Website Terms and Conditions
Please read the following Important Legal Information and Terms of Use (the “Terms of Use”) prior to using this website www.reporters-shield.org (the “Website”). By using or otherwise accessing this Website you agree to the terms, conditions, policies and restrictions governing the use of the Website, including without limitation our Privacy Policy, available at www.reporters-shield.org/privacy-policy/, which thus constitute a legal agreement between you and International Journalism Defense, Inc. (d/b/a Reporters Shield (the “Agreement”). Reporters Shield may change, suspend or discontinue any aspect of this Website at any time, including the availability of any feature, database or content therein. Reporters Shield may also modify these Terms of Use with or without notice to you, and such modified Terms of Use shall be effective immediately upon posting. If you do not agree to abide by these terms and conditions, do not use the Website. Your continued use of the Website following the posting of any changes to the Terms of Use constitutes acceptance of such changes.
You must abide by any and all terms of use and policies posted on the Website. You represent that you are legally able to accept these Terms of Use, and affirm that you are either of legal age to form a binding contract, or have obtained parental or guardian consent to do so. If you do not agree to these Terms of Use, you may not use the Website.
Limited Right of Use/Ownership of Contents
The contents of the Website are intended for the personal, noncommercial use of its users. All materials published on the Website (the “Content”) are protected by copyright, trademark and all other applicable intellectual property laws, and are owned and controlled by Reporters Shield or a party credited as the provider of such Content. Except as specifically set forth in these Terms of Use, you may not modify, adapt, translate, exhibit, publish, transmit, participate in the transfer or sale of, create derivative works from, distribute, perform, display, reverse engineer, decompile or disassemble, or in any way exploit any of the Content or software forming part of the Website in whole or in part.
Reporters Shield reserves the right to terminate at any time and without notice any users’ access to the Website.
Disclaimers
Reporters Shield hereby disclaims all warranties and representations of any kind with regard to the Website, including any implied warranties of merchantability, non-infringement of third-party rights, freedom from viruses or other harmful code, or fitness for a particular purpose. By operating the Website, we do not represent or imply that we endorse any contributions or any other materials or items available on the Website, or linked to by the Website, including without limitation, materials hosted on a third-party website, and we do not represent or imply that we believe contributions or any other materials or items to be accurate, useful or non-harmful. We cannot guarantee and do not promise any specific results from use of the Website.
Limitation of Liability
The Website and the information contained herein are provided “as is.” Reporters Shield does not warrant the accuracy, adequacy or completeness of the information and material contained on the Website as of the viewing date and expressly disclaims liability for errors or omissions in such information and materials. Reporters Shield does not make any commitment to update material or information on the Website.
Reporters Shield is not liable for any consequential, incidental, special, punitive or exemplary damages arising out of any use of or inability to use the Website or any portion thereof, regardless of whether Reporters Shield has been apprised of the likelihood of such damages occurring and regardless of the form of action, whether in contract, warranty, tort (including negligence), strict liability, or otherwise.
Indemnification
By accessing and/or using the Website, you agree to indemnify, defend and hold Reporters Shield and its respective officers, directors, partners, employees, members, agents, information providers, affiliates, licensors and licensees (collectively, the “Indemnified Parties”) harmless from and against any and all liability and costs, including without limitation reasonable attorneys’ fees and expenses, incurred by the Indemnified Parties in connection with any claim arising out of or breach by you of these Terms of Use or the representations, warranties and covenants deemed made by you hereunder. You agree to cooperate as fully as reasonably required in the defense of any claim. Reporters Shield reserves the right, at its own expense, to assume the exclusive defense and control of any matter otherwise subject to indemnification by you. You shall not enter into any settlement agreement which affects the rights of any of the Indemnified Parties or requires the taking of any action by any of them, without Reporters Shield’s prior written approval.
There may be legal requirements in various countries and jurisdictions which may restrict the information that can be accessed. Persons who obtain information from the Website should inform themselves about and observe any restrictions imposed in the jurisdiction in which the Website is accessed.
