Terms of Service | Civic Hall

Last Updated January 20, 2015

Civic Hall is excited to welcome you! Please read these Terms of Service carefully before deciding to use any of our sites or services. This is a contract between you and Civic Hall. We’ve tried to be as clear and straightforward as possible. Please feel free to contact us (community@civichall.org) if you have any recommendations or questions!

These General Terms and Conditions of Use (“Terms”) are entered into by and between you and Civic Hall, a project of Personal Democracy Media d/b/a Personal Democracy Forum, LLC, (“Civic Hall”). In consideration of your use of and access to this Internet site, and other websites, services and apps on which these Terms are posted or expressly referenced (“Civic Hall Sites”), and the promises and obligations herein, and intending to be legally bound, you and Civic Hall hereby agree as follows:

Your access to and use of the CIVIC HALL Sites is subject to these Terms, which incorporate the separately posted Data Usage Policy. Additionally, registered members are subject to the terms of the Civic Hall Membership Agreement. BY USING THE CIVIC HALL SITES, YOU AGREE TO AND WILL BE DEEMED TO BE BOUND BY THESE TERMS AND OTHER APPLICABLE POLICIES. If you do not want to be bound by these Terms or policies, do not use the Civic Hall Sites.

1. Changes in Terms

Civic Hall shall have the right at any time and without prior notice, at its sole discretion, to revise these Terms or to impose new terms and conditions with respect to access to or use of the Civic Hall Sites. Such revisions and additions shall be effective immediately upon notice thereof, which may be given by any means, including without limitation posting the revised or additional terms and conditions on the Civic Hall Sites.

2. Termination

These Terms are effective until terminated by Civic Hall. Civic Hall may terminate these Terms without notice and at any time in connection with any of the Civic Hall Sites. In the event of termination, you are no longer authorized to access those Civic Hall Sites, and the restrictions imposed on you with respect to the Content (defined below), and the disclaimers, indemnities, and limitations of liabilities set forth in these Terms shall survive termination.

Civic Hall shall also have the right without notice and at any time to terminate some or all of the Civic Hall Sites or any feature or portion thereof, or any products or services offered through them, or to terminate any individual’s right to access or use of the Civic Hall Sites or any feature or portion thereof.

3. Intended users

The Civic Hall Sites are not intended for or directed at users under the age of 18.

4. Use of Site

While using Civic Hall Sites, you agree that you will not:

Upload, send, or otherwise transmit any content or information that is unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene or otherwise objectionable, or infringes on Civic Hall’s or any third party’s intellectual property or other rights;
Use the services in connection with contests, pyramid schemes, chain letters, junk email, spamming, or any duplicative or unsolicited messages (commercial or otherwise);
Create a false identity for the purpose of misleading others;
Upload, send or otherwise transmit any information or software that contains a virus, worm, Trojan horse, or other harmful or disruptive component;
Use Civic Hall Sites for any unlawful purpose;
Modify, adapt, frame, reverse engineer, decompile or disassemble any portion of the Civic Hall Sites; or
Use any spider, robot, crawler, or other automated or manual means to retrieve, index, “scrape”, “data mine,” or in any way reproduce or circumvent the navigational structure or presentation of Civic Hall Sites or their contents.

5. Content

The text, images, photographs, graphics, logos, illustrations, descriptions, data, and other material provided by Civic Hall on or through the Civic Hall Sites, as well as the selection, assembly, and arrangement thereof, are referred to collectively as the “Content”.

The Content may contain errors, omissions, or typographical errors or may be out of date. Civic Hall may change, delete, or update any Content at any time and without prior notice. The Content is provided for informational purposes only and is not binding on Civic Hall in any way except to the extent it is specifically indicated to be so.

Unless otherwise noted, all Content is protected by copyrights, trademarks, service marks, and other proprietary rights that are owned by Civic Hall or by third parties that have licensed their use to Civic Hall. You may view and use the Content only for your personal information and you shall retain intact all copyright and other proprietary notices. Except as provided in the foregoing, Civic Hall does not grant to you or any person any right to use, reproduce, copy, modify, transmit, display, publish, sell, license, create derivative works, publicly perform, or distribute by any means, method, or process whatsoever, now known or hereafter developed, any of the Content on or transmitted through the Civic Hall Sites, including without limitation by transferring, downloading, or otherwise copying any Content onto any disk drive or other storage medium. Any use of the Content, except as specifically permitted in these Terms or as otherwise expressly permitted in the Content or in a writing signed by Civic Hall, is strictly prohibited.

6. Privacy

For information on how Civic Hall collects, uses, and shares your information, please review our Data Usage Policy. You agree that by using the Civic Hall Sites you consent to the collection, use and sharing (as set forth in the Data Usage Policy) of such information, including the transfer of this information to the United States and/or other countries for storage, processing, and use by Civic Hall.

