Terms of Use
Welcome to LocalWiki!
LocalWiki is a grassroots effort to collect, share and open the world’s local knowledge managed by LocalWiki (“LocalWiki”), formerly known as “Wiki Spot.”
These Terms of Use (“Terms”) constitute an agreement between you and LocalWiki and govern your use of localwiki.org (the “Website”) and any other applications, functionality, or services offered by LocalWiki (collectively with the Website, the “Services”). By using the Services, you agree to these Terms. Please read them carefully.
1. Privacy
We care about your privacy. How LocalWiki uses, collects, and stores information derived from your use of the Services is described in our Privacy Policy. By using the Services, you agree to and accept the practices described in the Privacy Policy.
2. Account Creation and Maintenance
While you do not need an account to be a LocalWiki contributor, registering for an account does provide some benefits. Benefits of registration include credit for your work, access to more features and more opportunity for interactivity with other users. If you register for an account, you will be asked to provide certain personal information, such as your name and email address. Please see our Privacy Policy for our data retention and usage policies.
2.2 Account Requirements. You agree not to create an account on behalf of someone other than yourself and not to use a username that is offensive, vulgar, or obscene. Accounts created using misleading or offensive information are subject to termination at LocalWiki’s sole discretion. If you were previously banned or had your account revoked at any time, you may not register for another account.
2.3 Account Security. If you register or set up an account with LocalWiki, you will be responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your username and password. You should not share, transfer or authorize others to use your username and password or your account without prior written approval from LocalWiki. You are solely responsible for all usage or activity on your account including, but not limited to, use of the account by any other person, with or without authorization.
2.4 Unauthorized Access. If you have reason to believe that your account is no longer secure (for example, in the event of a loss, theft, or unauthorized disclosure of your password), you should promptly notify us at [email protected]
3. Content and Licensing.
3.1 Contributing Content to LocalWiki
As part of the Services, you will be able to upload and contribute content to community pages hosted through the Services (“Contributions”). By uploading or posting your Contributions to the Services, you grant LocalWiki a perpetual, irrevocable, world-wide, non-exclusive, fully paid-up, royalty-free, sub-licensable, and transferable license to use, reproduce, reformat, distribute, prepare derivative works of, display, and perform your Contributions in connection with the Services.
You understand that, except for the content described in 3.2(b) below, LocalWiki licenses all Contributions uploaded to the Services under the Creative Commons Attribution-By 4.0 (“CC-BY”) license (the CC-BY 4.0 License). This means that others will be able to use what you post on LocalWiki for whatever purposes they want, including commercial purposes, so long as they provide adequate attribution.
You understand that LocalWiki licenses all contributed map data (“Map Contributions”) under the Open Data Commons Open Database License (“ODbL”). This means that others will be able to use your contributed map data for whatever purposes they want, including commercial purposes, so long as they provide adequate attribution and meet the terms of the ODbL.
LocalWiki may change the open license it applies to Contributions uploaded to the Services at any time. If LocalWiki does change the license it applies to Contributions uploaded to the Services, LocalWiki will update these Terms.
a) Attribution. Due to the collaborative nature of LocalWiki, it may not be feasible for you to receive individual attribution for each and every edit to a LocalWiki page. To that end, you agree to be attributed collectively as a LocalWiki Contributor. Individual contributor information can be found in the “Info” area of a given page in LocalWiki.
b) Importing Content. Import content from other sources at your own risk. If you need to provide attribution, you can do so in the edit summary. Keep in mind that any Contributions you upload, regardless of the source, must be available under terms that are compatible with the CC-BY license, unless clearly stated otherwise. If you need to provide attribution to comply with a license governing your Contributions, you can do so in the edit summary, a file’s caption, or in the page body. For more information on how to best use and attribute imported content, please see our Copyrights page.
c) Representation and Warranty. By submitting any Contributions, you represent and warrant that you have all rights necessary to post the Contributions on the Services, and grant the licenses granted under these Terms.
3.2 Using Content from LocalWiki
LocalWiki hopes to foster an environment where information and ideas can be shared and used as easily as possible by the most people for the longest period of time. Except for the content described in 3.2(b) below, as well as LocalWiki’s trademarks, logos, trade dress, look and feel, and other identifying characteristics of the Services (collectively, the “LocalWiki Marks”), all content delivered through the Services is made available and licensed by LocalWiki under the CC-BY 4.0 License. This means that you have permission to use most community content from LocalWiki, as long as you provide adequate attribution.
