Last modified: 14 April 2010
Please read this document carefully before accessing or registering for the www.talesofthings.com platform and any related websites.
1. Acceptance of Terms and Conditions
Welcome to www.talesofthings.com ("TalesOfThings.com", "Site", "Platform"). This Site is operated by the "TOTeM Consortium" (Tales of Things and Electronic Memory), an academic research collaboration between Edinburgh College of Art, University College London, Brunel University, The University of Salford, and The University of Dundee (henceforth "TOTeM Consortium", "TOTeM", "we", "us", "our"). By using the Services offered on or through TalesOfThings.com, you ("user", "visitor") agree to the legally binding terms and conditions set forth below (the "Terms of Service", "TOS", "Terms"). We reserve the right, at our discretion, to change, add or remove parts of these Terms at any time. This page will always contain the current version of our Terms of Service, along with the date at which the most recent changes were implemented. Any updated Terms will overwrite all prior written or verbal understandings and agreements. In addition to these Terms of Service, your use of TalesOfThings.com is governed by our Privacy Policy and the terms and regulations of any sites linked to TalesOfThings.com. If you do not understand and/or agree to these Terms of Service, you must not use or register for TalesOfThings.com or any of its Services (as defined below). If you have any questions or concerns regarding these Terms of Service, please contact us. The TOTeM Consortium and TalesOfThings.com are governed by Scottish Law.
2. General Use of Site
TalesOfThings.com is part of an academic research project and may be accessed and used for non-commercial purposes only. Among other things, the Site allows you to create a user account; write and publish object stories; upload and share user-generated images; embed user-generated media clips from other websites; post comments about media files; download and print unique object identification codes; add other users to your list of contacts; and search the Site for objects and users (collectively, and together with the Site, the "Services"). Unless otherwise stated, these Terms of Service apply to all Services. All content and services made available through TalesOfThings.com are always part of these Services and will always be governed by these Terms. PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS WEBSITE IS A PRE-RELEASE VERSION AND MAY NOT FUNCTION IN THE SAME WAY AS OUR FINAL PLATFORM. We reserve the right to modify or discontinue some or all of the Services at any time, with or without notice. We are not liable to you or to any third party for any modification, suspension or discontinuance of any features on the Site, and we cannot be held responsible for any losses or damages incurred due to errors or technical failures on the Site.
3. Eligibility
You must be 18 years of age or older to register for TalesOfThings.com or to use any of the Services. If you are not yet 18 years old, you may register to use the Services if your parents or legal guardian have viewed, reviewed and discussed these Terms with you, and have given you their permission to register and use the Services with both your and their full understanding of the Terms. While these Terms of Service determine that user-generated content should meet the requirements set out in our Community and Submissions Guidelines (detailed below), the TOTeM Consortium is not responsible for monitoring or filtering user-generated content, some of which may not be appropriate for people under the age of 18. You may not use, access or register for TalesOfThings.com if you are either banned or otherwise legally prohibited from using the Internet or any features of this Site, under the laws of the country in which you are resident or from which you would otherwise access the Services.
4. General Rights and Restrictions
Subject to these Terms of Service, TalesOfThings.com grants you a revocable, non-transferable, non-exclusive and non-sublicensable limited right and licence to use and access the Services to view the images, texts, graphics, audio, video and other user-submitted Content (see below) to the extent made available by TalesOfThings.com and other users, for informational and educational purposes, and for your immediate, private and non-commercial use. Content may be used for the purposes of non-commercial, academic research or education, granted that (a) TalesOfThings.com is clearly referenced in such work, and (b) every effort has been made to gain informed consent from the TalesOfThings.com users whose content is directly used by academics outside the TOTeM Consortium. All rights to ownership or use not expressly stated herein are reserved by TalesOfThings.com and the TOTeM Consortium.
