Policy for the protection of GEOpard FIDAL users
from all forms of violence and inappropriate conduct
One team, many captains
GEOpard is made up of people who love and know sport but who also know how to go beyond barriers and understand how through sport, specially running, it is possible to overcome all forms of loneliness, including all those that lead to radicalize one’s thoughts. and their own actions. As a member of the GEOpard staff it is important that you know our community and its rules, in order to be a point of reference for our guys, one of the many captains of our team, ready to support and facilitate.
When in a Team you always win
GEOpard has three souls and all dependent on each other
Fidal is the leader of the project and its staff represents the Central team and the Administrators of the web platform , together with a support structure represented by an external agency .
The collateral Teams or Partners of the project are represented by the associations that have joined GEOpard in the various countries and by their coordinators who are also the first points of reference for each GEOpard user outside of Italy.
And then there is the awesome community of GEOpard represented by all the subscribers to the platform and who have decided to share its ideals through sport and running in particular.
GEOpard! Nobody is excluded
GEOpard is aimed at those who love running but who have a great desire to share their passion and create a new network of friends! GEOpard does not care if you are already a practicing sportsman, if you are a FIDAL member, if you belong to a sports association, if volunteering is your home … we only care that you are passionate about running … but also only feel like fighting loneliness by embracing friends all over Europe.
Our webapp is present throughout Europe and means sharing through running. The necessary condition to be able to experience these positive effects is that being a GEOpard is always safe and offers protection from possible abuse or mistreatment.
The Right Start: Respect
Respect for the rights and protection of all users is the starting line for GEOpard, which is committed to ensuring that every possible measure is taken to minimize the potential risks that may be incurred in using the platform. GEOpard also undertakes to respect and enforce the principles enshrined in the Ethical Charter of Atletica Italiana. Take a look to understand how we can prevent and educate against any risky behaviour and reach the goal of following our passion by fighting any radicalization but respecting ourselves!
Let’s jump the obstacles together
The obstacles that we could find on our race are phenomena that can occur both online and offline. They are all forms of violence or damage to the dignity or rights of others, some of which are also configured as crimes.
GEOpard condemns and, with your help, intends not to tolerate any of these phenomena and therefore undertakes to implement measures to prevent them and to report and manage them in an appropriate and timely manner.
How to recognize them? Let’s examine them:
PRIME (Grooming): attempt by an adult to bring a child / adolescent or for sexual purposes, through a relationship of trust in order to overcome the emotional barriers and establish with him / her an intimate or sexualized relationship.
CYBERBASHING: type of cyberbullying consisting in videotaping physical aggression / violence in real life and then publishing it online.
CYBERSTALKING (IT stalking): behaviour implemented online through particularly insistent and intimidating offenses and harassment such as to make the victim fear for their physical safety.
DENIGRATION: offensive activity carried out intentionally by the aggressor aimed at damaging the reputation and the friends’ network of another person. The derogatory conduct is also revealed in a single action capable of generating unpredictable cascading effects thanks also to the support of other users on the internet.
DISCRIMINATION: any distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference based on race, colour, descent or national or ethnic origin which has the purpose or effect of cancelling or prejudicing the recognition, enjoyment or exercise, on an equal footing, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural or any other type of public life.
EXCLUSION: intentional exclusion of a person from online groups, chats, blogs, password-protected social networks by a person or group on the network. This conduct can also be put into practice in reality, excluding the person from the friend / work network specifically, also through the use of gossip, rumors, slander.
FLAMING (from Flame – flame, inflame): verbally very aggressive, violent, vulgar behavior that sees two people / users, who may not know each other, exchange messages online for quite a while.
IDENTITY THEFT (Catfish): phenomenon concerning the online assumption of a false identity belonging to a high user. Sensitive data of the victim in terms of name, surname, professional and personal images can be stolen.
HARASSMENT: the sending, repeated over time, of publicly shared insults and vulgarities through the use of digital technologies. In addition, the offender can monitor the victim’s movements through spyware.
HATE SPEECH: the set of verbal language, posts, images, comments and practices (which take place not only online) implemented by one person / group towards another / or in order to incite hatred, to violence. Such aggression can be based on any discrimination (racial, ethnic, religious, gender or sexual orientation, disability, etc.).
IMPERSONATION (Replacement of person): the ability and the possibility to violate an account and access, without any authorization, programs and contents belonging to the person who owns the same.
