Draft: Last updated 24 March 2020
This is a summary of the Terms of Use. To read the full terms, scroll down.
This entire Terms of Use is drawn with much gratitude from the Terms of Use of the Wikimedia Foundation, who have as usual generously released their terms of use under the Creative Commons Attribution – Share Alike license. This page is licensed under the same license.
This is a human-readable summary of the Terms of Use.
Disclaimer: This summary is not a part of the Terms of Use and is not a legal document. It is simply a handy reference for understanding the full terms. Think of it as the user-friendly interface to the legal language of our Terms of Use.
Part of our mission is to:
● Empower and Engage people around the world to collect and develop high quality news content and either publish it under a free license or dedicate it to the public domain.
● Disseminate this content effectively and globally, free of charge.
You are free to:
● Read and Print our articles and other media free of charge.
● Share and Reuse our articles and other media — other than that clearly identified as copyright to others – under free and open licenses.
● Contribute To and Edit our various sites or Projects.
Under the following conditions:
● Responsibility – You take responsibility for your edits (since we only host your content).
● Civility – You support a civil environment and do not harass other users.
● Lawful Behavior – You do not violate copyright, libel or other laws.
● No Harm – You do not harm our technology infrastructure.
● Terms of Use and Policies – You adhere to the below Terms of Use and to the applicable community policies when you visit our sites or participate in our communities.
With the understanding that:
● You License Freely Your Contributions – you generally must license your contributions and edits to our site under a free and open license (unless your contribution is in the public domain).
● No Professional Advice – the content of articles and other projects is for informational purposes only and does not constitute professional advice.
We draw your attention in particular to the disclaimers and limitations of liability in Sections 14 and 15 of the Terms of Use.
We are the evidence-based community-driven news source with a neutral point of view. WT.social is owned and operated by WikiTribune Ltd (“we”, “us”). We are registered in England under company number 10713170 and our registered office is at 38 Berkeley Square, London, United Kingdom, W1J 5AE.
Our mission is to empower and engage people around the world to collect and develop news content under a free license or in the public domain, and to disseminate it effectively and globally, free of charge.
We have a hybrid model combining pure citizen journalists with professional staff journalists working together side by side as equals.
To support our emerging community, we provide the essential infrastructure and organizational framework for the development of quality news. Our intention is to be fully global and multilingual as quickly as possible, so this document speaks of different language editions and sites even though we are only in English right now. We strive to make and keep news content from the sites available on the internet free of charge, in perpetuity.
We welcome you (“you” or the “user”) as a reader, editor, author, or contributor of WT.social, and we encourage you to join the WT.social community. Before you participate, however, we ask that you please read the following Terms of Use (“Terms of Use”) and the other WT.social terms and policies referred to in them, to ensure you understand and agree with the terms on which we make WT.social available to you. By accessing, using or registering with WT.social, or otherwise indicating your consent, you agree to be bound by these Terms of Use and the other terms and policies referred to in them. If you do not agree with or accept any of these terms and policies, you should stop using WT.social immediately.
Overview
These Terms of Use tell you about our public services at WT.social, our relationship to you as a user, and the rights and responsibilities that guide us both. We want you to know that we host an incredible quantity of news content, all of which is contributed and made possible by users like yourself and WT.social staff members.
The community – the network of users who are constantly building and using WT.social – are the principal means through which the goals of the mission are achieved. The community contributes to and helps govern our sites. The community participates fully in the critical function of creating and enforcing policies for the sites.
You are welcome to join as a contributor, editor, or author, but you should follow the policies that govern each edition of WT.social. Each edition has a team of contributors, editors or authors who work together to create and manage the content on that language edition. You are welcome to join these teams and work with them to improve these editions. Because we are dedicated to making content freely accessible to the public, we generally require that all content you contribute is available under a free license or in the public domain.
Please be aware that you are legally responsible for all of your contributions, edits, and re-use of WT.social content under the laws of England and Wales and other applicable laws (which may include the laws where you live or where you view or edit content). This means it is important that you use caution when posting content. In light of this responsibility, we have some rules about what you cannot post, most of which is either for your own protection or for the protection of other users like yourself. Please keep in mind that the content we host is for general informational purposes only, so if you need expert advice for a particular question (such as medical, legal, or financial issues), you should seek the help of a licensed or qualified professional. We also include other important notices and disclaimers, so please read these Terms of Use in their entirety.
