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Terms of Service

SITE USER AGREEMENT (“Agreement”)

Hello and welcome to the ScienceNearMe (SNM) site (www.ScienceNearMe.org, the “website(s)” or “Site(s)”) owned and operated by SciStarter, LLC (“SCI” or “us” or “we” or “our”). We hope that you enjoy your use of this Site(s).

What follows is our Agreement (“Agreement”) with you regarding the rules, laws and terms (“Terms of Use”) that govern your use of this website. When we can, we've loosened up the terminology a bit. This Agreement sets forth the legally binding terms and conditions for your use of the websites and the service owned and operated by SCI (the “Service”). This agreement applies to all users of the Site(s) or service, including users who are also contributors of content, information, and other materials or services on the Site(s). Our Terms of Service was last updated on December 23, 2024.

By visiting and/or using this website in any manner, including but not limited to visiting and/or browsing the website, you are agreeing to the Terms Of Service and our Privacy Policy. We may modify this Agreement from time to time. 

Privacy Policy and Age of User: The use of the website(s) is conditioned upon acceptance of all of Terms of Service, which also incorporates the Privacy Policy as well as all other rules, policies and procedures that may be published on the Site(s)(s) by SCI, each of which is incorporated by reference.

Use of the Site(s) is available to people who are 13 years old and older or people with permission from an adult. 

Consent to Research: Find full details about consent to research in Research Participant.

Intellectual Property Rights: The name and logo of “Science Near Me,“ “SciStarter, LLC” and “Science for Citizens” are registered trademarks of SciStarter. Other logos, products and company names mentioned in the Site(s) may be the trademarks of their respective owners. We share the opportunities uploaded to our site, through free and open APIs so most of Science Near Me is open and sharable. However, there are assets for which we may need to get permission to share with you. If you want to use content or assets from Science Near Me, other than the Opportunity Finder and API, please send a request to info@ScienceNearMe.org. 

Use Of Site(s)

In some sections of the Site(s) information, products or services may be offered by third parties that are not affiliated with SNM or SCI for which SCI assumes no responsibility. For example, we can't guarantee that files offered for download through the Site(s) by third parties will be free of infection. 

We have an awesome community at ScienceNearMe and we'd like you to be part of it. We ask that we all respect each other. Here's the legal translation: Please do not use the site to:

  • Transmit any message, information, data, text, software or images, or other content (“material”) that is unlawful, harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, tortious, defamatory, vulgar, pornographic, obscene, libelous, or otherwise objectionable or that may invade another’s right of privacy or publicity;

  • Upload, post, email, transmit or otherwise make available any content or otherwise use the website in a manner that is hateful or discriminatory against any individual or group on the basis of race, religion, gender, age, sexual orientation, ethnicity, or disability, or promotes physical harm or injury against any individual or group;

  • Impersonate any person or entity, including but not limited to, a SNM official, forum leader, guide or host or falsely state or otherwise misrepresent your affiliation with a person or entity;

  • Upload, post, email, transmit or otherwise make available any Content or otherwise use the Service in a manner that is harmful to minors in any way;

  • Stalk or harass another person or entity;

  • Employ misleading email addresses, forged headers, or other manipulated identifiers;

  • Upload, post, email, transmit or otherwise make available any Content or otherwise use the Service in a manner that is invasive to another’s privacy or includes personal or identifying information about another person, without that person’s explicit consent;

  • Upload, post, email, transmit or otherwise make available any Content or otherwise use the Service in a manner that violates, intentionally or unintentionally, the rules of the Federal Election Commission or any other applicable federal, state, or local laws, or to promote or provide instructional materials about illegal activities;

  • Post or transmit any material that you do not have a right to reproduce, display or transmit under any law or under contractual or fiduciary relationships (such as non-disclosure agreements);

  • Post or transmit any material that contains a virus or corrupted data;

  • Delete any author attributions, legal notices or proprietary designations or labels that you upload to any communication feature;

  • Use the Site(s)’s communication features in a manner that adversely affects the availability of its resources to other users (e.g., excessive shouting, use of all caps, or flooding continuous posting of repetitive text);

  • Post or transmit any unsolicited advertising, promotional materials, “junk mail”, “spam,” “chain letters,” “pyramid schemes” or any other form of solicitation or any non-resume information such as opinions or notices, commercial or otherwise;

  • Violate any applicable local, state, national or international law;

  • Upload or transmit any material that infringes any patent, trademark, trade secret, copyright or other proprietary rights of any party;

  • Delete or revise any material posted by any other person or entity;

  • Manipulate or otherwise display the Site(s) by using framing or similar navigational technology, or

  • Register, subscribe, attempt to register, attempt to subscribe, unsubscribe, or attempt to unsubscribe, any party for any SCI service if you are not expressly authorized by such party to do so."

