WEB SITE TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF USE AND PRIVACY POLICY

Personal and Noncommercial Use

The Web site is for your personal and noncommercial use. As a condition to your continued use of the Web site, you warrant to the National Genealogical Society that you will not use the Web site for any purpose that is unlawful or prohibited by these terms and conditions of use.

No Warranties

USE THE WEB SITE AT YOUR OWN RISK. THIS WEB SITE IS PROVIDED TO YOU “AS IS,” WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE OR NON-INFRINGEMENT. THE NATIONAL GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY MAKES NO WARRANTY THAT ANY CONTENT CONTAINED ON THIS WEB SITE SATISFIES ANY APPLICABLE GOVERNMENT LAW, REGULATION OR REQUIREMENT. Neither the National Genealogical Society nor its employees, agents, third-party information providers, merchants, licensors or the like warrant that the Web site or its operation will be accurate, reliable, uninterrupted or error-free. No agent or representative has the authority to create any warranty regarding the Web site on behalf of the National Genealogical Society. The National Genealogical Society reserves the right to change or discontinue at any time any aspect or feature of the Web site.

Exclusion of Liability

UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES, INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE, SHALL THE NATIONAL GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY OR ANYONE ELSE INVOLVED IN CREATING, PRODUCING, STORING OR DISTRIBUTING THE WEB SITE BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES AND EXPENSES WHATSOEVER (INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, LOST PROFITS, AND DAMAGES ARISING FROM LOST DATA OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) ARISING OUT OF OR IN ANY WAY CONNECTED WITH USE OF THE WEB SITE, DELAY OR INABILITY TO USE THE WEB SITE, OR FOR ANY INFORMATION, SOFTWARE, PRODUCTS OR SERVICES OBTAINED THROUGH THE WEB SITE, WHETHER SUCH DAMAGES ARE BASED ON CONTRACT, TORT, STRICT LIABILITY OR OTHERWISE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. YOU SPECIFICALLY AGREE THAT NO LICENSOR, SUPPLIER OR INFORMATION PROVIDER TO THE NATIONAL GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY OR ITS AFFILIATES, OFFICERS, DIRECTORS, EMPLOYEES OR AGENTS, OR ANY OF THEIR SUCCESSORS OR ASSIGNS, SHALL HAVE ANY LIABILITY TO YOU FOR ANY REASON OR UNDER ANY THEORY WHATSOEVER, BASED UPON THE INFORMATION PROVIDED ON OR THROUGH THE WEB SITE. Because some states do not permit the exclusion or limitation of liability for consequential or incidental damages, some or all of the above limitation may not apply to you.

Indemnification

You agree to defend, indemnify and hold the National Genealogical Society, its officers, directors, affiliated companies, employees and agents, licensors and suppliers harmless from and against any and all claims, actions or demands, liabilities and settlements, including, without limitation, reasonable legal and accounting fees, resulting from, or alleged to result from, your use of the National Genealogical Society site, or any content, product or service offered through the National Genealogical Society site, in a manner that violates or is alleged to violate these Terms and Conditions. The National Genealogical Society shall provide notice to you of any such claim, suit or proceeding and shall reasonably cooperate with you, at your expense, in your defense of any such claim, suit or proceeding.

Featured Links and Advertisements

The Web site may contain hyperlinks to Web sites offered by parties other than the National Genealogical Society. Such hyperlinks are provided for your reference and convenience only. The National Genealogical Society does not control such other Web sites and is not responsible for their content; nor does The National Genealogical Society's inclusion of hyperlinks to such Web sites imply any endorsement of the material on such Web sites or any association with their operators. Unless otherwise specifically stated on this Web site, The National Genealogical Society does not endorse any product or service or make any representation regarding the reliability, quality or accuracy of any products or services featured in, or linked to, any advertisement appearing on this Web site.

Linking

Unless you are subsequently advised otherwise by the National Genealogical Society, you are hereby licensed to create hyperlinks to the content on the Web site, provided that the hyperlink accurately describes the content as it appears on the Web site and is not in that portion reserved for “Members Only.” The National Genealogical Society reserves the right to revoke this license generally, or your right to use specific links, at any time. Under no circumstances may you "frame" the Web site or any of its content or copy portions of the Web site to a server, except as part of an Internet service provider's incidental caching of pages. Each page within the Web site must be displayed in full (including all trademarks, branding, advertising and promotional materials), without any accompanying frame, border, margin, design, branding, trademark, advertising or promotional materials not originally displayed on the page within the Web site.