Contents
Our Terms of Use
Overview
1. Our Services
2. Other Important Terms
3. Content We Host
4. Refraining from Certain Activities
5. Registering an Account
6. Trademarks
7. Licensing of Content
8. Notice and Takedown Procedure
9. Third-party Websites and Resources
10. Management of Websites
11. Resolutions and Project Policies
12. Termination
13. Disputes and Jurisdiction
14. Disclaimers
15. Limitation on Liability
16. Modifications to these Terms of Use
17. Other Terms
Thank You!
1. Our Services
WT.social is dedicated to encouraging the growth, development and distribution of free multilingual news content, and to hosting the full content of these wiki-based Projects for the public free of charge. However, a significant part of our role is to provide a hosting service, maintaining the infrastructure and organizational framework that allows our users to build the WT.social Projects by contributing and editing content themselves. Because of our unique role, as both creator and host, there are a couple of things you should be aware of when considering our relationship to you, the Projects, and the other users:
a. Our editorial responsibilities: Some of the content you will find on WT.social is the work of our own “in-house” team of journalists. We are responsible for that content. However, because the WT.social Projects are collaboratively edited, much of the content that we host comes from community journalists like yourself. We do not take an editorial role in respect of community generated content and nor do we monitor or edit it except in limited circumstances, such as where are required to do so for legal reasons or in order to help resolve a dispute or investigate a complaint. Similarly, we do not endorse any opinions expressed by others on WT.social, and we do not represent or guarantee the truthfulness, accuracy, or reliability of any community generated content. We provide access to that content but, except in limited circumstances, we are not responsible for it.
b. You are responsible for your own actions: You are legally responsible for your edits and contributions on WT.social Projects, so for your own protection you should exercise caution and avoid contributing any content that may result in criminal or civil liability under any applicable laws. For clarity, applicable law includes at least the laws of England and Wales. Although we may not agree with such actions, we warn editors and contributors that authorities may seek to apply other country laws to you, including local laws where you live or where you view or edit content. We generally cannot offer any protection, guarantee, immunity or indemnification.
2. Other Important Terms
The following additional WT.social term and policies also apply to your use of WT.social and are incorporated into these Terms of Use by reference:
● Our Privacy Policy
● Our Cookie Policy
● Our Ethics Statement
● Our Diversity Statement
● Our
● Our Code of Conduct
● Our Anonymous Sources Policy
In particular, we ask that you review the terms of our Privacy Policy, so that you are aware of how we collect and use your personal data. Because WT.social is used by people all over the world, personal data that we collect may be stored and processed in the United Kingdom or any other country in which we or our agents maintain facilities, which may include countries outside the European Economic Area (“EEA”), such as the United States of America.
By using WT.social, you consent to any such transfer of personal data outside your country and the European Economic Area. We will take reasonable steps to ensure adequate security for any of your personal data transferred outside the EEA, but please be aware that destinations outside the EEA to which your personal data may be transferred may have data protection laws which do not offer the same level of protection for your personal data as those in force within the EEA. By using WT.social and submitting your personal data to us, you agree to the transfer, storing and processing of such personal data outside the EEA as set out in our Privacy Policy.
3. Content We Host
You may find some material objectionable or erroneous: Because we provide a wide array of content that is produced or gathered by fellow users, you may encounter material that you find offensive, erroneous, misleading, mislabeled, or otherwise objectionable. We therefore ask that you use common sense and proper judgment when using our services.
Our content is for general informational purposes only: Although we host a great deal of information that pertains to professional topics, including medical, legal, or financial issues, this content is presented for general informational purposes only. It should not be taken as professional advice. Please seek independent professional counselling from someone who is licensed or qualified in the applicable area in lieu of acting on any information, opinion, or advice contained in one of the Project websites.
4. Refraining from Certain Activities
The Projects hosted by the WT.social only exist because of the vibrant community of users like you who collaborate to write, edit, and curate the content. We happily welcome your participation in this community. We encourage you to be civil and polite in your interactions with others in the community, to act in good faith, and to make edits and contributions aimed at furthering the mission of the shared Project.
