TERMS, AND CONDITIONS
1. INTRODUCTION AND DEFINITIONS
1.1 This Agreement is a legal document which sets out your rights and obligations and those of Are We Related (“AWR”) in relation to this website and the service offered by AWR (“AWR Service”) within it. By using our website and/or registering yourself as a member of AWR, you agree to the Terms and Conditions, Privacy Policy, Membership Details and House Rules, of this Agreement every time you use the aforesaid website, whether you are a Full or Guest Member.
2. types of membership
2.1 Visitors who register with AWR become “Members” and must be at least 18 years of age. The Membership is divided between Full Members and Guest Members. Full Members have access to all parts of AWR and are able to contact other members. Guest members are able to access part only of AWR and are unable to make contact with other members. (A parent or guardian for any minor, who allows access, will be held strictly responsible for their behaviour).
2.2 Membership Rules
You undertake to register for membership with the AWR website using accurate and current information about yourself i.e. correct name, email address and any other information you post.
2.3 You also agree that you are the controller of material submitted for the purposes of privacy and data protection laws. The posting of anything considered to be unlawful, vulgar, pornographic, obscene or otherwise objectionable is prohibited. We reserve the right to remove any objectionable material whether based on information received from other members, or our own determination. Please be aware that AWR cannot be held responsible for the behaviour of its members whether on the AWR website or outside of it.
2.4 You are responsible for ensuring that no material you post, or which is posted through a machine on which you access the AWR Service, nor any activity, or communication you make, in connection with any AWR Service, will be capable of (a) infringing the intellectual property or other rights of any person or entity, (b) breaching any applicable law, whether criminal, tortious or otherwise, or (c) appearing to be offensive, threatening, abusive, discriminatory, obscene, pornographic, false, libellous, defamatory, unreliable or misleading.
2.4 We only provide a venue where guest and/or full members can upload ancestry/family related information (which they are in control of), and where the AWR Service may be accessed. In particular, members should be aware that AWR does not monitor the material contributed by it members, 24 hours a day, or ensure that it is genuine. AWR has no control over or responsibility for the truth or accuracy of material contributed by its members. By submitting material to the public areas you agree to indemnify AWR against all liabilities, claims and expenses including, without limitation, claims for libel, slander, invasion of privacy, copyright infringement or otherwise, arising from any such submission.
3. AWR Service
3.1 We provide a venue where (depending on your membership status) you can:
· access the AWR website;
· contact other members by sending and receiving emails via AWR email forwarding service;
· upload photos and share ancestral information on your ‘My Ancestors’ page (controlled by you);
· view other member’s ‘My Ancestors’ pages (provided access has been given);
· build your family tree online (or upload your GEDCOM), using the TNG Family Tree Maker;
· search for surnames and make contact via the AWR email forwarding service;
· upload your photos to the Gallery;
· request live help and advice (when announced, see scrolling marquee);
· post a request in the search folder for a record office look up;
· add messages and request searches from the AWR facilities;
· add and keep notes on your own personal ‘My Notes’ page;
· add to and/or search the Certificate Exchange and make contact via AWR forwarding service;
· receive newsletters periodically from AWR;
· add to and/or search the Military Exchange and make contact via AWR forwarding service; and
· take part in a growing community within AWR and its Forum;
3.2 AWR is not an Internet Service Provider (“ISP”), however, to be able to benefit from our service, you must have internet access and software for email and web usage, along with the relevant skill required to operate such services. We therefore accept no liability for any loss of data, equipment personal injury or death arising therefrom.
3.3 You agree to indemnify us against all liabilities, claims and expenses that may arise from any breach of this Agreement by you, or through a machine on which you access the AWR Service.
4. third parties
4.1 AWR make no representations or warranties about the information provided on this website or any other website(s) accessed from AWR. When access is obtained to a third party website. via a link from AWR, AWR has no control over the content on other website(s) or their privacy practices, therefore AWR accepts no liability which might arise from your use or reliance on any information or links contained on either AWR or any other third party link, and any decision made, based on the information contained on AWR, or any other third party link, is your sole responsibility. You are therefore advised to check the Terms, Conditions and Privacy Policy of any third party website(s) that you visit either externally, or via a link from AWR, and verify any information gained from either AWR or any third party links you have contacted.
4.2 Every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information (not personal or family tree related), that has been added to AWR and the internet links at the time of their inclusion. AWR reserves the right to make changes and corrections at any time to the information contained within this website without prior notice.
5. agreement
The Terms, Conditions, Privacy Policy, Membership Details and House Rules, (see below) (“Agreement”) may be subject to change from time to time and AWR reserves the right to change this Agreement and notify its members (guest and full members) via an announcement on the website and/or via its newsletter from time to time. Any changes made to this Agreement will take effect on such a date as notified by AWR and will govern your relationship with AWR. If you do not wish to continue under the new Agreement, you must cease to continue using AWR.