5. Registration
In order to use certain Services, you must become a registered user of TalesOfThings.com and will be given a personal account. You agree that usernames may be refused or removed by us for reasons including but not limited to using a username that may be seen to impersonate another person, cause offence, or violate third party intellectual property. Please note that your username may be viewed by the public, so you should not choose a username that personally identifies you. For instance, do not provide your full name as username. By registering at TalesOfThings.com, you agree to: (a) provide true, accurate, current and complete information about yourself as prompted by the TalesOfThings.com registration form, and (b) maintain and immediately update such "Registration Data" to keep it accurate. If you provide any information that is untrue, inaccurate, or incomplete, or TalesOfThings.com has reasonable grounds to believe that such is the case, the TOTeM Consortium has the right to suspend or terminate your account and refuse any and all current or future use of the Platform or the Services. To register, you will be required to choose a password. You are solely responsible for keeping your password secure and confidential (i.e. only known to you), and you agree not to transfer your username or password, or lend or otherwise transfer your use of or access to the Services, to anybody else. You are fully responsible for all activity linked to your username, password, and your account as a whole. You agree to immediately notify us of any unauthorised use of your username or password or any other breach of security related to your account or the Services, and to ensure that you exit or "log off" from your account at the end of each session. We are not liable for any loss or damage arising from your failure to comply with any of these obligations. When you register for a TalesOfThings.com account, the Site will automatically create a profile page for you and certain Registration Data will be visible in your profile page, including your username, your profile image (which must comply with general Submissions Guidelines), and the date you registered as a TalesOfThings.com user. You may choose to add information (such as interests, personal descriptions and general location) to or delete certain information from your profile page. Your profile page will automatically display activity and any materials you have uploaded or otherwise submitted via the Services and which you have marked "public". Please note that your profile page (including any comments that may have been left for you) may be viewed by other users, so you should not include any information in your profile page that you do not want others to see. You have the option to delete other users comments from your profile page if you deem such comments unwanted or inappropriate. In future versions of this Site, you will be able to control who can view your profile page and any of its content by adjusting your personal privacy settings. By agreeing to these Terms, you understand that any materials which are set to "public" can be viewed by anyone on the Internet, whether they are TalesOfThings.com users or not. "Private" content can only be accessed and viewed by designated users, that is, people or entities who have been granted permission by you to access your profile page. You grant this permission by adding them to your list of friends/contacts on TalesOfThings.com. If you choose to set your profile to "private" but would still like to take part in the TOTeM research, you need to add TOTeM to your list of contacts. If you choose to take part in the TOTeM research project, you allow members of the TOTeM Consortium to access, download, and/or use (solely to the extent necessary) your Content for the purposes of academic research and education. Your materials might be viewed and discussed at conferences, in publications, during educational workshops, at art installations, in documentary films, or through other forms of exhibition and dissemination in the UK and around the world. You have the right to withdraw from the TOTeM research project and remove your materials from the TalesOfThings.com Platform at any time, without needing to inform the TOTeM Consortium about your reasons for doing so (see also Section 7 of these Terms). For further details about the research project, please refer to our Frequently Asked Questions, or contact us. Please note that any content which has once been uploaded, posted or otherwise submitted to the Internet, whether private or public, has the capacity to become and remain part of the public domain. Although these terms strictly prohibit any unauthorised use of public or private Content, TalesOfThings.com is not liable for any losses or damages incurred as a result of the transgression of such rules. You should bear this in mind when contributing to the Platform. If you are unsure about the possible implications of submitting content to the Internet, please contact us.
6. Personal Information
The collection, use and storage of your personal information are governed by our Privacy Policy. A GENERAL NOTE OF ADVICE: Aside from providing us with certain personal information as outlined in the Privacy Policy, we strongly advise you not to disclose any personal information (neither yours nor that of others) in any of the posts, uploads, submissions or transmissions you make on TalesOfThings.com or related websites. Personal information includes but is not limited to your (or others) full name, date of birth, address, place of work, and/or phone number. TOTeM will never ask you for your national insurance number (social security information), and we will not ask for any credit card details, unless these Terms specifically state such a change of Services. Please refer to our Frequently Asked Questions for general advice on staying safe online.
