Terms of Service

By accessing and using the website challenges.arise-biodiversity.nl (hereafter referred to as the "Service"), you acknowledge and agree to comply with the following terms and conditions (hereafter referred to as the "Terms of Service").

Service Provider

The Service is a part of "ARISE" (accessible at www.arise-biodiversity.nl), which will be referred to as the "Organization" in these Terms of Service.

Modifications to Terms

The Organization reserves the right to modify or replace these Terms of Service with prior notice. Your continued use of the Service after any such changes constitutes your acceptance of the new Terms of Service.

Termination of Use

Failure to adhere to any of the terms set forth below may result in the suspension or termination of your access to the Service at the Organization's discretion.

Algorithms

The Service provides several computer programs ("Algorithms") that analyze biodiversity media items. These media items may be uploaded by the Organization, yourself, or other users.

  1. The Algorithms could be made available by the Organization on the Digital Species Identification (DSI) platform of ARISE, which is intended for national biodiversity research in the Netherlands.

  2. You must make your best efforts to de-identify any Data you upload to the platform. Any data you upload will not be made available to any other user unless you share the algorithm result with specific users using the viewers' tab or share the algorithm result with all users by setting the algorithm result for the public.

Any new features that augment or enhance the current Service, including the release of new tools and resources, are subject to the Terms of Service. Continued use of the Service after any such changes constitutes your consent.

Account Terms

  1. You are responsible for maintaining the security of your account and password. The Organization cannot and will not be liable for any loss or damage from your failure to comply with this security obligation.

  2. You are responsible for all content posted and activity under your account.

  3. The Service's purpose is to improve biodiversity and support biodiversity research. You may not use the Service for any illegal purpose or to violate any laws in your jurisdiction (including, but not limited to, copyright laws).

  4. To complete the signup process, you must provide your full legal name, a valid email address, and any other requested information. This information is only used to send essential information related to your account or the challenge you are participating in, and it is only used within the Service.

  5. Your login may only be used by one person – a single login shared by multiple people is prohibited.

  6. You must only have one account per person - separate logins for the same person are prohibited.

  7. You must be a human. Accounts registered by “bots” or other automated methods are prohibited.

API Terms

Users may access their Service data via the Application Program Interface ("API"). Any use of the API, including use of the API through a third-party product that accesses the Service, is bound by the terms of this agreement plus the following specific terms:

  1. You expressly understand and agree that the Organization shall not be liable for any damages or losses resulting from your use of the API or third-party products that access data via the API.

  2. Abuse or excessively frequent requests to the Service via the API may result in the temporary or permanent suspension of your account's access to the API. The Organization, in its sole discretion, will determine abuse or excessive usage of the API. Before suspension, the Organization will reasonably attempt to email the account owner to warn them.

Cancellation and Termination

  1. You are solely responsible for properly canceling your account. To do so, email arisechallenges@gmail.com using the email address associated with your account.

  2. Your cancellation request will be handled within 10 working days. Immediately upon cancellation, all of your content will be inaccessible from the Service. Within 30 days, all content will be permanently deleted from active systems and logs. Within 60 days, all content will be permanently deleted from our backups. This information can not be recovered once it has been permanently deleted.

  3. The Organization, in its sole discretion, has the right to suspend or terminate your account and refuse any current or future use of the Service for any reason at any time. Such termination of the Service will result in the deactivation or deletion of your Account or your access to your Account, as well as the forfeiture and relinquishment of all content in your account. The Organization reserves the right to refuse service to anyone for any reason.

Modifications to the Service

  1. The Organization reserves the right to modify or discontinue, temporarily or permanently, any part of the Service at any time and without notice.

  2. The Organization shall not be liable to you or any third party for any modification, price change, suspension, or discontinuance of the Service.

Copyright and Content Ownership

  1. All content posted on the Service must comply with Dutch copyright law.

  2. By uploading your algorithm to the Service you give permission to ARISE to use and alter your algorithm within the ARISE infrastructure.

  3. We claim no intellectual property rights over the material you provide to the Service. All materials uploaded remain yours.

  4. The Organization does not pre-screen content but reserves the right (but not the obligation) at its sole discretion to refuse or remove any content available via the Service.

General Conditions

  1. Your use of the Service is at your sole risk. The service is provided on an “as is” and “as available” basis.

  2. Technical support is only provided via email.

  3. You understand that the Organization uses third-party vendors and hosting partners to provide the hardware, software, networking, storage, and related technology required to run the Service.

  4. You must not modify, adapt, or hack the Service.

  5. You must not modify another website to falsely imply that it is associated with the Service or the Organization.

  6. You agree not to reproduce, duplicate, copy, sell, resell, or exploit any Service portion, use of the Service, or access to the Service without the Organization's written permission.

  7. We may, but have no obligation to, remove content and accounts that we determine in our sole discretion are unlawful or violate any party’s intellectual property or these Terms of Service.

  8. Verbal, physical, written, or other abuse (including threats of abuse or retribution) of any Service user, Organization employee, or officer will result in immediate account termination.

  9. You understand that the technical processing and transmission of the Service, including your content, may be transferred unencrypted and involve (a) transmissions over various networks; and (b) changes to conform and adapt to the technical requirements of connecting networks or devices.

  10. We reserve the right to temporarily disable your account if your usage significantly exceeds the average usage of other Service users. Of course, we'll contact the account owner before taking any action, except in rare cases where the level of use may negatively impact the Service's performance for other users.

  11. The Organization does not warrant that (i) the service will meet your specific requirements, (ii) the service will be uninterrupted, timely, secure, or error-free, (iii) the results that may be obtained from the use of the service will be accurate or reliable, (iv) the quality of any products, services, information, or other material purchased or obtained by you through the service will meet your expectations, and (v) any errors in the Service will be corrected.

  12. You expressly understand and agree that the Organization shall not be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or exemplary damages, including but not limited to damages for loss of profits, goodwill, use, data or other intangible losses (even if the Organization has been advised of the possibility of such damages), resulting from: (i) the use or the inability to use the service; (ii) the cost of procurement of substitute goods and services resulting from any goods, data, information or services purchased or obtained or messages received or transactions entered into through or from the service; (iii) unauthorized access to or alteration of your transmissions or data; (iv) statements or conduct of any third party on the service; (v) or any other matter relating to the service.

  13. The failure of the Organization to exercise or enforce any right or provision of the Terms of Service shall not constitute a waiver of such right or provision. The Terms of Service constitute the entire agreement between you and the Organization and govern your use of the Service, superseding any prior agreements between you and the Organization (including, but not limited to, any prior versions of the Terms of Service).

  14. Questions about the Terms of Service should be sent to arisechallenges@gmail.com.

These terms and conditions are modified from Basecamp's Policies under a CC-BY-4.0 license.