User Agreement
This page contains the User Agreement ("User Agreement") between you and the operators of the Full Frontal Scrutiny web site (our “Site”), which are the Center for Media & Democracy (CMD) and Consumer Reports Webwatch, a project of Consumers Union of United States, Inc. (CRW).
This User Agreement, which includes our Privacy Policy, governs your use of our Site. Please read this User Agreement carefully, because by using our Site, you agree to be bound by and comply with its terms. If you do not agree to comply with this User Agreement, you are not authorized to use our Site.
We may update this User Agreement from time to time by posting the modified User Agreement on this page, or, if we determine that it's appropriate, we may post a notice of the change on our home page. By continuing to use our Site after the modified User Agreement is posted, you agree to the modified terms.
Privacy Policy
CRW and CMD believe strongly in the Internet as a vital tool for education, advocacy and information exchange. In order for the Internet to be used effectively, we believe that information provided by individuals online must be used appropriately and responsibly. To protect your online privacy when you use our Site, we have developed the following Privacy Policy.
Personally Identifiable Information
Much of the information on our Site can be accessed without our collecting any personally identifiable information from you, but we do ask you to register in order to use certain interactive features of our Site. When you register on our Site, we collect your user name (which need not be your actual name) and e-mail address. Once you register, we will e-mail you a temporary password and a link to an account sign-up page where you can select a new password. You are also asked to submit the signature to be displayed with your comments, which may be the same as your user name. You can also elect to enable users of our Site to contact you through our Site. If you elect to receive e-mails from Site users, please be aware that your e-mail address will not be displayed to these users. You are responsible for maintaining the privacy and security of the password associated with your account.
When your personally identifiable information is provided to us, we will use it for the purpose for which it was submitted.
Aggregate Information
Browser Information
When you visit our Site to read or download information, we may collect and store the following general information in order to analyze trends, gather broad demographic information, and monitor Site traffic patterns that can help us further develop and improve the design and functionality of our Site: your computer's IP address, browser type, and operating system, the date and time you access our Site, the Internet address of the website from which you linked directly to our Site, the search terms used in connecting to our Site, and the various pages that you visit while on our Site. None of this information identifies you personally; we collect it for aggregate reporting on Site activity.
Cookies
We use cookies to store visitor preferences, record session information, alert visitors to new areas that we think might be of interest to them when they return to our Site, and record past activity on our Site in order to provide better service when visitors return to our Site. A cookie is a small amount of data that is sent to your browser from a web server and stored on your computer’s hard drive. A cookie contains a unique number that allows our Site to recognize your computer. The “help” function on most browsers contains information on how to set your browser to notify you before accepting cookies or to disable cookies entirely. If you disable cookies, you may lose some convenience by having to log in multiple times when using our Site but it will not prevent you from having full access to our Site or from posting comments.
Sharing Your Personally Identifiable Information
CMD and CRW do not sell, rent, trade or otherwise provide the personally identifiable information that we collect on this Site with any unaffiliated third party except for our service providers as described below. CRW may provide your personally identifiable information with affiliated entities of Consumers Union of United States, Inc., which are the Consumers Union Foundation and Consumers Union Action Fund, Inc.
We may share your personally identifiable information and certain aggregate information we collect when you visit our Site with third parties who help us provide services to you (e.g., to host, maintain and update our Site and similar services).
CMD or CRW reserve the right to share your personally identifiable information with legal authorities if required by law or if we believe in our sole discretion that it is necessary to investigate, prevent, or take action regarding suspected illegal activities or in connection with other safety or security concerns.
If CRW or CMD ever transfer this project and assets to a successor organization, your personally identifiable information would be transferred as part of this project and the assets and may become subject to a different privacy policy.
Protecting Our Children
We are concerned about the safety and privacy of children online. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. Our Site is a general audience website and is not intended to solicit information of any kind from children under 13. If we discover that we have collected information from users under age 13 -- for example, if a child sends us an email with a question or comment -- we will respond using that email address, informing the child that we must have parental consent before receiving his or her personally identifiable information, and then we will then delete the email address. If you want to notify us of our receipt of information by a child under 13, please do so by emailing us through our Contact Us page.
Security Measures
We want to provide our users with a secure experience when they register on our Site. We use reasonable efforts to store your personally identifiable information in a secure manner to safeguard it from unauthorized access. However, no data transmitted over the Internet can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. Therefore, you provide us with your personally identifiable information and use our Site at your own risk.