MAILBOMING: one of the cyberattacks that consists in sending many messages to an e-mail address. Often causing slowdowns and blockages of mail servers.
OUTING AND TRICKERY (Fraud, deception; revelation, coming into the open): behaviour that consists in publishing or sharing, with third parties, the information confided by the victim following a period of friendship in which a relationship of trust has been established.
PHISHING: computer scam carried out via e-mails that are sent to the victim disguised as communications from official services / corporations, thanks to counterfeit logos. The ultimate goal is to deceive the victim by convincing him to provide information and personal data (password, etc …).
SEXTING: the action of sending, posting photos and / or text messages, sexually explicit or sexual videos. Usually, you send this content because you trust the person you are texting with. The pervasiveness of the diffusion of the contents, the loss of control of the contents and their possible virality, the persistence of the phenomenon contributes to the secondary victimization for the victim who will have the ruined reputation.
SEXTORTION (Sexual Blackmail): the non-physical behaviour of coercion to extort sexual favours, money from a designated victim (also in order to scare and intimidate her), blackmailing her to send more and more sexually explicit content or to send it continuously.
RADICALIZATION: a growing willingness to support hard-to-achieve changes in society, which may aim at the abolition of the established democratic order and which may involve the use of undemocratic methods. A process that causes an individual or group to accept, support or encourage the use of violence as a political means. A process of personal evolution by which an individual adopts increasingly extreme political or political-religious ideas and objectives, with the conviction that the achievement of these objectives justifies extreme methods. A process of adopting an extremist belief and a willingness to use, support or encourage violence and fear as methods of changing society. This process represents the transition from ideas to actions.
REVENGE PORN: the public sharing of sexually explicit and / or intimate images or videos via the network, without the consent of the protagonists of the same.
TROLLING: a user of a virtual community, usually anonymous, who obstructs the normal course of a discussion by sending provocative, irritating or off-topic messages.
PHYSICAL VIOLENCE: occurs whenever physical energy is used with an object or human force on the body of another person, causing an injury or a disease of the body or mind.
PSYCHOLOGICAL VIOLENCE: non-explicit attitudes, consisting of angry, threatening glances or silences aimed at explicit attitudes supplemented by continuous phrases of disapproval and denigration.
SEXUAL VIOLENCE: the coercion by violence or threat to perform or suffer sexual acts.
Why do we talk about it?
GEOpard adopts this policy with the primary purpose of protecting all those who run on Geopard from inappropriate and harmful conduct deriving from participation in the platform’s activities.
This document intends to clarify the roles and responsibilities of each member / athlete, of the coaches, of the platform administrator, of the Federations that are connected to the project and of all the people who act within GEOpard without distinction of sex, race, language. , religion, political opinions, personal and social conditions. This not only to guide the correct and responsible use of the platform but also to raise awareness of running as a positive and inclusive practice.
A race without risks
When you register in GEOpard and before you start running, you must agree to the following Terms of Use , the Code of Conduct, the Community Guidelines and to Privacy Policy and disclosure of cookies .
How the GEOpard Team is ready to support our users
GEOpard makes available to users a series of useful references to manage emergencies and/or difficulties that require a response from the competent agencies and services in the area.
It also undertakes to remove the accounts of users who use it in an inadequate and harmful way to the rights and dignity of others and to promptly and without delay report to the competent local authorities any activity that could constitute a crime.
If they report inappropriate behaviour, you can recommend using the “unfollow” function and have the site manager report directly via the “block and report” function.
Do you know what the responsibilities of each user are?
- have a respectful behaviour of the values on which GEOpard is founded
- be careful to correctly manage your personal information and that of others (privacy)
- having respect for oneself and for others in reality and in “virtuality”
- use language (written and verbal) that is positive and proactive and never vulgar
- report any risky or harmful behaviour, even suspicious, related to the risks listed above.
And the contact rules:
Rule # 1: Wait for the other person to reply, if they decide to do so.
Rule # 2: Try again once is fine, twice you pass, three times is too much.
Rule # 3: Respect the other person in all circumstances: no offensive or outrageous proposals
And those of the Coaches:
The coach must ensure the highest professional standards related to teaching sports practice and behaviour.
Once identified by the lead body, they undertake to:
- read and accept the conditions of the platform guidelines
- give clear and precise information to subscribers
- never ask for money or other gifts from members
- organize group events, live, in compliance with the guidelines and the ethical charter of GEOpard
- to pay attention to the recommended exercises, based on the specific psycho-physical characteristics of each member (Eg: Carta Etica FIDAL )
- Promptly report inappropriate conduct, crimes or abuses of which they are victims or perpetrators registered on the platform to the contact person in their country.
