Terms of use/Remixed

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Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in the sum of all knowledge. That's our commitment. – Our Vision Statement

Welcome to Wikimedia! The Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. (“we” or “us”), is a nonprofit charitable organization whose mission is to empower and engage people around the world to collect and develop educational content under a free license or in the public domain, and to disseminate it effectively and globally, free of charge.

To support our vibrant community, we provide the essential infrastructure and organizational framework for the development of multilingual wiki Projects and other endeavors which serve this mission. We strive to make and keep useful information from the Projects available on the internet free of charge, in perpetuity.

We welcome you (“you” or the “user”) as a reader, editor, author, or contributor of the Wikimedia Projects, and we encourage you to join the Wikimedia community. Before you participate, however, we ask that you please read to the following Terms of Use which tell you about our services at the Wikimedia Foundation, our relationship to you as a user, and the rights and responsibilities that guide us both.

Readers

The Wikimedia Foundation host an incredible quantity of informational content, all of which is contributed and made possible by users like yourself. The largest of our projects is Wikipedia, but we host different Projects too, each with different objectives and work methods. We are dedicated to making all of this content freely accessible to the public, to you. Nothing in these terms of use takes away from your rights under copyright however our free licenses do permit you to a few things which may be forbidden or restricted on other sites. This includes:

• You may printout and save articles to read later or offline. If you want to share these with others see our Republishers section below.
• You may link to link to any public page on our sites.

Reliability of our content

The Wikimedia Foundation (WMF) is dedicated to encouraging the growth, development and distribution of free multilingual content, and to providing the full content of these wiki-based Projects to the public for its free use. Our role is to host some of the largest collaboratively-edited reference projects in the world, which you can find at http://www.wikimedia.org, however, we act only as a hosting service, maintaining the infrastructure and organizational framework that allows our users to build the Wikimedia Projects by contributing and editing content themselves.

Because the Wikimedia Projects are collaboratively edited, all of the content that we host is provided by users like yourself, and the WMF do not take an editorial role. This means that we generally do not monitor or edit the content of the Project websites, and we do not take any responsibility for this content. Similarly, we do not endorse any opinions expressed via our services, and we do not represent or guarantee the truthfulness, accuracy, or reliability of any submitted community content. Instead, we simply provide access to the content that your fellow users have contributed and edited.

Privacy Policy

We ask that you review the terms of our Privacy Policy, so that you are aware of how we collect and use your information. Because our services are used by people all over the world, personal information that we collect may be stored and processed in the United States or any other country in which we or our agents maintain facilities. By using our services, you consent to any such transfer of information outside your country.

You may find some material objectionable

Because we provide a wide array of content that is produced or gathered by fellow users, you may encounter material that you find offensive, erroneous, misleading, mislabeled, or otherwise objectionable. We therefore ask that you use common sense and proper judgment when using our services.

Our content is for general informational purposes only

Although we host a great deal of information that pertains to professional topics, including medical, legal, or financial issues, this content is presented for general informational purposes only, and should not be taken as professional advice. Please seek independent professional counseling from someone who is licensed or qualified in the applicable area in lieu of acting on any information, opinion, or advice contained in one of the Project websites.

Do not engage in Disruptive and Illegal Misuse of our Facilities

Do not:

• Engage in automated uses of the site that are abusive or disruptive of the services and have not been approved by the Wikimedia community;
• Disrupt the services by placing an undue burden on a Project website or the networks or servers connected with a Project website;
• Disrupt the services by inundating any of the Project websites with communications or other traffic that suggests no serious intent to use the Project website for its stated purpose;
• Probe, scan, or test the vulnerability of any of our technical systems or networks without authorization;
• Knowingly access, tamper with, or use any of the non-public areas in our computer systems.

You can become a member

You can become a member of our projects. This will allow you to save the your preferences on a project which can adjust how the web site displays which the website will remember for whenever you access the project while logged in.

You can also create a watchlist of articles on a project. The project will then create a page listing any recent changes to any articles you add to your watchlist.

WMF projects will share your login information so you can use your login details to login on any of our other projects.

