# First Amendment with Servers' Rights

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IRCNow is a network that the users control. In order to ensure this, we must make sure that there is no network-wide censorship of speech or religion. Without this guarantee, it becomes impossible to have meaningful debates for policy decisions.

Our digital bill of rights state:

-> Congress shall not make any rules to establish an official religion or to stop the free exercise of religion; or to stop the freedom of speech or the freedom of the press; or the right of the users to peaceably gather to petition the staff.

Because IRCNow's congress cannot censor network wide, there is no "official" censorship policy.

Each individual server, however, retains the right to censor content. This is necessary for legal compliance. For example, in many countries, violent threats are illegal, as is copyright infringement. IRCNow also welcomes users of all ages and so the network does not allow pornography.

In other words, on IRCNow, there is a first amendment with servers' rights.

IRCNow provides [the source code and documentation](freedom/software) for all the software on this network, so that users have the freedom [to control their own software](/freedom/militia) and [[fork this network](/freedom/fork). This provides a powerful safeguard against arbitrary censorship.IRCNow provides [the source code and documentation](freedom/software) for all the software on this network, so that users have the freedom [to control their own software](/freedom/militia) and [[fork this network](/freedom/fork). This provides a powerful safeguard against arbitrary censorship.