Terms of Service

Episcopal News Service Interactive Service Agreement

  1. Introduction.
    (A) Governing Terms. This website, including the content, features and services available from the Site such as RSS feeds, articles, podcasts, and embeddable video, (collectively “episcopalnewsservice.org” or “Site”) is an interactive online service operated by The Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America (“the Society”). These Terms of Service, along with any additional terms and conditions that are referenced herein or that are presented elsewhere on the Site in relation to a specific service or feature (collectively “Terms of Service”) and the Episcopal News Service Privacy Policy set forth the terms and conditions that apply to your use of episcopalnewsservice.org. By using episcopalnewsservice.org, you agree to comply with all the terms and conditions hereof. If you do not agree to these Terms of Service, you should not access or use episcopalnewsservice.org.(B) Changes to Terms of Service. The Society may modify the Terms of Service, or any part thereof, or add or remove terms at any time, and such modifications, additions or deletions will be effective immediately upon posting. Your use of episcopalnewsservice.org after such posting shall be deemed to constitute acceptance by you of such modifications, additions or deletions.(C) Changes to Site. The Society may change or discontinue any aspect, service or feature of episcopalnewsservice.org at any time, including, but not limited to, content, hours of availability, and equipment needed for access or use.

    (D) Registration. You may be given the opportunity to register via an online registration form to create a user account (your “Account”) that may allow you to receive information from the Society and/or to participate in certain features on the Site such as certain Interactive Areas. The Society will use the information you provide in accordance with the ENS Privacy Policy. By registering, you represent and warrant that all information that you provide on the registration form is current, complete and accurate to the best of your knowledge. You agree to maintain and promptly update your registration information on the Site so that it remains current, complete and accurate. During the registration process, you may be required to choose a password. You acknowledge and agree that the Society may rely on this password to identify you. You are responsible for all use of your Account, regardless of whether you authorized such access or use, and for ensuring that all use of your Account complies fully with the provisions of these Terms of Service.

    (E) Equipment. You are responsible for obtaining and maintaining all connectivity, computer software, hardware and other equipment needed for access to and use of episcopalnewsservice.org and all charges related to the same.

