Bread&Net strives to be a welcoming, respectful, and collaborative space for discussing topics related to digital rights. To maintain this environment, everyone involved, including staff, speakers, and attendees, are expected to adhere to the highest standards of behavior outlined in this Code of Conduct. By participating in Bread&Net 2025, you agree to abide by the terms of this Code to ensure everyone feels safe, comfortable, and respected.
This year’s iteration of Bread&Net will be hybrid, conducted both online and in-person in Beirut, Lebanon. We want to maintain a safe space where all participants can engage constructively and thoughtfully with each other while ensuring their physical, digital, and emotional security. Our diligent team is committed to taking all measures necessary to make this a reality. By adhering to the Code of Conduct, each participant can do their part in making Bread&Net 2025 a safer space for all. This Code applies equally to all aspects of the event, including in-person interactions at the venue in Beirut, Lebanon, and virtual participation through our online platform. We recognize that hybrid events come with unique challenges, such as managing respectful communication across digital and physical environments, and we are committed to ensuring an inclusive and safe experience for all participants.
We expect you to be considerate and respectful to all community members. Refrain from demeaning, discriminatory, or harassing behavior, materials, and speech. We encourage you to speak up if you witness any threatening or disrespectful behavior that conflicts with this Code of Conduct.
Examples of unacceptable behaviors include:
All participants must comply with the instructions of the moderator and/or any Bread&Net Staff Member or designated personnel.
Abiding by the Code
One of the key pillars of Bread&Net is that everyone involved feels safe, respected, and dignified. Therefore, the Code of Conduct committee has the right to drop sessions, cancel a talk, ban attendees or staff, terminate business with collaborators, physically or virtually remove a party from the conference space, or take any other necessary measure in case concerns are flagged against a party involved with Bread&Net. These concerns include but are not limited to violent or intimidating behavior, discriminatory comments, verbal or physical harassment, engaging in misinformation, disinformation, or defamation, promoting state or non-state actors engaged in human rights violations or war crimes, or any other unacceptable behavior listed above.
Discrimination
At Bread&Net, we do not tolerate any discrimination based on race, color, gender identity and expression, sexuality, religion, age, class, nationality, ethnicity, disability, medical condition, physical appearance, body size, refugee and displacement status, nationalist ideologies, or language. Accordingly, our participants may not conduct themselves in a way that unjustifiably favors or discriminates against particular individuals or interests.
Harassment
We are committed to maintaining a safe and healthy shared environment in which no participant is excluded from participation, denied benefits, or subjected to discrimination in any Bread&Net activity. Harassment is therefore strictly prohibited. Harassment encompasses forms of unwelcome conduct, online or in person, including physical, verbal, sexual, intellectual, and otherwise, that can create a hostile and/or harmful environment.
Defamation
We define defamation as damaging speech, both spoken (slander) or documented materially, in images or writing (libel) —physically or electronically— that is intended to damage another individual’s reputation. Reputations take years to build and maintain; any misleading information about an attending individual at the conference will be taken very seriously.
Privacy and Confidentiality
All participants are obligated to respect the privacy of fellow participants. Participants may use pseudonyms or take any other reasonable measure in order to protect their privacy. Participants are free to repeat information shared during a session, but the identity, affiliation or other personal information of other participants may not be shared without their expressed consent. Participants will also refrain from posting about specific individuals or tagging them on social media unless express consent is obtained.
Suggestion: Photography is prohibited during the event. Only authorized staff may take photos and record videos, to ensure that the privacy preferences of those who do not wish to be recorded are respected.
Code of Conduct Visibility
The code of conduct will be embedded in the registration process. All registrants will be required to read and acknowledge that they have read and understood the Code of Conduct during the registration process. The Code of Conduct will also be available on the Bread&Net website at all times.
At the start of each session, speakers and moderators will remind participants of the level of privacy expected. This will also be noted in the session description. Video and audio recording of sessions and activities is forbidden. Written records of sessions, including through transcripts, blogs, and articles, must redact the identifying information of fellow participants unless their express consent is provided. Failure to safeguard confidential or privately shared information, including publication of private communication without consent is considered a violation of this Code of Conduct.
Failure to comply with this Code will be dealt with promptly, seriously, and confidentially.
Code of Conduct Visibility
The code of conduct will be embedded in the registration process. All registrants will be required to read and acknowledge that they have read and understood the Code of Conduct during the registration process. The Code of Conduct will also be available on the Bread&Net website at all times.
At the start of each session, speakers and moderators will remind participants of the level of privacy expected. This will also be noted in the session description. Video and audio recording of sessions and activities is forbidden. Written records of sessions, including through transcripts, blogs, and articles, must redact the identifying information of fellow participants unless their express consent is provided. Failure to safeguard confidential or privately shared information, including publication of private communication without consent is considered a violation of this Code of Conduct.
Failure to comply with this Code will be dealt with promptly, seriously, and confidentially.
Reporting Mechanisms
If you fall victim to or become a target of any of of the above harmful behavior or witness actions by others that conflict with this Code, please send your complaint to the Code of Conduct committee immediately via Signal number: +961 81 633 133 or on coc@breadandnet.org, or find a member of Bread&Net staff during the event so they could aid you with the reporting process.
Handling Complaints
Once we receive a case of misconduct or a complaint, our team will immediately take necessary measures to ensure the reporting individual is safe and that there is no threat by the reported perpetrator to them or the community. We will then offer all support needed for the reporting individual and take immediate action against the reported party.
Complaints will be addressed by the Code of Conduct Committee within 24 hours.
All complaints will remain anonymous unless the complainant expresses consent to the alternative. If the concern or complaint regards a member of the Code of Conduct committee, we can assure the complainant that the committee member will not handle the complaint, nor will the contents of the complaint, including the complainant’s identity, be disclosed to them. If this makes the complainant uncomfortable, or they would otherwise find this process difficult for another reason, they may reach out to a member of the Bread & Net team they trust, and that team member will escalate the complaint to the appropriate channels.
Bread&Net’s Code of Conduct committee makes decisions on the basis of reported behavior taking place at Bread&Net online and offline space that violates the values enshrined in this Code of Conduct.
The Code of Conduct committee will respond to all complaints appropriately, taking into account the nature and severity of the offense, and support for the complainant. Possible actions the committee may take include, but are not limited to, warnings, expulsion from the ongoing and/or future Bread&Net iterations, or restricting access to our social media channels.
In exceptional cases, criminal charges may be filed. Individuals about whom the complaint is made will be given an opportunity to make representations to the committee either during or after the event.
We welcome constructive comments from participants on our Code of Conduct. Please contact us at coc@breadandnet.org.