Certain activities, whether legal or illegal, may be harmful to other users and violate our rules, and some activities may also subject you to liability. Therefore, for your own protection and for that of other users, you may not engage in such activities on WT.social. These activities include:
Harassing and Abusing Others
● Posting any material or engaging in or encouraging any activity that is obscene, offensive, hateful, inflammatory, defamatory, threatening, harassing, bullying or otherwise objectionable, or which abuses or invades another’s privacy
● Breaching any legal duty owed to another person, such as a contractual duty or a duty of confidence; and
● Transmitting or promoting chain mail, junk mail, or spam to other users.
Violating the Privacy of Others
● Infringing the privacy rights of others under the laws of England and Wales, the United States of America or other applicable laws (which may include the laws where you live or where you view or edit content);
● Soliciting personal data for purposes of harassment, exploitation, violation of privacy, or any promotional or commercial purpose not explicitly approved by WT.social; and
● Soliciting personal data from anyone under the age of 18 for an illegal purpose or violating any applicable law regarding the health or well-being of minors.
Engaging in False Statements, Impersonation, or Fraud
● Intentionally, knowingly or recklessly posting content that constitutes libel or defamation;
● Posting content or transmitting material that is false or inaccurate with the intent to deceive or mislead;
● Attempting to impersonate another user or individual or entity, misrepresenting your affiliation with any individual or entity, or using the username of another user with the intent to deceive or mislead;
● Simulating communications from us or another service or entity;
● Representing or suggesting that we endorse any other business or service, unless we have separately agreed to do so in writing; and
● Engaging in fraud.
Committing Infringement
● Infringing the copyright, trademarks, patents, design rights or other intellectual property rights and proprietary rights of others under applicable law.
Misusing Our Services for Other Illegal Purposes
● Posting indecent or sexually suggestive images of children or any person who appears to be under the age of 18 or any other content that violates applicable law;
● Posting any material that contains or promotes sexually explicit material or activities;
● Posting any material that promotes violence;
● Posting any material that promotes discrimination based on race, sex, religion, nationality, disability, sexual orientation or age; and
● Using WT.social in a manner that is inconsistent with applicable law.
Engaging in Disruptive and Illegal Misuse of Facilities
● Promoting any unlawful activity;
● Posting or distributing content that contains any viruses, malware, worms, Trojan horses, malicious code, or other device that could harm our technical infrastructure or systems or that of our users or any other person;
● Attempting to circumvent password or user authentication methods;
● Attempting to gain unauthorized access to or use of our or anyone else’s computers, data, systems, accounts or networks.
● Engaging in automated uses of WT.social that are abusive or disruptive of the services and have not been approved by us;
● Disrupting the services by placing an undue burden on WT.social or the networks or servers connected with WT.social;
● Disrupting the services by inundating any of the Project websites with communications or other traffic that suggests no serious intent to use the Project website for its stated purpose;
● Knowingly accessing, tampering with, or using any of our non-public areas in our computer systems without authorization;
● Collecting or harvesting any information or data from WT.social or our systems or attempting to decipher any transmissions to or from the servers running WT.social; and
● Probing, scanning, or testing the vulnerability of any of our technical systems or networks unless all the following conditions are met:
● such actions do not abuse or disrupt our technical systems or networks;
● such actions are not for personal gain (except for credit for your work);
● you report any vulnerabilities to our developers or WordPress (or fix it yourself); and
● you do not undertake such actions with malicious or destructive intent.
Paid contributions without disclosure
These Terms of Use prohibit engaging in deceptive and misleading activities, including misrepresentation of affiliation, impersonation, and fraud. As part of these obligations, you must disclose your employer, client, and affiliation with respect to any contribution for which you receive, or expect to receive, compensation. You must make that disclosure in at least one of the following ways:
● a statement on your user page,
● a statement on the talk page accompanying any paid contributions, or
● a statement in the edit summary accompanying any paid contributions.
Applicable law, or community and Foundation policies and guidelines, such as those addressing conflicts of interest, may further limit paid contributions or require more detailed disclosure.
It is important to remember that a person can be deceived or misled not only by what you do say, but also by what you don’t say. In particular, you should be aware that in certain jurisdictions, including the United Kingdom, failure to disclose the fact that a positive review or endorsement has been paid for, or otherwise falsely representing oneself as a consumer, can constitute a breach of consumer protection and advertising laws, regulations and codes. Sometimes, this can result in criminal prosecution. We therefore urge you to consider very carefully what you include in your contributions and what you choose to leave out. as that decision can have serious consequences. Misleading omissions can have the same consequences as misleading actions and, at WT.social, we consider them to be one and the same.