a. Attribution. To provide attribution simply use the credit “LocalWiki Contributors.” If possible (e.g. on electronic media), please provide a hyperlink to LocalWiki or to the page(s) from which you are using material. You may also, or in addition, attribute an individual or set of individuals who contributed said content to LocalWiki. To find out who has contributed to a particular LocalWiki page, please see the “Info” link on the page. For more information on LocalWiki attribution, see our Copyrights information page.
b. Exceptions. As noted above, some content on LocalWiki is not licensed under the CC-BY 4.0 License, and in these cases there should be a separate copyright notice near the material. For example, map data is licensed under the Open Data Commons Open Database License (“ODbL”), and must be attributed to OpenStreetMap. For map attribution requirements, please see the OpenStreetMap copyrights page. Be sure to check out these terms yourself. See the Third Party Services section for more information on using data from other resources.
c. LocalWiki Marks. Although you have considerable freedom to use content from our Services, it is important that LocalWiki protect its trademark rights so that we can protect our users from fraudulent impersonators. Because of this, we ask that you please respect the LocalWiki Marks and not use them without LocalWiki’s prior written permission.
4. Third-Party Services
Certain functions of the Services may allow you to link to or provide you access to functions, content, sites, or services operated by third parties (collectively, "Third-Party Services"). Those Third-Party Services are subject to the terms and conditions and privacy policies of the third parties that provide them, and LocalWiki is not responsible for the privacy practices, content, or functionality of the Third-Party Services. You are solely responsible for reading and complying with any licenses, restrictions, privacy policies or other terms and conditions that govern the use of any Third-Party Services you choose to access, visit or link to through your use of the Services, and are solely liable for any violations of those terms and conditions that arise out of or relate to your use of Third-Party Services.
5. Copyright Policy
5.1 How Do I Tell LocalWiki about a Copyright Violation?
LocalWiki respects the intellectual property rights of others and asks that you do the same. If you are a copyright holder, and believe that your rights have been violated by content made available on the Services, in accordance with the DMCA (see 17 U.S.C. § 512(c)(3) for more information), please send an e-mail or written notice to LocalWiki’s designated agent for infringement claims with the following information:
- A physical or electronic signature (typing your full name is enough) of the copyright owner or a person authorized to act for the owner;
- Identification of the copyrighted work (e.g., a link to your original work or clear description of the materials);
- A URL (website address) showing where the infringed material is located on our website or on a linked page;
- Your mailing address, telephone, and email;
- A statement that you have a good faith belief that the use of the material is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law; and
- A statement that the information in your notification is accurate, and, under penalty of perjury, that you are authorized to act on behalf of the copyright owner.
All information should be in the body of the email, not in an attachment.
LocalWiki’s designated DMCA agent is reachable at:
- By mail: Law Offices of Jaime Vincent Raba, 77 Van Ness Ave #77, San Francisco, CA 94102
- By telephone: 415-669-4587
- By email: [email protected] This email is for DMCA notices only. For all other inquiries, please contact LocalWiki at [email protected]
5.2 Counter-notification
We will use reasonable efforts to inform you if your Contributions have been taken down pursuant to this Copyright Policy. If you believe that your Contributions have been removed in error or that your Contributions do not violate any third party copyright, you may appeal the removal by sending an email or written notice to LocalWiki’s designated agent with the following information:
- Your physical or electronic signature.
- Identification of the material that has been removed or to which access has been disabled, and the location at which the material appeared before it was removed or access to it was disabled.
- A statement under penalty of perjury that you have a good-faith belief that the material was removed or disabled as a result of mistake or misidentification of the material to be removed or disabled.
- Your name, address, and telephone number, and a signed statement that you consent to the jurisdiction of state and federal courts in San Francisco, California, and that you will accept service of process from the party who made the initial infringement claim (or their authorized agent) if they choose to pursue legal action.
If you were notified of the takedown request, please respond to our original email notification of the removal and include the required information in the body of your reply.
If the counter-notice is valid, we will send it to the person who reported the violation. If we do not receive notice that the copyright holder is seeking a court order to prevent further infringement, we may restore the material that was removed, at LocalWiki’s sole discretion.
5.3 Disclosure of DMCA Complaints
Please note that we do not treat takedown notices we receive as confidential, and we may forward takedown notices to Chilling Effects or other similar organizations, where it may be published online. Chilling Effects is a joint project between United States law schools that seeks to provide information on DMCA requests. Chilling Effects generally does post contact information (i.e. phone number, email and address). For more information on Chilling Effects, please visit their website at chillingeffects.org.
6. Acceptable Use Policy
By using the Services, you agree to the following Acceptable Use Policy.