7. Disclaimer and Limitation of Liability as to the Civic Hall Site, Content, and Services

CIVIC HALL MAKES NO WARRANTIES OR REPRESENTATIONS WHATSOEVER WITH RESPECT TO THE CIVIC HALL SITES OR ANY LINKED SITE OR ITS CONTENT, INCLUDING THE AVAILABILITY OF ANY SITE OR THE CONTENT, INFORMATION, AND MATERIALS ON IT OR THE ACCURACY, COMPLETENESS, OR TIMELINESS OF THAT CONTENT, INFORMATION, AND MATERIALS. CIVIC HALL ALSO DOES NOT WARRANT OR REPRESENT THAT YOUR ACCESS TO OR USE OF THE CIVIC HALL SITES OR ANY LINKED SITE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED OR FREE OF ERRORS OR OMISSIONS, THAT DEFECTS WILL BE CORRECTED, OR THAT THE CIVIC HALL SITES OR ANY LINKED SITE IS FREE OF COMPUTER VIRUSES OR OTHER HARMFUL COMPONENTS.

WITHOUT LIMITING THE FOREGOING, ALL CONTENT PROVIDED ON OR THROUGH THE CIVIC HALL SITES IS PROVIDED TO USERS “AS IS,” WITH NO WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, SECURITY, OR ACCURACY. THE “AS IS” CONDITION OF CONTENT IS EXPRESSLY MADE A CONDITION OF ANY TRANSACTION ARISING THROUGH OR AS A RESULT OF THE CIVIC HALL SITES. Please note that some jurisdictions may not allow the exclusion of implied warranties, so some of the above exclusions may not apply to you. Check your local laws for any restrictions or limitations regarding the exclusion of implied warranties.

UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES SHALL CIVIC HALL, ITS SUPPLIERS, OR THEIR RESPECTIVE DIRECTORS, OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES, OR AGENTS BE LIABLE TO YOU OR TO ANY THIRD PARTY FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, WHETHER IN CONTRACT OR IN TORT, INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE, ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF ACCESS TO OR USE OF OR INABILITY TO ACCESS OR USE ANY OF THE CIVIC HALL SITES OR ANY LINKED SITE OR ITS CONTENTS, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION LOST PROFITS, BUSINESS INTERRUPTION, OR LOSS OF PROGRAMS OR OTHER DATA ON COMPUTER SYSTEMS OR OTHERWISE, EVEN IF CIVIC HALL IS EXPRESSLY ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

8. Indemnification

You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless Civic Hall, Civic Hall’s vendors, and their affiliates and related entities and their respective directors, officers, employees, and agents from and against all claims, losses, damages, liabilities, and costs (including without limitation reasonable attorneys’ fees and court costs), arising out of or relating to your breach of these Terms or your access to or use of the Civic Hall Sites. You are solely responsible for interactions with our business partners and affiliated companies and other users of Civic Hall Sites. To the extent permitted by applicable law, you hereby release Civic Hall from any and all claims or liability related to any product or service provided through the Site and any conduct, action, or inaction by a business partner or affiliated company. The foregoing indemnification obligation shall survive termination of these Terms and the operation of the Civic Hall Sites or any product or service provided to you arising out of or relating to your use of the Civic Hall Sites.

9. Third-Party Content Disclaimer

Civic Hall routinely contains links to external, third party websites. By providing links to other websites, Civic Hall does not guarantee, approve or endorse the information or products available at these sites, nor does a link indicate any association with or endorsement by the linked site to Civic Hall. Civic Hall does not operate or control and has no responsibility for the information, products and/or services found on any external sites. Nor do such links represent or endorse the accuracy or reliability of any information, products and/or services provided on or through any external sites, including, without limitation, warranties of any kind, either express or implied, warranties of title or non-infringement or implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. Visitors to Civic Hall Sites assume complete responsibility and risk in their use of any external sites. Visitors should direct any concerns regarding any external link to its site administrator or webmaster.

10. Entire Agreement

These Terms constitutes the entire agreement between the parties with respect to your access, use, and receipt of services from Civic Hall Sites and supersede all prior agreements, negotiations and discussions between you and Civic Hall relating to the same. There are no third-party beneficiaries of the agreement.

11. Miscellaneous

No waiver by Civic Hall of any breach or default hereunder shall be deemed to be a waiver of any preceding or subsequent breach or default. If any provision of these Terms shall be unlawful, void, or for any reason unenforceable, then that provision shall be deemed severable from the Terms and shall not affect the validity and enforceability of any other provisions of the Terms. The headings and captions in these Terms are intended for convenience only and shall in no way affect the interpretation of the Terms.

Access to or use of the Civic Hall Sites shall not be construed as Civic Hall’s purposeful availment of the privilege or benefits of doing business in any state or legal jurisdiction other than the State of New York. This Agreement shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of New York, without regard to conflicts of law provisions. Additionally, any claims brought against Civic Hall shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of New York. Sole and exclusive jurisdiction for any action or proceeding arising out of, or related to, this Agreement, use of the Civic Hall Sites, or any services provided through Civic Hall Sites, shall be in the state or federal courts located in the State of New York.