We reserve the right to exercise our enforcement discretion with respect to the above terms.
5. Registering an Account
You undertake to provide full, accurate and true information about yourself when creating a WT.social account and to ensure that such information is regularly updated to ensure that it remains full, accurate and true in all respects.
If you choose a user name that is not your real name, or you choose to upload a profile photograph or avatar, you must not choose a user name, profile photograph or avatar which is inappropriate, offensive or otherwise in breach of these Terms of Use and, in particular, the provisions of Section 4.
You must not upload a profile photograph or avatar to your WT.social profile unless you have the legal right to use it. For example, if you wish to use an image you have found on someone else’s website, it is highly unlikely that you will have the right to use that image. If you do so, you may invite a copyright infringement claim from the rights holder.
We have the right to remove any user name, profile photograph or avatar which in our sole opinion does not comply with these Terms of Use.
You must treat any password or other login credentials you choose or are given as confidential and you must not disclose them to any other person. If you have reason to believe that someone else knows your password or any other login credentials, you must notify us without delay using the contact details in paragraph [INSERT] below.
Once your WT.social account is open, you can manage your profile and preferences in the “Profile” screen. Here, you can update any of the optional information you have provided to us, such as your profile photograph or avatar. However, much of the information we ask you to provide on registration, such as your telephone number, is mandatory, and we cannot provide the Service to you without it.
The only way to delete such information is to delete your WT.social account. To delete your WT.social account, go to the “Profile” screen. How we treat your personal information in these circumstances is explained in our Privacy Policy.
6. Trademarks
Although you have considerable freedoms for re-use of the content on WT.social, it is important that, at WT.social, we protect our trade mark rights so that we can protect our users from fraudulent impersonators. Because of this, we ask that you please respect our trade marks. All WT.social trademarks belong to WikiTribune Ltd., and any use of our trade names, trademarks, service marks, logos, or domain names is subject to obtaining our prior written consent, which we may grant or refuse in our discretion and subject to any conditions and brand guidelines in force from time to time.
7. Licensing of Content
To grow the commons of free knowledge and free culture, all users contributing to the Projects are required to grant broad permissions to the general public to re-distribute and re-use their contributions freely, so long as that use is properly attributed and the same freedom to re-use and re-distribute is granted to any derivative works. In keeping with our goal of providing free news information to the widest possible audience, we require that when necessary all submitted content be licensed so that it is freely reusable by anyone who cares to access it.
Wherever possible all staff contributions will follow these license requirements in the same way that community contributions do, but we may from time to time feature images or other content from newswire or similar services for which we will not have the same permissions. We endeavor to keep this to a minimum and will always prefer freely licensed content when it is available.
You agree to the following licensing requirements:
a. Text to which you hold the copyright: When you submit text to which you hold the copyright, you agree to license it under:
1. Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License (“CC BY-SA”)
b. Please note that this license does allow commercial uses of your contributions, as long as such uses are compliant with the terms.
c. Attribution: Attribution is an important part of these licenses. We consider it giving credit where credit is due – to authors like yourself. When you contribute text, you agree to be attributed in any of the following fashions:
1. Through hyperlink (where possible) or URL to the article to which you contributed (since each article has a history page that lists all authors and editors);
2. Through hyperlink (where possible) or URL to an alternative, stable online copy that is freely accessible, which conforms with the license, and which provides credit to the authors in a manner equivalent to the credit given on the Project website; or
3. Through a list of all authors (but please note that any list of authors may be filtered to exclude very small or irrelevant contributions).
d. Importing text: You may import text that you have found elsewhere or that you have co-authored with others, but in such case you warrant that the text is available under terms that are compatible with the CC BY-SA 3.0 license (“CC BY-SA”).
e. You agree that, if you import text under a CC BY-SA license that requires attribution, you must credit the author(s) in a reasonable fashion. Where such credit is commonly given through page histories (such as WT.social-internal copying), it is sufficient to give attribution in the edit summary, which is recorded in the page history, when importing the text. The attribution requirements are sometimes too intrusive for particular circumstances (regardless of the license), and there may be instances where the WT.social community or staff decides that imported text cannot be used for that reason.
f. Non-text media: Non-text media on the Projects are available under a variety of different licenses that usually support the general goal of allowing unrestricted re-use and re-distribution. When you contribute non-text media, you agree to comply with the requirements for such licenses, and also comply with the requirements of the specific Project edition or feature to which you are contributing.