Software Available on Web Site

Any software that is made available to download from this Web site is the copyrighted work of the National Genealogical Society and/or its suppliers. Your use of the software is governed by the terms of the End User License Agreement, if any, that accompanies or is included with the software. You may not install or use any software without first agreeing to the terms of such End User License Agreement. For any software not accompanied by an End User License Agreement, the National Genealogical Society hereby grants to you a personal, nontransferable, non-sublicensable license to use the software for viewing and other purposes within the scope of use of such software anticipated by the National Genealogical Society in accordance with these terms and conditions, and for no other purpose. Any such software is provided to you subject to the warranty and liability exclusions set forth in these terms and conditions.

Copyright

Except for material in the public domain under United States copyright law, all material contained on the Web site (including all software, HTML code, Java applets, Active X controls and other code) is protected by United States and foreign copyright laws. Except as otherwise expressly provided in these terms and conditions, you may not copy, distribute, transmit, display, perform, reproduce, publish, license, modify, rewrite, create derivative works from, transfer, or sell any material contained on the Web site without the prior consent of the copyright owner. None of the material contained on the National Genealogical Society site may be reverse-engineered, disassembled, decompiled, transcribed, stored in a retrieval system, translated into any language or computer language, retransmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photo-reproduction, recordation or otherwise), resold or redistributed without the prior written consent of the National Genealogical Society. Violation of this provision may result in severe civil and criminal penalties.

You may make single copies of materials displayed on the Web site for your own personal and noncommercial use only, provided any copies include the copyright and other notices displayed with the materials on the Web site. You may not distribute such copies to others, whether or not for a charge or other consideration, without prior written permission from the National Genealogical Society or the copyright owner of the copied material. Requests to reproduce materials on the Web site for distribution or other purposes should be mailed to:

National Genealogical Society
3108 Columbia Pike, Suite 300
Arlington, VA 22204_4304
(703) 525_0050, ext. 112
ngs@ngsgenealogy.org

Trademarks

Trademarks appear on the Web site with the permission from their respective owners. Your unauthorized use of trademarks appearing on the Web site may constitute trademark infringement, which could subject you to substantial civil penalties.

Termination of Privileges

The National Genealogical Society reserves the right to terminate your privilege of using all or any portion of the Web site if you breach any of these terms and conditions of use. If The National Genealogical Society receives notice or otherwise discovers that you have posted material that infringes another party's copyright or trademark rights or violates another party's rights of privacy or publicity, The National Genealogical Society may terminate your access to the Web site, including all of your privileges or accounts that you may have established in connection with the Web site.

Copyright Infringement

The National Genealogical Society will not tolerate copyright infringement of any kind. The National Genealogical Society does not, however, monitor user-submitted materials for copyright infringement. If you believe that any material on the Web site infringes your copyright, you may seek to have the material removed by sending the National Genealogical Society notice that includes all of the following information:

# your full name, address and telephone number

# your e-mail address

# identification of the copyrighted work(s) that you believe is being infringed

# identification of the infringing material and information sufficient for the National Genealogical Society to locate the material

# your statement of good faith belief that (a) the material infringes your copyright(s), (b) the information provided in the notice is accurate and (c) under penalty of perjury, you are authorized to act for the copyright owner

# your physical or electronic signature

Direct such notice to The National Genealogical Society designated agent for receiving copyright infringement notices:

National Genealogical Society
3108 Columbia Pike, Suite 300
Arlington, VA 22204_4304
(703) 525_0050, ext. 112
ngs@ngsgenealogy.org

Upon receipt of notice complying with the above requirements, The National Genealogical Society will act to remove infringing materials and, if applicable, send notice to the user that posted such materials on the Web site.