If you violate these terms, we'll have to remove your account or, worse, you might be subject to criminal and/or civil liability.

Registration to Site(s): You may browse the Site(s) and join most opportunities without registering. To use certain aspects of the Site(s) (to create a personalized dashboard, for example), you will be asked to register for a ScienceNearMe account and select a password, screen name and zip code.

Projects: Participant recruitment and related activities SNM, SCI and its Site(s) are venues for volunteer recruitment and promotion of citizen science/crowdsourced science opportunities. These Site(s) allow certain users ("Project Creators") to list opportunities and recruit volunteers from other users ("citizen scientists").

We want to share your opportunities with as many people as possible to increase opportunities for engagement. To do that, we need the rights to use, repurpose, reproduce, edit, sub-license (to schools through customized subscription programs, for example), etc. the content you share with us on the site(s). We may need to edit your project's description for clarity or to instruct users on how to link their Science Near Me account to your project's account. Here's the legal translation: If you add content to the site (including, but not limited to photos, videos, and written material that you upload, post, or in any manner contribute to the website or to the website’s YouTube, Flickr, Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, etc), you give us worldwide rights in the material uploaded/posted/contributed to the Site(s) to use, repurpose, reproduce, edit, sub-license, etc, it without payment, royalty or remuneration unless otherwise negotiated.

We cannot become involved in disputes between site visitors, opportunity and data providers, or between these groups and any third party. Here's the legal translation: In the event of a dispute, you release SNM and SCI and its Site(s), as well as its officers, employees, agents and successors in rights from claims, damages and demands of every kind, known or unknown, suspected or unsuspected, disclosed or undisclosed, arising out of or in any way related to such disputes and our service. Though SCI and its Site(s) cannot be held liable for the actions of an Opportunity, providers of data and opportunities are nevertheless wholly responsible for fulfilling obligations both implied and stated in any project listing they create. SCI and its Site(s) reserve the right to cancel an opportunity listing at any time for any reason. SCI and its Site(s) make no guarantees regarding the performance or fairness of Citizen Scientists activities.

SCI and its Site(s) reserve the right to cancel, interrupt or suspend a listing at any time for any reason.

Fees and Payments

There is no charge for joining our Site(s) or participating in opportunities (unless otherwise noted by the project owner). However, we may charge third parties, including, but not limited to advertisers, sponsors, and retailers.

Modifications To Service

We plan to be around for a long time. But if something happens, please don't sue us. Here's the legal translation: SCI, SNM, and its Site(s) reserves the right at any time and as often as it wants to modify, limit or discontinue, temporarily or permanently access to the website and or any portion thereof or its contents in whole or in part, with or without notice. You agree that neither SCI, SNM nor its Site(s) shall be liable to you or to any third party for any modification, suspension or discontinuance of access.

Intellectual Property Issues

Third-Party Intellectual Property

We respect you. Please respect us. Here's the legal translation: SCI, SNM and its Site(s) respect the intellectual property of others, and we ask our users to do the same. SCI or SNM may, in appropriate circumstances and at its discretion, terminate the accounts of users who infringe the intellectual property rights of others. We will remove infringing materials in accordance with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act if properly notified that content infringes copyright. If you believe that your work has been copied in a way that constitutes copyright infringement, please provide us with a written notification containing the following information (please confirm these requirements with your legal counsel, or see Section 512(c)(3) of the U.S. Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. §512(c)(3), for more information):

Under Section 512(f) of the Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. §512(f), any person who knowingly materially misrepresents that material or activity is infringing or was removed or disabled by mistake or misidentification may be subject to liability.

Our address for notice of alleged copyright infringement is:

SciStarter, LLC

c/o Cohen & Silver, LLC

Copyright Claims

227 Pine Street

Philadelphia, PA 19106

  • an electronic or physical signature of the person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the copyright interest;

  • a description of the copyrighted work that you claim has been infringed;

  • a description of where the material that you claim is infringing is located on the SCI Site, sufficient for SCI to locate the material;

  • your address, telephone number, and email address; 

  • a statement by you that you have a good faith belief that the disputed use is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law; and

  • a statement by you that the above information in your notice is accurate and, under penalty of perjury, that you are the copyright owner or authorized to act on the copyright owner's behalf.
    If you believe that your work has been removed or disabled by mistake or misidentification, please provide us with a written counter-notification containing at least the following information (please confirm these requirements with your legal counsel or see Section 512(g)(3) of the U.S. Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. §512(g)(3), for more information):

  • a physical or electronic signature of the subscriber/user of the Services;

  • identification of the material that has been removed or to which access has been disabled and the location at which the material appeared before it was removed or access to it was disabled;

  • a statement made under penalty of perjury that the subscriber has a good faith belief that the material was removed or disabled as a result of mistake or misidentification of the material to be removed or disabled; and

  • the subscriber's name, address, telephone number, and a statement that the subscriber consents to the jurisdiction of the Federal District Court for the judicial district in which the address is located, or if the subscriber's address is outside of the United States, for any judicial district in which the service provider may be found, and that the subscriber will accept service of process from the person who provided notification under subsection (c)(1)(C) or an agent of such person.

