Terms of Service

PLEASE READ THESE TERMS OF SERVICE CAREFULLY. BY ACCESSING OR USING THIS WEB SITE, YOU AGREE TO BE BOUND BY THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS DESCRIBED HEREIN AND ALL TERMS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO ALL OF THESE TERMS, DO NOT USE THIS WEB SITE.

This website is operated by Democracy Forward and Democracy Forward Foundation (collectively “Democracy Forward”, “we” or “us”). These Terms of Service apply solely to your access to, and use of, the Web sites and mobile sites operated by Democracy Forward which link to these Terms of Service (the “Sites”). These Terms of Service do not alter in any way the terms or conditions of any other agreement you may have with Democracy Forward.

We reserve the right to change or modify any of the terms and conditions contained in the Terms of Service or any policy or guideline of the Sites, at any time and in our sole discretion. Any changes or modification will be effective immediately upon posting of the revisions on the Sites, and you waive any right you may have to receive specific notice of such changes or modifications. Your continued use of these Sites following the posting of changes or modifications will confirm your acceptance of such changes or modifications. Therefore, you should frequently review the Terms of Service and applicable policies from time-to-time to understand the terms and conditions that apply to your use of the Sites. If you do not agree to the amended terms, you must stop using the Sites.

PRIVACY POLICY

Please refer to our privacy policy for information on how we collect, use and disclose personally identifiable information from our users.

MOBILE COMMUNICATIONS

You consent to our communicating with you about the Site and Democracy Forward by SMS, text message, email, or other electronic means. Your carrier’s normal, messaging, data, and other rates and fees will apply to these communications.

If you subscribe to any text programs that Democracy Forward makes available, the following terms apply:

(a) By subscribing to Democracy Forward updates or alerts, you consent to receive recurring updates or alerts including by automatic text message. Text STOP to stop. For Help, text HELP or contact us at info@democracyforward.org. Message and data rates may apply. Please see our privacy policy for information about opting out of such messages.

(b) Neither Democracy Forward nor the participating carriers guarantee that messages will be delivered. Democracy Forward may discontinue the program at any time without notice.

(c) You represent and warrant that you are supplying your own phone number, and not someone else’s, and that you agree to provide us with notice if you are no longer the primary user of that number.

(d) You acknowledge and agree that you may opt-out of receiving further mobile messages via any opt-out keywords that are universally recognized, including, but not limited to, STOP, UNSUBSCRIBE, CANCEL, END, or QUIT. You acknowledge that any opt-out method not expressly provided in this opt-out provision is unreasonable.

(e) You may not receive mobile messages if you are under thirteen (13) years of age and if you are between the ages of thirteen (13) and eighteen (18) years of age, you must have your parent’s or legal guardian’s permission to register to receive mobile messages.

COPYRIGHT AND LIMITED LICENSE

Unless otherwise indicated in the Sites, the Sites and all content and other materials on the Sites, including, without limitation, Democracy Forward’s logo, and all designs, text, graphics, pictures, information, data, software, tools, widgets, sound files, other files, and the selection and arrangement thereof (collectively, the “Site Materials”) are the proprietary property of Democracy Forward or its licensors or users and are protected by U.S. and international copyright laws.

You are granted a limited, non-sublicensable license to access and use the Site and the Site Materials for your informational, non-commercial and personal use only. Such license is subject to these Terms of Service and are subject to the following restrictions: (a) you shall not license, sell, rent, lease, transfer, assign, reproduce, distribute, host or otherwise commercially exploit the Site Materials or any portion thereof, including the Site; (b) you shall not frame or utilize framing techniques to enclose any trademark, logo, or other Site Materials (including images, text, page layout or form) of Democracy Forward; (c) you shall not use any metatags or other “hidden text” using our name or trademarks; (d) you shall not modify, translate, adapt, merge, make derivative works of, disassemble, decompile, reverse compile or reverse engineer any part of the Site Materials, except to the extent the foregoing restrictions are expressly prohibited by applicable law; (e) you shall not use any manual or automated software, devices, or other processes (including but not limited to spiders, robots, scrapers, crawlers, avatars, data mining tools or the like) to “scrape” or download data from any web pages contained in the Site (except that we grant the operators of public search engines revocable permission to use spiders to copy materials from the Site for the sole purpose of and solely to the extent necessary for creating publicly available searchable indices of the materials, but not caches or archives of such materials); (f) you shall not access the Site Materials in order to build a similar or competitive website or service; (g) except as expressly stated herein, no part of Site Materials may be copied, reproduced, distributed, republished, downloaded, displayed, posted, or transmitted in any form or by any means; and (h) you shall not remove or destroy any copyright notices or other proprietary markings contained on or in the Site Materials. Any use of the Site or the Site Materials other than as specifically authorized herein, without the prior written permission of Democracy Forward, is strictly prohibited and will terminate the license granted herein. Such unauthorized use may also violate applicable laws, including without limitation copyright and trademark laws and applicable communications regulations and statutes. Unless explicitly stated herein, nothing in these Terms of Service shall be construed as conferring any license to intellectual property rights, whether by estoppel, implication, or otherwise. This license is revocable at any time.