Please note that you are responsible for safeguarding your own password and you should never disclose it to any third party.

Third-party Websites and Resources

You are solely responsible for your use of any third-party websites or resources. Although the Projects contain links to third-party websites and resources, we do not endorse and are not responsible or liable for their availability, accuracy, or the related content, products, or services (including, without limitation, any viruses or other disabling features), nor do we have any obligation to monitor such third-party content.

Authors, Editors and Content contributors

The projects hosted by the Wikimedia Foundation only exist because of the vibrant community of users like you who work together to write, edit and curate the content. We happily welcome your participation in this community but we require you to be civil and polite in your interactions with others in the community and to act in good faith and cooperate with others for the success of their project.

The Terms of Use for Readers above also apply to Authors, Editors and Content contributors however there are some additional terms that apply to Authors Editors and Content contributors and before you participate we ask that you please read the following:

Overview

Generally the WMF does not contribute, monitor, or delete content (with the rare exception of policies like this Agreement or legal compliance for DMCA notices). This means that editorial control is in the hands of you and your fellow users who create and manage the content. We merely host this content.

You are welcome to join as a contributor, editor, or author, but you should follow the policies that govern each of the independent Projects. The largest of our projects is Wikipedia, but we host different Projects too, each with different objectives and work methods. Each project has a team of contributors, editors or authors who work together to create and manage the content on those Projects. You are welcome to join these teams and work with them to improve these Projects.

License

Because we are dedicated to making content freely accessible to the public, we generally require that all content you contribute is available under a free license or in the public domain.

Legal liability for content you contribute

Please be aware that you are legally responsible for all of your contributions, edits, and re-use of Wikimedia content under the laws of the United States and other applicable laws (which may include the laws where you live or where you view or edit content). This means it is important that you use caution when posting content. In light of this responsibility, we have some rules about what you cannot post, most of which is either for your own protection or for the protection of other users like yourself.

You are responsible for your own actions

You are legally responsible for your edits and contributions on Wikimedia Projects, so for your own protection you should exercise caution and avoid contributing any content that may result in criminal or civil liability. Please be aware of the laws of the United States, where we are based, and other applicable laws (which may include the laws where you live or where you view or edit content).

Civility and Politeness

For a large group of people with different opinions and cultures and languages to work together they must be willing to listen politely to each other and they must be prepared to trust others to do the same.

No name calling. The other editors here are your colleagues, not your rivals. You can disagree with their arguments without attacking them personally.

Good faith editing and working for the good of the project

Each Project has it's own objective. For Wikipedia, for instance, it is to build the best encyclopedia we can. If you are not there to help achieve the objectives of a project then you are not welcome there.

We have found that reasonable people who disagree can, if they work together, produce better content than either could working on their own. Civility is a requirement (see above) but it is not enough on it's own. You must listen to others arguments and respond to them. If you do not have a response then that might mean you are wrong. Sometimes that happens. You do not have the right to drag an argument out forever. You do have the right to a reasoned response to your arguments.

We also ask you to assume others are acting in good faith in their interactions with you. We find it makes things go more smoothly.

Privacy Policy

We record every contribution you make to our sites, who made that contribution (by IP address or by Use name) and when and we retain this information forever and make it available to anyone visiting our sites.

For more information on what information we retain and how we manage and use and share it please refer to our Privacy Policy. Because our services are used by people all over the world, personal information that we collect may be stored and processed in the United States or any other country in which we or our agents maintain facilities. By using our services, you consent to any such transfer of information outside your country.

Refraining from Certain Activities

Certain activities, whether legal or illegal, may be harmful to other users and violate our rules, and they may also subject you to liability. Therefore, for your own protection and for that of other users, you may not engage in such activities on our sites. These activities include:

Harassing and Abusing Others

• Engaging in harassment, threats, stalking, spamming, or vandalism; and
• Transmitting chain mail, junk mail, or spam to other users.