Intellectual Property Rights — Project Creators

SCI and its Site(s) provide you with the ability to upload your content to the Site(s). We will not have any ownership rights in your content, and we will NOT sell your name or email address, however, we need the following license: You hereby grant to SCI the worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, right to (and to allow others acting on its behalf to) (i) use, host, display, and otherwise perform the Service on your behalf (e.g., use, host, stream, transmit, playback, transcode, copy, display, feature, market, sell, distribute and otherwise exploit ("Host") your content, along with all associated copyrightable works or metadata, including without limitation photographs, graphics, and descriptive text ("Artworks") in connection with the Service); (ii) (and to allow other users to) stream, transmit, playback, download, display, feature, distribute, collect, and otherwise use the content and Artworks; and (iii) use and publish, and to permit others to use and publish, the name(s), trademarks, likenesses, and personal and biographical materials of you and the members of your group, in connection with the provision of the Service.

You agree to pay all royalties and other amounts owed to any person or entity due to your submission of your content to the Service or the Company’s Hosting of the content as contemplated by these Terms of Service.

To enable us to Host your content pursuant to the above provisions, you hereby grant to us the worldwide, non-exclusive, perpetual, royalty-free, sublicensable and transferable right to use, reproduce, copy, sublicense (to schools through customized programs, for example) and display your trademarks, service marks, slogans, logos or similar proprietary rights (collectively, the "Trademarks") solely in connection with the Service.

Intellectual Property Rights — Users

The Service may provide users with the ability to add, create, upload, submit, distribute, collect, or post ("Submitting" or "Submission") content, videos, audio clips, written forum comments, data, text, photographs, software, scripts, graphics, profile pictures, names, interests, skills, tools, contributions to or bookmarks of opportunities, or other information to the Site(s) (collectively, the "User Submissions"). By Submitting User Submissions on the Site(s) or otherwise through the Service, you:

  • acknowledge that by Submitting any User Submission to the Site(s), you are publishing that User Submission, and that you may be identified publicly, unless or until you select the "private" option in your profile settings, by your User ID in association with any such User Submission including profile name, picture, stated interests, activities, contributions to opportunities; • by Submitting any User Submissions through the Site(s) or the Service, you hereby grant us a worldwide, non-exclusive, perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free, fully paid, sublicensable and transferable license to use, edit, modify, reproduce, distribute, prepare derivative works of, display, perform, and otherwise fully exploit the User Submissions in connection with the Site(s), the Service and our (and its successors and assigns’) business, including without limitation for promoting and redistributing part or all of the Site(s) (and derivative works thereof) or the Service in any media formats and through any media channels (including, without limitation, third-party websites). You also hereby do and shall grant each user of the Site(s) and/or the Service a non-exclusive license to access your User Submissions through the Site and the Service, and to use, edit, modify, reproduce, distribute, prepare derivative works of, display and perform such User Submissions solely for personal, non-commercial use. For clarity, the foregoing license grant to Company does not affect your other ownership or license rights in your User Submission(s), including the right to grant additional licenses to the material in your User Submission(s), unless otherwise agreed in writing;

  • represent and warrant, and can demonstrate to our full satisfaction upon request that you (i) own or otherwise control all rights to all content in your User Submissions, or that the content in such User Submissions is in the public domain, (ii) you have full authority to act on behalf of any and all owners of any right, title or interest in and to any content in your User Submissions to use such content as contemplated by these Terms of Service and to grant the license rights set forth above, (iii) you have the permission to use the name and likeness of each identifiable individual person and to use such individual’s identifying or personal information as contemplated by these Terms of Service; and (iv) you are authorized to grant all of the aforementioned rights to the User Submissions to Company and all users of the Service; • you agree to pay all royalties and other amounts owed to any person or entity due to your Submission of any User Submissions to the Service; • that the use or other exploitation of such User Submissions by Company and use or other exploitation by users of the Site(s) and Service as contemplated by this Agreement will not infringe or violate the rights of any third party, including without limitation any privacy rights, publicity rights, copyrights, contract rights, or any other intellectual property or proprietary rights; and

  • understand that we shall have the right to delete, edit, modify, reformat, excerpt, or translate any materials, content or information submitted by you; and that all information publicly posted or privately transmitted through the Site(s) is the sole responsibility of the person from which such content originated and that we will not be liable for any errors or omissions in any content; and that we cannot guarantee the identity of any other users with whom you may interact in the course of using the Service.