As a part of the Site Materials, you may have access to materials that are hosted by another party. You agree that it is impossible for Democracy Forward to monitor such materials and that you access these materials at your own risk.

If you believe that anything on the Site infringes upon any copyright which you own or control, you may file a notification of such infringement at the email address info@democracyforward.org. Please see 17 U.S.C. §512(c)(3) for the requirements of a proper notification. You should note that if you knowingly misrepresent in your notification that the material or activity is infringing, you will be liable for any damages, including costs and attorneys’ fees, incurred by us or the alleged infringer as the result of our relying upon such misrepresentation in removing or disabling access to the material or activity claimed to be infringing.

TRADEMARKS

DEMOCRACY FORWARD and all other names, logos and slogans contained in the Sites are trademarks of Democracy Forward, its suppliers or licensors, or other third parties and may not be copied, imitated or used, in whole or in part, without the prior written permission of Democracy Forward or the applicable trademark holder. You may not use any metatags or any other “hidden text” utilizing “Democracy Forward” or any other name, trademark or product or service name of Democracy Forward without our prior written permission. In addition, the look and feel of the Sites, including all page headers, custom graphics, button icons and scripts, is the service mark, trademark and/or trade dress of Democracy Forward and may not be copied, imitated or used, in whole or in part, without our prior written permission. All other trademarks, registered trademarks, product names and company names or logos mentioned in the Sites are the property of their respective owners. Reference to any products, services, processes or other information, by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, and supplier or otherwise does not constitute or imply endorsement, sponsorship, or recommendation thereof by us.

HYPERLINKS

You may not use a Democracy Forward logo or other proprietary graphic of Democracy Forward to link to these Sites without the express written permission of Democracy Forward. Further, you may not use, frame, or utilize framing techniques to enclose any Democracy Forward trademark, logo, or other proprietary information, including the images found at the Sites, the content of any text, or the layout/design of any page or form contained on a page on the Sites without Democracy Forward’s express written consent. Except as noted above, you are not conveyed any right or license by implication, estoppel or otherwise in or under any patent, trademark, copyright or proprietary right of Democracy Forward or any third party.

Democracy Forward makes no claim or representation regarding, and accepts no responsibility for, the quality, content, nature, or reliability of third-party Web sites accessible by hyperlink from the Sites, or Web sites linking to the Sites. Such sites are not under the control of Democracy Forward and Democracy Forward is not responsible for the contents of any linked site or any link contained in a linked site, or any review, changes, or updates to such sites. Democracy Forward provides these links to you only as a convenience and the inclusion of any link does not imply affiliation, endorsement, or adoption by Democracy Forward of any site or any information contained therein. When you leave the Sites, you should be aware that our terms and policies no longer govern. You should review the applicable terms and policies, including privacy and data gathering practices, of any site to which you navigate from the Sites.

THIRD PARTY CONTENT

We may make third party information and other content available on or through the Sites (the “Third Party Content”) as a service to those interested in this information and we may provide information regarding or access to third party products or services available on or through the Sites (“Third Party Products and Services”). Your business dealings or correspondence with such third parties, and any terms, conditions, warranties or representations associated therewith, are solely between you and such third party. Democracy Forward does not control, endorse or adopt any Third Party Content or Third Party Products, and makes no representation or warranties of any kind regarding the Third Party Content, including without limitation regarding its accuracy or completeness. You acknowledge and agree that Democracy Forward is not responsible or liable in any manner for any Third Party Content and undertakes no responsibility to update or review any Third Party Content. Users use such Third Party Content contained therein at their own risk.

