DLHA Online Volunteers: Terms of Service (ToS)

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Preamble: Datelinehealth-Africa Inc., (hereinafter referred to as the "Organization") is a US IRS approved 501(c) 3 non-profit Organization that exists to promote public health awareness and knowledge in Africa with the aim of improving health and well-being in the region.

Our goals are two-fold; (a) to reach Africa's growing intelligentsia with credible and culture-appropriate public health information and skills; (b) to raise global awareness about health issues and needs in Africa in order to garner global support for the promotion and strengthening of public health in the region.

The Datelinehealth-Africa.net web portal (hereinafter referred to as the "Portal") is one of the projects being implemented towards the achievement of our mission and goals.

As this project grows, we have found a need to engage individuals as Volunteers (hereinafter referred to as "Volunteer(s)"} to perform a variety of technical and non-technical tasks.  These include but not specifically limited to programming, creation of web pages (HTML), graphic design, technical writing, managing databases, technical support, web-surfing to include reviewing, categorizing, archiving and/or forwarding electronic data; providing expert advice, administration, content creation, marketing, promotions, fund-raising, training or other assignments, as needed.

Registration: An individual registering as Volunteer with the Organization is expected to provide accurate, truthful and complete information in the required fields of the Volunteer registration form. Volunteers register at their own free will and in doing so represent that they are of legal age, or volunteering with the consent of a legal parent or guardian.

Volunteers are free individuals and agree unless otherwise stated in writing between parties, that they are not and shall not represent, or pass off themselves as employees, agents or representatives in any capacity whatsoever of the Organization.

The Organization agrees never to use or sell Volunteer's personal information for any purpose other than the purpose of evaluating the appropriateness of the Volunteer to serve the Organization in a volunteer capacity.

In serving the Organization in a Volunteer capacity, the Volunteer agrees to be bound by the Terms of Service as herein set forth.

Privacy Policy: Click here for more information on the entire Privacy policy of the Organization.

Description of Services: The Organization operates the Datelinehealth-Africa.net web portal among other projects. The portal creates, aggregates and catalogues public health information relevant to the Africa region and allows free to low-cost access to these information. The portal also provides online training in public health, primary health care, health policy and public policy advocacy as well as diverse communication services through its chat rooms, message boards and its 'Ask-Expert' and 'Get Help' services. In addition, the portal provides advertising and e-commerce services to vendors of beneficial health products for purposes of generating income to support its activities. All these non-exclusive services are collectively hereinafter referred to as the "Services".

Access to the Portal: Volunteer acknowledges that the Organization may establish limits concerning Volunteer's access to and use of the Administrative Services at the Portal and may modify these limits at any time and at the Organization's absolute discretion.

Scope and Modification of Volunteer Services: The Volunteer and the Organization agree that parties to this Terms of Service (ToS) shall be free to define, negotiate and agree whether in writing or otherwise, on the scope of work that a given Volunteer may engage in with the Organization.

The Volunteer and the Organization also agree that parties to this ToS shall be free either in writing or otherwise, to modify or discontinue, temporarily or permanently, the Volunteer Service (or any part thereof) with or without notice at any time. The Organization shall not be liable to the Volunteer or to any third party for any modification, suspension or discontinuance of the Volunteer Service as provided in this ToS.

Supervision: Volunteer agrees to use his/her best endeavors to execute all lawful and assigned projects or services and to perform all assignments under the supervision of a designated officer or officers of the Organization.

Consideration: Unless otherwise confirmed by the Organization in writing, parties to the ToS agree that all Volunteer positions at the Organization are specifically without pay or future consideration whatsoever.

International considerations: In view of the global nature of the Internet, the Volunteer agrees to comply with all local and international rules regarding online conduct and acceptable content. Specifically, Volunteer agrees to comply with all applicable local and international laws regarding the transmission of information exported from the country in which s/he resides.

