DEFCON 201 — Ye Official Constitution
Preamble
We hold these truths to be self evident that all human hackers are created equal, and that all things are designed to be engineered, taken apart, and hacked. We, the hackers, of DEFCON 201, North New Jersey do solemnly conspire to hold in institution the finest collection of backyard engineer, hacks, and creative uses for all manners of technology. We seek a space to discus technology and work on projects free of outside restrictions imposed by detrimental social constructs. We inspire to be ethical, and hold the use of technology for the better of mankind in our works and plans. We are a DEF CON Group, Area Code 201, Northern New Jersey.
Section I — Vision
DEFCON 201 is a DEF CON group, and affiliate of the DEF CON Groups program started by DEF CON Hacker & Security Convention. We aim to provide the DEF CON experience in the off season, providing talks and workshops,in the Northern Eastern Section (general Hudson County area) of New Jersey. This shall be defined from the New York Border, South to the Driscol Bridge, and west until where Route 15 intersects Route 80. We encourage all others outside of this range to start or join other local DEF CON groups, but shall be welcome to attend anyway.
DEFCON 201 is a technical group, but we seek to involve members of all skill levels, and there is no skill level requirement to join. We are not an “elite” group, we invite all skill levels to attend and participate where hopefully everyone can learn something, and encourage public participation.
DEFCON 201 aims to give back to the community, and assist with charitable works of technology, and improving the lives of New Jerseyians through better use of technology.
DEFCON 201 is to identify as a hacker group, not an InfoSec organization or other labels. We aspire the keep the hacker spirit going. We aspire to be FREE as in speech, thinkers, and promote the ability of the individual to freely operate machines and all engineered constructs as they see fit, for ethical purposes.
DEFCON 201 aspires to register itself as a 501.3 charitable organization or whatever shall happen to replace that statue if said stature it is replaced that fulfills the same role. We aspire to do charity works of bringing technology to the communities of Northern New Jersey in a way that is FREE, OPEN, and helpful to the people of New Jersey. We seek to bridge the digital divide, not of just who gets to use technology but who gets to create technology.
DEFCON 201 as such, conspires to be a democracy of members, where members are equals brought together for their love of technology, engineering, and hacking in general.
DEFCON 201 is a DEF CON group, and shall do its earnest to place itself on good terms with all other DEF CON groups local and abroad in addition to the DEF CON event in Las Vegas.
Section II — Membership
1. Membership is to be open to all persons who either live, work, play, or identify with North Eastern New Jersey. Membership shall be open to, and without prejudice for members of any gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, national origin, or religion. There shall be no test of religion, ideology, creed or other belief, but we reserve the right to reject anyone who holds beliefs against the rights, dignity, and freedoms of persons based on race, national origin, gender, or sexual orientation. We reserve the right to refuse people who have made themselves known to start negative trouble with existing members, other groups, or in general. While we do not restrict membership based on age, but we ask that persons be intellectually and emotionally mature.
2. DEFCON 201 is a formal organization with an official membership list. To join DEFCON 201 you must be asked to join by the existing membership and then will be voted on by existing members. All membership votes must be unanimous. Only full members will have a right to vote on topics involving DEFCON 201’s operation methods and planning timeline. Membership will be phased to potentially weed out problematic persons and can revoked for violation of member rules.
3. There shall be three phases of membership:
A. Associate (Honorary Member, and/or Friend) of DEFCON 201. For all people just joining us, members of other DC groups, from outside the area, or with no real interest of formally joining. People who come and go, but have not made themselves unwelcome in any part. Will not have any responsibilities. May volunteer or express interest in joining formally. Not formally part of the organization. No voting rights and no access to DEFCON 201 Membership Resources.
B. Trial Member. After being an Associate for about 3 months or until our members feel comfortable about your public behavior and you’ve expressed interest in joining, you might be asked to be a Trial Member. Trial members are not to be abused, ordered around, or hazed. They must participate in DEFCON 201 events, and help out with things as members. Trial Members do not get a vote in group matters.
C. Full Member. In general, after another minimum 3 months, when the existing members feel comfortable. A Trial Member will be asked to join DEFCON 201 as a full member. All full members are considered equals. The vote must be unanimous, and it is a measure of trust in the member who is joining. Members shall have a vote on group issues and operations. Members shall have access to shared resources of the group, either equally, or as voted by DEFCON 201.
D. Founding Members. The Founding members of DEFCON 201 are Sidepocket and GI_Jack. There shall be no special privilege to founding, except their membership was not voted upon.
4. Revoking Membership. On the rare occasion we might need to revoke membership. A “vote to kick” may be brought up by any Full Member, and Full Member only. A reason why must be given. Valid reasons include: breaching the code of conduct, harassing other members, committing disreputable actions in the name of DEFCON 201, misusing monies or other club resources, and/or not participating for extended periods of time. The vote to kick must be unanimous of all voting members.
Section III — Business, Organization, Operation
1. While understanding and appreciating the difference between “black hat” and “unethical” actions: Neither black hat, nor unethical activities shall be brought to DEFCON 201.
2. All major issues shall be brought to vote. Simple issues shall require a simply majority to pass. Motions to change policy or the constitution shall require a 2/3rds super majority. All membership votes either in or out shall be unanimous.
3. Voting can either occur in person or via official DEFCON 201 online resources. The members section of the website has a poll. This shall be considered official. Online polls involving group business shall be online for about a week and made known to all members.