g. No revocation of license: Except as consistent with your license, you agree that you will not unilaterally revoke or seek invalidation of any license that you have granted under these Terms of Use for text content or non-text media contributed to the WT.social Projects or features, even if you terminate use of our services.
h. Public domain content: Content that is in the public domain is welcome! It is important however that you confirm the public domain status of the content under the law of the United Kingdom as well as the laws of any other countries as required by the specific Project edition. When you contribute content that is in the public domain, you warrant that the material is actually in the public domain, and you agree to label it appropriately.
i. Re-use: Re-use of content that we host is welcome, though exceptions exist for content contributed under “fair use” or similar exemptions under copyright law. Any re-use must comply with the underlying license(s). Do recall that some content uploaded by staff may be licensed from newswires and similar services, and such content will be clearly marked as such and will not always be re-usable.
j. When you re-use or re-distribute a text page developed by the WT.social community and/or staff, you agree to attribute the authors in any of the following fashions:
1. Through hyperlink (where possible) or URL to the page or pages that you are re-using (since each page has a history page that lists all authors and editors);
2. Through hyperlink (where possible) or URL to an alternative, stable online copy that is freely accessible, which conforms with the license, and which provides credit to the authors in a manner equivalent to the credit given on the Project website; or
3. Through a list of all authors (but please note that any list of authors may be filtered to exclude very small or irrelevant contributions).
k. In addition, please be aware that text that originated from external sources and was imported into a Project may be under a license that attaches additional attribution requirements. Users agree to indicate these additional attribution requirements clearly. Depending on the Project, such requirements may appear for example in a banner or other notations pointing out that some or all of the content was originally published elsewhere. Where there are such visible notations, re-users should preserve them.
l. For any non-text media, you agree to comply with whatever license under which the work has been made available (which can be discovered by clicking on the work and looking at the licensing section on its description page or reviewing an applicable source page for that work). When re-using any content that we host, you agree to comply with the relevant attribution requirements as they pertain to the underlying license or licenses.
m. Modifications or additions to material that you re-use: When modifying or making additions to text that you have obtained from a Project website, you agree to license the modified or added content under CC BY-SA 3.0 or later (or, as explained above, another license when exceptionally required by the specific Project edition or feature).
n. When modifying or making additions to any non-text media that you have obtained from a Project website, you agree to license the modified or added content in accordance with whatever license under which the work has been made available.
o. With both text content and non-text media, you agree to clearly indicate that the original work has been modified. If you are re-using text content in a wiki, it is sufficient to indicate in the page history that you made a change to the imported text. For each copy or modified version that you distribute, you agree to include a licensing notice stating which license the work is released under, along with either a hyperlink or URL to the text of the license or a copy of the license itself.
8. Notice and Takedown Procedure
WT.social wants to ensure that the content that we host can be re-used by other users without fear of liability and that it is not infringing the proprietary rights of others.
If you are a U.S. rights holder:
Our policy is to respond to notices of alleged infringement that comply with the formalities of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). Pursuant to the DMCA, we will terminate, in appropriate circumstances, users and account holders of our system and network who are repeat infringers.
However, we also recognize that not every takedown notice is valid or in good faith. In such cases, we strongly encourage users to file counter-notifications when they appropriately believe a DMCA takedown demand is invalid or improper. For more information on what to do if you think a DMCA notice has been improperly filed, you may wish to consult the Chilling Effects website.
If you are the owner of content that is being improperly used on one of the Projects without your permission, you may request that the content be removed under the DMCA. To make such a request, please email us at [email protected] or snail mail our designated agent at 38 Berkeley Square, London, United Kingdom, W1J 5AE.
Alternatively, you may make a request to our community, which often handles copyright issues faster and more effectively than prescribed under the DMCA. In that case, you can post a notice explaining your copyright concerns.
For all other takedown requests:
If you have reason to believe that any content which appears on WT.social infringes proprietary or intellectual property rights or is otherwise defamatory, you can make a complaint by contacting us through our [email protected] email address or or by using our contact details at the end of these Terms of Use.
Please precisely identify the content about which you are notifying us, including the page of WT.social on which it is posted. Ideally, you should provide a link to the relevant page as this will help us to identify the relevant content more quickly. You should also provide us with full details of your complaint and, if you are alleging copyright infringement, evidence of ownership of the copyright.
