Omeka.net is a hosted web service for the creation and publication of online collections and exhibits. The Omeka.net service is run by the Corporation for Digital Scholarship on a non-profit basis. We hope that you will use Omeka.net to improve free and open access to cultural heritage materials and expertise.

This agreement ("agreement") is a legal agreement covering the provision of Omeka.net services ("service" or "services") by the Corporation for Digital Scholarship ("CDS" or "us" or "our" or "we") to you as an individual ("you" or "your"). Your use of the services will be governed by this agreement, along with the Omeka.net privacy policy. Please read this agreement carefully before you register to use Omeka.net. By using the service, you agree to become bound by the terms and conditions of this agreement.

1. Your account. You must be 13 years or older to use this service. If you are between age 13 and 18, you confirm that you have your parent's or legal guardian's consent to use this service and that they have read and agreed to this agreement. You must be a human. Accounts registered by “bots” or other automated methods are not permitted. You must provide your full legal name and/or the full legal name of your institution, a valid email address, and any other information requested in order to complete the signup process. One person or legal entity may not maintain more than one free account. You are responsible for maintaining the security of your account and password. CDS cannot and will not be liable for any loss or damage from your failure to comply with this security obligation.

2. Content. We claim no intellectual property rights over the material you provide to Omeka.net. Your profile and materials uploaded remain yours. You are responsible for all content posted and activity that occurs under your account even when content is posted by others, for example through use of Omeka.net's community features. CDS does not pre-screen content, but CDS has the right (but not the obligation) in its sole discretion to refuse or remove any content that is available via the service. By setting your content to be shared publicly, you agree to allow anyone to view and share your content. Websites and collection items labeled by you as public or shared may be promoted and linked by CDS and its partners. You may not use the service for any illegal or unauthorized purpose. You must not, in the use of the service, violate any laws in your jurisdiction (including but not limited to copyright laws). Violation of any of these agreements will result in the termination of your account. While CDS prohibits such conduct and content on the service, you understand and agree that we cannot be responsible for the content posted on the service and you nonetheless may be exposed to such materials. You agree to use the service at your own risk.

3. Fees and payment. The services consist of free and paid subscriptions. The fees for Omeka.net paid services are not license fees, but are for storage and related services (the Omeka software is released for free public use under the GPLv3 at http://www.omeka.org/trac). A valid credit card is required for paid subscriptions. The fees for the paid services will be set out at http://omeka.net/signup and are subject to change from time to time. Should you elect to upgrade your paid subscription to a higher plan, the commencement date for your next renewal period will be reset and you will be billed for the first year of the upgraded level of service on a pro-rata basis. For example, once you begin your annual billed paid subscription, your next payment would be due on the same date the following year. If during the course of that year you upgrade your paid subscription to a higher plan, the remaining time on your previous plan is prorated at the new annual rate and the calculated time added to your new subscription period. Downgrading your plan may cause the loss of content, features, or capacity of your account, and CDS does not accept any liability for such loss. In the event of a fee increase, you will be notified at least one month prior to the effective date of the increase. If you wish to cease the provision of the paid services, you may do so by canceling your account. If you cancel prior to the effective date of the increase, you will not be charged the higher fees. Payment for the services is handled for CDS by a third party ("Google Checkout") and your credit card statement may include this identifier. Paid accounts are non-refundable. CDS reserves the right, with at least one month's notice, to change or impose fees for use of Omeka.net services. CDS reserves the right, at any time, to disable service temporarily for security or maintenance reasons.

4. Renewals. The services will automatically renew for fixed periods of length equal to your initial purchase on the anniversary of your initial purchase. The services will not be renewed if you provide notice that you do not wish the services to renew. You can do this by canceling your account through the Omeka.net website, as described in the following section. If renewal fees are not paid in a timely manner, or if we are unable to process your transaction using the credit card information provided, CDS reserves the right to revoke access to your account. If you do not bring your Omeka.net balance current within thirty (30) days after we provide you with notification that your account is in arrears, CDS reserves the right to delete some or all of your content so as to reduce your storage space to below the ceiling of free accounts, and to convert your Omeka.net paid subscription to a free subscription (which is subject to the restrictions described below).

5. Canceling your account. You may cancel your account at any time. You must cancel your service before it renews in order to avoid billing of the next period's fees to your credit card. You will not be charged at the next renewal date, but CDS does not provide refunds for any previous billing periods or partial billing periods. We will not charge a fee for canceling your account.

