Your access to this website is subject to these terms and conditions.  If you do not agree to these terms and conditions, you should immediately discontinue use of this website.  Your continued access to, and use of the website constitutes your acceptance of the terms and conditions, even if you have not read them.  There are several clauses in these terms and conditions that include hyperlinks to terms and conditions that form part of these terms and conditions.  If you are unable to access the  terms and conditions available via the hyperlinks, please contact us via email at digitalontario@ontario.ca

NOTE:  Portions of this website are for use by registered users only.  Registered users may be subject to additional terms and conditions.

Last Updated: November 13, 2008

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

Copyright

The content on this website is protected by Crown copyright (unless otherwise indicated), which is held by the Queen's Printer for Ontario.   Your permission to use and reproduce content owned by the Queen's Printer for Ontario is set out in the attached link:  http://www.gov.on.ca/ont/portal/!ut/p/.cmd/cs/.ce/7_0_A/.s/7_0_252/_s.7_0_A/7_0_252/_l/en?docid=004222.

The permission to reproduce material owned by the Queen's Printer for Ontario does not extend to any content on this website that is identified as being the subject of copyright of a third party.  Authorization to reproduce such third party content must be obtained by the copyright holder of that material.

User Contributed Content

This website contains interactive features that allow users to submit content. 

By submitting content (unless otherwise indicated), you grant Her Majesty the Queen in right of Ontario (the "Government of Ontario") the non-exclusive, royalty-free, irrevocable, worldwide right to use, produce, reproduce, adapt, modify, translate, publish, perform, publicly present and communicate  (whether by communication by telecommunication or other means) the content that you submit, and to permit others to do so.   

Because the Government of Ontario does not own user-submitted content (except as otherwise indicated), you may not reproduce any other users' submitted content without the prior permission of the appropriate copyright holder.

Moderated Website

The interactive portions of this website are moderated.  While you are encouraged to participate and express your views on this website, you must do so subject to the rules set out in these terms and conditions.  The Government of Ontario reserves the right not to post any content submitted, and to remove, edit or move, at any time, any content submitted and posted on this website.  The Government of Ontario will cooperate with law enforcement officials and comply with any court order with respect to any claim or investigation arising from any content posted by you, including, without limitation, disclosing any content that you submit  and any information regarding your identity, subject to the Privacy section below.

While the Government of Ontario will moderate certain interactive portions of the website, the Government of Ontario is not required to, nor should users expect that the Government of Ontario will, take action in response to any content posted on the website.  Any content posted on the website by a user represent the views, opinions or expressions of the user who submits the content and does not represent the views, opinions or expressions of the Government of Ontario.  Any events or other activities posted by a user on the website are not endorsed or approved by the Government of Ontario. Your use of or reliance upon any content posted by users of this website are at your own risk.

Acceptable Use

By submitting content, you agree to abide by the following rules:

1. Any comments submitted should be civil and respectful and must not be malicious or designed to offend or attack another individual's character;

2. You will not submit any content that you do not own or that you do not have the necessary rights in to grant to the Government of Ontario the right to use, reproduce, modify, publish and transmit (whether by transmission by telecommunication or other means to communicate to others) the content in accordance with the terms and conditions applicable to this website;

3. You will not impersonate another so as to be misleading as to the identify of the user submitting the content or the origin of the content, or falsely claim to represent a person, organization or entity;

4. You will not post any message or other content or links to other content that:

a. violates or infringes the rights of any other party, including, without limitation, rights of privacy, rights of publicity, copyright, trade-mark or other intellectual property right;

b. is abusive, hateful, incites hatred, racist, bigoted, sexist, harassing, threatening, inflammatory, indecent, tortious, defamatory, slanderous, knowingly false, vulgar, obscene, sexually explicit, profane or otherwise objectionable or is otherwise in violation of any law, rule or regulation;

c. is for commercial purposes, including, without limitation, posting advertisements or solicitations; and

d. contains any software or computer files that contain a virus, worm or other disruptive or harmful or deleterious component;

5. Except for the purposes of registering and as otherwise permitted in the privacy section below, you will not include any of your personal information as part of any content submission;

6. You must not submit another person's personal information [without that person's prior consent];

7. You will not submit content that is unrelated to the website or the topic being discussed;

8. You will not:

a. Interfere with or disrupt the website, networks or servers connected to the website or violate the regulations, policies or procedures of such networks or servers;

b. Attempt to gain unauthorized access to the website, logins and passwords of others, or computer systems and networks connected to the website;

c. Upload, post or otherwise transmit any unsolicited or unauthorized advertising, promotional materials, "junk mail," "spam," "chain letters," "pyramid schemes," or any other form of solicitation (commercial or otherwise); or

d. Use the website in any manner whatsoever that could, disrupt the normal flow of dialogue, cause a screen to "scroll" faster than other users of the website are able to type, or otherwise act in a manner that negatively affects other users' ability to engage in real time exchanges;