What should be reported to the GEOpard team:
- text messages, sexually explicit or sexually motivated videos
- inappropriate / violent behaviours and languages, posts, images, comments and practices (which take place not only online) implemented in order to offend, denigrate, incite hatred, violence and based on any discrimination (racial, ethnic, religious, gender or sexual orientation, disability, etc.)
- provocative, irritating or off-topic chat messages deliberately aimed at obstructing the normal course of a discussion by sending messages
- Breaking the guidelines of behavior of coaches and users
- News of a crime or situation of serious injury
How can you report:
Use the email address info@geopard.com to report to the GEOpard Central Team as soon as you notice or are reported to be behaving that may violate the rules of our platform. The e-mail will be handled in total confidentiality by the GEOpard Central Team which will, if necessary, activate the procedures defined in the following paragraph “What happens next”.
For all users of the partner countries of Geopard (Bulgaria, Croatia, Portugal, Slovenia) there is also the possibility to contact the contact persons of the project Partners through the communication channels established by the association. The contact persons of the partners will evaluate the appeal to the competent local authorities and will communicate to the central team of GEOpard.
Any other person who indirectly has become aware of behaviors harmful to the principles and policies of GEOpard by means of the activities carried out through the same platform can report in any way he deems appropriate.
What happens next:
Once the directors have analysed the content of the report, they can:
- Remove the message by sending a warning to the author.
- Remove the account
- Report to the competent authorities if a potential crime is identified.
The responsibilities of GEOpard and its partners in detail:
- Periodic monitoring of user data from unauthorized access and non-compliant activities.
- Identification, training and supervision of the coach.
- Clear indications for users about the behaviour to be followed when using the platform.
- Production and dissemination of information material against discrimination and all forms of “onlife” violence through the social platforms of GEOpard.
The project partners (Associations and local authorities) that adhere to the project undertake to:
- identify a reference figure who is responsible for declining the behavioral principles enshrined in this policy and in the other reference documents of the GEOpard platform for the purposes of application in their own territory
- Monitor the chat and the activities that take place on your territory as a result of using the platform:
- Create a mapping of the entities / authorities on the territory able to offer protection in particular:
- Police post
- Police
- Listening and support points against violence of all kinds and against anyone
- Report any inappropriate conduct and / or concerns about a user’s behavior to the platform administrators.
The Project Leader undertakes to
- Periodically monitor user data by verifying and reporting unauthorized access and non-compliant or potentially dangerous activities to the platform administration.
- Provide clear indications for users about the behavior to be followed in using the platform and in the relationship with other users
- Produce and disseminate information material against discrimination and all forms of “onlife” violence through the social platforms of GEOpard.
As platform administrator we are committed to:
- Promptly intervening to remove any content may be in conflict with the principles sanctioned by the GEOpard platform and reported in this and in any other document on the site and to which express reference is made;
- Constantly adapt their policies to any form of incorrect use of the tools and contents of their platform, also reserving the possibility of referring to any competent authority;
- Unsubscribe from the platform of any user responsible for conduct that is detrimental to the principles enshrined in this and any other GEOpard document but also for the violation of laws, regulations, ethical and moral conduct in which the platform recognizes itself;
As agency that manages the platform we are committed to:
- Make it possible to promptly intervene by the directors in order to remove any content and / or users that may violate the regulations set out above;
- Create and adapt every possible monitoring tool for use by administrators
- Report any computer activity that may give rise to hacking phenomena, improper use of the platform, intrusion into data or the personal sphere of one or all users
- Create the ideal conditions (graphics, accessibility, ease of access, etc.) for each user to access the policies and all GEOpard documentation
Monitoring:
This document will be revised every 2 years or in the presence of substantial project changes. The project leader is responsible for monitoring through periodic checks on the use of the platform and compliance with this document. Based on the monitoring, actions can be developed to fill any gaps and mitigate any new risks identified.
Resources used :
iGloss @ 1.1 – the ABC of deviant behavior online at https://www.giustizia.it/giustizia/it/mg_2_5_12.page?group=C ; https://www.generazioniconnesse.it/site/it/home-page/ ; https://www.giustizia.it/giustizia/it/mg_1_12_1.page?facetNode_1=0_0&facetNode_2=4_95&contentId=SPS1143166&previsiousPage=mg_1_12 .