Violating the Privacy of Others

• Infringing the privacy rights of others under the laws of the United States or other applicable laws (which may include the laws where you live or where you view or edit content);
• Soliciting personally identifiable information for purposes of harassment, exploitation, violation of privacy, or any promotional or commercial purpose not explicitly approved by the Wikimedia Foundation; and
• Soliciting personally identifiable information from anyone under the age of 18 for an illegal purpose or violating any applicable law regarding the health or well-being of minors.

Engaging in False Statements, Impersonation, or Fraud

• Intentionally or knowingly posting content that constitutes libel or content that is otherwise false, inaccurate, or defamatory;
• Attempting to impersonate another user or individual, misrepresenting your affiliation with any individual or entity, or using the username of another user with the intent to deceive; and
• Engaging in fraud.

Committing Infringement

• Infringing copyrights, trademarks, patents, or other proprietary rights.

Misusing Our Services for Other Illegal Purposes

• Posting child pornography or any other content that violates applicable law concerning child pornography;
• Posting or trafficking in unlawful obscene material;and
• Using the services in a manner that is inconsistent with applicable law.

Engaging in Disruptive and Illegal Misuse of Facilities

• Posting or distributing content that contains any viruses, malware, worms, Trojan horses, malicious code, or other harmful content;
• Engaging in automated uses of the site that are abusive or disruptive of the services and have not been approved by the Wikimedia community;

Licensing of Content

To grow the commons of free knowledge and free culture, all users contributing to the Projects are required to grant broad permissions to the general public to re-distribute and re-use their contributions freely, so long as that use is properly attributed and the same freedom to re-use and re-distribute is granted to any derivative works. In keeping with our goal of providing free information to the widest possible audience, we require that when necessary all submitted content be licensed so that it is freely reusable by anyone who cares to access it.

You agree to the following licensing requirements:

a. Text to which you hold the copyright

When you submit text to which you hold the copyright, you agree to license it under:

• Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License (“CC BY-SA”), and
• GNU Free Documentation License (“GFDL”) (unversioned, with no invariant sections, front-cover texts, or back-cover texts).

(Re-users may comply with either license.)

The only exception is if the local Project or feature requires a different license. In that case, you agree to license any text you contribute under that particular license. For example, English Wikinews mandates that all text content is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Generic License (CC BY 2.5) and does not require a dual license with GFDL.

Please note that these licenses do allow commercial uses of your contributions, as long as such uses are compliant with the terms.

b. Attribution:

Attribution is an important part of these licenses. We consider it giving credit where credit is due – to authors like yourself. When you contribute text, you agree to be attributed in any of the following fashions:

1. Through hyperlink (where possible) or URL to the article to which you contributed (since each article has a history page that lists all authors and editors);
2. Through hyperlink (where possible) or URL to an alternative, stable online copy that is freely accessible, which conforms with the license, and which provides credit to the authors in a manner equivalent to the credit given on the Project website; or
3. Through a list of all authors (but please note that any list of authors may be filtered to exclude very small or irrelevant contributions).

c. Importing text:

You may import text that you have found elsewhere or that you have co-authored with others, but in such case you warrant that the text is available under terms that are compatible with the CC BY-SA 3.0 license (or, as explained above, another license when exceptionally required by the local Project or feature)("CC BY-SA"). Content available only under GFDL is not permissible.

You agree that, if you import text under a CC BY-SA license that requires attribution, you must credit the author(s) in a reasonable fashion. Where such credit is commonly given through page histories (such as Wikimedia-internal copying), it is sufficient to give attribution in the edit summary, which is recorded in the page history, when importing the text. The attribution requirements are sometimes too intrusive for particular circumstances (regardless of the license), and there may be instances where the Wikimedia community decides that imported text cannot be used for that reason.

d. Non-text media:

Non-text media on the Projects are available under a variety of different licenses that support the general goal of allowing unrestricted re-use and re-distribution. When you contribute non-text media, you agree to comply with the requirements for such licenses as described in our Licensing Policy, and also comply with the requirements of the particular Project or feature to which you are contributing. Also see the Wikimedia Commons Licensing Policy for more information on contributing non-text media to that Project.

e. Third-party licenses:

In addition to the above licensing requirements, when you post content, you warrant that you have fully complied with any third-party license relating to your contribution, and that you have done so in a way so as to convey to other users any required terms that they should be aware of.

f. No revocation of license:

Except as consistent with your license, you agree that you will not unilaterally revoke or seek invalidation of any license that you have granted under this Agreement for text content or non-text media contributed to the Wikimedia Projects or features, even if you terminate use of our services.

g. Public domain content:

Content that is in the public domain is welcome! It is important however that you confirm its public domain status in the United States and any other countries as required on the local Project. When you contribute content that is in the public domain, you warrant that the material is actually in the public domain, and you agree to label it appropriately.

