Usage Agreement

I. Blog Content

The College of Wooster’s blog service is for communication, self-expression and freedom of speech. We believe blogs increase the availability of information, encourages healthy debate, and makes possible new connections between people.

We respect our users’ ownership of and responsibility for the content they choose to share. It is our belief that censoring this content is contrary to a service that bases itself on freedom of expression.

However, in order to uphold these values and keep these experiences enjoyable for all of our users, we need to curb abuses that threaten our ability to provide this service and the freedom of expression it provides. As a result, there are some boundaries on the type of content that can be posted. The boundaries we’ve defined are those that both comply with legal requirements and that serve to enhance the service.

Content Boundaries

Illegal Purposes: The service may not be used for purposes which violate any copyright, trademark, patent or other intellectual property right of any third party; which are obscene or abusive; which violate a person’s right to privacy; which degrade others on the basis of gender, race, class, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sexual preference, disability or other classification; or which otherwise violate any applicable local, state or federal law. By way of example and not of limitation, the service may not be used for fraudulent purposes or phishing (to obtain account and password information).

Commercial Purposes: The service may not be used for commercial purposes. You may not solicit funds, promote commercial entities or otherwise engage in commercial activity using the service. The College of Wooster will aggressively seek to remove spam from our site. There are a variety of different ways in which spam manifests itself in blogs. Generally, when we talk about spam we mean content that is created for the primary purpose of manipulating search engine results, or generating revenue or traffic through deceptive means.

Identity Theft and Privacy: Blogs that misleadingly appropriate the identity of or impersonate another person are not permitted. Users may not post the personally identifying or confidential information of a third party, including but not limited to credit card numbers, Social Security numbers, driver’s and other license numbers, passwords, usernames, phone numbers, addresses, e-mail addresses and the like.

Hate Content: Hate speech and other objectionable content may be flagged for review by our users. When this happens, The College of Wooster reserves the right at its sole discretion to warn others of the potentially offensive content through the use of a warning page or to remove the comment or blog. However, just because content may be deemed to be “objectionable” by users does not mean that any particular action will be taken. For example, blogs that are flagged because readers disagree with the political opinions expressed in a blog will not be acted upon.

Defamation, Libel: Users must not publish any content that is defamatory or libelous. Note that an allegation of defamatory or libelous expression, in and of itself, does not establish defamation or libel. The truth or falsehood of a bit of expression is a key element in establishing defamation and libel, and we are not in a position to make that sort of fact-based judgment. That said, if we have reason to believe that a particular statement is defamatory or libelous (a court order, for example), we will remove that statement.

Violent Content: Users may not publish direct threats of violence against any person or group of people.

Pornography and Obscenity:

• Pornography and Obscenity: Image and video content that contains nudity, sexually graphic material, or material that is otherwise deemed explicit by The College of Wooster not be posted.
• Pedophilia, Incest and Bestiality: Users may not publish written, image or video content that promotes pedophilia, incest and bestiality.
• Commercial Pornography: The College of Wooster does not allow content that exists for the primary purpose of monetizing porn content or driving traffic to a monetized pornography site.
• Child Pornography: The College of Wooster has a zero-tolerance policy against child pornography, and we will terminate and report to the appropriate authorities any user who publishes or distributes child pornography.

All content posted on the College of Wooster’s web servers must be in accordance with the Scot’s Key.

Copyright: Using copyrighted material does not constitute infringement in all cases. In general, however, users should be careful when using copyrighted content without the permission of those who created it.
It is our policy to respond to notices of alleged infringement that comply with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”). If we remove a blog/post or disable access to a blog to comply with the DMCA, we will make a good-faith attempt to contact the owner or administrator of each affected site so that they may make a counter notification pursuant to section 512(g)(2) and (3) of the DMCA. It is our policy to document all notices of alleged infringement on which we act. A copy of the notice, with any personally identifying information removed, will be sent to a third party who will make it available to the public.

II. Terms of Use

Before you begin blogging on the you must read and agree to these term (“Usage Agreement”), including any future amendments (collectively, the “Agreement”):

Although we may attempt to notify you when major changes are made to the Terms of Use, you should periodically review the most up-to-date version. The College of Wooster may, in its sole discretion, modify or revise these Terms of Use and blog policies at any time, and you agree to be bound by such modifications or revisions. If you do not accept and abide by this Agreement, you may not use the blog service as an assigned blogger.

1. Description of Service. The service is a community publishing service on the web made available to you as an assigned community blogger. The College of Wooster reserves the right to modify, suspend or discontinue this Agreement without notice at any time and without any liability to you.

2. Proper Use. You agree that you are responsible for your own use of the service, for any posts you make, and for any consequences thereof. You agree that you will use the service in compliance with all applicable local, state, national, and international laws, rules and regulations.

The College of Wooster claims no ownership or control over any content submitted, posted or displayed by you on or through the Service. The College of Wooster reserves the right to refuse to accept, post, display or transmit any content in its sole discretion.

3. Intellectual Property Rights. You acknowledge that The College of Wooster owns all right, title and interest in and to the service, including all intellectual property rights. By submitting, posting or displaying content on or through the service, you grant The College of Wooster a royalty-free worldwide, non-exclusive, perpetual, irrevocable and fully sub-licensable license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, perform and display such content on The College of Wooster and affiliated media, in any form, media or technology, now known or later developed.

4. Representations and Warranties. You represent and warrant that (a) all of the information provided by you The College of Wooster to participate in the service is complete, correct and current; (b) you have all the rights, power and authority necessary to grant the rights granted herein to any content submitted, and (c) you have all necessary right, power and authority to enter into this Agreement and to perform the acts required of you hereunder.

5. Termination; Suspension. The College of Wooster, in its sole discretion, at any time and for any reason, may terminate the service, terminate this Agreement, or suspend or terminate your blog. In the event of termination, your account will be disabled and you may not be granted access to your account or any files or other content contained in your account although residual copies of information may remain in our system for some time for back-up purposes.

6. Indemnification. You agree to hold harmless and indemnify The College of Wooster and its subsidiaries, affiliates, officers, agents, and employees from and against any third-party claim arising from or in any way related to your use of the Service, including any liability or expense arising from all claims, losses, damages (actual and consequential), suits, judgments, litigation costs and attorneys’ fees, of every kind and nature. In such a case, The College of Wooster will provide you with written notice of such claim, suit or action.

7. Entire Agreement. This Agreement constitutes the entire agreement between you and The College of Wooster and governs your use of the service, superseding any prior agreements between you and The College of Wooster.

8. Waiver and Severability of Terms. The failure of The College of Wooster to exercise or enforce any right or provision of the Terms of Use Agreement shall not constitute a waiver of such right or provision. If any provision of the Terms of Use Agreement is found by a court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, the parties nevertheless agree that the court should endeavor to give effect to the parties’ intentions as reflected in the provision, and the other provisions of the Terms of Use Agreement remain in full force and effect.

9. Limitation of Actions. You agree that regardless of any statute or law to the contrary, any claim or cause of action arising of or related to use of the services or this Agreement must be filed within one (1) year after such claim or cause of action arose or be forever barred.