If the National Genealogical Society removes materials posted by you as a user due to alleged copyright infringement, you may seek to have the materials reinstated by notifying the National Genealogical Society's designated agent in writing and including the following information:

# your full name, address and telephone number

# your e-mail address

# identification of the material that has been removed or to which access has been disabled, including its location before it was removed or disabled

# your statement under penalty of perjury that you have a good faith belief that the material was removed or disabled as a result of mistake or misidentification of the material

# your statement consenting to the jurisdiction of the Federal District Court for the district in which your address is located, or, if you reside outside of the United States, for the Eastern District of Virginia (where The National Genealogical Society may be found), and that you will accept service of process from the person who provided notice of copyright infringement or from such person's agent

# your physical or electronic signature

Upon receipt of a notice meeting the above requirements, the National Genealogical Society will send a copy of the notice to the copyright owner who initially claimed copyright infringement. Within 10 to 14 days following receipt of the notice, the National Genealogical Society will replace or enable access to the removed material unless the National Genealogical Society receives notice from the copyright owner who submitted the first notification that it has filed an action seeking a court order to restrain the user that posted the materials from engaging in infringing activity. Please note that parties who misrepresent that materials are infringing or were removed by mistake or misidentification are subject to substantial civil liability to the National Genealogical Society and/or the copyright owner or Web site user.

Interest Group Forums

The National Genealogical Society may provide chat rooms, message boards and other public posting areas or interest group forums ("Interest Group Forums") on the National Genealogical Society site. If The National Genealogical Society provides any such Interest Group Forum or if you use a Interest Group Forum, you are solely responsible for your own communications and the consequences of posting those communications. The National Genealogical Society does not assume any responsibility for the consequences of any Interest Group Forum communications on or arising from use of the National Genealogical Society site. In cases where you feel threatened or believe someone else is in danger, you should contact your local law enforcement agency immediately.

In consideration for being allowed to use the Interest Group Forums, you agree that the following actions shall constitute a material breach of these Terms and Conditions:

# Do not disrespect the privacy and views of others;

# Do not use the Interest Group Forums for commercial purposes, including the promotion of any specific goods or services;

# Do not post obscene, profane, sexually explicit, libelous, slanderous, defamatory, harmful, threatening, illegal or knowingly false information;

# Do not post blatant expressions of bigotry, racism or hate, material encouraging conduct that may constitute or contribute to a criminal offense, give rise to civil liability or violate any national, state or local law, regulation or authority, or any other material which the National Genealogical Society finds objectionable;

# Do not use the Interest Group Forums for unlawful purposes;

# Do not impersonate another person;

# Do not allow any other person or entity to use your identification to post or view comments; and

# Do not post material that infringes on the copyright or other intellectual property rights of others or the privacy and publicity rights of others.

The National Genealogical Society reserves the right to record dialogue in Interest Group Forums. The National Genealogical Society is not responsible for screening or monitoring material posted by users or any other person or entity. If notified by a user of communications that are alleged not to conform to the terms of this Section, the National Genealogical Society may investigate the allegation and determine in its sole discretion to remove or request the removal of the communications. The National Genealogical Society reserves the right to remove communications that are abusive, illegal, disruptive or that otherwise fail to conform with these Terms and Conditions. The National Genealogical Society reserves the right (but is not obligated) to delete any communications posted on the National Genealogical Society site, regardless of whether such communications violate these standards for content.

Furthermore, the National Genealogical Society reserves the right (but is not obligated) to monitor or disclose any type of posting on the Interest Group Forums for adherence to the Terms and Conditions, if required in the course of normal operations and maintenance of the National Genealogical Society site, or if required to do so by law or in the good faith belief that such action is necessary to (i) comply with the law or comply with legal process served; (ii) protect and defend the rights of the National Genealogical Society or others; or (iii) act in an emergency to protect the personal safety of our users or the public. THE NATIONAL GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY HAS NO LIABILITY OR RESPONSIBILITY TO USERS OR ANY OTHER PERSON OR ENTITY FOR PERFORMANCE OR NONPERFORMANCE OF THE AFOREMENTIONED SCREENING ACTIVITIES.

The National Genealogical Society does not represent or guarantee the truthfulness, accuracy or reliability of any of the material posted by Interest Group Forum users or endorse any opinions expressed by such users. ANY RELIANCE UPON CONTENT POSTED IN AN INTEREST GROUP FORUM IS AT YOUR OWN RISK.

Any public Interest Group Forum areas are for discussion and debate only. You may not use any Interest Group Forum area to post or transmit advertisements or commercial solicitations of any kind. You may not post or transmit any material of any nature, including text, audio, software, animation or photographs, belonging to any person or party other than yourself, without the prior written consent of such owner. Simply because material is available on the Internet does not mean it is in the public domain. The vast majority of materials on the Internet are protected by copyright and trademark laws. The National Genealogical Society shall have the right, but not the obligation, to monitor any Interest Group Forum areas of the Web site to determine compliance with these Terms and Conditions and any other operating rules that may be established by the National Genealogical Society from time to time.