DMCA Compliance

The Wikimedia Foundation wants to ensure that the content that we host can be re-used by other users without fear of liability and that it is not infringing the proprietary rights of others. In fairness to our users, as well as to other creators and copyright holders, our policy is to respond to notices of alleged infringement that comply with the formalities of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). Pursuant to the DMCA, we will terminate the accounts of repeat infringers in appropriate circumstances.

However, we also recognize that not every takedown notice is valid or in good faith. In such cases, we strongly encourage users to file counter-notifications when they believe a DMCA takedown demand is invalid or improper. For more information on what to do if you think a DMCA notice has been improperly filed, see the Chilling Effects website.

If you are the owner of content that is being improperly used on one of the Projects without your permission, you may request that the content be removed. To have infringing content removed:

• Informally (fastest route): Check the copyright violations page for the particular Project that is hosting the content you want to have removed (for example, see the English Wikipedia page on informal complaints); or
• Formally: Email our designated agent at legal wikimedia.org, or mail a request to this listed address.

Republishing and Distributing our Content

Re-use of content that we host is welcome. Our vision is to have every human being freely share in the sum of all knowledge. Not everyone has internet access so having our content reused and republished by others is an important contribution to achieving our vision.

Making our content available for others to reuse is also an important part of others sharing rather than merely accessing it. We strive to make all of our content available under licenses which allow anyone to reuse and remix it, though exceptions exist for content contributed under "fair use" or similar exemptions under copyright law. Any re-use must comply with the underlying license(s).

Attribution

When you re-use or re-distribute a text page developed by the Wikimedia community, you agree to attribute the authors in any of the following fashions:

1. Through hyperlink (where possible) or URL to the page or pages that you are re-using (since each page has a history page that lists all authors and editors);
2. Through hyperlink (where possible) or URL to an alternative, stable online copy that is freely accessible, which conforms with the license, and which provides credit to the authors in a manner equivalent to the credit given on the Project website; or
3. Through a list of all authors (but please note that any list of authors may be filtered to exclude very small or irrelevant contributions).

If the text content was imported from another source, it is possible that the content is licensed under a compatible CC BY-SA license but not GFDL (as described in “Importing text,” above). In that case, you agree to comply with the compatible CC BY-SA license and do not have the option to re-license it under GFDL. To determine the license that applies to the content that you seek to re-use or re-distribute, you should review the page footer, page history, and discussion page.

In addition, please be aware that text that originated from external sources and was imported into a Project may be under a license that attaches additional attribution requirements. Users agree to indicate these additional attribution requirements clearly. Depending on the Project, such requirements may appear for example in a banner or other notations pointing out that some or all of the content was originally published elsewhere. Where there are such visible notations, re-users should preserve them.

For any non-text media, you agree to comply with whatever license the work has been made available under (which can be discovered by clicking on the work and looking at the licensing section on its description page or reviewing an applicable source page for that work). When re-using any content that we host, you agree to comply with the relevant attribution requirements as they pertain to the underlying license or licenses.

Modifications or additions to material that you re-use

When modifying or making additions to text that you have obtained from Project website, you agree to license the modified or added content under CC BY-SA 3.0 or later (or, as explained above, another license when exceptionally required by the local Project or feature).

When modifying or making additions to any non-text media that you have obtained from a Project website, you agree to license the modified or added content in accordance with whatever license under which the work has been made available.

