Platform Activity Standards
Effective 2019-10-08
People come to iMatr to be heard, to Have their Say, to see What Others Think, and to get to know their political candidates, representatives, organizations and government. They also come to connect others with causes and issues that are important to their lives and their communities.
The opinions, views and positions of our users, reflect the diversity in Canadian democracy and the fact that Canadians can freely say what's on their mind, without the fear, prejudice, alienation or retribution. It's a mature democracy for the here and now and for the future.
Thats why we take our responsibility and role in keeping abuse and falsity off our service platform seriously.
Integrity, authenticity and misinformation
educational, humorous, or satirical purposes
as an act or form of protest, or to raise awareness about an issue or cause
requests for removal of a user account by the account holder
requests to remove a deceased user's account by a verified immediate family member or executor
requests to remove an incapacitated user's account by an authorized representative
requests by a user to remove their content that has been previously posted and shared
iMatr shall comply with:
requests to remove an underage account by a competent authority
government requests for removal of content related to minors
legal guardian requests for removal of issues and content regarding unintentionally famous minors
User identities
It has become common practice for people on the Internet to register and use fake names and identities to access sites, chat rooms, blogs and forums. It's probably because users in these instances, never take ownership of some on-line activity in their real name. For example, users who book flights on-line, wouldn't use a fake name. Why? Well, because they expect to be contacted at their real email address with not only a confirmation of their booking, giving the user ownership of the flights purchased in their name, but also to be contacted in case of flight changes and cancellations.
In many cases, a user's platform activity on iMatr is the same. By example, let's say a user wanted his local politician and government to know that the user supports an e-Petition to immediately fix the sanitary sewer within the user's neighborhood. Would a user then give a false name, false address and false telephone number and email, knowing well that if the e-Petition moves forward for consideration, the user may be contacted along with other e-Signatories, to determine the validity of the e-Petition? Maybe, but what if the e-Petition was about getting government to approve a cancer drug for the user's daughter all as a result of thousands of people e-Signing an e-Petition? Would the user run the risk to sabotaging a good government decision, before it could take off, simply because of fake e-Signatures provided by fake platform activities?
Platform activities involving iMatr, its users, our Contact Engine and e-Petitions, is serious business. For this reason, we employ advanced technology and PINs, physically mailed to real addresses, to be used by real people, who may if they choose, activate and use their PINs responsibly. It's akin to the way new Credit Cards work when they need to be activated. Get your PIN in the mail, call the number, and then your good to go.
At iMatr, because of the importance of what we do, we take it a step further. Our user's are further protected by security questions to link a user's email to their PIN. But even before we get this stage, users must be in their Zone, or the place where the live to Sign Up and register. This security feature physically picks up a user's location through geoencoding and places them in their Zone. We can't have users representing they live in a Zone when they physically don't.
User's who falsely identify themselves and obtain and use PINs, in false ways, interfere with Canadian democracy. There are real consequences in these instances as described in iMatr's Terms of Use. Leaving behind a trail consisting of a known address and telephone number, users who use PINs with false identities, face possible law enforcement proceedings.
In more muted ways, it's the same for users who try to influence democracy with fake opinions and misinformation. Fake opinions provided by fake users in Canada is no different than foreign governments trying to influence domestic elections.
Together we can make a difference to improve user integrity and authenticity.
Memorialization
When one of our users passes away, we remember and memorialize our contributor, by adding "" to their account profile. This notation deactivates the account from any further use, thereby thwarting unauthorized logins and fraudulent activity.
If it was our choice, we would not want to remove any content on the account as we would like to respect the views, opinions and platform activities a user made while alive. It's possible in the future an immediate family member and/or designated friend may wish to discover, pay tribute and/or reflect on the ideals, views and opinions of the deceased. Young children and grandchildren may gain in later life, a unique view into what father, mother or a grandparent thought. An intimate powerful gift of insight, like this, rarely come along.
This powerful window into a loved ones life, is made possible by the designation of a Legacy Contact. Under Legacy arrangements, the Legacy Contact may view, What the deceased thought on issues they may have engaged, and what other platform activities were important to them.
We do recognize that this may not be for everyone Users can let us know in advance, in their profile settings whether they would like their account deleted when they pass. Barring this election, we can also delete accounts when the next of kin contacts us and tells us that the deceased would have preferred that their account not be memorialized.
Regardless of approach, at iMatr we will forever be grateful for every person and every voice who contributed to our community and to Canadian democracy.
Spam
iMatr works hard to limit the spread of spam which can detract our users from connecting and sharing their opinions, views and content. Curtailing the commercial spread of false advertising, we reduce the opportunity of fraud and security breaches. Our users may be comforted to know, our advertising partners only include, real politicians, organizations and governments, all found in Canada.Content misrepresentation
Accuracy and authenticity are two cornerstones which underpin our community. Real facts and our user's voices are the remaining two to a rock solid four corner foundation.
When people use their real identities they are more responsible with their voice, their actions and what they choose to do. Our Terms of Use policy prohibits any misrepresentation of identity and/or content submissions to post or share.
iMatr enables users to create a safe and real environment they can trust, and a community and democracy where users can all hold one another accountable.Fake news & Conspiracy Theories
Made famous by President Donald Trump, Fake News has become the new menace of democracies. Reducing the spread of it on iMatr is a responsibility we take very seriously.