Once we receive a complaint, we will review the material in question and decide what, if any, action should be taken. We will deal appropriately with any content which, in our opinion, is in breach of these Terms and/or applicable law. The action we take may include taking down the relevant content, suspending or terminating a user’s account and access to WT.social and reporting the user and their content to the relevant authorities.
We will endeavor to inform you of the outcome of our review, if appropriate, within a reasonable time of receiving your complaint.
9. Third-party Websites and Resources
Projects may contain links to third-party websites and resources. We do not endorse such third parties or monitor their websites and are not responsible or liable for the availability, accuracy or suitability of such websites or for any related content, products, or services (including, without limitation, any viruses or other disabling features) which may be available through them.
It is your responsibility to satisfy yourself as to the reputation of the relevant third party and the suitability of their products and services before entering into any transaction with them or submitting your personal data to them.
You may create a link to WT.social from another website without our prior written consent provided that you must immediately remove any such link upon our request at any time and further provided that no such link: creates a frame or any other browser or border environment around the content of the WT.social website; implies that we endorse your products or services or any of the products or services of, or available through, the website on which you place a link to WT.social; displays any of the trademarks or logos used on WT.social without our permission or that of the owner of such trademarks or logos; or is placed on a website that itself does not meet the requirements of these Terms of Use.
10. Management of Websites
The community has a key shared role in creating and enforcing policies applying to the different Project editions. At WT.social, we intend to participate as equals in community decisions about policy and its enforcement. In an unusual case, the need may arise, or the community may ask us, to address an especially problematic user because of significant Project disturbance or dangerous behavior. In such cases, we reserve the right, but do not have the obligation to:
● Investigate your use of the service (a) to determine whether a violation of these Terms of Use, Project edition policy, or other applicable law or policy has occurred, or (b) to comply with any applicable law, legal process, or appropriate governmental request;
● Detect, prevent, or otherwise address fraud, security, or technical issues or respond to user support requests;
● Refuse, disable, or restrict access to the contribution of any user who violates these Terms of Use;
● Ban a user from editing or contributing or block a user’s account or access for actions violating these Terms of Use, including repeat copyright infringement;
● Take legal action against users who violate these Terms of Use (including reports to law enforcement authorities); and
● Manage otherwise the Project websites in a manner designed to facilitate their proper functioning and protect the rights, property, and safety of ourselves and our users, licensors, partners, and the public.
In the interests of our users and the Projects, in the extreme circumstance that any individual has had his or her account or access blocked under this provision, he or she is prohibited from creating or using another account on or seeking access to the same Project, unless we provide explicit permission. Without limiting the authority of the community, we will not ban a user from editing or contributing or block a user’s account or access solely because of good faith criticism that does not result in actions otherwise violating these Terms of Use or community policies.
The WT.social community and its members may also take action when so allowed by the community or policies applicable to the specific edition, including but not limited to warning, investigating, blocking, or banning users who violate those policies. You agree to comply with the final decisions of dispute resolution bodies that are established by the community for the specific editions (such as arbitration committees); these decisions may include sanctions as set out by the policy of the specific edition.
Especially problematic users who have had accounts or access blocked on multiple editions may be subject to a ban from all of the editions, at our sole discretion. In contrast to these Terms of Use, policies established by the community, which may cover a single Project edition or multiple Projects editions (like the Global Ban Policy), may be modified by the relevant community according to its own procedures.
The blocking of an account or access or the banning of a user under this provision will be in accordance with Section 12 of these Terms of Use.
11. Resolutions and Project Policies
WikiTribune Ltd may release additional official policies from time to time. Some of these policies may be mandatory for a particular Project or Project edition, and, when they are, you agree to abide by them as applicable.
12. Termination
Though we hope you will stay and continue to contribute to the Projects, you can stop using WT.social any time. In certain (hopefully unlikely) circumstances, it may be necessary for either ourselves or the WT.social community or its members (as described in Section 10) to terminate part or all of our services, terminate these Terms of Use, block your account or access, or ban you as a user. If your account or access is blocked or otherwise terminated for any reason, your public contributions will remain publicly available (subject to applicable policies), and, unless we notify you otherwise, you may still access our public pages for the sole purpose of reading publicly available content on the Projects. In such circumstances, however, you may not be able to access your account or settings. We reserve the right to suspend or end the services at any time, with or without cause, and with or without notice. Even after your use and participation are banned, blocked or otherwise suspended, these Terms of Use will remain in effect with respect to relevant provisions, including Sections 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9-15, and 17.
