Crown Dependencies OSINT
Code of Conduct
The Crown Dependencies (‘CD’) OSINT Community has a duty to defend the realm. This Code of Conduct sets out a body of principles developed in a multi-stakeholder process with CD, UK and EU government representatives, journalists, academics, NGOs, businesses and technologists to 1) improve accountability for practitioners operating in the UK and beyond, and 2) provide an ethical standard by which organisations, not just individual practitioners, can and should be measured.
Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) involves targeted analysis of data that’s accessed by any person regardless of their geography or background who possesses relatively minimal levels of educational, technical, or financial resources to do so.
Open Source Intelligence (OSINT), and by extension its analysis in general, is a critical component of National Security and the defence of British interests.
By agreeing to this Code of Conduct, individuals, businesses, charities, and government organisations commit to the following principles and actions:
- I/we shall not engage in nor contribute to criminal activity in opposition to both the letter and spirit of domestic and international law.
- I/we undertake to use all reasonable means to ensure OSINT is directed, collected, processed, analysed and disseminated by means that are justified, authorised, proportionate, auditable, and necessary.
- I/we shall conform to the spirit of international humanitarian laws (Universal Declaration on Human Rights, Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union and Charter of the United Nations) in the pursuit and execution of OSINT.
- I/we shall direct, collect, process, analyse, and disseminate OSINT in accordance with applicable law(s).
By agreeing to the CD OSINT Community Code of Conduct, members and partners of the CD OSINT Community shall operate in accordance with the above-stated principles.
The CD OSINT Community reserves the right to eject signatories from our charter if they do not adhere to the principles.