SCI does not endorse and has no control over any User Submission. We cannot guarantee the authenticity of any data which users may provide about themselves. You acknowledge that all Content accessed by you using the Service is at your own risk and you will be solely responsible for any damage or loss to any party resulting therefrom.

Disclaimer Of Warranties

You've probably figured out by now that we don't pay for content and we don't charge you to post your content. Here's the legal translation: You agree and acknowledge that SCI expressly disclaims all warranties of any kind, whether express or implied, including, but not limited to the implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose and non-infringement. SCI makes no warranty that the service will meet your requirements, the service will be uninterrupted, timely, secure, or error-free, the results that may be obtained from the use of the service will be accurate or reliable, the quality of any products, services, information, or other material purchased or obtained by you through the service will meet your expectations, and any errors in the software will be corrected. You agree and acknowledge that your use of the service is at your sole risk. The service is provided on an “as is” and “as available” basis. You agree and acknowledge that downloading or otherwise obtaining material through the use of the service is done at your own discretion and risk. SCI and its Site(s) is in no way responsible for any damage to your computer or computer system or loss of data that results from the download of any such material. You agree and acknowledge that no advice or information, whether oral or written, obtained by you from SCI or through or from its Site(s) shall create any warranty not expressly stated in the terms.

Limitation of Liability

In no event will SCI be liable for (i) any incidental, consequential, or indirect damages (including, but not limited to, damages for loss of profits, business interruption, loss of programs or information, and the like) arising out of the use of or inability to use the website, or any information, or transactions provided on the website, or downloaded from the website, or any delay of such information or service. Even if SCI or its authorized representatives have been advised of the possibility of such damages, or (ii) any claim attributable to errors, omissions, or other inaccuracies in or on the website and/or materials or information downloaded through the website. Because some states do not allow the exclusion or limitation of liability for consequential or incidental damages, the above limitation may not apply to you. In such states, SCI liability is limited to the greatest extent permitted by law.

Indemnification

You agree to indemnify, defend and hold harmless SCI and its Site(s) as well as its officers, directors, employees, agents, licensors, suppliers and any third-party information providers to the website from and against all losses, expenses, damages and costs, including attorneys' fees, resulting from any violation of this Agreement (including negligent or wrongful conduct) by you or your use and access of the website. SCI reserves the right to release current or past member or website user information if SCI believes that a member's account or posting is being used to commit unlawful acts, if the information is subpoenaed and/or if SCI deems it necessary and/or appropriate.

Links

The website may provide, or third parties may provide, links to non-SCI internet web sites or resources as a convenience to you ("third-party sites"). Because SCI has no control over such sites and resources, you acknowledge and agree that SCI is not responsible for the availability of such third-party sites or resources, and does not endorse and is not responsible or liable for any content, advertising, products, or other materials on or available from such sites or resources. Links to third-party sites are not endorsements by SCI of such third-party sites. You further acknowledge and agree that SCI 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 such content, goods or services available on or through any such third-party site or resource.

Third Parties

Your participation, correspondence or business dealings with any third party found on or through the website, regarding the payment and delivery of goods or services, and/or any other dealings, and/or any other terms, conditions, warranties or representations associated with such dealings, are solely between you and such third party. You agree that SCI shall not be responsible or liable for any loss, damage or other matters of any sort incurred as the result of any such dealings.

Miscellaneous

This Agreement shall all be governed and construed in accordance with the laws of the state of Pennsylvania, United States applicable to agreements made and to be performed in the state of Pennsylvania, United States. You agree that any legal action or proceeding for any purpose concerning this Agreement or the parties' obligations hereunder shall be brought exclusively in a federal or state court of competent jurisdiction sitting in the County of Philadelphia, State of Pennsylvania, United States and you hereby expressly consent to the exclusive personal jurisdiction of these courts. You agree and acknowledge that regardless of any statute or law to the contrary, any claim or cause of action arising out of or related to use of the website or this Agreement must be filed within one (1) year after such claim or cause of action arose or forever be barred. Any failure by SCI to exercise or enforce any right or provision of this Agreement shall not constitute a waiver of such right or provision. This Agreement contains the entire understanding of the parties hereto relating to the use of this website and supersedes any prior written or oral agreement or understandings between the parties with respect to this website. The invalidity or unenforceability of any provision of this agreement will not affect the validity or enforceability of any other provision of this agreement.

Any rights not expressly granted herein are reserved.

Reporting of Violations

Please report any violations of this Agreement to:

info@sciencenearme.org