13. Disputes and Jurisdiction
We hope that no serious disagreements arise involving you, but these things happen. In the event there is a dispute, whether between you and us or between you and another WT.social user, we encourage all members of the WT.social community to seek resolution through the dispute resolution procedures or mechanisms provided by the Projects or Project editions and WikiTribune Ltd from time to time.
In the unlikely event that we can’t resolve the dispute amicably and you seek to file a legal claim against us, you agree to file and resolve it exclusively in a state or federal court located in San Francisco County, California. You also agree that the laws of the State of California and, to the extent applicable, the laws of the United States of America will govern these Terms of Use, as well as any legal claim that might arise between you and us (without reference to conflict of laws principles). You agree to submit to the personal jurisdiction of, and agree that venue is proper in, the courts located in San Francisco County, California, in any legal action or proceeding relating to us or these Terms of Use.
To ensure that disputes are dealt with soon after they arise, you agree that regardless of any statute or law to the contrary, any claim or cause of action you might have arising out of or related to use of our services or these Terms of Use must be filed within the applicable statute of limitations or, if earlier, one (1) year after the pertinent facts underlying such claim or cause of action could have been discovered with reasonable diligence (or be forever barred).
14. Disclaimers
You acknowledge that WT.social has not been developed to meet your individual requirements, and that it is therefore your responsibility to ensure that the facilities and functions of WT.social meet your requirements.
You are responsible for making all arrangements necessary for you to have access to WT.social and for ensuring that your computer equipment and other devices are compatible. In particular, although we have appropriate security measures in place to protect our systems and servers, we do not guarantee that WT.social will always be free of errors, bugs or viruses, whether introduced by us or by third parties. You are solely responsible for ensuring that your computer equipment and mobile devices, and the information held on them, are backed up and protected by appropriate firewalls and internet security products or services. Provided that we have exercised reasonable care and skill in the operation of WT.social, we will not be liable to you for any loss or damage caused by (i) a virus, distributed denial-of-service attack, or other technologically harmful material that may infect your computer equipment, computer programs, data or other proprietary material due to your use of WT.social or to your downloading of any content on it, or on any website linked to it; or (ii) a third party’s unauthorized access to your WT.social account as a result of a breach by you of these Terms of Use.
We provide access to WT.social free of charge on an “as is” and “as available” basis, and we expressly disclaim all express or implied warranties of all kinds, including but not limited to the implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose and non-infringement.
Access to WT.social is permitted on a temporary basis. We do not guarantee that WT.social or its content will always be available or uninterrupted and we may suspend, withdraw, discontinue or change all or any part of WT.social without notice. From time to time, we may also restrict access to some parts of WT.social, or the entire website, to all users and, if the need arises, we may close WT.social indefinitely. We will not be liable to you for any loss or damage you may suffer if, for any reason, WT.social is unavailable at any time.
The content on WT.social is provided for general information only. Much of it is generated by amateur community journalists such as yourself. Contributors are unlikely to have professional or specialist knowledge of any particular field of activity. WT.social content is therefore not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely. In fact, you must not rely on it. You must obtain appropriate professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on WT.social.
Although we make reasonable efforts to update the information on WT.social that we have generated, as explained above, we in fact generate very little of the content on WT.social. Most of it comes from you and fellow users and we generally undertake very little monitoring or moderating of user generated content. Therefore, we can offer no assurance or guarantee, whether express or implied, that the content is or will be accurate, complete or up-to-date.
We play host to a lot of community generated content on WT.social. We are not responsible for the content, data, or actions of third parties, and you release us, our directors, officers, employees, and agents from any claims and damages, known and unknown, arising out of or in any way connected with any claim you have against any such third parties.
You agree that we have no responsibility or liability for the deletion of, or the failure to store or to transmit, any content or communication maintained by WT.social. We retain the right to create limits on use and storage at our sole discretion at any time with or without notice.
Some states or jurisdictions do not allow the types of disclaimers in this section, so they may not apply to you either in part or in full depending on the law.
15. Limitation of Liability
We do not exclude or limit in any way our liability to you where it would be unlawful to do so. This includes liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence or the negligence of our employees, agents or subcontractors and for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation. Any limitations or exclusions of liability in these Terms of Use is subject always to this provision.