7. Submissions Guidelines
Any content uploaded, posted or transmitted to TalesOfThings.com ("Submission(s)", "Content") must be user-generated, that is, created by you or by TOTeM partners and facilitators, in which case it was produced on your behalf, with your permission, and with our knowledge and consent, and shall at all times remain your sole and exclusive property. Other acceptable Submissions include content which has been produced by others but which you now own or for which you have the necessary licences, rights, consents and permissions for use and submission on TalesOfThings.com. You hereby warrant and ensure that you have any and all necessary written or implied consents, releases, and/or permissions of each and every identifiable individual in your Submission to use the name, picture and likeness of each and every such identifiable individual to enable inclusion and use of your Submission in the manner contemplated by these Terms of Service. (Our general advice is not to provide personal details about yourself or any third party in any of your Submissions; see Section 6 of these Terms) All Submissions are subject to our Community Guidelines. You are solely responsible for any Content you add to TalesOfThings.com and the consequences of its posting or publication on or via the Services, whether publicly posted or privately submitted. Content can include but is not limited to stories, images, ideas, comments, audio and video clips, and/or graphics. It is your sole responsibility to obtain the permission of the rightful owner of any objects which may feature in your Submissions to attach a TOTeM tag to or nearby the respective object. Tags are generated by the Site and may include but are not limited to QR ("Quick Response") tags or RFIDs ("Radio Frequency Identification Tags"). For more information about these, please refer to our Frequently Asked Questions. By submitting Content, you hereby grant TalesOfThings.com and its affiliates a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, sub-licensable and transferable licence (with a right to create derivative works to the extent necessary to make content compatible with any TalesOfThings.com Services), revocable upon removing content from TalesOfThings.com, to use, copy, transmit or otherwise distribute, perform, modify, incorporate into other works, publicly perform and display your content or any portion thereof, in or through any medium, whether now known or hereafter created, for the purposes of offering the Services. TalesOfThings.com shall also be entitled to use portions of any user-generated content that has been designated "public" or to which they have been given explicit access for the purposes of academic research and education, and for promoting TalesOfThings.com or Services, without compensation to the submitter. However, TalesOfThings.com will not use user-generated content for any commercial purposes without taking every reasonable step to obtain your prior approval. You also grant each user (or specified users, if a video is designated "private") of TalesOfThings.com or Services a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, personal and non-commercial licence to access and view your Content through TalesOfThings.com or any other access point authorised by you and/or TalesOfThings.com. This right to access and view your submissions shall include, solely to the extent necessary, the right to copy, transmit or otherwise distribute, perform, and display your Content. Unless designated "private", all user-generated content will be deemed public information. When you remove or otherwise delete media files from the Services, the licences granted by you to TalesOfThings.com and other users shall terminate within a reasonable time. You understand and agree, however, that TalesOfThings.com may retain (but not display, distribute, or perform) server copies of Submissions that have been removed or deleted, and that TalesOfThings.com shall have no obligation to attempt to remove from distribution any of your Submissions that are otherwise publicly available through the Internet or other publicly accessible medium. If you choose to take part in the TOTeM research: Every reasonable effort will be made to obtain your approval prior to using your materials ("Submissions") in the dissemination of TOTeM research findings. As a general rule, the TOTeM Consortium cannot remove materials from circulation once they have been or are in the process of being published in books and/or journal articles, or are part of a format of dissemination which does not allow for changes to its content. This is also the case should you at any point decide to withdraw your materials from TalesOfThings.com. Should you inform us of your withdrawal from the TOTeM research, every reasonable step will be taken to remove materials from future forms of dissemination, where this is possible and in our control. If you have any questions about the TOTeM research project, please refer to our Frequently Asked Questions. A NOTE ABOUT COMMUNICATION AND PRIVACY: You should consider all communications on TalesOfThings.com to be public and not private communications. Although the TOTeM Consortium reserves the right to remove without notice any posting for any reason, we have no duty to delete content that you may find objectionable or offensive.
8. Intellectual Property and Copyright
You acknowledge that the TalesOfThings.com and Services contain information, names, logos, software, photos, video, text, graphics, music, sounds or other material (collectively "TOTeM-generated Content") that are protected by copyrights, patents, trademarks, trade secrets or other proprietary rights, and that these rights are valid and protected in all forms, media and technologies existing now or hereafter developed. Subject to your compliance with these Terms of Service, and solely for so long as you are permitted by us to access and use the Services, you may download one copy of the materials on any single computer for your personal, non-commercial home use only, provided you keep intact all copyright and other proprietary notices, and are in compliance with these Terms. In the event of you downloading software provided by TalesOfThings.com, the software, including any files, images incorporated in or generated by the software, and data accompanying the software (collectively, the "Software") are licensed to you by us. Except as otherwise expressly authorised in writing in advance by us, you agree not to reproduce, redistribute, sell, modify, rent, lease, loan, adapt, translate, create derivative works based on, disassemble, or otherwise reduce all or any part of the Services, including the Site, TOTeM-generated Content or the Software. The TOTeM Consortium respects the intellectual property of others, and we ask our users to do the same. If you believe that your work has been copied in a way that constitutes copyright infringement, please contact us with all the necessary information.