Submitted Materials
Unless specifically requested, Reporters Shield does not solicit, nor does Reporters Shield wish to receive, any confidential, secret or proprietary information or other material from you through the Website, by e-mail, through the “Contact Us” feature, or in any other way. Any materials submitted or sent on or through the Website in any manner (collectively, “Submitted Materials”) will be deemed not to be confidential or secret, and may be used by us in any manner consistent with these Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy. By submitting Submitted Materials on the Website, you: (i) represent and warrant that you either own your Submitted Materials, or that you have the necessary licenses, rights, consents and permissions to use such Submitted Materials and submit them to the Website; and (ii) you grant Reporters Shield a royalty-free, unrestricted, worldwide, perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive and fully transferable, assignable and sublicensable right and license to use such material (in whole or part) in any manner and/or to incorporate it (in whole or in part) in other works (including, without limitation, the Website), products or services in any form, media, or technology now known or later developed. Reporters Shield is not obligated to review any Submitted Materials. Reporters Shield cannot be responsible for maintaining any Submitted Material you provide to the Website, and we may delete or destroy any such Submitted Material at any time.
User Conduct
Without limitation of the other terms and conditions set forth herein, while accessing or using the Website, the Content and/or the various other features available on the Website, you agree that you shall not:
- impersonate any person or entity or misrepresent your affiliation with any other person or entity, whether actual or fictitious, including anyone from the Website or Reporters Shield;
- use, redistribute, republish or exploit any part of the Website or any Content for any commercial or promotional purposes;
- obtain or attempt to gain unauthorized access to other computer systems, materials, information or any services available on or through the Website through any means, including through means not intentionally made publicly available or provided for through the Website;
- engage in spidering, “screen scraping,” “database scraping,” harvesting of e-mail addresses or other personal information, or any other automatic or unauthorized means of accessing, logging-in or registering on the Website, or obtaining lists of users or other information from or through the Website including, without limitation, any information residing on any server or database connected to the Website;
- use the Website, the Content or its features and services in any manner that could interrupt, damage, disable, overburden or impair the Website or interfere with any other party’s use and enjoyment of the Website, including, without limitation, sending mass unsolicited messages or “flooding” servers with requests;
- use the Website or the Content (including by submitting Submitted Materials) to, or in any other manner, violate, plagiarize or infringe the rights of third parties, including without limitation, copyright, trademark, trade secret, confidentiality, contract, patent, rights of privacy or rights of publicity or any other proprietary or legal right;
- upload, post, publish, distribute or otherwise transmit any information or material which constitutes or contains a virus, spyware, or other harmful component, or which contains any embedded links, advertising, chain letters or pyramid schemes of any kind;
- disclose any sensitive, proprietary or confidential information, about yourself or anyone else;
- attempt (or encourage or support anyone else’s attempt) to circumvent, reverse engineer, decrypt, or otherwise alter or interfere with the Website; or
- use the Website or its services (or any Content), in whole or in part, or submit any information to the Website, in violation of any applicable law, rule or regulation.
Hyperlink Policy
At certain places on the Website, Reporters Shield may provide live ‘links’ to other Internet addresses to be accessed. Such external Internet addresses contain information created, published, maintained, or otherwise posted by institutions or organizations independent of Reporters Shield. Reporters Shield does not endorse, approve, certify, or control these external Internet websites and does not guarantee or assume responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, efficacy or timeliness of information located at such websites, nor does Reporters Shield warrant that such websites are free from claims of copyright, trademark, or other infringement of the rights of third parties or that such websites or content are devoid of viruses or other contamination. Use of any information obtained from such websites is voluntary, and at such user’s own risk, and reliance on it should only be undertaken after an independent review of its accuracy, completeness, efficacy, and timeliness. Reference therein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, service mark, manufacturer, or otherwise does not constitute or imply endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by Reporters Shield. You acknowledge and agree that we have no responsibility for the information, content, products, services, advertising, code or other materials which may or may not be provided by or through such other websites. THIS AGREEMENT DOES NOT APPLY TO THIRD-PARTY WEBSITES. BEFORE VISITING A THIRD-PARTY WEBSITE BY MEANS OF THE WEBSITE OR A LINK LOCATED ON THE WEBSITE, USERS SHOULD REVIEW THE THIRD-PARTY WEBSITE’S TERMS AND CONDITIONS, PRIVACY POLICY AND ALL OTHER THIRD-PARTY WEBSITE DOCUMENTS, AND INFORM THEMSELVES OF THE REGULATIONS, POLICIES AND PRACTICES OF SUCH THIRD-PARTY WEBSITES.
