Terms of Use
Terms of Use
Section 1 – Provider, content and substance of the services provided
Section 2 – Access requirements, registration
Section 3 – Submission of project ideas, rights granted
Section 4 – Community Award voting
Section 5 – Comments
(1) Registered Users have the opportunity to discuss the project ideas that other Users have submitted by posting contributions via the “comments” function of the Platform. Contributions must be in English. If comments are written in other languages the Provider reserves the right to delete the comment.
(2) Contributions must be fact-based and neutral in tone; they may not be advertisements or spam (same content contribution posted under several ideas); they may not be insulting and may not have content that is prohibited under criminal law or civil law. The Provider may censor or delete contributions that do not fit those criteria. For further guidelines on communicating on the site, please see our Netiquette, which is available for review online.
(3) The granting of rights pursuant to Section 3 shall apply mutatis mutandis to posted contributions on the Platform.
Section 6 – Data protection
(1) In order to provide and within the scope of the services described in these Terms of Use and in connection with the application for the Idea Challenge, the Provider receives personal data from the Users, e.g. in connection with the entries, e-mails, and telephone calls. The User agrees that this personal data may be stored and processed automatically by the Provider. In any case, this data processing is based on Article 6(1)(b) DSGVO. The Provider processes personal data to which it has access exclusively for the purpose for which the User has provided it. The data will not be used for any other purpose.
(2) In all other respects, the provisions of the privacy policy apply, which can be viewed here.
Section 7 – Termination of the User relationship
Section 8 – Liability
(1) The processes of the Idea Space Platform are automated, in particular the receipt and publication of project ideas and the comment function. Prior to their publication, the Provider will not review the data submitted as to whether or not their content is appropriate and/or factually correct, nor will the Provider review them for any violations of the law. However, the Provider enters into the obligation to immediately follow up on any specific indications that data or content are problematic.
(2) The Provider is not responsible for any damages arising in connection with the lack of availability or proper functioning of the Internet.
(3) The liability of the Provider for financial losses is excluded; this does not apply if a financial loss is based on intent or gross negligence of the Provider, its legal representative, or one of its vicarious agents. The liability of the Provider for damages resulting from injury to life, body or health, which is based on a negligent breach of duty by the Provider or an intentional or negligent breach of duty by a legal representative or vicarious agent of the Provider, remains unaffected.
(4) The liability of the Provider for financial losses due to damage to or loss of content transmitted to the Provider or stored on its servers is limited to the consequences of a data backup intentionally or grossly negligently omitted by the Provider, insofar as the Provider was obliged to make such a data backup. The User is aware that data loss can never be completely ruled out, even if the Provider takes due care, and that this applies both to the original data and to backup copies.
(5) It is the User’s responsibility to regularly back up the data relevant to them on their own storage medium. The backup serves to minimize damage in the event of loss or damage to data submitted to the provider, which can never be completely ruled out; such an event can occur even if the Provider takes the care required for the respective service. This obligation on the part of the participant exists irrespective of whether the Provider has also assumed a data backup obligation.
Section 9 – Out-of-court Dispute Resolution
(1) For settling consumer disputes out of court, the European Union offers a platform for online dispute resolution (“ODR Platform“) at ec.europa.eu/consumers/odr.
(2) The Provider is neither obliged nor willing to participate in consumer dispute resolution proceedings.
Section 10 – Changes to the Terms of Use, possibility of transferring the contract
(1) From time to time it may be necessary to amend these Terms of Use. In such a case, the Provider shall notify the User of the intended change by e-mail at least six weeks before it comes into effect.
(2) If the User does not object in text form within four weeks of receipt of the announcement, their consent to the change shall be deemed to have been given. The Provider will specifically draw the User’s attention to this legal consequence of tacit consent in the announcement.
(3) If the User objects to the announced change in due time, the change shall not take effect with regard to this User.
(4) The Provider is entitled to transfer all rights and obligations arising from the usage relationship in whole or in part to a third party with a notice period of four weeks. The User’s right to terminate from Section 7 remains unaffected by this.
Section 11 – Final provisions
(1) The laws of the Federal Republic of Germany shall apply, to the exclusion of the United Nations Convention on the International Sale of Goods (UNCISG). However, German law shall not apply to transactions with consumers having their permanent residence abroad to the extent the national laws applicable to those consumers set out provisions that cannot be contracted out to the detriment of the consumers.
(2) Where the User is a merchant, an entity under public law, or special assets under public law, the parties agree that the Provider’s registered office in Berlin shall be the exclusive place of jurisdiction.
(3) Should individual provisions of the present General Terms and Conditions prove to be invalid or impossible to implement, this shall not affect the validity of the remaining provisions.
