DRAPAC Community Codex

Code of Conduct

Privacy Policy

Updated 13 September 2024

The Community for Digital Rights in Asia-Pacific (DRAPAC Community) is committed to creating a safe, inclusive, and dignified environment for all. This code of conduct is a living document that sets out the norms and standards that apply in all interactions between persons involved in activities, during events, on platforms, or within spaces organised by or for the DRAPAC Community. 

We expect everyone participating in DRAPAC Community activities, events, platforms, or spaces to observe and abide by this code of conduct. Any violation of this code of conduct may result in appropriate sanctions, including but not limited to a warning, temporary removal, or permanent ban.

Core values

Mutual respect – We treat everyone with dignity and respect, regardless of background, beliefs, or experiences. This means fostering an environment free from discrimination, harassment, and abuse of power. We value diverse perspectives and engage in open and honest dialogue, even when we disagree.

Equality and non-discrimination – We believe in the fundamental human rights of all people and strive to create a space where everyone feels welcome and empowered to participate. We do not tolerate discrimination based on factors such as sex, race, colour, ethnic or social origin, genetic features, language, religion or belief, political or any other opinion, membership of a national minority, property, birth, disability, age, or sexual orientation.

Professionalism and integrity – We act with honesty and transparency in all our endeavours. This includes being truthful in our communication, accountable for our actions, and using our powers and privileges responsibly. We strive to build trust within the community and uphold the highest ethical standards.

Unacceptable behaviours

Discrimination, harassment, sexual harassment, and abuse of authority, as described below, are unacceptable in the DRAPAC Community and should be reported.

Discrimination is any unfair treatment or arbitrary distinction based on a person’s sex, race, colour, ethnic or social origin, genetic features, language, religion or belief, political or any other opinion, membership of a national minority, property, birth, disability, age, or sexual orientation. The use of biased, bigoted, intolerant, prejudiced, contemptuous, and demeaning images, symbols, gestures, or phrases related to the targeted person’s protected attributes constitutes discrimination. Discrimination may be an isolated event affecting a person or a group of persons similarly situated, or may manifest itself through harassment or abuse of authority.

Harassment is any improper and unwelcome conduct by a person that might reasonably be expected or perceived to cause offence or humiliation to another person. Harassment may take the form of words, gestures, or actions which tend to annoy, alarm, abuse, demean, intimidate, belittle, humiliate, or embarrass the targeted person or which create an intimidating, hostile, and unwelcoming environment for them. Harassment normally implies a series of incidents. Expressing disagreement with someone’s opinions or actions does not normally constitute harassment.

Sexual harassment is any unwelcome sexual advance, request for sexual favour, verbal or physical conduct or gesture of a sexual nature, or any other behaviour of a sexual nature by a person that might reasonably be expected or perceived to cause offence or humiliation to another person. Sexual harassment interferes with the targeted person’s safety and well-being and creates an intimidating, hostile, and unwelcoming environment for them. While typically involving a pattern of behaviour, it can also take the form of a single incident. Sexual harassment may be perpetrated by and against persons of any gender identity and sexual orientation.

Abuse of authority is the improper use of a position of influence, power, or privilege by a person against another person. This is particularly serious when a person uses their influence, power, or authority to improperly gain an advantage or benefit over someone or something. Abuse of authority may also include conduct that creates an intimidating, hostile, and unwelcoming environment which includes, but is not limited to, the use of manipulation, threats, blackmail, or coercion. Discrimination and harassment, including sexual harassment, are particularly serious when accompanied by abuse of authority.

Complaints mechanism

You may report unacceptable behaviours by making a complaint to the Code of Conduct Panel, which is responsible for interpreting and enforcing this code of conduct. Members of the Panel shall investigate and respond to all complaints in a timely and diligent manner with impartiality, confidentiality, and transparency.

In the event of a potential conflict of interest, the conflicted members must recuse themselves from conducting any investigation and deciding on any response concerning the complaint. The Panel may invite ad hoc members from within or outside the DRAPAC Community to investigate and respond to a complaint.