6. advertising
AWR supports advertising from approved sources and website links, however, AWR cannot guarantee the content of these websites and we would advise that you check their terms, conditions and privacy policy when accessing them. AWR are not responsible for any content, products or services used or purchased via third party websites
7. COPYRIGHT AND THE LAW
You own the copyright in your postings, articles and photos. By making such postings and uploading your photos, you are agreeing to grant AWR a perpetual, royalty-free, non-exclusive right and license to use the material which you post, but only for the purposes of AWR and/or its sister website, www.weddingspastandpresent.co.uk (if relevant and when a request is made by us). If you do not wish to grant AWR any such rights, it is suggested that you do not submit your contribution to AWR. You are in control of, and are able to delete, your own postings in the forum and in the gallery. Requests for deletion of articles submitted should be made to admin@arewerelated.co.uk
By submitting your contribution to AWR, you also warrant that such contribution:
· is your own original work and/or you are the copyright holder or have their permission;
· gives you the right to make it available on AWR;
· is not defamatory; and
· that it does not infringe any law.
You also agree to indemnify AWR against all legal fees, damages and other expenses that may be incurred by AWR as a result of your breach of the above warranty.
8. AWR AND THE MEDIA
Your permission will be sought, if AWR are contacted by any other media who shows an interest in your postings, and contact with them, will be passed to you.
9. contact
If you have any questions about this Agreement, and/or the practices of the AWR website and your dealings with the AWR website, please contact us. You can also contact us to request a copy of the personal data that we hold about you or a description of that data. Please note, that by law, we are entitled to charge you a small sum for providing this information.
10. excluded loss
10.1 AWR will not:
· be liable to you or any third party for any loss not reasonably foreseeable by us when this Agreement commences, for any indirect or consequential loss or damage, or for any loss of data, profit, revenue or business, howsoever caused (whether arising out of any negligence or breach of this Agreement or otherwise);
· be liable for any failure to perform its obligations under this Agreement caused by matters beyond its reasonable control.
10.2 Maximum Liability
Without limiting the preceding Clause, during any period of twelve months, the aggregate liability under this Agreement (whether arising in negligence or otherwise) will not, under any circumstances, exceed an amount equal to (a) the full membership fee payable at the time liability arises, or (if greater), (b) the sums paid by you to us, under this Agreement, during the twelve month period, prior to the date when the liability arises.
10.3 Non-excluded liabilities
Nothing in this Agreement limits liability for death or personal injury resulting from our negligence, or any other liability which may not by law be excluded. Any statutory rights you may have as a Consumer remain unaffected.
10.3 Indemnity
You agree to indemnify AWR against all liabilities, claims and expenses that may arise from any breach of this Agreement by you or through a machine on which you access the AWR website.
11. ASSIGNMENT
We reserve the right to assign this Agreement, and to assign or subcontract any or all of our rights and obligations under this Agreement. You may not without the written consent of AWR assign or dispose of this Agreement.
12. ENTIRE AGREEMENT
This Agreement also includes our Privacy Policy, Membership details and House Rules. Together they contain the whole of the agreement between us (“AWR”) and you (full or guest member), concerning the AWR website and they replace all earlier agreements and understandings with you, except for any fraud or fraudulent representation by either of us. A person who is not a party to this Agreement has no right under the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999 to rely upon or enforce any term of this Agreement.
13. SEVERABILITY
In the event that any term of this Agreement is held to be invalid or unenforceable by judicial decree or decision, the remainder of this Agreement shall remain valid and enforceable.
14 LAW
This Agreement shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of England and Wales.
15. KEEPING THIS AGREEMENT
We don’t separately file the individual Agreements entered into by members when they register for the AWR website. Please make a durable copy of this Agreement by printing and/or saving a downloaded copy on your own computer. Your use of AWR constitutes acceptance of our entire Agreement.
PRIVACY POLICY
1. emails
1.1 Email addresses are collected through your registration with AWR, we do not sell, share, loan or part with email addresses to third parties. However, we reserve the right to communicate such of a Member's personal information as we hold to third parties which seek the disclosure of it, and which make a legally-compliant request for its disclosure
1.2 You must, however, when accessing third parties via links on the AWR website, check the Terms, Conditions and Email Privacy Policy of each website that you visit. AWR has no control over such third party links.
1.3 You will from time to time, receive Service emails from AWR these will include:
· Welcome and membership registration details;
· Lost password details;
· Forum, Gallery and Family Tree registration details;
· Notifications. updates or messages from AWR;
· AWR newsletter to keep members updated (you can select to opt out of receiving further newsletters);
· Payment receipt (if upgrading to Full Membership); and
· Suspension notices (pending an investigation – please abide by the House Rules).