  1. Community Guidelines & User Content.
    (A) Interactive Areas. episcopalnewsservice.org may contain comments sections, discussion forums, bulletin boards, or other interactive features (“Interactive Areas”) in which you may post or upload comments or user-generated content such as video, photos, messages, classified listings, other materials or items (collectively, “User Content”). You are solely responsible for your use of any Interactive Areas and you use them at your own risk. By submitting User Content to an Interactive Area, you represent that you are 13 years of age or older and, if you are under the age of 18, you either are an emancipated minor, or have obtained the legal consent of your parent or legal guardian to enter into these Terms of Service, submit content, participate on episcopalnewsservice.org, and fulfill the obligations set forth in these Terms of Service, which forms a binding contract between you and the Society.(B) Community Guidelines. If you submit any User Content or participate in an Interactive Area within or in connection with episcopalnewsservice.org, you agree to abide by the following rules of conduct:
  • You agree not to upload, post or otherwise transmit any User Content that violates or infringes in any way upon the rights of others, including any statements which may defame, harass, stalk or threaten others;
  • You agree not to upload, post or otherwise transmit any User Content that is offensive to the online community, including blatant expressions of bigotry, racism, abusiveness, vulgarity or profanity.
  • You agree not to upload, post or otherwise transmit any material that contains or advocates pornography, pedophilia, incest, bestiality, or that is otherwise obscene.
  • You agree not to upload, post or otherwise transmit any User Content that violates any law or engage in activity that would constitute a criminal offense or give rise to a civil liability;
  • You agree not to upload, post or otherwise transmit any User Content that advocates or provides instruction on illegal activity or discuss illegal activities with the intent to commit them;
  • You agree not to upload, post or otherwise transmit, without the Society’s express prior approval, User Content which contains advertising or any solicitation with respect to products or services;
  • You agree not to upload, post or otherwise transmit User Content that does not generally pertain to the designated topic or theme of any Interactive Area;
  • You agree not to impersonate any person or entity, including, but not limited to, any Society employee, or falsely state or otherwise misrepresent your affiliation with any person or entity;
  • You agree not to interfere with any other user’s right to privacy, including by harvesting or collecting personally identifiable information about episcopalnewsservice.org users or posting private information about a third party;
  • You agree not to upload, post or otherwise transmit any User Content, software or other materials which contain a virus or other harmful or disruptive component;
  • You agree not to interfere with or disrupt episcopalnewsservice.org or the servers or networks connected to the Site, or disobey any requirements, procedures, policies or regulations of networks connected to the Site;
  • You agree not to upload, post, e-mail or otherwise transmit any unsolicited or unauthorized advertising, promotional materials, “junk mail,” “spam,” “chain letters,” “pyramid schemes,” or any other form of solicitation;
  • You agree not to reproduce, duplicate, copy, sell, resell or exploit for any commercial purpose, any portion of episcopalnewsservice.org, use of episcopalnewsservice.org, or access to episcopalnewsservice.org;
  • You agree not to upload, post, or otherwise transmit any User Content protected by copyright, trademark, trade secret, right of publicity or other proprietary right without the express permission of the owner of such copyright, trademark, trade secret, right of publicity or other proprietary right. The burden of determining that any User Content is not protected by copyright, trademark, trade secret, right of publicity or other proprietary right rests with you. You shall be solely liable for any damage resulting from any infringement of copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets, rights of publicity or other proprietary rights or any other harm resulting from such a submission. Any person determined by the Society, in its sole discretion, to have violated the intellectual property or other rights of others shall be barred from submitting or posting any further material on episcopalnewsservice.org;
  • You agree that if necessary, you have the consent of each and every identifiable natural person in any submission to use such persons name or likeness in the manner contemplated by episcopalnewsservice.org;
  • You agree that any person who appears in your submission who is a current member of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG), the American Federation of Television and Radio Actors (AFTRA) or any other rights society is not entitled to compensation by the Society.
  • Any conduct that in the Society’s sole discretion restricts or inhibits anyone else from using or enjoying episcopalnewsservice.org will not be permitted. The Society reserves the right in its sole discretion to remove or edit User Content by you and to terminate your Account for any reason. The Society is not responsible for User Content submitted to episcopalnewsservice.org or posted in comments sections, chat rooms, on bulletin boards or on other Interactive Areas by users of episcopalnewsservice.org.(C) Monitoring. The Society shall have the right, but not the obligation, to monitor User Content posted or uploaded to episcopalnewsservice.org to determine compliance with these Terms of Service and any operating rules established by the Society and to satisfy any law, regulation or authorized government request. Although the Society has no obligation to monitor, screen, edit or remove any of the User Content posted or uploaded to episcopalnewsservice.org, the Society reserves the right, and has absolute discretion, to screen, edit, refuse to post or remove without notice any User Content posted or uploaded to episcopalnewsservice.org at any time and for any reason, and you are solely responsible for creating backup copies of and replacing any User Content posted to the Site at your sole cost and expense.(D) License to User Content. By submitting User Content to episcopalnewsservice.org, you automatically grant the Society and its parent organization, The General Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, the royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive right and license to use, publish, reproduce, modify, adapt, edit, translate, create derivative works from, incorporate into other works, distribute, sub-license and otherwise exploit such User Content (in whole or in part) worldwide in any form, media or technology now known or hereafter developed for the full term of any copyright that may exist in such User Content. You warrant that such User Content is accurate and not misleading, and that use and posting or other transmission of such User Content does not violate these Terms of Service and will not violate any rights of or cause injury to any person or entity. You further grant the Society the right to pursue at law any person or entity that violates your or the Society’s rights in the User Content by a breach of these Terms of Service.

    (E) Moral Rights. If it is determined that you retain moral rights (including rights of attribution or integrity) in the User Content, you hereby declare that (a) you do not require that any personally identifying information be used in connection with the User Content, or any derivative works of or upgrades or updates thereto; (b) you have no objection to the publication, use, modification, deletion and exploitation of the User Content by the Society or its licensees, successors and assigns; (c) you forever waive and agree not to claim or assert any entitlement to any and all moral rights of an author in any of the User Content; and (d) you forever release the Society, and its licensees, successors and assigns, from any claims that you could otherwise assert against the Society by virtue of any such moral rights. You also permit any other user to access, view, store or reproduce the User Content for that user’s personal use.

