WinterKnight’s Code of Ethics

Within InfoSec, ethical behavior is everything. Without it, we are no better than the criminals we are trying to protect against at best. At worst, we harm innocent people. Personal and professional ethics is something I take intensely seriously, and will not compromise on. So here I want to make a series of promises that I hope keep my professional integrity in check with my personal beliefs, especially as they pertain to how content is produced here.

1. I will treat my community with respect as human beings.
   1. When interacting with others, I will ensure that I respect the human behind the keyboard, especially during more difficult decisions such as moderating content or handling disagreements.
2. I will follow the law.
   1. I am based in the US, so I will follow US and my home state laws, even if I disagree with them.
3. I will be transparent with my community.
   1. This is especially important with how I make decisions around content, both production and moderation.
      1. For content production, I will disclose any income streams for specific pieces of content, affiliate links etc.
      2. I will never take any payment for the creation of a review, nor disguise any paid pieces as a review.
      3. I currently hold these streams open for income opportunities - outside of my day job:
         1. My Ko-Fi account.
         2. Fathom Analytics Affiliate Account.
      4. For content moderation, I will disclose actions taken against accounts, with the rationale as to why.
4. I will respect the privacy of my community.
   1. I do everything possible to respect privacy. I do not want random people calling me, finding out where I live, what I have been up to in my spare time, etc. I do not have any interest in your private lives, and have no desire to find out about them.
      1. I will not use or recommend services that are privacy invasive on this site unless there are no alternatives that I think are worth using.
5. I want to be held accountable
   1. If members of the community think I am breaching any of these principals, please call me out on it. Send me an email and I will happily reconsider past actions and make any necessary corrections.

Changelog

Initially posted: October 28th, 2022

Updated July 14th, 2023: Correcting “threat “to “treat”

Updated July 17th, 2023: Clarifying that I receive income from work on 3.a.iii

Updated July 18th, 2023: Clarifying privacy stance as it pertains to the website, also cut the tail end of 3.a.iv to make it less wordy