6.1 Children and Educational Use
You must be at least 13 years old to use the Services. However, we encourage schools and teachers to use LocalWiki responsibly with youth to engage in their local communities. If you are a school or teacher, you represent and warrant that you have obtained all necessary consents pursuant to local and federal privacy law in order for your students to interact with and use the Services. If you are a parent and become aware that your child has been using the Services outside of the supervision of a school or teacher, please let us know and we will remove your child’s information. Check out our Resources for Educators page for tips on using LocalWiki in an educational setting.
6.2 Disputes with Community Members
Be nice. You and the other LocalWiki community members are primarily responsible for resolving disputes among yourselves. If a problem escalates, you may contact a local administrator, and in unusual cases, LocalWiki may step in.
6.3 Restrictions and Obligations
By using the Services, you agree to abide by the following restrictions and obligations:
(a) You may not sell, rent, or otherwise offer the Services to others, without LocalWiki’s prior written consent.
(b) You may not use the Services in any way that is unlawful, fraudulent, defamatory, obscene, or otherwise harmful, including, but not limited to, displaying content in a manner that violates any applicable laws, statutes, or regulations, infringes or violates any other person or entity’s rights, or that LocalWiki, in its sole discretion, finds to be harmful.
(c) You agree to comply with all applicable laws, including, but not limited to, any privacy laws, as well as LocalWiki’s policies when you use the Services.
(d) You may not use the Services in any way that interferes with the operation of the Services or impacts or harasses any other user, host, or network, or circumvents any of the Services’ security protections.
7. Termination or Suspension of Accounts and Access to Services
7.1 Suspension of Accounts. LocalWiki retains the right (but not the obligation) to limit, suspend, terminate, modify, or delete your account; limit your access the Services; and delete any portion of your Contributions at its sole discretion, for any or no reason, without notice, at any time.
7.2 Discontinuation of the Services. LocalWiki may change, suspend or discontinue any part of the Services including any content offered through the Services for any reason, at any time, in its sole discretion. LocalWiki may also impose limits on certain features and services or restrict your access to parts or all of the Services without notice or liability.
8. Indemnification
You agree to indemnify and hold harmless LocalWiki and its officers, agents, and employees from all claims and liabilities (including attorney’s fees) arising from or related to your use of the Services or breach of these Terms.
9. Disclaimers
LocalWiki provides its services on an “as is” and “as available” basis and expressly disclaims all express or implied warranties, including but not limited to implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement. LocalWiki takes no responsibility and assumes no liability for any content that you or any other user or third party posts or transmits using THE Services. You understand and agree that you may be exposed to content that is inaccurate, objectionable, inappropriate for children, or otherwise unsuitable.
10. Limitation of Liability
LocalWiki IS not be liable to you or any third parties for any DIRECT, indirect, SPECIAL, incidental, consequential, punitive, or exemplary damages under these Terms, OF ANY KIND, REGARDLESS OF THE TYPE OF CLAIM OR THE NATURE OF THE CAUSE OF ACTION, EVEN IF LOCALWIKI HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.
11. Jurisdiction
The Services are offered by LocalWiki from its facilities in the United States. LocalWiki makes no representations that the Services are appropriate or available for use in other locations. Those who access or use the Services are responsible for compliance with local law.
12. Choice of Law and Venue
You agree that this Agreement, for all purposes, shall be governed and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of California, without regard to the principles of conflict of laws. In addition, you agree to submit to the exclusive personal jurisdiction and venue of the state and federal courts located in San Francisco County for any disputes arising out of these Terms or your use of the Services.
13. Choice of Language
If LocalWiki provides you with a translation of the English language version of these Terms, the Privacy Policy, or any other policy, then you agree that the translation is provided for informational purposes only and does not modify the English language version. In the event of a conflict between a translation and the English version, the English version will govern.
14. No Waiver
No waiver of any term of these Terms shall be deemed a further or continuing waiver of such term or any other term, and LocalWiki’s failure to assert any right or provision under these Terms shall not constitute a waiver of such right or provision.
15. Severability
If any provision or part of a provision of these Terms of Use is held unlawful, invalid or unenforceable, that portion shall be Terms and severed from these Terms, and all remaining terms and conditions contained in these Terms will remain in full force and effect to the extent legally permissible.
16. Entire Agreement
This Agreement constitutes the entire agreement between the parties and supersedes all previous agreements relating to the use of the Services.
17. Changes to these Terms of Use
We may modify these Terms from time to time. We will post changes on this page so be sure to check back regularly. We will also notify you by posting an announcement on the Website so you are always aware of what information we collect, how we use it, and under what circumstances, if any, it is disclosed. Continuing to use our Services after any changes have been posted, constitutes your acceptance of any modifications to the Terms.
Effective Date of these Terms of Use
These Terms of Use are effective as of 2015-1-21.
