Disclaimer: This summary is not a part of the "Terms and conditions" and is not a legal document. It is simply a handy reference for understanding the full terms. Think of it as the user-friendly interface to the legal language of our Terms of Use.
Part of our mission is to:
- Empower and Engage people around the world to collect and develop educational content and either publish it under a free license or dedicate it to the public domain.
- Disseminate this content effectively and globally, free of charge.
You are free to:
- Read and Print our articles and other media free of charge.
- Share and Reuse our articles and other media under free and open licenses.
- Contribute To and Edit our various sites or Projects.
- Disseminate this content effectively and globally, free of charge.
Under the following conditions:
- Responsibility – You take responsibility for your edits (since we only host your content).
- Civility – You support a civil environment and do not harass other users.
- Lawful Behavior – You do not violate copyright or other laws.
- No Harm – You do not harm our technology infrastructure.
- Terms of Use and Policies – You adhere to the below Terms of Use and to the applicable community policies when you visit our sites or participate in our communities.
With the understanding that:
- You License Freely Your Contributions – you generally must license your contributions and edits to our sites or Projects under a free and open license (unless your contribution is in the public domain).
- No Professional Advice – the content of articles and other projects is for informational purposes only and does not constitute professional advice.
Terms and conditions
This community space
The Open Source Imaging Initiative is dedicated to encouraging the growth, development and distribution of free content, and to hosting the full content of wiki-based projects for the public free of charge. We act only as a hosting service, maintaining the infrastructure and organizational framework. Please notice that:
- We do not take an editorial role: Because this project is collaboratively edited, all of the content that we host is provided by users like yourself, and we 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.
- You are responsible for your own actions: You are legally responsible for your edits and contributions, so for your own protection you should exercise caution and avoid contributing any content that may result in criminal or civil liability under any applicable laws. For clarity, applicable law includes at least the laws of The Netherlands. Although we may not agree with such actions, we warn editors and contributors that authorities may seek to apply other country laws to you, including local laws where you live or where you view or edit content. OSI^2 generally cannot offer any protection, guarantee, immunity or indemnification.
1.1. 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.
1.2. Content We Host
- You may find some material objectionable or erroneous: 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. It 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.
1.3. Refraining from Certain Activities
We happily welcome your participation in this community. We encourage you to be civil and polite in your interactions with others in the community, to act in good faith, and to make edits and contributions aimed at furthering the mission of the shared Project.
Certain activities, whether legal or illegal, may be harmful to other users and violate our rules, and some activities 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 of America 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 defamation;
- With the intent to deceive, posting content that is false or inaccurate;
- 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 under applicable law.
- 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 obscene material that is unlawful under applicable law; 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 device that could harm our technical infrastructure or system or that of our users;
- Engaging in automated uses of the site that are abusive or disruptive of the services and have not been approved by the Wikimedia community;
- Disrupting the services by placing an undue burden on a Project website or the networks or servers connected with a Project website;
- Disrupting 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;
- Knowingly accessing, tampering with, or using any of our non-public areas in our computer systems without authorization; and
- Probing, scanning, or testing the vulnerability of any of our technical systems or networks unless all the following conditions are met:
- such actions do not unduly abuse or disrupt our technical systems or networks;
- such actions are not for personal gain (except for credit for your work);
- you report any vulnerabilities to MediaWiki developers (or fix it yourself); and
- you do not undertake such actions with malicious or destructive intent.
1.4. Password Security
You are responsible for safeguarding your own password and should never disclose it to any third party.