9. Community Guidelines
You agree to not use any features of TalesOfThings.com to:
harm anyone, including minors;
impersonate any person or entity, including, but not limited to, a member of the TOTeM Consortium and partners, or to falsely state or otherwise misrepresent your affiliation with a person, group, or entity;
upload, post, e-mail or otherwise transmit any Submissions that are unlawful, harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, pornographic, libellous, invasive of another person's privacy, hateful, or racially, ethnically or otherwise prejudiced or objectionable;
manipulate identifiers, such as usernames or headers, in order to disguise the origin of any Submissions transmitted through the Service;
upload, post, e-mail or otherwise transmit any Submissions that you do not have a right to transmit under any law or under contractual or fiduciary relationships (such as inside information, proprietary and confidential information learned or disclosed as part of employment relationships or under nondisclosure agreements);
upload, post, e-mail or otherwise transmit any Submissions that infringe any patent, trademark, trade secret, copyright or other proprietary rights of any party;
upload, post, e-mail or otherwise transmit any unsolicited or unauthorised promotional materials, advertising, "junk mail", "spam", "chain letters", "pyramid schemes", or any other form of solicitation;
upload, post, e-mail or otherwise transmit any material that contains software viruses or any other computer code, files or programmes designed to interrupt, destroy or limit the functionality of any computer software or hardware or telecommunications equipment;
interfere with or disrupt the Services or servers or networks connected to the Services, or disobey any requirements, procedures, policies or regulations of networks or third party providers connected to, or providing the Services;
intentionally or unintentionally violate any applicable local, state, national or international law, or any regulations having the force of law;
download materials without retaining
"stalk" or otherwise harass another member or user of the Services; or
collect, harvest or store personal data from or about other users.
You represent and warrant that your Submission(s) shall not:
violate the rights of any third party, including, but not limited to, intellectual property and proprietary rights;
be fraudulent or involve counterfeit or stolen information or items, (c) shall not violate any law, statute, ordinance or regulation;
create any liability for the TOTeM Consortium or any of its respective members, partners, or funding bodies.
10. Disclaimers
TalesOfThings.com does not and cannot review all Submissions posted to or created by users accessing the Services (including, but not limited to, the Site), and is not in any manner responsible for the content of these images, videos, audio clips, communications, comments or postings, or the activities of TalesOfThings.com users. You acknowledge that by providing you with the ability to view and distribute user-generated content through the Services (including, but not limited to, the Site), TalesOfThings.com is merely acting as a passive conduit for the distribution of such information, and is not undertaking any obligation or liability relating to Content or the users' activities. Accordingly, TalesOfThings.com does not guarantee the accuracy, integrity, completeness, non-infringement or quality of Content. The TOTeM Consortium and its respective members, partners, and funding bodies do not undertake or assume any duty to monitor the Site for inappropriate Content. You understand that by using the Site or Services, you may be exposed to content that is offensive, indecent or objectionable. Under no circumstances will the TOTeM Consortium be liable in any way for any Content, any errors or omissions in any Content, or for any loss or damage of any kind incurred as a result of the use of any Content posted, e-mailed or otherwise transmitted on or via the Site or Services. The TOTeM Consortium and its respective members, partners and funding bodies assume no responsibility or liability which may arise from the Content in terms of claims for defamation, libel, slander, infringement, invasion of privacy and publicity rights, obscenity, pornography, profanity, fraud, or misrepresentation. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the TOTeM Consortium reserves the right to (a) monitor some, all, or no areas of TalesOfThings.com for adherence to these or other rules; and (b) block or remove, at our sole discretion, any media files, comments, postings, or materials that we determine to be abusive, defamatory, obscene, fraudulent, deceptive, misleading, offensive, or otherwise inacceptable, or any Submissions which we suspect to violate copyright, trademark, patent, trade secret, intellectual property or other rights of others. The Services and certain Submissions may contain, and other users or third parties may provide, links to other Internet sites or resources. These sites and resources are not controlled by TalesOfThings.com, and we do not endorse any external links. External websites and resources are not subject to these Terms or the TalesOfThings.com Privacy Policy. They may be subject to other terms and conditions or policies posted therein. Because we do not have any control over such sites and resources, you acknowledge and agree that the TOTeM Consortium is not responsible for the availability of such external sites or resources, and does not endorse and is not responsible or liable for any Submission, advertising, products, or other materials on or available from such sites or resources. You further acknowledge and agree that the TOTeM Consortium shall not be responsible or liable, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with use of or reliance on any Submission, goods or services available on or through any external site or resource. Your use of external sites or resources is at your own risk. THE SERVICES ARE PROVIDED ON AN "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE" BASIS, AND YOU USE THEM AT YOUR SOLE RISK, AND WE DO NOT GUARANTEE THAT THE SERVICES MEET YOUR NEEDS OR EXPECTATIONS. YOU WILL BE SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGE TO YOUR COMPUTER SYSTEM OR LOSS OF DATA THAT RESULTS FROM THE DOWNLOAD OR USE OF ANY SUCH MATERIAL. PLEASE NOTE THAT NO ADVICE OR INFORMATION OBTAINED BY YOU FROM THE TOTeM CONSORTIUM OR THROUGH THE SERVICES SHALL CREATE ANY REPRESENTATION, WARRANTY OR GUARANTY NOT EXPRESSLY PROVIDED FOR IN THESE TERMS OF SERVICE.
11. Liability and Indemnification
YOU EXPRESSLY UNDERSTAND AND AGREE THAT THE TOTeM CONSORTIUM SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR EXEMPLARY DAMAGES, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO, DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF PROFITS, GOODWILL, USE, DATA OR OTHER INTANGIBLE LOSSES RESULTING FROM: (A) THE USE OR THE INABILITY TO USE THE SITE OR SERVICES; (B) UNAUTHORISED ACCESS TO OR ALTERATION OF YOUR TRANSMISSIONS OR DATA; (C) STATEMENTS OR CONDUCT OF ANY THIRD PARTY ON THE SERVICES; OR (D) ANY OTHER MATTER RELATING TO THE SERVICES OR OPERATION OF TALESOFTHINGS.COM. YOU AGREE TO INDEMNIFY, DEFEND AND HOLD HARMLESS THE TOTeM CONSORTIUM, ITS MEMBERS, PARTNERS, AND FUNDING BODIES FROM ANY AND ALL THIRD PARTY CLAIMS, LIABILITY, DAMAGES AND/OR COSTS (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, LEGAL FEES) ARISING FROM YOUR USE OF THE SITE OR SERVICES, YOUR VIOLATION OF THESE TERMS OF SERVICE OR YOUR INFRINGEMENT, OR INFRINGEMENT BY ANY OTHER USER OF YOUR ACCOUNT, OF ANY INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY OR OTHER RIGHT OF ANY PERSON OR ENTITY.
12. Termination and Modification
The TOTeM Consortium reserves the right to immediately suspend, terminate, access and investigate the user account of any user upon receipt of a subpoena or law enforcement request, or when we believe, in our sole discretion, that a user is transmitting or is otherwise connected with the distribution of unsolicited bulk email messages (SPAM) or any harassing email messages or posts, or with any fraudulent, misleading, illegal or otherwise objectionable activities. You agree that the TOTeM Consortium, in its sole and absolute discretion, may terminate any part or all of your account or use of the Services, and remove and discard any Submission(s) or other Content within the Services, for any reason, including if we believe that you have violated or acted inconsistently with the letter or spirit of the Terms of Service. You agree that any termination of your access to the Services under any provision of this Terms of Service may happen without prior notice, and you acknowledge and agree that the TOTeM Consortium may immediately deactivate or delete your account and all related information and files in your account and/or bar any further access to such files or the Services. Further, you agree that the TOTeM Consortium shall not be liable to you or any third-party for any termination of your access to the Services. The provisions of these Terms of Service pertaining to disclaimers, exclusion of damages, limitations of liability and indemnification shall survive termination.