Intellectual property: Unless otherwise agreed and expressed in writing between the parties, the Volunteer and the Organization admit to the clear understanding that the ownership of all intellectual property rights in the portal no matter how defined, belongs to the Organization as legitimate licensee of the portal. 

The Organization and Volunteer further agree that the intellectual content created as a result of the Volunteer's work for the Organization shall be considered the property of the Organization unless otherwise so agreed in writing between parties.

When-so-ever it is agreed and expressed in writing between the parties to give intellectual property rights to work/content created by Volunteer, s/he hereby agrees to grant the Organization and or its Licensor, a perpetual world wide irrevocable license to use and transmit, but not modify and sell, the intellectual property rights in said work/content. The Volunteer does not guarantee exclusivity of the intellectual property to the Organization except in such cases as when the intellectual property consists of Content posted to the Organization's portal by the Volunteer. The Volunteer agrees to waive all legal rights to sue the Organization for the use of said content.

The Volunteer certifies that any electronic data he/she submits is his/her original work and that to the best of the Volunteer's knowledge, the electronic data is not the property of another. Except under the 'fair use' doctrine, when-so-ever Volunteer submits any electronic data or content that is not the property of the Volunteer, the Volunteer hereby certifies that s/he shall obtain or has obtained permission of the original owner to submit the said data/content to the Organization. Furthermore, if said work/content is found to be illegally presented, claimed, or forged, the Organization reserves the right to remove such work/content from the portal at its full and absolute discretion and terminate the Volunteer's relationship with the Organization as provided for in this ToS.

Resale of Services: The Volunteer agrees not to reproduce, duplicate, copy, sell, resell, or exploit any portion of the Portal Services and Products, whether specifically created or contributed by the Volunteer or not, for any pecuniary gain whether for profit or not, without the express written permission of the Organization; which permission shall not be unreasonably withheld.

The Organization also agrees not to reproduce, duplicate, copy, sell, resell, or exploit any portion of the Portal Services and Products specifically created by or contributed by the Volunteer, for any pecuniary gain whether for profit or not without the express writing permission of the Volunteer, which permission shall not be unreasonably withheld. 

In addition, nothing in this statement precludes the Organization from undertaking at its absolute discretion to reproduce, duplicate, copy, sell, resell, or exploit any portion of the Portal Service that are not specifically created and/or contributed by the Volunteer to the Organization

Termination: Either party to this ToS may, at its sole discretion terminate this Agreement at will and without need to offer reasons.

Upon termination of his/her services to the Organization, Volunteer agrees that his/her access to the Organization or its Portal under any provision of this ToS may be terminated without prior notice. Volunteer also acknowledges and agrees that the Organization may at its sole discretion retain or immediately delete Volunteer's registration information and promotional descriptions from its database and web pages. The Organization reserves the right to bar any further access to such Content or the Service. Volunteer agrees that the Organization shall not be liable to Volunteer or any third party for any termination of Volunteer's access to the Organization's Portal and Services.

In the event that the Volunteer shall have obtained prior ownership of intellectual property right in his/her contributed works, Services or Content from the Organization in writing, Volunteer shall reserve the right upon termination of this ToS, to request in writing for deletion, termination and or return of his/her contributed works, Content and or services to Organization. Under this specific condition, the Organization agrees to abide by Volunteer's lawful request at the earliest possible time.

Where the Organization has not given prior ownership in writing of intellectual property rights to Volunteer for works, services and Content contributed by Volunteer to the Organization, then the Organization shall upon termination of this ToS, retain and use or delete Volunteer's work, Content or services at its absolute discretion. Consequently, any contracts, verbal or written, in conjunction with Volunteer's retained, deleted or terminated services, Content, work or contributions either in its parts or whole, will automatically be terminated as well at the Organization's absolute discretion.