Location of Servers and Transfer of Information
Our servers are located in the United States. If you are located outside of the United States, please be aware that the information you provide to us will be transferred to the United States. By using our Site or providing your personally identifiable information to us, you consent to this transfer and to the collection, storage, processing and use of your personally identifiable information in the United States. In addition, our service providers may be located anywhere in the United States; by providing your personally identifiable information on the Site, you also consent to the transfer of your data to our service providers.
Policy Revisions
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time by posting the modified policy on this page or, if we determine that it’s appropriate, we may post a notice of the change on our Site’s home page. Regardless of later updates, we will never use the personally identifiable information that you submit under this Privacy Policy in a new way without providing you with an opportunity to opt-out or otherwise prevent that use.
By continuing to use the Site after we have posted such modifications or notice, you agree to the terms of the modified policy.
How You Can Access Your Information
If you forget your password, you may contact us for a new password by providing us with the e-mail address you originally provided when registering on this Site.
Links to Other Web Sites
CMD operates several other web sites, including SourceWatch, which may be linked to throughout this Site. Please note that SourceWatch and CMD’s other web sites are governed by a separate privacy policy, which you should read.
Your Rights to Site Content
Our Site and all content, including without limitation, all text, graphics, images, software, audio and video clips, databases, software and other materials (“Site Content”) are owned by or licensed to CMD or CRW and are protected by United States and international copyright law and other intellectual property laws.
The contents of our Site are only for your personal, noncommercial use. CMD and CRW grant you a non-exclusive, non-transferable, limited right to access, use and display our Site and to download or print our Site Content, provided that you comply fully with this User Agreement. If you download or print any of our Site Content, you must include all trademark, copyright, and other proprietary rights notices in the same form in which the notices appear on our Site. You may not alter or modify any of the Site Content that you print or download from our Site.
Except for the foregoing, you may not copy, distribute, publicly display, publicly perform, modify or create derivative works of, or otherwise exploit or use our Site Content (or any computer programs and other coding) without the prior written permission of CMD and CRW in each case.
You agree not to interrupt, or attempt to interrupt, the operation of our Site in any way.
Trademarks
You agree not to use any trademarks, service marks, names, logos, or other identifiers of CMD, CRW or their licensors, independent contractors, providers and affiliates (collectively, "Affiliates") without the prior written permission of CMD, CRW or the relevant Affiliate.
Notice of Copyright Infringement
We intend that all content provided on our Site respect the copyright and other proprietary rights of third parties. If you are concerned that any of the content on our Site infringes your copyrighted materials, please click on the following link to our Copyright Concerns page and follow the instructions provided there.
Interactive Forums
Our Site includes forums where you can express your views, read and respond to the views of other Site users and post content. Any material distributed through our Site by third parties represents the views of the respective creator and not those of CMD or CRW.
Any materials and messages that you post on our Site are not private or confidential.
By posting any content on our Site, you irrevocably grant CMD and CRW a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free, perpetual, unrestricted license (with the right to sub-license) to reproduce, distribute, publicly display, publicly perform, modify, edit and create derivative works of and otherwise use the content, in whole or in part, in any media now known or later developed, and to use your user name to identify this content. You warrant that you have the right to grant these rights to CMD and CRW and that you will not post any content that infringes or violates any proprietary, privacy or publicity, or other rights of any party or that violates any law.
You are solely responsible for the content that you submit on our Site. We have no obligation to pre-screen, monitor, edit, or delete content posted by visitors on our Site, but we reserve the right, in our discretion, to do so at any time without any notice to anyone.
Communicating On or To Our Site
To maintain a safe and civil environment, you agree not to post any content on our Site that:
(1) is libelous, obscene, pornographic, harassing, or abusive in any way;
(2) is violent, hateful, or threatening to any group (defined by race, ethnic or national origin, religion, gender, sexual orientation or other protected category);
(3) infringes any copyright, trademark, trade secret or other proprietary right of another;
(4) violates anyone’s right of privacy or publicity or is otherwise illegal;
(5) contains malicious code or other elements (including viruses, bugs, worms, and Trojan horses) that can disrupt or damage our Site, its content, computer programs, related hardware or computer equipment in any manner;
(6) promotes or offers to sell any products or services; or
(7) impersonates another person or entity, that collects or uses any information about our Site visitors, or involves distribution of chain letters, junk mail, "spam" solicitations, commercial advertising, or other bulk communications of any kind.
Further, you acknowledge that conduct prohibited in connection with our Site includes, but is not limited to, impersonation of other people and breaching or attempting to breach the security of our Site.