6. Acceptable use and conduct. All usage of the services must be legal and not infringe any third party's rights. You must not take any action or use the services in any way that might bring CDS into disrepute, affect the ability of CDS to provide the services, be illegal, or encourage illegal activities. You may not use the services in any manner that might be libelous or defamatory, that contains threats or incites violence towards individuals or entities, or that violates the privacy or publicity rights of any third party. As part of the services, you may store data on CDS's servers or those of CDS's suppliers. You should ensure that this data is not in breach of any applicable law and does not breach any individual's data protection or privacy rights. You shall indemnify CDS in full for any loss, cost or damages suffered by it as a result of your use or misuse of the services.

7. Changes to the services or this agreement and termination. We aim to continually improve the delivery and content of the services and, as a result, will make changes to services from time to time. New features will be continually added, but we also may modify or discontinue (temporarily or permanently) an Omeka.net service, in part or in whole. In the event of a material change to the services, we will notify you via email in accordance with our Privacy Policy. What constitutes a material change in this circumstance will be determined by CDS, in good faith and using common sense and reasonable judgment. Similarly, we may occasionally change the terms of this agreement and will notify you of material changes via email. If CDS does change the terms of this agreement, all changes will go into effect at the time we post the updated agreement. There are some circumstances under which the service may be terminated.


8. Privacy. As a non-profit enterprise intended to support the development and use of open source scholarship and cultural collaboration, CDS takes privacy very serious. We may collect certain data to provide optimal service to you. The information collected may include statistics relating to the aggregated contents of Omeka.net websites, how often data is transferred, and performance metrics in relation to software and configuration. We collect the e-mail addresses of those who communicate with us via e-mail, aggregate information on what Omeka.net websites and items consumers access or visit, and information volunteered by the consumer (such as survey information and/or site registrations). The information we collect is used to improve the quality of our service, and is not shared or sold, except to provide products or services you've requested, when we have your permission, when it is necessary to share information in order to investigate, prevent, or take action regarding illegal activities, suspected fraud, situations involving potential threats to the physical safety of any person, violations of the terms of service, or as otherwise required by law. We use cookies to record current session information, but do not use permanent cookies. We use third party vendors and partners to provide the necessary hardware, software, networking, storage, and related technology and services required to run Omeka.net. You agree that all content you have sent, posted, or published and any information collected in your use of the Omeka.net service may be retained and used by CDS and its partners. CDS may disclose any or all personal data and contents you have sent, posted or published if required to comply with applicable law or the order or requirement of a court, administrative agency or other governmental body. CDS may periodically update privacy policies. We will notify you about significant changes in the way we treat personal information by sending a notice to the email address specified in your account or by placing a prominent notice on the Omeka.net website.

9. Copyright. All content posted on Omeka.net must comply with U.S. copyright law. Copyright owners have the right to notify us if they believe that an Omeka.net account holder has infringed the copyright owner's work. Notifications of claimed copyright infringement must be submitted in writing to CDS. To be effective, the notification of claimed infringement must be a written communication and include the following information:


10. Limitation of liability. Software and services provided under this agreement are provided to you as is and with no warranties whatsoever. All implied warranties are excluded to the extent legally permissible. CDS will provide the services and software using reasonable skill and care. Under no circumstances will CDS or its suppliers be liable to you for any consequential or indirect loss of profits or economic advantage. CDS cannot guarantee the connection speed between you and the service and CDS cannot be held liable for any direct or indirect damage or loss caused by connection speed. CDS will use reasonable efforts to ensure availability of the services, but makes no guarantee that the services will be available without interruption. CDS is not responsible for the loss of any of your data or any loss of business or financial disadvantage to you as a result of any loss of or damage to your data as a consequence of your use of the services. You should ensure that you have suitable backups of all data. These limitations of liability do not apply with respect to any death or personal injury as a consequence of the negligent act of CDS, its employees, suppliers or licensors.

11. General. This agreement is governed by the laws of Virginia. Failure by CDS to enforce any right or provision of this agreement shall not constitute a waiver of such right or provision. If any part of this agreement is held invalid or unenforceable, that part will be construed to reflect the parties’ original intent, and the remaining portions will remain in full force and effect. The terms of this agreement do not affect your statutory rights. Any notices should be sent by registered mail to the Corporation for Digital Scholarship, 300 Boone Blvd., Suite 500, Vienna, Virginia 22182.