ADA Compliance
The Americans Disabilities Act (the “ADA”) is a landmark legislation that prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities, aiming to facilitate equality in all areas of public life. Compliance under the ADA Title III requires public and private enterprises to ensure that their websites are accessible by disabled persons and that such disabled persons can gain access to products and services through such websites. The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (the “WCAG”) is developed by the World Wide Web Consortium. WCAG is organized around the four following principles: (i) perceivable (if the disabled are to gain equal access to the Web, all information and user interface components must be perceived by at least one or more of their senses), (ii) operable (people with disabilities must be able to operate the website, provided with operable interface and navigation components), (iii) understandable (users must understand the information as well as the operation of interface components), and (iv) robust (providing users more options and answers to a wide range of disability issues such that those with disabilities are be able to access the content as technologies advance). Reporters Shield accomplishes compliance with the terms of the ADA through the WP ADA Compliance plugin provided by WordPress.
Copyright and Trademarks
All content, logos, trademarks and service marks contained on the Website are owned by Reporters Shield, licensed to Reporters Shield by its Licensors, or fall within the fair use exceptions for use of any copyrighted material according to Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107 and may not be used without the express written consent of Reporters Shield. Any copying of information or documents published on the Website without prior written approval from Reporters Shield is strictly prohibited.
Term
This Agreement shall remain in full force and effect while you use the Website. You may terminate your use or participation at any time, for any reason, by ceasing to use the Website. Notwithstanding the foregoing, we may also, in our sole discretion, limit, suspend, or terminate the Website or prohibit access to it.
Survival
Even after you cease using the Website or following termination, the following provisions of this Agreement will remain in effect: “Limited Right of Use/Ownership of Contents”, “Disclaimers”, “Limitation of Liability”, “Indemnification”, “Governing Law; Jurisdiction”, and “Waiver of Class Actions; Arbitration”.
Contact Us
If you have any questions regarding these Terms of Use you can contact us by emailing us at info@reporters-shield.org.
Entire Agreement
This Agreement constitutes the entire agreement between you and Reporters Shield and govern your use of the Website and any services offered through the Website. This Agreement supersedes any prior terms of use or other agreements concerning the subject matter hereof between you and Reporters Shield.
Governing Law; Jurisdiction
This Agreement and the relationship between you and Reporters Shield shall be governed by, and construed and enforced in accordance with, the laws of the State of New York without regard to its conflict of law provisions that might cause the application of the laws of another jurisdiction. Subject to the arbitration provisions below, you agree to submit to the personal and exclusive jurisdiction of the federal and state courts located within the State of New York for the resolution of any disputes arising out of or relating to these Terms of Use or the Website.
Waiver of Class Actions; Arbitration
YOU HEREBY IRREVOCABLY WAIVE ANY RIGHT YOU MAY HAVE TO JOIN CLAIMS WITH THOSE OF OTHERS IN THE FORM OF A CLASS ACTION OR SIMILAR PROCEDURAL DEVICE. SUBJECT TO THE ARBITRATION PROVISIONS BELOW, ANY CLAIM ARISING OUT OF, RELATING TO OR CONNECTED WITH THIS AGREEMENT OR YOUR USE OF THE WEBSITE MUST BE ASSERTED INDIVIDUALLY.
