We the users of the free and open source community, in order to form a more perfect network, establish justice, ensure chat tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote open source software, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and future users, establish this constitution for IRCNow.

Article I

  1. Policy decisions, including how network funds are spent, will be determined by the network council. This will consist of a senate and a house.
  2. In the senate, each subnet gets one vote.
  3. In the house, each subnet gets 1 vote per verified active user.
  4. The network council has the power to determine:
    1. How network funds are spent
    2. What types of services, software, and protocols will be used across the network
    3. Deals made with competitors and other networks
    4. Recruiting of new team members and what training to provide
    5. How to punish abusers and criminals
  5. The network council is not allowed to vote to ban users

Article II

  1. A president will be elected once every 2 years. He must have been a registered user for at least 4 years.
  2. The president has the power to make deals with competitors and other networks provided he has 2/3rds support of the house.
  3. The president can appoint judges to help decide on content policy.

Article III

  1. The judges, who must be Christians of good standing, decide on content moderation policy in accordance with the Bible.

Unclear

  1. The network will have the ability to charge fees for network transactions as well as the ability to directly tax subnets based on active user count.
  1. No person may represent a subnet unless he has been a registered user for 2 years.
  2. A verified user must have been a registered user for a minimum of 1 year and have a GPG key that has been signed off by 3-5 other verified users.
  1. The network must ensure that all software used remains fully open source and free software. This means that all members have the right to use, modify, copy, and distribute the software for any purpose at any cost without needing to ask for permission. Any officer attempting to subvert this goal for the network can be banned from the network.
  2. Each subnet has the right to decide:
    1. how it spends its own revenues
    2. its own policies, including for membership
    3. the specific software it runs provided that they are for the public interest and follow the open source principles above
  3. Users who are banned or frozen have the right to appeal to a higher court except during times of emergencies as approved by vote in the network council
  4. Amendments to this constitution can be passed by 2/3rd majority vote in both the house of members and the house of sysadmins.
  5. Any other powers not mentioned here which are not forbidden are reserved to the subnets.

Member Bill of Rights

  1. No rule will be passed to prohibit the free exercise of the Christian religion
  2. All permanent bans and account freezes must be accompanied by evidence (logs, screenshots, witnesses) as proven in court
  3. Punishment must fit the crime and must not be excessive or cruel
  4. Members can appeal a decision and should receive a fair trial by jury of peers
  5. Members should be considered innocent until proven guilty
  6. Only automated search and seizure can be performed on a routine basis.
  7. Non-automated searches of personal data require suspicious behavior and approval by another oper.
  8. If an account is permanently frozen, all purchases and credits must be refunded to the user

There are two ways to become an oper:

  1. You can provide your full legal name, address, and phone number, or
  2. You must be put on a trial period for 1-year, provide online references, and a receive a special vote of approval by other opers

Opers must abide by the following rules:

  1. Opers will be required to log in weekly and to participate in discussions set aside for network policy.

Rules

  1. All sales and expenses from IRCNow services must be reported to the council. A public report must be prepared each year.
  2. Any gifts or income received from competing businesses must be reported.
  1. Opers can ban spammers instantly without review.
  2. Convicted offenders can be banned instantly without further review if opers can prove their identity.