright © 2003 The Internet Society. All Rights Reserved.
This document and translations of it may be copied and furnished to others, provided that the above copyright notice and this
paragraph are included on all such copies and translations. This document itself may not be modified in any way, except as required
to translate it into languages other than English. However, derivative works may be created by organizations other than the Internet
Society for their own use, on the condition that all reference to the Internet Society is removed.

ISOC code of conduct

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