With both text content and non-text media, you agree to clearly indicate that the original work has been modified. If you are re-using text content in a wiki, it is sufficient to indicate in the page history that you made a change to the imported text. For each copy or modified version that you distribute, you agree to include a licensing notice stating which license the work is released under, along with either a hyperlink or URL to the text of the license, or a copy of the license itself.

Trademarks

Although you have considerable freedoms for re-use of the content on the Project websites, it is important that, at the Wikimedia Foundation, we protect our trademark rights so that we can protect our users from fraudulent impersonators. Because of this, we ask that you please respect our trademarks. All Wikimedia Foundation trademarks belong to the Wikimedia Foundation, and any use of our trade names, trademarks, service marks, logos, or domain names must be in compliance with this Agreement and in compliance with our Trademark Policy. You can find a nonexhaustive list of our trademarks here.

Additional Requirements

Some additional legal requirements to clarify how these Terms of Use will be implemented. The items below apply to all users.

Management of Websites

The community has primary responsibility to address violations of Project policy and other similar issues. At the Wikimedia Foundation, we rarely intervene in community decisions about policy and its enforcement. In an unusual case, the need may arise or the community asks us to address an especially problematic user because of significant Project disturbance or dangerous behavior. In such cases, we reserve the right, but do not have the obligation to:

• Investigate your use of the service (a) to determine whether a violation of this Agreement, Project policy, or other applicable law or policy has occurred, or (b) to comply with any applicable law, legal process, or appropriate governmental request;
• Detect, prevent, or otherwise address fraud, security, or technical issues or respond to user support requests;
• Refuse, disable, or restrict access to the contribution of any user that violates this Agreement;
• Terminate a user by blocking their account or banning them for actions violating this Agreement, including repeat copyright infringement;
• Take legal action against users who violate this Agreement (including reporting to law enforcement authorities); and
• Manage otherwise the Project websites in a manner designed to facilitate their proper functioning and protect the rights, property, and safety of ourselves and our users, licensors, partners, and the public.

In the interests of our users and the Projects, in the extreme circumstance that any individual has had his or her account terminated under this provision, he or she is prohibited from creating or using another account on the Project for which he or she was terminated, unless we provide explicit permission. Additionally, especially problematic Users who have had accounts terminated on multiple Projects may be subject to a ban from all of the Projects, in accordance with the Global Ban Policy. Termination under this provision shall be in accordance with Section 12 of this Agreement.

As noted, authorized members of the Wikimedia community may also take action according to the policies of individual Projects, including but not limited to investigating, blocking, and/or banning users who violate those policies.

Resolutions and Project Policies

The Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees releases official policies from time to time. Some of these policies may be mandatory for a particular Project, and, when they are, you agree to abide by them as applicable. You also agree to abide by mandatory policies that are developed on an individual Wikimedia Project level, and which can be found at the particular Project websites.

Termination of this Agreement

Though we hope you will stay and continue to contribute to the Projects, you can stop using our services any time. In certain (hopefully unlikely) circumstances it may be necessary for either ourselves or authorized members of the Wikimedia community to terminate part or all of our services, terminate this Agreement, or terminate your account, and we reserve the right to suspend or end the services at any time, with or without cause, and with or without notice. If your account is terminated for any reason, you and other users will retain access to your public contributions, but you will not be able to access your account or settings. In such a case, your contributions may remain accessible to other users. Even after your use and participation is terminated, this Agreement will remain in effect.

Disputes and Jurisdiction

Although we hope that no serious disagreements arise, in the event that there is any dispute between you and the Wikimedia Foundation, you agree to resolve it exclusively in a state or federal court located in San Francisco County, California. You also agree that the laws of the State of California and, to the extent applicable, the laws of the United States of America will govern this Agreement, as well as any claim that might arise between you and us (without reference to conflict of laws principles). You agree to submit to the personal jurisdiction of, and agree that venue is proper in, the courts located in San Francisco County, California, in any legal action or proceeding relating to us or this Agreement.

To ensure that disputes are dealt with soon after they arise, you agree that regardless of any statute or law to the contrary, any claim or cause of action you might have arising out of or related to use of our services or the Agreement must be filed within the applicable statute of limitations or, if earlier, one (1) year after discovery of the pertinent facts underlying such claim or cause of action or be forever barred.