Confidentiality: Volunteer acknowledges and agrees that the Organization's Service may contain proprietary and confidential information that is protected by applicable laws governing intellectual property, proprietary rights and the like. All codes and specifications of the Organization's portal are subject to protection by applicable laws governing intellectual property, copyrights, proprietary rights and the like. Volunteer agrees to maintain utmost confidentiality and not to disclose, reproduce, sell, copy, transmit any confidential information of the Organization to any other party outside the Organization or to use any confidential information of the Organization for personal gains without the Organization's specific permission in writing. The Organization agrees not to unreasonably withhold permission to the Volunteer upon his/her request in writing for use of the Organization's confidential information.

Notwithstanding anything earlier stated in this section, the Organization shall reserve the right to specify terms verbally and/ or in writing to the Volunteer for use of the Organization's confidential or proprietary information and the Volunteer agrees to abide by such terms.

Submission of content: The following guidelines shall apply for posting or submitting content to the Organization:

1.       Except in the case of copyrighted materials belonging to other parties, all content posted to the Organization's web portal shall become the property of the Organization unless otherwise agreed in writing between parties.

2.       Should any Content submitted and/or posted to the Organization's web portal be reported to the Organization as being offensive or inappropriate, the Organization shall have the full authority to remove from its Service any infringing Content.

3.       The Organization reserves the right, without limitation except by law or as provided for under the Termination clause of this ToS, to serve a Volunteer's Content on the web.

Volunteer acknowledges that the Organization has the right to prescreen all Content submitted by Volunteer at the Organization's sole discretion and that the Organization shall have the right in their sole discretion to refuse or remove any Content that the Volunteer may submit to the Organization. Without limiting the foregoing, the Organization shall have the right to remove any content that violates the Terms of Service (ToS) or is otherwise objectionable. Furthermore, the Organization reserves the right to limit access to Volunteer's content, if found in violation of the ToS.

Conduct: Volunteer agrees to NOT use the Service to:

1.       Upload, post, link to, or otherwise transmit any content that in the Organization's opinion found to be unlawful, harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, tortious, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, libelous, hateful, or racially, ethnically or otherwise objectionable and invasive to another's privacy (up to, but not excluding any address, email, phone number, or any other contact information without the written consent of the owner of such information);

2.       Harm minors in any way, as seen by the Organization or applicable law;

3.       Impersonate any person or entity, including, but not limited to, as agent, employee or contractor of the Organization, or falsely state or otherwise misrepresent affiliation with a person or entity;

4.       Forge headers or otherwise manipulate identifiers in order to disguise the origin of any Content transmitted through the Service;

5.       Upload, post, link to, or otherwise transmit any Content that Volunteer does not have a right to transmit under any law or under contractual or fiduciary relationships (such as inside information, proprietary and confidential information learned or disclosed as part of employment relationships or under nondisclosure agreements);

6.       Upload, post, link to, or otherwise transmit any Content that infringes any patent, trademark, trade secret, copyright, or other proprietary rights of any party;

7.       Upload, post, link to, or otherwise transmit any unsolicited or unauthorized advertising, promotional materials, "junk mail", "spam", "chain letters", "pyramid schemes", or any other form of solicitation;

8.       Upload, post, link to, or otherwise transmit any material that contains software viruses or any other computer code, files, or programs designed to interrupt, destroy, or limit the functionality of any computer software or hardware or telecommunications equipment;

9.       Interfere with or disrupt the Service or servers or networks connected to the Service, or disobey any requirements, procedures, policies, or regulations of networks connected to the Service;

10.   Intentionally or unintentionally violate any applicable local, state, national or international law, including, but not limited to, regulations promulgated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, any rules of any national or other securities exchange, including, without limitation, the New York Stock Exchange, the American Stock Exchange or the NASDAQ, and any regulations having the force of law;

11.   "Stalk" or otherwise harass another person or company;

12.   Collect or store personal data about other Users for business purposes;

13.   Promote or provide instructional information about illegal activities, promote physical harm or injury against any group or individual, or promote any act of cruelty to animals. This may include, but is not limited to, providing instructions on how to assemble bombs, grenades and other weapons or incendiary devices;

14.   Allow usage by others in such a way as to violate the Organization's ToS;

15.   Engage in commercial activities on behalf of the Organization without prior approval.

If any Volunteer is in violation of the letter or spirit of these terms, the Organization reserves the right to remove the Volunteer's Content from the Service at any time.