    (F) User Content submitted by you will be considered non-confidential and the Society is under no obligation to treat such User Content as proprietary information except pursuant to the ENS Privacy Policy. Without limiting the foregoing, the Society reserves the right to use any User Content as it deems appropriate, including, without limitation, deleting, editing, modifying, rejecting, or refusing to post it. The Society is under no obligation to offer you any payment for User Content that you submit or the opportunity to edit, delete or otherwise modify User Content once it has been submitted to the Society. The Society shall have no duty to attribute authorship of User Content to you, and shall not be obligated to enforce any form of attribution by third parties.

  1. Copyright Ownership.
    episcopalnewsservice.org contains copyrighted material, trademarks and other proprietary information, including, but not limited to, text, software, photos, video, graphics, music and sound, and the entire contents of episcopalnewsservice.org are copyrighted as a collective work under the United States copyright laws. The Society owns copyright in the selection, coordination, arrangement and enhancement of such content, as well as in the content original to it. You may not modify, publish, transmit, participate in the transfer or sale, create derivative works, or in any way exploit, any of the content, in whole or in part. You may download copyrighted material for your personal use only. Except as otherwise expressly permitted under copyright law, no copying, redistribution, retransmission, publication or commercial exploitation of downloaded material will be permitted without the express permission of the Society and the copyright owner. In the event of any permitted copying, redistribution or publication of copyrighted material, no changes in or deletion of author attribution, trademark legend or copyright notice shall be made. You acknowledge that you do not acquire any ownership rights by downloading copyrighted material.
  1. Third Party Content.
    The Society is a distributor (and not a publisher) of content supplied by third parties and users. Any opinions, advice, statements, services, offers, or other information or content expressed or made available by third parties, including information providers or users of episcopalnewsservice.org, are those of the respective author(s) or distributor(s) and not of the Society. Neither the Society nor any third-party provider of information guarantees the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any content, nor its merchantability or fitness for any particular purpose. (Refer to Section 6 below for the complete provisions governing limitation of liabilities and disclaimers of warranty.)In many instances, the content available through episcopalnewsservice.org represents the opinions and judgments of the respective user or information provider not under contract with the Society. The Society neither endorses nor is responsible for the accuracy or reliability of any opinion, advice or statement made on episcopalnewsservice.org by any third party. Under no circumstances will the Society be liable for any loss or damage caused by your use or reliance on information obtained through episcopalnewsservice.org. The Society is not responsible for any actions or inaction on your part based on the information that is presented on episcopalnewsservice.org. It is your responsibility to evaluate the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any information, opinion, advice or other content available through episcopalnewsservice.org. Please seek the advice of professionals, as appropriate, regarding the evaluation of any specific information, opinion, advice or other content.
  1. Sponsored Content and Promotions
    The Society may run sponsored content and promotions from third parties on the Site. Your business dealings or correspondence with, or participation in promotions of, sponsors other than the Society, and any terms, conditions, warranties or representations associated with such dealings, are solely between you and such third party. The Society is not responsible or liable for any loss or damage of any sort incurred as the result of any such dealings or as the result of the presence of third-party sponsors on the Site.
  1. Content Disclaimer; Disclaimer of Warranty; Limitation of Liability.
    (A) The content of this website does not necessarily reflect the official positions or policies of the Episcopal Church, the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society, or the General Convention of the Episcopal Church.(b) You expressly agree that use of episcopalnewsservice.org is at your sole risk. Neither the society, its parent, subsidiaries, its other affiliates nor any of their respective employees, agents, third party content providers or licensors warrant that episcopalnewsservice.org will be uninterrupted or error free; nor do they make any warranty as to the results that may be obtained from use of episcopalnewsservice.org, or as to the accuracy, reliability or content of any information, service, or merchandise provided through episcopalnewsservice.org.(c) episcopalnewsservice.org, including, without limitation, any downloadable software, is provided on an “as is” basis without warranties of any kind, either express or implied, including, but not limited to, warranties of title or implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose, other than those warranties which are implied by and incapable of exclusion, restriction or modification under the laws applicable to these terms of service.