Netiquette
Dear User,
We are happy that you joined the Civic Europe Idea Challenge. Our aim is to create a space where ideas can be shared freely and openly – a space for discussions and exchanges. With your involvement, we want to foster a dialogue based on the sharing of knowledge and experiences – a dialogue in which people across borders learn from one another.
Please bear in mind that any comment you make on the Idea Space Platform can be viewed by the public. That means it can be read by anyone and found by search engines. Because of this, please do not share any information that should not be public. This especially applies to postal addresses, e-mail accounts, or telephone numbers.
We would like to inform you about the rules we have established in order to ensure a friendly space for a vibrant exchange:
Rules
- We encourage you to treat other users on the Idea Space Platform with respect. As moderators, we wish to foster a platform for a free and open exchange of ideas and thoughts, knowledge, and experiences.
- Stigmatization based on ethnic background, religion or belief, nationality, sex, sexual orientation, or social status are not allowed. Comments that aim to degrade an individual or a group of people will be deleted.
- By registering with Civic Europe, you commit yourself not to create or upload any content that is indecent, impious, attacks people’s dignity, or that glorifies violence.
- Defamatory comments and statements of obvious historical revisionism will be deleted.
- The moderators may delete comments that deliberately provoke arguments or disrupt on-going exchanges. In such cases, we will first point out the comment in question and only delete it if the disturbance is clearly made willfully and/or the user is not willing to refrain, explain, or adapt the comment in question.
- The language used on the Idea Space Platform is English. The Idea Space is a place for exchange, networking, and mutual support; having a common language lays a basis for reaching those aims and since Civic Europe is an international community with members from different countries across Europe, English is the language we use to communicate on the platform.
- Contributions and comments should relate to the submitted project idea or discussion, be phrased in an understandable way, and follow the basic rules of spelling and grammar.
- By commenting you commit yourself to only share content for which you have the rights of use.
- Contents that openly serve advertising purposes will be deleted. Contents that advertise or motivate voting for the user’s own idea in the frame of the Community Award may be deleted or censored by the Civic Europe team.
- Systematically repetitive text contributions under other ideas, which only serve the purpose of promoting one’s own idea, are categorized as so-called spam and can lead to general exclusion from the community award. Furthermore, in such cases the community itself has the possibility to report other users as spam to the moderators of the platform. Such cases will be investigated by the moderator and may also lead to exclusion from the Community Award.
- We are open to constructive criticism about our work. Such criticism should be formulated in a factual way and not contain insinuating or insulting content.
- Multiple accounts are discouraged (see also terms of use section 2 (4)). Please register only once. You can submit several proposals through one account.
- The above-mentioned criteria also apply to links or other web content that you post.
Enjoy the exchange of ideas, knowledge, and experience!
For technical or any content-related questions, please contact civiceurope@mitost.org.
Moderation
We strive to make our moderation as transparent as possible. In the following, we describe how and when we will step in:
- We will intervene if a contribution violates the above-mentioned rules.
- We will point out if comments or discussions do not refer to the submitted proposal or stray from the themes of the Idea Space Platform.
- In most cases we will not delete an entire contribution; only passages. We will give reasons for our intervention via short comments and will indicate where we have made changes in the comments. Should a contribution lose its meaning as a result, we will delete it completely and will indicate this change in the comment section.
- Contributions that contain infringements under criminal law or violate the dignity of others will be deleted immediately. This will be followed by an explanation from the moderators about the reason for the deletion, as set forth in this Netiquette and the conditions of use. A criminal complaint may be filed.
- If a user infringes upon our rules continuously or severely, they will be warned via e-mail. In severe cases, or in the case of regular infringements, we reserve the right to exclude a user from the community and the Idea Challenge.
- Users have the option to report comments if they perceive them problematic for some reason. Then the Idea Challenge team will investigate the case and take necessary steps, censor, or delete the contribution if necessary.
Please share your questions or comments about moderation with us privately. You can contact civiceurope@mitost.org about this at any time.
Origin of ideas
As stated in the terms of use, Civic Europe does not verify the origin of submitted ideas. As a user, you bear responsibility for your comments and contributions. As a user, you carry the responsibility for ensuring that the idea or proposal(s) you submit are either your own or are being used with the consent of their originator(s). See also terms of use section 3 (2).
Finally
We wholeheartedly encourage you to re-read your contributions before hitting “send.” Could the comment be misunderstood as an insult by others? Is it formulated in an understandable way? Does it say what you want to say and should the whole world hear this opinion?
Have a great time!
Your Civic Europe – Team