Disclaimer of Warranty: VOLUNTEER EXPRESSLY UNDERSTANDS AND AGREES THAT:
(a) VOLUNTEER SERVICES ARE PROVIDED AT HIS/HER FREE WILL. THE ORGANIZATION EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NON-INFRINGEMENT.

(b) THE ORGANIZATION MAKES NO WARRANTY THAT (i) THE SERVICE WILL MEET ANY REQUIREMENTS OR CONDITION SET BY VOLUNTEER, (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 PROVIDED BY, PURCHASED OR OBTAINED FROM THE VOLUNTEER WILL MEET VOLUNTEER'S EXPECTATIONS, AND (V) ANY ERRORS IN THE SERVICE WILL BE CORRECTED.

(c) ANY MATERIAL DOWNLOADED OR OTHERWISE OBTAINED THROUGH THE USE OF THE SERVICE IS DONE AT VOLUNTEER'S OWN DISCRETION AND RISK AND THAT VOLUNTEER WILL BE SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGE TO HIS?HER COMPUTER SYSTEM OR LOSS OF DATA THAT RESULTS FROM THE DOWNLOAD OF ANY SUCH MATERIAL.

(d) NO ADVICE OR INFORMATION, WHETHER ORAL OR WRITTEN, OBTAINED BY VOLUNTEER FROM THE ORGANIZATION OR THROUGH OR FROM THE SERVICE SHALL CREATE ANY WARRANTY NOT EXPRESSLY STATED IN THE TOS.

Limitation of Liability: VOLUNTEER EXPRESSLY UNDERSTANDS AND AGREES 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) VOLUNTEER'S USE OR THE INABILITY TO USE THE SERVICE; (ii) ANY AMENDMENT OR ALTERATION MADE BY THE ORGANIZATION TO VOLUNTEER'S WORK OR CONTENT SUBMITTED TO THE ORGANIZATION; (iii) STATEMENTS OR CONDUCT OF ANY THIRD PARTY ON THE SERVICE; OR (iv) ANY OTHER MATTER RELATING TO THE SERVICE.

General Information: This ToS constitutes the entire agreement between Volunteer and the Organization and governs Volunteer's Service, superseding any prior agreements between Volunteer and the Organization (including, but not limited to, any prior versions of the ToS).

Acceptance of registration under this ToS automatically implies that Volunteer and the Organization agree to be bound by the ToS.

The laws of the State of Delaware, U.S.A, shall govern the ToS and the relationship between Volunteer and the Organization, without regard to any conflict of law provisions.

In the event of any unresolved disputes, the Volunteer and the Organization agree to submit firstly to arbitration in accordance with the rules and procedures set forth by the chapter of the American Arbitration Association in the jurisdiction of the State of Delaware, USA. The decision arrived at in arbitration shall be binding on parties and parties agree to bear their respective full legal costs incurred in the arbitration process. In the event that a dispute between parties cannot be reasonably resolved in arbitration to the satisfaction of either party, then, both parties agree to the personal and exclusive jurisdiction of the courts located within the State of Delaware, U.S.A.

The failure of the Organization to exercise or enforce any right or provision of the ToS shall not constitute a waiver of such right or provision. If any provision of the ToS is found by a court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, the parties nevertheless agree that the court shall endeavor to give effect to the parties' intentions as reflected in the provision, and the other provisions of the ToS shall remain in full force and effect.

Volunteer agrees that regardless of any statute or law to the contrary, any claim or cause of action arising out of or related to Volunteer's Service or the ToS must be filed within one (1) year after such claim or cause of action arose or be forever barred.

All notices, requests, demands and other communications made hereunder shall be in writing and shall be deemed duly given if delivered or sent by telex, fascimile, email, or registered or certified mail