Disclaimers

At the Wikimedia Foundation, we do our best to provide educational and informational services to a very wide audience, but your use of our Services is at your sole risk. We provide these Services on an "as is" and "as available" basis, and we expressly disclaim all express or implied warranties of all kinds, including but not limited to the implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement. We make no warranty that our Services will meet your requirements, be safe, secure, uninterrupted, timely, accurate, or error-free, or that your information will be secure.

We are not responsible for the content, data, or actions of third parties, and you release us, our directors, officers, employees, and agents from any claims and damages, known and unknown, arising out of or in any way connected with any claim you have against any such third parties. No advice or information, whether oral or written, obtained by you from us or through or from our Services creates any warranty not expressly stated in this Agreement.

Any material downloaded or otherwise obtained through your use of our Services is done at your own discretion and risk, and you will be solely responsible for any damage to your computer system or loss of data that results from the download of any such material. You agree that we have no responsibility or liability for the deletion of, or the failure to store or to transmit, any content or communication maintained by the Service. We retain the right to create limits on use and storage at our sole discretion at any time, with or without notice.

Some states or jurisdictions do not allow the types of disclaimers in this section, so they may not apply to you.

Limitation on Liability

The Wikimedia Foundation will not be liable to you or to any other party 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, regardless of whether we were advised of the possibility of such damage. In no event shall our liability under these rules exceed one-hundred dollars ($100.00) in aggregate. In the case that applicable law may not allow the limitation or exclusion of liability or incidental or consequential damages, the above limitation or exclusion may not apply to you, although our liability will be limited to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law.

Modifications to this Agreement

Just as the Wikimedia community's input is essential for the growth and maintenance of the Projects, we believe that community input is essential for this Agreement to properly serve our users. It is also essential for a fair contract. Therefore, we will provide this Agreement, as well as any substantial future revisions of this Agreement, to the community for comment at least thirty (30) days before it goes into effect. If future revisions are substantial, we will provide an additional 30 days to allow for translations. For changes for legal or administrative reasons, to correct an inaccurate statement, or changes in response to community comments, we will provide at least three (3) days' notice.

Because it may be necessary to modify this Agreement or the related policies from time to time, we will provide notice of such modifications and the opportunity to comment via the Project websites, and via a notification on Announce-L. However, we ask that you please periodically review the most up-to-date version of this Agreement (available at http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Terms of use), because your continued use of our services after the new Agreement becomes official following the notice and review period constitutes an acceptance of the Agreement on your part. For the protection of the Wikimedia Foundation and other users like yourself, if you do not agree with our Terms of Use, you cannot use our services.

Other Terms

Please note that this Agreement does not create an agency, partnership, or joint venture between you and us, the Wikimedia Foundation. If you have not signed a separate agreement with us, this Agreement is the entire agreement between you and us, replacing any prior agreement that we may have had. However, if there is any conflict between this Agreement and a signed written agreement between you and us, the signed agreement will control.

You agree that we may provide you with notices, including those regarding changes to the Agreement, by email, regular mail, or postings on Project websites.

If in any circumstance we do not apply or enforce any provision of this Agreement, it is not a waiver of that provision.

You warrant that you understand that you have no expectation of compensation for any unsolicited ideas that you provide to us.

This Agreement was written in English (U.S.), and to the extent that any translated version of this Agreement conflicts with the English version, the English version controls.

If any provision or part of a provision of this Agreement is found unlawful, void, or unenforceable, that provision or part of the provision is deemed severable from this Agreement and will be enforced to the maximum extent permissible, and all other provisions of this Agreement will remain in full force and effect.

Thank You!

We appreciate you taking the time to read this Agreement, and we are very happy to have you contributing to the Projects and using our services. Through your contributions, you are helping to build something really big – not only an important collection of collaboratively-edited reference projects that provides information and education to millions who might otherwise lack access, but also a vibrant community of like-minded and engaged peers, focused on a very noble goal.