You and Reporters Shield agree that, except for i) statutory or common law claims related to intellectual property, ii) any claims that may be brought in small claims court where the amount in controversy is properly within the jurisdiction of such court, and (iii) any claim arising out of the membership or subscription agreement with Reporters Shield, (collectively, “Excluded Claims”), any controversy or claim arising out of or relating to this Terms of Use, whether based in contract, tort, statute, fraud, misrepresentation or any other legal theory (the “Covered Claims”), will be resolved by binding, individual arbitration.
Arbitrations for any disputes between us relating to the Covered Claims will be administered by the American Arbitration Association (“AAA”) in accordance with its Consumer Arbitration Rules and the Supplementary Rules for Multiple Case Filings (collectively, the “AAA Rules”). For more information about arbitration, the AAA and the arbitration process, please consult the American Arbitration Association web site at adr.org. All issues are for the arbitrator to decide, except that issues relating to the scope, application, and enforceability of the arbitration provision–including whether any claims are Covered Claims or Excluded Claims within the meaning of this provision–are for the court to decide. As stated in the section above, New York law applies to any arbitration under this section, but the parties acknowledge that the Federal Arbitration Act governs the interpretation and enforcement of this provision. This arbitration agreement does not preclude you from bringing issues to the attention of federal, state, or local agencies, and, if the law allows, they can seek relief against us for you.
Prior to initiating arbitration for a Covered Claim, both parties agree that they will provide individualized written notice of the potential claim to the opposing party setting forth: (1) the factual and legal basis for the claim; (2) contact information for the potential claimant and their counsel, if any; and (3) the remedies sought, including the amount of claimed monetary damages (the “Notice”). Following receipt of the Notice by the opposing party, the parties agree to make a good faith effort for at least 30 days to resolve the claim before resorting to more formal means of resolution, including, without limitation, arbitration or any court action. You can provide notice of a claim to Reporters Shield by emailing us at info@reporters-shield.org.
Unless you and Reporters Shield agree otherwise in writing, any hearings for the arbitration will take place in a location to be determined in accordance with the AAA Rules. Payment of all filing, administration, and arbitrator fees will be governed by the AAA Rules, except that if the arbitrator finds at any time that a claim was filed frivolously, for purposes of harassment, or otherwise in bad faith, then the filing party will reimburse the other party for all costs and fees, including attorneys’ fees, associated with that claim. Judgment on the award rendered by the arbitrator may be entered in any federal or state court of competent jurisdiction located in the County of New York in the State of New York. The arbitrator may award money or equitable relief in favor of only the individual party seeking relief and only to the extent necessary to provide relief warranted by that party’s individual claim. To reduce the time and expense of the arbitration, the arbitrator will not provide a statement of reasons for his or her award unless requested to do so by both parties.
For all litigation regarding Excluded Claims and any other controversy or claim for which arbitration is denied, the sole jurisdiction and venue for such litigation will be an appropriate federal or state court located in the County of New York in the State of New York.
All provisions of this Waiver of Class Actions and Arbitration section will survive termination of this Terms of Service and/or your relationship with us.
Independent Contractors
Nothing contained herein shall be deemed to create an agency, partnership, joint venture, employer-employee or franchisor-franchisee relationship of any kind between Reporters Shield and any user.
No Third-Party Beneficiaries
This Agreement is between you and Reporters Shield. There are no third-party beneficiaries to this Agreement.
Section Titles
The section titles in this Agreement are for convenience only and have no legal or contractual effect.
No Waiver
The failure by Reporters Shield to exercise or enforce any right or provision of these Terms of Use shall not constitute a waiver of such right or provision, and no waiver shall be enforceable unless in writing and signed by the party against whom enforcement is sought. If any provision of these Terms of Use is found by a court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, the other terms and conditions of these Terms of Use shall remain in full force and effect.
Severability
This Agreement operates to the fullest extent permissible by law. If any provision or part of a provision of this Agreement is unlawful, void, or unenforceable, that provision or part of the provision is deemed severable from this Agreement and shall not affect the validity and enforceability of any remaining provisions.
Assignment
We may assign our rights under this Agreement without your approval.