THIRD-PARTY ORGANIZATIONS, PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

Democracy Forward may provide information about or links to third-party organizations, web sites, products, or services on the Sites. Democracy Forward does not endorse or make any representations or warranties regarding any third party products, services, promotions or vendors. Your dealings or correspondence with such third parties, and any terms, conditions, warranties or representations associated with such dealings or promotions are solely between you and such third party. Democracy Forward is not responsible or liable for any loss or damage of any sort incurred as the result of any such dealings or promotions or as the result of the presence of such non-Democracy Forward advertisers or third party information on the Sites.

FEEDBACK

You acknowledge and agree that any feedback, questions, comments, suggestions, ideas, or other information or materials regarding the Sites or Democracy Forward that are provided by you in the form of email or other submissions to Democracy Forward (“Feedback”) are non-confidential and shall become the sole property of Democracy Forward. Democracy Forward shall own exclusive rights, including all intellectual property rights, to Feedback and shall be entitled to the unrestricted use and dissemination of these materials for any purpose without acknowledgment or compensation to you. You may not create, post, store or share any Feedback that violates these Terms of Service or for which you do not have all the rights necessary to grant us the license described above. You represent and warrant that your Feedback, and our use of such content as permitted by these Terms of Service, will not violate any rights of or cause injury to any person or entity.

USER CONDUCT

As a condition of your use of the Site, you agree not to use the Site Materials for any purpose that is prohibited by these Terms of Service or by applicable law. You shall not (and shall not permit any third-party to) take any action that: (i) infringes any patent, trademark, trade secret, copyright, right of publicity, or other right of any person or entity; (ii) is unlawful, threatening, abusive, harassing, defamatory, libelous, deceptive, fraudulent, invasive of another’s privacy, tortious, obscene, offensive, or profane; (iii) constitutes unauthorized or unsolicited advertising, junk, or bulk e-mail; (iv) impersonates any person or entity, including any employee or representative of Democracy Forward; (v) interferes with or attempts to interfere with the proper functioning of the Site Materials or uses the Site Materials in any way not expressly permitted by these Terms of Service; or (vi) attempts to engage in or engages in any potentially harmful acts that are directed against the Site Materials, including but not limited to violating or attempting to violate any security features of the Site; reverse engineering any aspect of our Sites; do anything that might discover source code or bypass or circumvent measures employed to prevent or limit access to any part of our Sites; developing or using any third-party applications that interact with our Sites without our prior written consent (including any bots or scripts designed to scrape or extract data from our Sites); using manual or automated software or other means to access, “scrape,” “crawl,” or “spider” any pages contained in the Site Materials; introducing viruses, worms, or similar harmful code into the Site Materials; or interfering or attempting to interfere with use of the Site Materials by any other user, host or network, including by means of overloading, “flooding,” “spamming,” “mail bombing,” or “crashing” the Site Materials.

INDEMNIFICATION

You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless Democracy Forward, its parents, subsidiaries, affiliates, officers, employees, agents, partners, suppliers, and licensors (each, a “Democracy Forward Party” and collectively, the “Democracy Forward Parties”) harmless from any losses, costs, liabilities, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys’ fees) relating to or arising out of any and all of the following: (a) your use of, or inability to use, any of the Site Materials; (b) your violation of the Terms of Service; or (c) your violation of any applicable laws, rules, or regulations. Democracy Forward reserves the right, at its own cost, to assume the exclusive defense and control of any matter otherwise subject to indemnification by you, in which event you will fully cooperate with Democracy Forward in asserting any available defenses. This provision does not require you to indemnify any of the Democracy Forward Parties for any unconscionable commercial practice by such party or for such party’s fraud, deception, false promise, misrepresentation or concealment, suppression, or omission of any material fact in connection with the Site or any services provided hereunder. You agree that the provisions in this section will survive any termination of your access to the Site Materials.