By posting messages or other material in any Interest Group Forum areas of the Web site, you are granting to the National Genealogical Society and its licensees a worldwide, royalty-free, perpetual, non-exclusive and irrevocable right and license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, perform and display any posting by you (in whole or in part) and/or to incorporate it in other works in any form, media or technology now known or hereafter developed.

Through your use of the National Genealogical Society Interest Group Forums, you are agreeing to all of the aforementioned Terms and Conditions of Use for such Interest Group Forums contained herein.

You agree to defend, indemnify and hold harmless the National Genealogical Society and its officers, directors, affiliated companies, employees, agents, licensors and suppliers, from and against any and all claims, actions or demands, liabilities and settlements, including, without limitation, reasonable legal and accounting fees, resulting from, or alleged to result from, your use of any Interest Group Forums or use by others of any Interest Group Forums with respect to you, including, without limitation, any claim of libel, defamation, harassment, violation of rights of privacy or publicity, loss of service or infringement of intellectual property or other rights, or violation of these Terms and Conditions.

Termination of Privileges

The National Genealogical Society reserves the right to terminate your privilege of using all or any portion of the Web site if you breach any of these terms and conditions of use. If The National Genealogical Society receives notice or otherwise discovers that you have posted material that infringes another party's copyright or trademark rights or violates another party's rights of privacy or publicity, the National Genealogical Society may terminate your access to the Web site, including all of your privileges or accounts that you may have established in connection with the Web site.
General

These Terms and Conditions (including the privacy policy attached hereto, which shall be deemed to be a part of these Terms and Conditions) constitute the entire agreement and understanding between you and the National Genealogical Society with respect to use of the Web site, superseding all prior or contemporaneous communications and/or proposals. These Terms and Conditions also are severable, and in the event any provision is determined to be invalid or unenforceable, such invalidity or unenforceability shall not in any way affect the validity or enforceability of the remaining provisions. The National Genealogical Society reserves the right to make changes to these Terms and Conditions immediately by posting the changed Terms and Conditions in this location. By continuing to use the Web site, you are agreeing to all changes made by The National Genealogical Society. A printed version of these Terms and Conditions shall be admissible in judicial or administrative proceedings based upon or relating to use of the Web site to the same extent and subject to the same conditions as other business documents and records originally generated and maintained in printed form.

Jurisdiction

The Web site is controlled and operated by The National Genealogical Society from its principal office in the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States of America. The National Genealogical Society makes no representation that materials on the Web site are appropriate or available for use in other locations. Those who choose to access the Web 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. The Web site is not intended to subject the National Genealogical Society to the laws or jurisdiction of any state, country or territory other than the Commonwealth of Virginia and the United States of America.

The National Genealogical Society PRIVACY POLICY

For each visitor to the Web site, The National Genealogical Society's servers automatically collect information about which pages are visited and the IP address and domain name (e.g., ngsgenealogy.org) of visitors. This information is used for internal review, to tailor information to individual visitors and for Web site traffic audits. We also provide this information (as well as information from third-party market researchers) about our users on an aggregated, anonymous basis to our advertisers.

The National Genealogical Society may place a "cookie" on the browser of your computer. The cookie itself does not contain any personally identifying information. A cookie may be used to tell when your computer has contacted the Web site. The National Genealogical Society uses the information for editorial purposes and for other purposes such as delivery of features and advertisements, so the National Genealogical Society can customize delivery of information to you without compromising privacy. For example, cookies may be used to ensure that you will not see the same banner advertisement too often in a single session.

The National Genealogical Society may, in the course of providing services through its Web sites, ask you to disclose voluntarily certain information about yourself. This could include information that identifies you or your household. Any information in the National Genealogical Society's possession solely as a result of your use of the Web site and that is associated with you or your household is considered “Personal Information.” It consists of both information supplied by you (e.g. name, address, telephone number and e-mail address) and information collected about how you use the Web site (e.g. the fact that you have bought merchandise through the Web site). “Personal Information” does not include statistical data about large numbers of users, none of whom are identifiable, nor does it include information that you have posted for public view on the Web site or otherwise publicly disclosed.

