ooBdoo Privacy Policy

Summary

If you only read the ooBdoo (wiki) websites, no more information is collected than is typically collected in server logs by web sites in general.

If you contribute to the ooBdoo projects, you are publishing every word you post publicly. If you write something, assume that it will be retained forever. This includes articles, user pages and talk pages. Some limited exceptions are described below.

Publishing on the wiki and public data Simply visiting the web site does not expose your identity publicly (but see private logging below).

When you edit any page in the wiki, you are publishing a document. This is a public act, and you are identified publicly with that edit as its author.

Identification of an author When you publish a page in the wiki, you may be logged in or not.

If you are logged in, you will be identified by your user name. This may be your real name if you so choose, or you may choose to publish under a pseudonym, whatever user name you selected when you created your account.

If you have not logged in, you will be identified by your network IP address. This is a series of four numbers which identifies the Internet address from which you are contacting the wiki. Depending on your connection, this number may be traceable only to a large Internet service provider, or specifically to your school, place of business, or home. It may be possible that the origin of this IP address could be used in conjunction with any interests you express implicitly or explicitly by editing articles to identify you even by private individuals.

It may be either difficult or easy for a motivated individual to connect your network IP address with your real-life identity. Therefore if you are very concerned about privacy, you may wish to log in and publish under a pseudonym. When using a pseudonym, your IP address will not be available to the public, but it will be stored on the wiki servers for a relatively short amount of time. Thus it will be available to developers and may be released under certain circumstances (see below).

If you use a company mail server from home or telecommute and use a DSL or cable Internet connection, it is likely to be very easy for your employer to identify your IP address and find all of your IP based ooBdoo project contributions. Using a user name is a better way of preserving your privacy in this situation. However, remember to log out or disconnect yourself after each session using a pseudonym on a shared computer, to avoid allowing others to use your identity.

Cookies The wiki will set a temporary session cookie (PHPSESSID) whenever you visit the site. If you do not intend to ever log in, you may deny this cookie, but you cannot log in without it. It will be deleted when you close your browser session.

More cookies may be set when you log in, to avoid typing in your user name (or optionally password) on your next visit. These last up to 30 days. You may clear these cookies after use if you are using a public machine and don't wish to expose your username to future users of the machine. (If so, clear the browser cache as well.)

Passwords Many aspects of the ooBdoo projects' community interactions depend on the reputation and respect that is built up through a history of valued contributions. User passwords are the only guarantee of the integrity of a user's edit history. All users are encouraged to select strong passwords and to never share them. No one shall knowingly expose the password of another user to public release either directly or indirectly.

Private logging Every time you visit a web page, you send a lot of information to the web server. Most web servers routinely maintain access logs with a portion of this information, which can be used to get an overall picture of what pages are popular, what other sites link to this one, and what web browsers people are using. It is not the intention of ooBdoo to use this information to keep track of legitimate users.

These logs are used to produce the site statistics pages; the raw log data is not made public, and is normally discarded after about two weeks.

Here's a sample of what's logged for one page view:

64.164.82.142 - - [21/Oct/2003:02:03:19 +0000] "GET /wiki/draft_privacy_policy HTTP/1.1" 200 18084 "http://oobdoo.org/wiki/index.php" "Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; PPC Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/85.7 (KHTML, like Gecko) Safari/85.5" Log data may be examined by developers in the course of solving technical problems, in tracking down badly-behaved web spiders that overwhelm the site, or very rarely to correlate usernames and network addresses of edits in investigating abuse of the wiki.

Policy on release of data derived from page logs It is the policy of ooBdoo that personally identifiable data collected in the server logs will not be released by the developers who have access to it, except as follows:

In response to a valid subpoena or other compulsory request from law enforcement With permission of the affected user To Inter-Change Media Ltd, its legal counsel, or its designee, when necessary for investigation of abuse complaints. Where the information pertains to page views generated by a spider or bot and its dissemination is necessary to illustrate or resolve technical issues. Where the user has been vandalising articles or persistently behaving in a disruptive way, data may be released to assist in the targeting of IP blocks, or to assist in the formulation of a complaint to relevant Internet Service Providers Where it is reasonably necessary to protect the rights, property or safety of the ooBdoo, its users or the public. ooBdoo policy does not permit public distribution of such information under any circumstances, except as described above.

Sharing information with third parties Except where otherwise specified, all text added to ooBdoo projects is available for reuse under the terms of the GFDL, except for 'ooBdoo news', where the text is available under a Creative Commons License and except for pages which are clearly marked and identified.

ooBdoo will not sell or share private information, such as email addresses, with third parties, unless you agree to release this information, or it is required by law to release the information.