9. You agree not to link, "frame" or "mirror" any content or information contained on or accessible from the website through use of your login information without the prior written approval of the Government of Ontario, as may be appropriate; and

10.  You will notify the moderator of any illegal content posted to the website

Interactive Features

By accessing or using the interactive features of this website, in addition to the other terms and conditions applicable to this website, you also agree to terms and conditions of this section.

You agree to abide by the editorial rules for the wiki feature that are posted within the wiki feature, or in the absence of specific editorial notes, for that wiki, the rules available at the following link shall apply: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Policies_and_guidelines

The following are the editorial rules for the wiki feature of this website:

1. You must act in good faith and you should assume others have made contributions in good faith also. Promote respect, tolerance and deliberation through your own example.
2. Always provide a short summary note to explain what you have changed. This will allow others to quickly get an idea of what you have done.
3. It is ok to reformulate, elaborate, complement, etc; to revise an oversimplified or overly general statement; and of course to add content you consider relevant.
4. Improve pages wherever you can, and don't worry about leaving them imperfect.
5. Avoid deleting information wherever possible.
6. If in doubt, rather than editing the page, make a comment on the page or contact us.
7. Any facts disputed will be removed until an authoritative version has been obtained. In a large group of contributors, varying versions of fact can arise. These should be able to be resolved by sufficient discussion on the wiki.

You agree to abide by the moderation rules for the discussion board feature that are posted within the discussion board feature, or in the absence of specific rules for that discussion board, the rules available at the following link shall apply

External Links

There may be websites linked to and from this website that are operated by or for entities outside of the Government of Ontario.  The terms and conditions concerning such third party websites can be found at: http://www.gov.on.ca/ont/portal/!ut/p/.cmd/cs/.ce/7_0_A/.s/7_0_252/_s.7_0_A/7_0_252/_l/en?docid=004231. 

Privacy

Any personal information that you submit will be handled in accordance with the Government of Ontario's website Privacy Statement, which can be found at: http://www.gov.on.ca/ont/portal/!ut/p/.cmd/cs/.ce/7_0_A/.s/7_0_252/_s.7_0_A/7_0_252/_l/en?docid=004228.

Also, by submitting any personal information, you acknowledge, agree and consent to the following:

1. the personal information on your profile page will be used and disclosed to facilitate dialogue and networking within the Digital Ontario community;
2. you will update your personal profile information on the wiki; and
3. if you use any interactive features on the website that allow other users to hear your voice or view your image (such as web conference), you consent to the recording of your voice and image by the Government of Ontario, which shall, for the purposes of these terms and conditions, be treated as content submitted by you to the Government of Ontario.

Termination

If you violate or breach any of these terms and conditions, in addition to other remedies available, your permission to use this website may be revoked.  The Government of Ontario reserves the right to terminate or suspend this website or your access to this website at any time without notice.

Limitation of Liability

Your use of this website and its content is at your own risk.  The Government of Ontario does not represent or warrant that the website will be uninterrupted or error-free, that defects will be corrected or that this website is free of viruses or other harmful code, nor does the Government of Ontario represent or warrant the correctness, accuracy, timeliness, reliability or appropriateness of the content contained on this website or that the content is free of viruses or other harmful code. 

The Government of Ontario and the members of the Executive Council of Ontario and their employers, agents and independent contractors shall not be responsible or liable for any damages, whether direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential or other damages arising out of arising out of or in any way arising out of or in connection with this website, including its content.

Change to Terms

The Government of Ontario reserves the right to supplement, remove or modify these terms and conditions at any time and from time to time.  Please check this website regularly for any changes to these terms and conditions and the terms and conditions that are provided by reference to links.  If you continue to use this website following any change to these terms and conditions, you will be deemed to have accepted the change.

General

These terms and conditions are governed by the laws of the Province of Ontario and deemed to be entered into by the user in the Province of Ontario.

[If you have any questions about these terms and conditions, please contact us by fax, mail or online. Although the Government of Ontario will in most circumstances be able to receive your email or other information provided through the website, we do not guarantee that we will receive all such email or other information timely and accurately and shall not be obligated to read, act on or respond to any such email or other information.  Be aware that Internet email is not typically secure.