The National Genealogical Society uses Personal Information only for purposes necessary to provide the Web site and other products and services to you. These purposes are:

# to process requests or orders

# to perform such normal business operations as billing, collecting and accounting

# to personalize and publicize the Web site based on your interests, including making you aware of editorial features, advertisements and commercial items

# to investigate complaints and to protect the Web site and the National Genealogical Society, its readers and employees as provided by law or in case of emergency, as determined by legal counsel for the National Genealogical Society

Except as necessary to process your requests or orders placed with advertisers or merchants featured on the Web site, The National Genealogical Society does not rent, sell, barter or give away any lists containing Personal Information for use by any outside company. The National Genealogical Society also respects the privacy of data on your personal computer and does not access, read, upload or store data contained in or derived from your private files without your authorization.

Links

The National Genealogical Society site contains links to other sites. The National Genealogical Society is not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of such Web sites, including any sites that may indicate a special relationship or partnership with the National Genealogical Society (such as co-branded pages or “powered by” or “in cooperation with” relationships). The National Genealogical Society does not disclose personally identifiable information or unique identifiers to those responsible for the linked sites. The linked sites, however, may collect personal information from you that is not subject to the National Genealogical Society’s control. To ensure protection of your privacy, always review the privacy policy of the sites you may visit by linking from the National Genealogical Society site.

Opt Out Procedures

You always may opt out of receiving future mailings or other information from the National Genealogical Society. If the mailing does not have an e-mail cancellation form, send e-mail to it@ngsgenealogy.org detailing the type of information that you no longer desire to receive.

Children's Privacy

The following additional terms, conditions and notices apply to use of the Web site by children under the age of 13 years whenever the National Genealogical Society becomes aware that a user is in that age range:

# Users under 13 years of age may not submit or post information on the Web site without the consent of the user’s parent or legal guardian. Prior to collecting any personal information about a child under 13, the National Genealogical Society makes reasonable efforts to obtain consent from the child’s parent after informing the parent about the types of information the National Genealogical Society will collect, how it will be used, and under what circumstances it will be disclosed.

# Although the National Genealogical Society will apply these children’s terms and conditions whenever it becomes aware that a user who submits Personal Information is less than 13 years old, no method is foolproof. The National Genealogical Society strongly encourages parents and guardians to supervise their children’s online activities and consider using parental control tools available from online services and software manufacturers to help provide a child-friendly online environment. These tools also can prevent children from disclosing online their name, address, and other personal information without parental permission.

# “Personal information” collected from children may include any of the information defined above as “Personal Information” with respect to general users of the Web site and may be used by the National Genealogical Society for the same purposes. Except as necessary to process a child’s requests or orders placed with advertisers or merchants featured on the Web site, the National Genealogical Society does not rent, sell, barter or give away any lists containing a child’s Personal Information for use by any outside company.

# If a child enters a game, contest or other activity sponsored by the National Genealogical Society on the Web site, the child may be required by the National Genealogical Society to provide the minimum Personal Information reasonably necessary for the child to participate in such activity.

# A child's parent or legal guardian may request the National Genealogical Society to provide a description of the Personal Information that the National Genealogical Society has collected from the child, as well as instruct the National Genealogical Society to cease further use, maintenance and collection of Personal Information from the child.

# If a child voluntarily discloses his or her name, e-mail address or other personally-identifying information on chat areas, bulletin boards or other forums or public posting areas, such disclosures may result in unsolicited messages from other parties.

General

These Terms and Conditions constitute the entire agreement and understanding between you and The National Genealogical Society with respect to use of the Web site, superseding all prior or contemporaneous communications and/or proposals. The National Genealogical Society reserves the right to make changes to these Terms and Conditions immediately by posting the changed Terms and Conditions in this location. By continuing to use the Web site, you are agreeing to all changes made by the National Genealogical Society. A printed version of these Terms and Conditions shall be admissible in judicial or administrative proceedings based upon or relating to use of the Web site to the same extent and subject to the same conditions as other business documents and records originally generated and maintained in printed form.

The Web site is controlled and operated by the National Genealogical Society from its principal office in the State/Commonwealth of Virginia, USA. The National Genealogical Society makes no representation that materials on the Web site are appropriate or available for use in other locations. Those who choose to access the Web 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. The Web site is not intended to subject The National Genealogical Society to the laws or jurisdiction of any state, country or territory other than the State/Commonwealth of Virginia and the United States of America.

Contacting Us

If you have any questions about this privacy statement, the practices of the National Genealogical Society site, or your dealings with the National Genealogical Society, you may contact us at:

National Genealogical Society
3108 Columbia Pike, Suite 300
Arlington, VA 22204_4304
(703) 525_0050, ext. 112
ngs@ngsgenealogy.org