There are challenging and sensitive views about this issue, to be debated through real productive public discourse. Stifling discussion, and blurring the fine line between opinion, satire and news, serves no one in a democracy. That's why our content is carefully labeled, to distinguish opinions and editorials from reported facts.
Fake News can mean a lot of things. Just because something is reported, doesn't mean its "news". On a closer look what in fact is the definition of "News", whether its real or fake? Are opinions and views real news, or just opinions and views? And what about anything that can be communicated? Once the communication is released, is the "News" real or fake if a user disagrees with the content?
Categorization of what the announced information is, the "News, helps our users determine what type of "News" they are reading. And from there, users can determine on their own how real or fake the "News" may be.
At iMatr we believe our approach will go along way in our user's understanding what kind and quality of "News" they may encounter.
Contact engine abuse
When users Smile, Poke or SoCo a politician, they are engaging official representatives of government.
Politicians do in rare cases receive prank telephone calls, however, prank Contact Engine Activities, unlike telephone calls, can easily be traced to an address, telephone number and possibly a credit card number. That's why in order to use the Contact Engine, user's need the PIN mailed to their home address.
Under no circumstances are users to unnecessarily bother, harass, fraudulently contact, or cause mischief to politicians and government by using our platform's Contact Engine service. An example of fraudulent activity where mischief occurs, is when fake users contact politicians, to influence a politician's perception on any issue.
Users suspected of, or found in contravention of these requirements, may be reported to law enforcement authorities.
Objectionable content
At the sole and unfettered discretion of iMatr, iMatr reserves the right to reject, or post and share, any content provided by its users that it deems unacceptable. Unacceptable content will include:
Hate speech
We curtail and do not allow any issues, references, and advertising which provide or promote hate speech. To prevent an environment of intimidation and exclusion, including the promotion of real world violence or unrest, iMatr works very hard to identify hate speech activities.
When people or users directly attack other people, or focus their attack on other people because of race, gender, origin, religious or political affiliation, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, immigration status, disease or disability, iMatr censors such content. We define attacks to also include; violent and dehumanizing speech, statements of, or the promotion of inferiority, exclusion or segregation.
In instances when users post hate speech content, to be used for the purposes of educating or raising awareness, iMatr will permit such content.
We do not also allow words or terms that may be obscene or profane.
Violence and graphic content
iMatr removes content which promotes, glorifies, or celebrates the degradation, suffering or humiliation of others. But when such content is created to raise awareness and prevent these types of activities, the graphic content is permitted with certain limitations. For example, because of the fact that users have different sensitivity levels with regard to graphic and violent content, we add a warning label so that users under the age of eighteen are not permitted access to excessively graphic and violent content. iMatr does however permit humor or social commentary on hate speech when users share this type of content with their authentic and true identity.Our users will certainly value the ability to discuss important issues that include human rights abuses and acts of terrorism. When used for the purposes of educating or raising awareness; such graphic content will be permitted with certain limitations.
Adult nudity and sexual activity
Because of the fact that some users in our community find objectionable, or are sensitive to this type of content, iMatr restricts the display of such information. Where appropriate, we add a warning label so that users under the age of eighteen are not permitted access to this category of content, even though it may be used legitimately for:
where such intent is clear.
For example, when we restrict certain images of explicit and graphic nudity, we allow other images, including those depicting protest, woman engaging in breastfeeding, or genital mutilation practices found in other countries.
Where content is used for medical purposes, artistic and cultural expression, nude figures may also be permitted in images, paintings and sculptures.
Cruel and insensitive targeting
Content which targets victims of serious persecution, physical or emotional harm will not be permitted. IMatr believes that users will share and connect more freely on issues when they do not feel targeted or become the subject of inquiry based on their vulnerabilities.
For this fundamental reason, iMatr maintains higher expectations and standards from users regarding this type of content.
Respecting intellectual property rights
iMatr's Terms of Use do not allow users to post and share content that violates someone else's intellectual property rights, including copyright and trademark infringement. We are committed to helping people, users, organizations and government promote and protect their intellectual property rights. That's why we ask users to do the same.
The content user's post and share on iMatr is intellectual property owned by our users. Consequently, users control how it is shared through their platform activities and Scope of View settings.
Protecting the intellectual property rights of our users, and others, fosters an environment and community where free expression, creativity and innovation can flourish, and positively underpin democracy.
Should iMatr, however, receive a report from a rights holder or their representative, iMatr will remove or restrict a user's content that engages in any infringement.
User content related requests
User requests
iMatr shall comply with:
Protection for Minors
Respecting government process and Canadian democracy
Canadians come to iMatr each day to Have their Say, share their views and see What Others Think, in order to connect on issues and with causes that are important.
These fundamental civic rights respect government process and every citizens right to be heard by government. All iMatr platform activities are designed to support citizen freedoms and rights with the mission to provide Canadians a comprehensive system for accountable democratic dialog between the people of Canada and their politicians and government.
Under no circumstances whatsoever, are iMatr platform activities to be used to subvert or disregard government of election processes in Canada.