Present members of the Code of Conduct Panel are:

Cho Thazin Aung
[email protected] (public key)

Julie Soriano-Velasquez
[email protected] (public key)

Katerina Francisco
[email protected] (public key)

Pavitra Ramanujam
[email protected] (public key)

Phet Sayo
[email protected] (public key)

Red Tani
[email protected] (public key)

Sara Pacia
[email protected] (public key)

You may make a complaint if you become a target or a witness of unacceptable behaviour in activities, during events, on platforms, or within spaces organised by or for the DRAPAC Community. You may send your complaint anonymously, but it may limit the ability of the Panel to investigate and respond to your complaint. If you are not comfortable communicating with the whole Panel, you may submit your complaint to individual members whom you trust. You may withdraw your complaint at any time.

The measures taken by the Panel may vary on a case-by-case basis. In all cases, the Panel shall prioritise the safety and well-being of the persons who are at risk of being harmed. The Panel shall gather evidence and testimony, either independently or from the parties involved, and review them before deliberating on a response to your complaint. When necessary, the Panel may consult external parties to provide expert guidance concerning your complaint, e.g., engaging a lawyer for legal advice. The Panel may publicly disclose relevant information pertaining to your complaint with consent from all parties involved.

Updated 19 March 2025

The Community for Digital Rights in Asia-Pacific (DRAPAC Community) is committed to respecting, protecting, and promoting everyone’s personal data privacy and security. This privacy policy is a living document that governs the collection, use, and sharing of personal data of persons involved in activities, during events, on platforms, or within spaces organised by or for the DRAPAC Community.

Personal responsibility

We encourage all members of the DRAPAC Community to take proactive steps to adequately protect their privacy and safeguard their personal data, especially sensitive personally identifiable information.

You should assess your own data privacy threats and vulnerabilities when participating in DRAPAC Community activities, events, platforms, or spaces and mitigate the risks accordingly. Your risk mitigation strategy may include the following measures:

1. Withhold personally identifiable information unless absolutely required and necessary;
2. Only use private and end-to-end encrypted communication channels when sharing personal data;
3. Store sensitive personally identifiable information in an encrypted format; and
4. Use privacy protection tools like the Tor browser, email aliases, anti-tracking DNS, etc.

Photography consent

To safeguard the privacy and security of all participants of DRAPAC Community activities, events, platforms, or spaces, we require the organisers or persons in charge to enforce the following rules:

1. Obtain consent before taking a photo of someone;
2. Obtain consent before privately or publicly sharing your photo of someone; and
3. If someone has withdrawn their consent to taking or sharing a photo of them, permanently delete or remove all copies of the photo.

In public activities, events, platforms, or spaces involving a large number of participants, the organisers or persons in charge may facilitate the use of common indicators for participants to give their consent to be photographed. Such indicators must be on an opt-in basis, e.g. use of green stickers for participants who consent to being photographed.

Data sharing disclosure

Additionally, we require organisers and persons in charge of DRAPAC Community activities, events, platforms, or spaces to explicitly disclose if they are sharing any personal data with a third party.

The data sharing disclosure should appear at the point of data collection, specify the purpose of data sharing, and name all the third parties who will have access to the data.

Web cookies and tracking

EngageMedia maintains drap.ac, drapac.net, and all relevant DRAPAC websites. We use cookies for identity and access management, web security, web analytics, and web performance.

For web security and web analytics, we also use third-party services provided by Cloudflare. Cloudflare retains a log of your IP address, browser user agent, and other information derived from them, such as your approximate location, your internet service provider, your device type, and similar details in EngageMedia’s account. To bypass Cloudflare IP and browser tracking, you may access the DRAPAC website using Tor browser or VPN.

Third-party services

This website uses Amazon Simple Email Service (Amazon SES) managed by EngageMedia for outbound emails.

This website uses Stripe Payments managed by EngageMedia for online payment processing.

DRAPAC VPN Bot uses Telegram Bot API and WhatsApp Business Platform Cloud API managed by EngageMedia for automated messages on Telegram and WhatsApp.

These third-party services retain relevant meta data of your correspondences and interactions with DRAPAC websites and tools for a limited period in accordance with to their respective privacy and data retention policies.

Your rights

We occasionally update this policy and encourage you to periodically review this policy to stay informed about how we protect personal information that we collect.

You are entitled to view and request copies, deletion, and modification of the personal data collected. Note that these rights do not apply if they conflict with other legal obligations.

For further information regarding your rights, this privacy policy, or the handling of your personal data, please email [email protected].