4. Membership can be revoked by a group vote to kick out an existing DEFCON 201 Member. Reasons to revoke membership include breaching the code of conduct, harassing other members, committing disreputable actions in the name of DEFCON 201, misusing monies or other club resources, and/or not participating for extended periods of time.
5. Club Officers shall be elected to fulfill roles in the organization. The only set role shall be moderator who leads discussions, and shall be able to break ties in organization votes. When DEFCON 201 incorporates as a charity, or for any other reason gains a budget or holds money, financial instruments or things of value, a Treasurer is to be elected for the purpose of managing these. Officers, other than moderators have no special rights, and are role oriented positions. The moderator is not to be above any other member.
6. Elections for moderator and all other officer positions are to be done every year during March of the organization’s Anniversary. Any full member in good standing may run. Voting is to be done in person, at the March meeting, or online if agreed by a 2/3s vote. If voting online, a vote must be posted in the members section, and be online for at least 1 month, or until all members vote. The winner of any election will be that person who receives the most votes, so long as they are more than %50 of the membership. If no candidate receives more than %50 of the vote, a runoff with the top three candidates will take place. If
6a. Recall Vote: Any elected position may be recalled with 60% super majority vote at any time for any reason. After a recall, a new vote shall be held to fulfill that position at earliest possible convenience.
7. In any vote two thirds (66%) of all eligible members need to vote for it to count. If a member has a good excuse for an absence on voting, and would wish to vote, it can be amended if no action has been taken.
8. No one shall trick or coerce a member into voting a certain way. Tricked or coerced votes will not be counted, and the voting process shall be restarted without tricks or coercion.
9. The moderator may do day to day running of the club and resolve minor issues on their own authority. However, any member at any time may reject this and call any club action of the moderator to a vote. The vote will always override a moderator’s decision.
10. Leave of Absence. Full members may leave for up to 1 year, where they are marked as inactive. Inactive members have no vote, but may keep their online services intact(such as email). After such time they will be removed.
11. Any person exhibiting abusive behavior, violating the rules, or acting counter to good nature of DEFCON 201 may be banned from DEFCON 201 meetings and events. Provokers will not be exempt from the DEFCON 201’s Constitution or Code of Conduct rules due to personal reasons.
Section IV — Five Points
It is here recognized our earlier 5 Points from the weblog are part of the creed DEFCON 201 character. This wording shall be considered cannon moving forward.
1. Project Oriented Workshop
DEFCON 201 is here to be a “hands on” workshop. While we aim to have great speakers from about the nation, and globe, we encourage our members, friends, associates and participants to get their hands dirty. We love to host talk by any participant. Share your interesting idea, and recruit more people to help further your technological endeavors.
2. No 1337 Skill requirements
We are not not an “elite” group, but instead aim to engage people of all skill levels and challenge them to learn more. We cater to all skill levels from beginner to advanced. Our mantra of “better than you where yesterday” is the only level of skill you need to obtain.
3. Rekindling the Hacker Ethic and Hacker Mentality
Information was meant to be FREE. This cannot be stated enough. We collectively feel a lot of the old hacker mindset has been washed away by very same skill specific trades such as “InfoSec” which have become glorified QA. It is even more appalling that many of these trades where started by hackers, but to the current crop of “professional”, hacker remains a dirty word. We want to challenge the way people look at technology, and this is more than simply a career path. This is a way of thinking, and a way of approaching certain situations. We are here to keep cyberspace Free, and the tools and information about these tools to be Freely available both online and off. We aspire to promote Free as in speech software and tools, and FREE, Democratic, Peer-led organizations to solve real world problems that real persons face.
4. Leave Nobody Behind
Our Founders and Members are all too familiar with being in an environment where you are attempting to learn and instead of guidance your peers are instead antagonistic and brings petty scene drama into the subject. We feel that not only does this stifle learning hacker skills and mentality but contributes to the already negative stigma of hackers in our community.
Therefore, we declare that DEFCON 201 will be an environment with a policy of improving everyone and not leaving people behind in the learning process. We either all succeed together or all fail together and we will repeat and try new methods of teaching for skills until everyone is on the same page.
5. Improve & Give Back To Local Community
There continues to be a stunning “digital divide” in who gets access to technology. DEFCON 201 aspires to give back to the community by helping bridge this gap, by making digital creation tools available to the public, and participate in projects that make a full internet capable general purpose computers available to all members of society regardless of their background, technical proficiency and perceived social status. To create projects that feature accessibility as a priority and to make fast, unrestricted internet available for everyone. Information is not truly FREE unless all are FREE to access it.
Section V — Code of Conduct
CLICK TO SEE SEPARATE DOCUMENT FEATURING AND DETAILING DEFCON 201 CODE OF CONDUCT
Section VI — Status Of A Living Document
Henceforth, the published DEFCON 201 Constitution and Code fo Conduct will be perceived as a Amendable Living Document. Terms and conditions for changing the rules are in Section III DEFCON 201 business.
The Constitution and Code of Conduct are published publicly on our website, blogs and editor websites such as GitHub (https://github.com/defcon201/). Each version of this document will also be archived on the DEFCON 201 Website and via the Internet Archive. We do not have any hidden rules, agendas or sections of this document outside of unpublished updated versions that are being edited for review. Only when a rewritten DEFCON 201 Constitution and Code of Conduct is published publicly does it go into “law” and can be referenced and acted upon.
This last sentence states that what has been written above has been edited, read, understood and approved by members who have voted to agree to published that will be verified by the DEFCON 201 Warrant Canary**.
** — As of writing, DEFCON 201 Warrant Canary is in Development