Links, Frames and Metatags
You may not frame the content of our Site unless you first obtain our express written consent by Contacting Us. You may not use metatags or any other "hidden text" that incorporates our name or trademarks without our express written consent.
In the interest of making readers like you aware of important news, our Site may contain links and pointers to other web sites maintained by third parties. Such links do not constitute an endorsement by CMD, CRW or its affiliates of any third-party site or any materials contained therein. CMD, CRW and its affiliates do not control, and are not responsible for, the availability, accuracy, privacy policy or currency of such third-party sites or any information, content, products or services accessible from such third-party sites.
Information Provided
You acknowledge that any reliance upon any advice, opinion, statement, or other information displayed or distributed through our Site is at your sole risk. CMD and CRW reserve the right, in their discretion and without notice, to correct any errors or omissions in any portion of our Site, or to deny access to our Site to anyone at any time. You acknowledge and agree that CRW and CMD are not responsible for any materials posted by users of our Site.
Age Restrictions
You represent and warrant to CRW and CMD that you are at least eighteen (18) years old and that you possess the legal right and ability to enter into this User Agreement and to use our Site in accordance with this User Agreement.
Indemnification
You agree to indemnify (and if requested, defend) CMD and CRW and their respective affiliates, and the directors, officers, employees and agents of each of them from and against any and all losses, liabilities, damages, costs and expenses (including reasonable attorneys’ fees) incurred by any of them in connection with any claim arising out of (1) any breach or alleged breach of any of your representations, warranties or obligations set forth in this User Agreement or (2) your violation of this User Agreement. You shall cooperate as fully as reasonably required in the defense of any claim. CMD and CRW reserve the right, each at its own expense, to assume the exclusive defense and control of any matter otherwise subject to indemnification by you and you shall not in any event settle any matter without the written consent of CMD and CRW.
Disclaimer of Warranty
Except as expressly set forth herein, our Site and all services and content associated with it are provided as-is and as-available, without warranties of any kind, either express or implied, including, but not limited to, warranties of title or implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose (whether or not that purpose has been disclosed), title, compatibility, security, accuracy, or non-infringement. To the fullest extent permissible by law, CMD, CRW and its affiliates make no warranties and shall not be liable for the use of our Site under any circumstances, including but not limited to negligence by CMD or CRW. We do not warrant that the functions contained in our Site will be uninterrupted or error-free, that defects will be corrected, that our Site will meet any particular criteria of performance or quality, or that our Site, including the server(s) on which our site is operated, are free of viruses or other harmful components.
Limitation of Liability
Use of our Site is at your own risk. You assume full responsibility and risk of loss resulting from your downloading and use of Site Content accessed through or obtained by means of our Site. Under no circumstances shall CRW, CMD or our affiliates, or any provider of telecommunications or network services for CMD, CRW or our affiliates, be liable for any indirect, exemplary, statutory, punitive, special, incidental, consequential or similar damages that are directly or indirectly related to your use of, or the inability to use, our Site, even if CMD, CRW, our affiliates or the providers of telecommunications or network services has been advised of the possibility of such damages, and regardless of whether such liability is based in tort (including negligence), contract or any other legal or equitable theory. Some states do not allow the exclusion or limitation of incidental or consequential damages, so the above limitation or exclusion may not apply to you.
Termination
We reserve the right to terminate your account or any services offered through our Site or to terminate our Site and this User Agreement at any time without notice, for any reason, including, in the case of this User Agreement, because of your violation of any of these provisions. The Disclaimers, Indemnification, Limitation of Liability and Governing Law Sections of this Agreement survive such termination.
General
This User Agreement, which includes our Privacy Policy, constitutes the entire agreement between you, CMD and CRW with respect to our Site and supersedes all prior agreements between you, CMD and CRW. Failure by CMD or CRW to enforce any provision of this User Agreement shall not be construed as a waiver of any provision or right.
Governing Law
This User Agreement is governed by the laws of the State of New York applicable to contracts made and performed there without regard to its conflicts of law principles. You irrevocably agree to bring any claim or dispute relating to your use of our Site and this User Agreement exclusively in the state and federal courts located in the State and County of New York, and you waive any jurisdictional, venue or inconvenient forum objections to such courts.
Severability
If any provision of this User Agreement is deemed unlawful, void or for any reason unenforceable, then that provision is considered severed and will not affect the validity and enforceability of any remaining provisions.
* * *
We work hard to ensure that your experience on our Site is a positive one. If you have any questions about this User Agreement, including any questions about our Privacy Policy or your dealings with our Site, please Contact Us.
Last revised on January 30, 2008