DISCLAIMERS

EXCEPT AS EXPRESSLY PROVIDED TO THE CONTRARY IN A WRITING BY DEMOCRACY FORWARD, THE SITES, THE SITE MATERIALS CONTAINED THEREIN, AND THE SERVICES PROVIDED ON OR IN CONNECTION THEREWITH (THE “SERVICES”) ARE PROVIDED ON AN “AS IS” BASIS WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED. DEMOCRACY FORWARD DISCLAIMS ALL OTHER WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE AND NON-INFRINGEMENT AND AS TO ACCURACY OR RELIABILITY OF THE INFORMATION, CONTENT, FORMS OR OTHER SITE MATERIALS ACCESSED THROUGH THE SITES. DEMOCRACY FORWARD DOES NOT REPRESENT OR WARRANT THAT THE SITES, THE SITE MATERIALS OR THE SERVICES ARE ACCURATE, COMPLETE, RELIABLE, CURRENT OR ERROR-FREE. DEMOCRACY FORWARD IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS OR OMISSIONS, INCLUDING THOSE RELATING TO TEXT OR PHOTOGRAPHY.

WHILE DEMOCRACY FORWARD ATTEMPTS TO MAKE YOUR ACCESS AND USE OF THE SITES AND SERVICES SAFE, DEMOCRACY FORWARD CANNOT AND DOES NOT REPRESENT OR WARRANT THAT THE SITES, THE SITE MATERIALS OR THE SERVER(S) ARE FREE OF VIRUSES OR OTHER HARMFUL COMPONENTS; THEREFORE, YOU SHOULD USE INDUSTRY-RECOGNIZED SOFTWARE TO DETECT AND DISINFECT VIRUSES FROM ANY DOWNLOAD.

DEMOCRACY FORWARD IS ALSO NOT RESPONSIBLE OR LIABLE IN ANY MANNER FOR ANY THIRD PARTY ACTIVITIES OR EVENTS LISTED ON THE SITES OR FOR THE CONDUCT OF ANY EVENT OR ACTIVITY ORGANIZED BY OTHER USERS OF THE SITES. WE DO NOT CONTROL, ENDORSE, OR TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANY USER CONTENT OR THIRD-PARTY CONTENT AVAILABLE ON OR LINKED TO OR BY OUR SITES.

Democracy Forward reserves the right to change any and all content contained in the Sites and any services offered through the Sites at any time without notice. Reference to any products, services, processes or other information, by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, supplier or otherwise does not constitute or imply endorsement, sponsorship or recommendation thereof, or any affiliation therewith, by Democracy Forward.

LIMITATION OF LIABILITY

TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, YOU UNDERSTAND AND AGREE THAT IN NO EVENT SHALL DEMOCRACY FORWARD OR OUR EMPLOYEES, AGENTS OR VOLUNTEERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, SPECIAL, INDIRECT OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, OR ANY OTHER DAMAGES OF ANY KIND, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO LOSS OF USE, LOSS OF PROFITS OR LOSS OF DATA, WHETHER IN AN ACTION IN CONTRACT, TORT (INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO NEGLIGENCE) OR OTHERWISE, ARISING OUT OF OR IN ANY WAY CONNECTED WITH THE USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE THE SITES, THE SERVICES, THE CONTENT OR THE SITE MATERIALS CONTAINED IN OR ACCESSED THROUGH THE SITES, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION ANY DAMAGES CAUSED BY OR RESULTING FROM RELIANCE BY USER ON ANY INFORMATION OBTAINED FROM DEMOCRACY FORWARD, OR THAT RESULT FROM MISTAKES, OMISSIONS, INTERRUPTIONS, DELETION OF FILES OR EMAIL, ERRORS, DEFECTS, VIRUSES, DELAYS IN OPERATION OR TRANSMISSION OR ANY FAILURE OF PERFORMANCE, WHETHER OR NOT RESULTING FROM ACTS OF GOD, COMMUNICATIONS FAILURE, THEFT, DESTRUCTION OR UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS TO DEMOCRACY FORWARD’S RECORDS, PROGRAMS OR SERVICES. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AGGREGATE LIABILITY OF DEMOCRACY FORWARD, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, WARRANTY, TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE, WHETHER ACTIVE, PASSIVE OR IMPUTED), PRODUCT LIABILITY, STRICT LIABILITY OR OTHER THEORY, ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THE USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE THE SITES OR THE SITE MATERIALS EXCEED ANY COMPENSATION YOU PAY, IF ANY, TO DEMOCRACY FORWARD FOR ACCESS TO OR USE OF THE SITES.

