Toxic Sites Terms of Service

Effective date: May 21, 2016

ToxicSites.us is a data visualization and social media tool that allows anyone to learn about Superfund sites and the process of cleanup. You can explore details about Superfund sites and submit your own stories that describe how you are affected by these sites. The following Terms of Use (the “Agreement”) sets forth the terms and conditions regarding your access and use of the toxicsites.us website and any related services (collectively, “Toxic Sites Services.”).

1. Acceptance of the Agreement
   
   By accessing or using Toxic Sites Services in any manner, including but not limited to browsing the website or contributing content, you agree to be bound by the terms of this Agreement. The owners and operators of the Toxic Sites Services (“Toxic Sites”) reserves the right to change, replace, or otherwise modify this Agreement from time to time. The date of last modification will be posted at the beginning of this Agreement. It is your responsibility to check from time to time for updates.

2. Your Use of Toxic Sites
   
   Subject to your compliance with this Agreement, Toxic Sites grants you permission to use the Toxic Sites Services. Your use of the Toxic Sites Services is subject to the following restrictions and obligations:
   
   
   1. You must be at least 13 years of age to use the Toxic Sites Services.
   2. You may only use the Toxic Sites Services for personal use, and may not transfer your right to use the Toxic Sites Services to others.
   3. You may not use the Toxic Sites Services to publish, transmit, route, or store any content that infringes or violates the rights of any party. It is your responsibility to comply with all applicable local, state, and federal laws and regulations.
   4. Except as authorized through the platform or authorized by law, you may not copy, rip, or capture any content on the Toxic Sites Services. You may not “scrape” or bulk copy any portion of the website using a bot or other tool without prior express permission from Toxic Sites. We welcome academic analysis of the Toxic Sites Services using scraping or other tools, but please contact Toxic Sites first at info@toxicsites.us to seek permission.
   5. You may not use the Toxic Sites Services to upload or publish any material that constitutes junk mail, spam, or other commercial offers.
   6. You may not take any action that disrupts the integrity and availability of the Toxic Sites Services, including but not limited to transmission of code or content that puts an unnecessary load on the services supporting the Toxic Sites Services.
   
   You may report content posted by other user if you believe, in good faith, that the content violates this Agreement. Toxic Sites reserves the right to suspend or terminate your access to the Toxic Sites Services, including but not limited to termination for violations of this Agreement, or of Toxic Sites determines that you are inappropriately reporting other users in order to prevent those users from uploading or accessing content that is in compliance with this Agreement.
   
   
3. Privacy
   
   Your privacy is important to use. Please refer to our Privacy Policy for more information on how Toxic Sites collects, stores, uses, and protects your data.
   
   
4. Submitted Content
   
   Toxic Sites encourages you to submit your stories about Superfund sites through the “Add Story” button on the bottom of pages for Superfund sites. You retain ownership of over any text, images, audio, video, or other data or information that you upload through the Toxic Sites Services (identified individually and collectively as “Your Content”). By using the Toxic Sites Services, you hereby grant Toxic Sites a worldwide, royalty-free, irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, create derivative works from, distribute, perform, display, and otherwise exploit Your Content in whole or in part, in any medium now known or hereafter devised. This license includes the right to sublicense content to others, subject to the limitations provided herein.
   
   Toxic Sites may solicit user content from users using an identifier on third-party social media platforms, such as a hashtag on Facebook or Instagram (identified herein as “Social Media Content”). By participating in such solicitations and using the identified identifier, you agree to be bound by the terms of this Agreement, and provide Toxic Sites a license to use such Social Media Content under the same terms as granted for Your Content above. Unless otherwise noted, such solicitations are not endorsed by or affiliated with the social media platform on which the user is posting.
   
   For both Social Media Content and Your Content, you further represent and warrant that:
   
   
   1. You own or have the necessary licenses, rights, consents, and permissions to grant the above license over Your Content.
   2. Your Content does not and will not infringe or violate the rights of any third party, including, without limitation, any intellectual property rights, performers’ rights, rights of privacy or publicity, or rights in confidential information.
   3. Your Content is not and will not be unlawful, abusive, defamatory, obscene, racist, discriminatory, or sexually explicit.
   4. Your Content does not and will not create any liability on the part of Toxic Sites or any of its officers, subsidiaries, employees, or affiliates.
   5. You agree to execute and deliver any documents and provide all assistance reasonably requested by Toxic Sites to provide the full benefit of the rights granted to Toxic Sites by you.
      
      
5. Reporting Copyright Infringement
   
   Toxic Sites respects the intellectual property of others, and we ask our users to do the same. Toxic Sites may, in appropriate circumstances and at its discretion, terminate or suspend access to the Toxic Sites Services and take other action against users who infringe the copyright rights of others.
   
   If you believe that your work is being infringed under copyright law on the Toxic Sites Services, you may notify us by providing the following information, as required by 17 U.S.C. § 512, to our copyright agent identified below:
   
   
   1. A physical or electronic signature of person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed;
   2. Identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed, or, if multiple copyrighted works at a single online site are covered by a single notification, a list of such works;
   3. Identification of the material that is claimed to be infringing or to be the subject of infringing activity and that is to be removed or access to which is to be disabled, and information reasonably sufficient to permit Toxic Sites to locate the material;
   4. Information reasonably sufficient to permit Toxic Sites to contact the complaining party, such as an address, telephone number, and if available, an email address at which the complaining party may be contacted;
   5. A statement that the complaining party has a good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law; and
   6. A statement that the information in the notification is accurate, and under penalty of perjury, that the complaining party is authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.
   