2 FORUM
When registering with the Forum, and accepting the Terms and Conditions within it, you will have the choice of whether or not your email address is disclosed, if you forget to do this, you can go back into your profile, within the Forum and change those details. Whilst AWR automatically hides email addresses, within the forum, it is advisable that you check this facility within your own profile.
3 GALLERY
3.1 Registering with the Gallery and accepting its Terms and Conditions will also require you to choose the option of having your email address made available or not, this option can be changed via the control panel in the left hand menu of the Gallery. Please note:
3.1.1 that the photos and documentation posted on this website are accepted in good faith. Please do not post material that is protected by copyright, unless you are the copyright holder or have the copyright holder’s permission to do so;
3.1.2 that if it has been found that a photo has been posted without the permission of the copyright holder, AWR will remove, or seek to obtain permission from the copyright holder, to continue using the photo concerned, and credit will be given. No violation of copyright is intended. – Please abide by the House Rules.
4. security
We have security measures in place to protect our database; access to this database is restricted internally. However, it remains each Member’s responsibility:
· to protect against unauthorised access to their details;
· to ensure that no-one else uses the AWR website on a Member’s machine while it is ‘logged on’ to the AWR website;
· to log off or exit from the AWR website when not using it; and
· to keep his/her password secret.
5. data retention period
All personal information held by us is held on and processed by computers situated in the United Kingdom.
We will retain your personal data only as long as is necessary for the purpose to which you consent and are a member under the Agreement of the AWR website, (or as is required by applicable law), and then we will delete it. However, we reserve the right to communicate such of a member’s personal information as we hold to third parties which seek the disclosure of it, and which make a legally-compliant request for its disclosure
6. THE INFORMATION WE GATHER
Information gathered on your registration with AWR, includes your name (including maiden name where relevant), your email address, your gender, your place and country of birth and some optional information about yourself such as marital status. This information is available to you, and is capable of being changed, through your ‘My Ancestors’ page
7. COOKIES
AWR uses small files known as ‘cookies’. Once a cookie is saved on your computer, only the web site that created the cookie can read it. Cookies are used on AWR to hold members’ log in information so that on your subsequent visits to AWR, you will be recognised. These cookies disappear when the Member’s browser session ends, or when you choose to click ‘log off’ from the AWR website. The option of ‘remember me’ when you log in is controlled by you.
8. DISCLAIMER
Given the global nature of the World Wide Web, any posting on the AWR website, (including any which contain personal information) is, of course, accessible to internet users around the world. AWR are therefore released from all liability arising out of or in connection with the material included in its website by members and other third parties. By submitting material to the public areas you agree to indemnify AWR against all liabilities, claims and expenses including, without limitation, claims for libel, slander, invasion of privacy, copyright infringement or otherwise, arising from any such submission.
Please note that your name, address and possibly your telephone number (if you are not ex-directory) will probably already be on the World Wide Web, your details will be found via the BT.com enquiry service. If you are a registered voter, you will be listed on the electoral roll, (which is a requirement of law); your details will also be available via the 192.com service, (unless you have opted for your details not to be made available on the published version of the electoral roll).
HOUSE RULES
1. You are welcome to contribute to our website, but please keep your contributions civil, tasteful and relevant. AWR are committed to providing an atmosphere in which friendly and mature dialogue takes place. Please be patient, users of all ages and abilities will be taking part in the community.
2. AWR will not allow:
· spamming, flooding, flaming or swear words. If your posting or message is anti-social or off topic, we will remove your postings, and possibly your account, please abide by the House Rules;
· posts containing languages other than in English, any such postings will be removed;
· members to impersonate someone else, or adopt an inappropriate screen name (one that is vulgar or offensive, etc);
· advertising, all postings will be removed;
· inappropriate URLs in your postings, links to pornography, commercial services or other inappropriate content will be deleted. All URLs submitted will be checked by a moderator;
· posting of any defamatory or illegal material of any nature, this includes text, graphics, video, and/or audio; and
· posting a message with the intention of committing or condoning an illegal act is strictly prohibited.
Your use of AWR constitutes acceptance of our entire Agreement which includes our Terms and Conditions, Privacy Policy, Membership Details and House Rules.
This Agreement is governed by the Laws of England and Wales.
The Terms and Conditions, Privacy Policy, Membership details and House Rules form part of this Agreement.
This web site is licensed by the GRO under Licence No: C02W0002403.
This web site is registered under the Data Protection Act 1998 - Registration No: Z8319506
Regulations 2000 & Privacy & Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regs 2003
You can contact us at Admin@arewerelated.co.uk