CERTAIN STATE LAWS DO NOT ALLOW LIMITATIONS ON IMPLIED WARRANTIES OR THE EXCLUSION OF LIMITATION OF CERTAIN DAMAGES. THEREFORE, SOME OR ALL OF THE ABOVE DISCLAIMERS, EXCLUSIONS, OR LIMITATIONS MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU, AND YOU MIGHT HAVE ADDITIONAL RIGHTS.

INTERNATIONAL USERS

The Site can be accessed from countries around the world and may contain references to services and that are not available in your country. These references do not imply that Democracy Forward intends to announce such services in your country. Democracy Forward makes no representations that the Site Materials are appropriate or available for use in other locations. Those who access or use the Site from other countries do so at their own volition and are responsible for compliance with local law.

RELEASE

To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, you hereby release the Democracy Forward Parties and their successors from claims, demands, any and all losses, damages, rights, and actions of any kind, including personal injuries, death, and property damage, that is either directly or indirectly related to or arises from your use of the Site Materials, including but not limited to, any interactions with Third-Party Products and Services of any kind arising in connection with or as a result of the Terms of Service or your use of the Site Materials. If you are a California resident, you hereby waive California Civil Code Section 1542, which states, “A general release does not extend to claims that the creditor or releasing party does not know or suspect to exist in his or her favor at the time of executing the release and that, if known by him or her, would have materially affected his or her settlement with the debtor or released party.” The foregoing release does not apply to any claims, demands, or any losses, damages, rights and actions of any kind, including personal injuries, death or property damage for any unconscionable commercial practice by a Democracy Forward Party or for such party’s fraud, deception, false, promise, misrepresentation or concealment, suppression or omission of any material fact in connection with the Site or any services provided hereunder.

TRANSFER AND PROCESSING DATA

By accessing or using our Sites and services, you consent to the processing, transfer and storage of information about you in and to the United States and other countries, where you may not have the same rights and protections as you do under local law. Please refer to our Privacy Policy for information on how we collect, use and disclose personally identifiable information from our users.

APPLICABLE LAW AND VENUE

These Terms of Service and your use of the Sites shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the District of Columbia applicable to agreements made and to be entirely performed within the District of Columbia, without resort to its conflict of law provisions. You agree that any dispute between the parties arising out of or relating to these Terms of Service that is not subject to arbitration or cannot be heard in small claims court shall be filed only in the state and federal courts located in the District of Columbia and you hereby irrevocably and unconditionally consent and submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of such courts over any suit, action or proceeding arising out of these Terms of Service.

TERMINATION

Notwithstanding any of these Terms of Service, Democracy Forward reserves the right, without notice and in its sole discretion, to terminate your license to use the Sites, and to block or prevent your future access to and use of the Sites. We are not responsible for any loss or harm related to your inability to access or use the Sites.

FORCE MAJEURE

Democracy Forward shall not be liable for any delay or failure to perform resulting from causes outside its reasonable control, including, but not limited to, acts of God, war, terrorism, riots, embargos, acts of civil or military authorities, fire, floods, accidents, strikes or shortages of transportation facilities, fuel, energy, labor or materials.

SEVERABILITY

If any provision of these Terms of Service shall be deemed unlawful, void or for any reason unenforceable, then that provision shall be deemed severable from these Terms of Service and shall not affect the validity and enforceability of any remaining provisions.

LEGAL DISCLAIMER

This website and the materials available at this website are for informational purposes only and are not for the purpose of providing legal advice or intended as a solicitation. We make no representations or warranties, express or implied, with respect to the information provided on this website or any third-party website which may be accessed by a link from this website, including any representations or warranties as to accuracy, timeliness or completeness. You should not take, or refrain from taking, any action based on any information contained on this website without first consulting legal counsel, and you should contact your attorney to obtain advice with respect to any particular issue or problem. Your use of this website or your contacting us in any manner does not create an attorney-client relationship between you and Democracy Forward. Any prior results described on this website do not guarantee a similar outcome.

ENTIRE AGREEMENT

These Terms of Service are the final, complete and exclusive agreement of the parties with respect to the subject matter hereof and supersedes and merges all prior discussions between the parties with respect to such subject matter.

QUESTIONS & CONTACT INFORMATION

Questions or comments about these Terms of Service or the Sites may be directed to Democracy Forward at the email address info@democracyforward.org.