   Such notice may be sent to Toxic Sites’ copyright agent, at:
   
   Brooke Singer
   Purchase College
   School of Film & Media
   735 Anderson Hill Rd
   Purchase NY 11238
   914-251-6644
   copyright@toxicsites.us
   
   Note: only copyright complaints should be sent to this agent. For communications on other matters, please contact info@toxicsites.us.

6. Access to Third-Party Websites, Data, and Services
   
   By using the Toxic Sites Services, Toxic Sites may provide you access to third-party websites, data, information, and services, including but not limited to data collected by governmental and environmental organizations who curate lists of Superfund sites. In particular, details about the identity, location, and responsible parties for Superfund sites largely come from the Environmental Protection Agency. Information about chemical health effects largely comes from the European Trade Union Institute’s “Risctox” database, and census and population information largely comes from the University of Missouri’s Missouri Census Data Center.
   
   You hereby acknowledge that Toxic Sites does not have responsibility for any content generated by these third parties, or any control over such services, and cannot be held responsible for their content, operation, or use.
   
   The views and opinions expressed by users of the Toxic Sites Services or third-party services are not necessarily those held or expressed by Toxic Sites. Toxic Sites does not give any representation, warranty, or endorsement, express or implied, with respect to the legality, accuracy, quality, or authenticity of content, information, or services provided by such users or third-party services. You hereby irrevocably waive any claim against Toxic Sites with respect to the content or operation of any such users or third-party services.
   
   
7. Limitation of Liability and Disclaimer
   
   YOU HEREBY ACKNOWLEDGE THAT YOU ARE USING THESE SERVICES AT YOUR OWN RISK. THE SERVICES ARE PROVIDED "AS IS," AND TOXIC SITES, ITS AFFILIATES AND ITS THIRD PARTY SERVICE PROVIDERS HEREBY EXPRESSLY DISCLAIM ANY AND ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS AND IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTIES OF ACCURACY, RELIABILITY, TITLE, MERCHANTABILITY, NON-INFRINGEMENT, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, OR ANY OTHER WARRANTY, CONDITION, GUARANTEE OR REPRESENTATION, WHETHER ORAL, IN WRITING OR IN ELECTRONIC FORM, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE ACCURACY OR COMPLETENESS OF ANY INFORMATION CONTAINED THEREIN OR PROVIDED BY THE SERVICES. TOXIC SITES, ITS AFFILIATES, AND ITS THIRD PARTY SERVICE PROVIDERS DO NOT REPRESENT OR WARRANT THAT ACCESS TO THE SERVICES WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED OR THAT THERE WILL BE NO FAILURES, ERRORS OR OMISSIONS OR LOSS OF TRANSMITTED INFORMATION, OR THAT NO VIRUSES WILL BE TRANSMITTED THROUGH THE SERVICES.
   
   TOXIC SITES, ITS EMPLOYEES, ITS AFFILIATES, AND ITS THIRD PARTY SERVICE PROVIDERS SHALL NOT BE LIABLE IN ANY MANNER WHATSOEVER TO YOU OR ANY THIRD PARTIES FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF: (I) YOUR ACCESS, USE, OR INABILITY TO USE THE TOXIC SITES SERVICES; (II) ANY FAILURE OR PERFORMANCE, ERROR, OMISSION, INTERRUPTION, DEFECT, DELAY IN OPERATION OR TRANSMISSION, COMPUTER VIRUS OR LINE OR SYSTEM FAILURE (INCLUDING LOSS OF PROFITS, LOSS OF BUSINESS OR DATA, BUSINESS INTERRUPTION, AND DAMAGES THAT RESULT FROM INACCURACY OF THE INFORMATION OR INCONVENIENCE, DELAY, OR LOSS OF THE USE OF THE TOXIC SITES SERVICES); (III) PERSONAL INJURY OR PROPERTY DAMAGE, OF ANY NATURE WHATSOEVER, RESULTING FROM YOUR ACCESS TO AND USE OF THE TOXIC SITES SERVICES; (IV) ANY UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS TO OR USE OF OUR SECURE SERVERS AND/OR ANY AND ALL PERSONAL IDENTIFIABLE INFORMATION STORED THEREIN; (V) ANY BUGS, VIRUSES, MALWARE, OR THE LIKE, WHICH MAY BE TRANSMITTED TO OR THROUGH THE TOXIC SITES SERVICES BY ANY THIRD PARTY.
   
   
8. Severability
   
   Should one or more provisions of this Agreement be found to be unlawful, void, or unenforceable, such provision(s) shall be deemed severable and will not affect the validity and/or enforceability of the remaining provisions of this Agreement.
   
   
9. No Waiver
   
   Toxic Sites’s failure to exercise or enforce any right or provision of the terms will not be deemed to be a waiver of such right or provision.
   
   
10. Governing Law
    
    This Agreement (and any future rules, policies, or guidelines incorporated by reference) shall be governed by the laws of the State of New York. Any action based on, relating to, or alleging breach of this Agreement must be brought in a state or federal court in Kings County, New York. Both parties agree to submit to the exclusive personal jurisdiction and venue of such courts.
    
    
11. Entire Agreement
    
    This Agreement shall constitute the entire agreement between you and Toxic Sites concerning the Toxic Sites Services. Any modification to this Agreement must be made in writing and signed by both parties.
    
    
12. Contact Us
    
    If you have any questions about this Agreement, please contact us at info@toxicsites.us.