Security of information ooBdoo and Inter-Change Media Ltd makes no guarantee against unauthorized access to any information you provide. This information will be available to all developers with access to the servers.

E-mail, mailing lists and IRC

E-mail You may provide your e-mail address in your Preferences and enable other logged-in users to send email to you through the wiki. Your address will not be revealed to them unless you respond, or possibly if the email bounces. The email address may be used by ooBdoo to communicate with users on a wider scale.

You can remove your email address from your preferences at any time to prevent it being used.

Mailing lists If you subscribe to one of the project mailing lists, your address will be exposed to any other subscriber. The list archives of most of ooBdoo's mailing lists are public, and your address may find itself quoted in messages. The list archives are also archived by Gmane services. Mails are usually not deleted or modified, but it may be done in extreme cases.

Information email addresses Some email addresses (see below) may forward mail to a team of volunteers trusted by the community to use a ticket system (OTRS) to view them and answer them. Mail sent to the system is not publicly visible, but is visible to this group of ooBdoo editors. By sending a mail to one of these addresses, your address may become public within this group. The OTRS team may discuss the contents of your mail with other contributors in order to best answer your query.

IRC IRC channels are not officially part of ooBdoo proper. By participating in an IRC channel, your IP address will be exposed to other participants. Different channels have different policies on whether logs may be published.

User data Data on users, such as the times at which they edited and the number of edits they have made are publicly available via "user contributions" lists, and occasionally in aggregated forms published by other users.

Removal of user accounts Once created, user accounts will not be removed. It may be possible for a developer to change the username on an account, but you will need to request this yourself. ooBdoo does not guarantee that a name will be changed on request. See meta:Right to vanish for further details.

Whether specific user information is deleted is dependant on the deletion policies of the project that contains the information.

Deletion of content Removing text from ooBdoo does not permanently delete it. In normal articles, anyone can look at a previous version and see what was there. If an article is "deleted", any sysop/administrator, meaning almost anyone trusted not to abuse the deletion capability, can see what was deleted. Only a developer can permanently delete information from ooBdoo databases and there is no guarantee this will happen except in response to legal action.

Summary

LEGAL & PRIVACY NOTICE

TERMS OF USE This web site is an online information and communication service provided by Inter-Change Media Ltd ("Inter-Change"). Please read these Terms of Use carefully before using this site. By using this site, you signify your agreement with these Terms of Use. If you do not agree with any of the below Terms of Use, do not use this site. Inter-Change reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to modify, alter or otherwise update these Terms of Use at any time. Such modifications shall be effective immediately upon posting of the modified Terms of Use. By using this service after we have posted notice of such modifications, alterations or updates, you agree to be bound by the revised terms. Inter-Change retains the right to deny access to anyone at its complete discretion for any reason including for violation of any of these Terms of Use. This web site provides links to many other web sites affiliated with Inter-Change that may have a Terms of Use Policy different from, or in addition to, the Terms of Use specified herein, particularly in the case of web sites hosting third-party content or that allow postings by third-parties. By accessing such web sites through links provided on this web site, you agree to abide by each applicable Terms of Use policy as therein specified.

SEARCHING By clicking on ooBdoo Search and using the search facilities you are asking us to perform a private search of the World Wide Web for and on behalf of you.

TRADEMARKS, COPYRIGHTS AND RESTRICTIONS This site is controlled and operated by Inter-Change Media Ltd ( mikeATinter-change.com) (substitute 'AT' with '@').All material on this site, including, but not limited to images, illustrations, audio clips, and video clips, is protected by copyrights, trademarks, and other intellectual property rights which are owned and controlled by Inter-Change or by other parties that have licensed their material to Inter-Change. Material on ooBdoo.org or any web site owned, operated, licensed or controlled by Inter-Change is solely for your personal, non-commercial use. Such material may not be copied, reproduced, republished, uploaded, posted, transmitted, or distributed in any way, including by e-mail or other electronic means, unless it is available under GNU Free Documentation License. Without the prior written consent of Inter-Change, modification of the materials, use of the materials on any other web site or networked computer environment, or use of the materials for any purpose other than personal, non-commercial use is a violation of the copyrights, trademarks, and other proprietary rights, and is prohibited.

LINKS This site contains links to other web sites ("Linked Sites"). The Linked Sites are for your convenience only, and you access them at your own risk. Inter-Change is not responsible for, and does not endorse, the content of the Linked Sites, whether or not Inter-Change is affiliated with sponsors of the sites. Inter-Change welcomes links to this site. You may establish a hypertext link to this site, provided that the link does not state or imply any sponsorship or endorsement of your site by Inter-Change or ooBdoo. You may not use on your site any trademarks, service marks or copyrighted materials appearing on the ooBdoo site, including but not limited to any logos or characters, without the express written consent of the owner of the mark or right. You may not frame or otherwise incorporate into another web site any of the content or other materials on the ooBdoo site without prior written consent of Inter-Change.

DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTIES AND LIABILITY The materials on ooBdoo's web site are provided "as is" and without warranties of any kind either express or implied. Inter-Change disclaims all warranties, express or implied, including, but not limited to, implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose, other than those warranties which, under the laws applicable to this agreement, are implied by law and are incapable of exclusion, restriction, or modification. Neither Inter-Change, nor its affiliated or related entities, nor any person involved in the creation, production, and distribution of Inter-Change's web site warrant that the functions contained in the materials will be uninterrupted or error-free, that defects will be corrected, or that Inter-Change or the server that makes them available are free of viruses or other harmful components. The material that you read on Inter-Change's web site is provided solely for entertainment and promotional purposes. Inter-Change does not warrant or make any representations regarding the use or the results of the use of the materials in Inter-Change's web site in terms of their correctness, accuracy, reliability, or otherwise. You expressly agree that use of the Inter-Change site is at your sole risk. You (and not Inter-Change) assume the entire cost of all necessary servicing, repair or correction. You expressly agree that neither Inter-Change, nor its affiliated or related entities, nor any of their respective employees, or agents, nor any person or entity involved in the creation, production, and distribution of Inter-Change's web site are responsible or liable to any person or entity whatsoever for any loss, damage (whether actual, consequential, punitive or otherwise), injury, claim, liability or other cause of any kind or character whatsoever based upon or resulting from the use of this site or any other Inter-Change web site. By way of example, and without limiting the generality of the foregoing, Inter-Change and related persons and entities shall not be responsible or liable for any claim or damage arising from failure of performance, error, omission, interruption, deletion, defect, delay in operation, computer virus, theft, destruction, unauthorized access to or alteration of personal records, or the reliance upon or use of data, information, opinions or other materials appearing on this site. You expressly acknowledge and agree that Inter-Change is not liable or responsible for any defamatory, offensive or illegal conduct of other subscribers or third parties.

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JURISDICTIONAL ISSUES Unless otherwise specified, the materials in the Inter-Change web site are presented solely for the purpose of entertainment and information and other products available in the United Kingdom, its territories, possessions, and protectorates. This site is controlled and operated by Inter-Change from its offices in the United Kingdom. Inter-Change makes no representation that materials in Inter-Change's web site are appropriate or available for use in other locations. Those who choose to access this site from other locations do so on their own initiative and are responsible for compliance with local laws, if and to the extent local laws are applicable. This agreement shall be governed by, construed and enforced in accordance with English Law. Any action you, any third party or Inter-Change bring to enforce this agreement or, in connection with, any matters related to this site shall be brought only in the United Kingdom and you expressly consent to the jurisdiction of said courts. If any provision of this agreement shall be unlawful, void, or for any reason unenforceable, then that provision shall be deemed severable from this agreement and shall not affect the validity and enforceability of any remaining provisions. This is the entire agreement between the parties relating to the matters contained herein and shall not be modified except in writing, signed by Inter-Change.

PRIVACY Inter-Change is very respectful about the privacy concerns of the visitors to its sites on the Internet. As a general policy, no personal information is automatically collected from visitors to this site. However, certain non-personal information of visitors is recorded by the standard operation of Inter-Change's Internet servers. This information is primarily used to provide an enhanced online experience for the visitor. Information tracked includes the type of browser being used by the visitor (e.g., Netscape, Internet Explorer), the type of operating system (e.g., Macintosh, Windows) in use by the visitor and the domain name of the visitor's Internet service provider (e.g., America Online, Earthlink). By having this information, web pages optimized for a particular visitor's computer are automatically made available to that visitor. Other use of this information may include internal review of the number of visitors to this site but only in an aggregate and non-personally-identifiable form. E-mail addresses and other personally identifiable data about visitors to this site are known to Inter-Change only when voluntarily submitted by the user. Inter-Change affiliated web sites that are linked to this site and that engage in any additional information practices will explain those practices at that site.

A SPECIAL NOTE FOR PARENTS CONCERNING PRIVACY On sites specifically designed for children, Inter-Change makes a special effort to encourage children to consult with their parents before furnishing data. However, Inter-Change believes that parents should supervise their children's online activities and consider using parental control tools available from online services and software manufacturers that help provide a child-friendly online environment. These tools can also prevent children from disclosing online their name, address, and other personal information without parental permission.

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