WT.social is intended for domestic and private use only. It is not a business tool. As such, you agree not to use WT.social for any commercial or business purposes, and we have no liability to you for any loss of profit, sales, business or revenue, business interruption, loss of business opportunity or loss of goodwill.
Except for any legal responsibility that we cannot exclude in law, as referred to above, we are not legally responsible for any loss or damage that was not foreseeable to you and us when these Terms of Use were formed or that were not caused by any breach on our part. (Loss or damage would be “foreseeable” if, before your use of WT.social, such loss or damage was contemplated by you and us or you notified us that the loss or damage might occur in the event of our breach.)
We have no liability to you for any breach of these Terms of Use caused by any event or circumstance beyond our reasonable control including, but not limited to: strikes, lock-outs or other industrial disputes; breakdown of systems or network access or public utility; or flood, fire, explosion or accident.
Subject always to the first provision of this Section 15, our liability to you for loss or damage arising out of or in connection with your use of WT.social will in no circumstances exceed the total aggregate sum of £1,000, unless specifically agreed by us in writing.
16. Modifications to these Terms of Use
Just as the WT.social community’s input is essential for the growth and maintenance of the Projects, we believe that community input is essential for these Terms of Use to properly serve our users. It is also essential for a fair contract. Therefore, we will provide these Terms of Use, as well as any substantial future revisions of these Terms of Use, to the community for comment at least thirty (30) days before the end of the comment period. If a future proposed revision is substantial, we will provide an additional 30 days for comments after posting a translation of the proposed revision in other relevant languages (selected at our discretion). The community will be encouraged to translate the proposed revision in other languages as appropriate. For changes for legal or administrative reasons, to correct an inaccurate statement, or changes in response to community comments, we will provide at least three (3) days’ notice.
Because it may be necessary to modify these Terms of Use from time to time, we will provide notice of such modifications and the opportunity to comment via the Project websites. However, we ask that you please periodically review the most up-to-date version of these Terms of Use. Your continued use of our services after the new Terms of Use become official following the notice and review period constitutes an acceptance of these Terms of Use on your part. For the protection of WT.social and other users like yourself, if you do not agree with our Terms of Use, you cannot use our services.
17. Other Terms
These Terms of Use do not create an employment, agency, partnership, or joint venture relationship between you and us, WikiTribune Ltd. If you have not signed a separate agreement with us, these Terms of Use are the entire agreement between you and us. If there is any conflict between these Terms of Use and a signed written agreement between you and us, the signed agreement will control.
These Terms of Use create a legally binding agreement between you and us. No one other than you or us have any right to enforce any of the provisions of these Terms of Use
You agree that we may provide you with notices, including those regarding changes to the Terms of Use, by email, regular mail, or postings on Project websites.
If in any circumstance, we do not apply or enforce any provision of these Terms of Use, it is not a waiver of that provision.
You understand that, unless otherwise agreed to in writing by us, you have no expectation of compensation for any activity, contribution, or idea that you provide to us, the community, or the WT.social Projects or Project editions.
Notwithstanding any provision to the contrary in these Terms of Use, we and you agree not to modify the applicable terms and requirements of any free license that is employed on the Projects or Project editions when such free license is authorized by these Terms of Use.
These Terms of Use were written in English (U.S.). While we hope that any translations of these Terms of Use are accurate, in the event of any differences in meaning between the original English version and a translation, the original English version takes precedence.
If any provision or part of a provision of these Terms of Use is found unlawful, void, or unenforceable, that provision or part of the provision is deemed severable from these Terms of Use and will be enforced to the maximum extent permissible, and all other provisions of these Terms of Use will remain in full force and effect.
18. Contact Us
Please do not hesitate to contact us regarding any matter relating to these Terms of Use. Questions, comments and requests regarding these Terms of Use are welcomed and should be sent to us using email address [email protected] for general queries, [email protected] for Notice & Takedown requests, [email protected] for Corrections & Amplifications. Alternatively, you can contact us by snail mail to 38 Berkeley Square, London, United Kingdom, W1J 5AE.
Thank You!
We appreciate your taking the time to read these Terms of Use, and we are very happy to have you contributing to the Projects and using our services. Through your contributions, you are helping to build something really big – not only an important collection of collaboratively edited reference Projects that provides education and information to millions who might otherwise lack access, but also a vibrant community of like-minded and engaged peers, focused on a very noble goal.