    (d) episcopalnewsservice.org may offer health, fitness, nutritional and other such information, but such information is designed for educational and informational purposes only. The information contained on episcopalnewsservice.org does not and is not intended to convey medical advice and does not constitute the practice of medicine. You should not rely on this information as a substitute for, nor does it replace, professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. The society is not responsible for any actions or inaction on a user’s part based on the information that is presented in episcopalnewsservice.org.

    (e) neither the society, its parent, subsidiaries, its other affiliates nor any of their respective employees, agents, third party content providers or licensors are liable for the defamatory, offensive or illegal conduct of other users or third-parties and that the risk of injury from the foregoing rests entirely with you.

    (f) in no event will the society, its parent, subsidiaries, its other affiliates nor any of their respective employees, agents, third party content providers or licensors or any person or entity involved in creating, producing or distributing episcopalnewsservice.org or episcopalnewsservice.org software, be liable for any damages, including, without limitation, direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential or punitive damages arising out of the use of or inability to use episcopalnewsservice.org.

    (g) in addition to the terms set forth above neither, the society, its parent, subsidiaries, its other affiliates, nor any of their respective employees, agents, third party content providers, licensors, information providers or content partners be liable regardless of the cause or duration, for any errors, inaccuracies, omissions, or other defects in, or untimeliness or unauthenticity of, the information contained within episcopalnewsservice.org, or for any delay or interruption in the transmission thereof to you, or for any claims or losses arising therefrom or occasioned thereby. None of the foregoing parties shall be liable for any third-party claims or losses of any nature, including, but not limited to, lost profits, punitive or consequential damages. Neither the society, its parent, subsidiaries, its other affiliates nor any of their respective employees, agents, third party content providers, licensors, information providers or content partners warrant or guarantee the timeliness, sequence, accuracy or completeness of this information. Additionally, there are no warranties as to the results obtained from the use of the information.

    (H) The Society disclaims any and all liability of any kind for any unauthorized access to or use of your personally identifiable information. By accessing episcopalnewsservice.org, you acknowledge and agree to the Society’s disclaimer of any such liability. If you do not agree, you should not access or use episcopalnewsservice.org.

  1. Indemnification.
    You agree to defend, indemnify and hold harmless the Society, its affiliates and their respective directors, officers, employees and agents from and against all claims and expenses, including attorneys’ fees, arising out of the use of episcopalnewsservice.org by you or your Account.
  1. Termination.
    The Society may terminate or suspend these Terms of Service at any time without notice to You. Without limiting the foregoing, the Society shall have the right to immediately terminate your Account in the event of any conduct by you which the Society, in its sole discretion, considers to be unacceptable, or in the event of any breach by you of these Terms of Service. The provisions of Sections 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 shall survive termination of these Terms of Service.
  1. Trademarks.
    The Society, its parent, subsidiaries and affiliates, own all rights to their logos and trademarks used in connection with the Site. All other logos and trademarks appearing on episcopalnewsservice.org are the property of their respective owners.
  1. Miscellaneous.
    These Terms of Service and any operating rules for episcopalnewsservice.org established by the Society constitute the entire agreement of the parties with respect to the subject matter hereof, and supersede all previous written or oral agreements between the parties with respect to such subject matter. The provisions of these Terms of Service are for the benefit of the Society, its parent, subsidiaries, other affiliates and its third party content providers and licensors and each shall have the right to assert and enforce such provisions directly or on its own behalf. These Terms of Service shall be construed in accordance with the laws of the State of New York, without regard to its conflict of laws rules. No waiver by either party of any breach or default hereunder shall be deemed to be a waiver of any preceding or subsequent breach or default. The section headings used herein are for convenience only and shall not be given any legal import.
  1. Copyrights and Copyright Agent.
    The Society respects the rights of all copyright holders and in this regard, the Society has adopted and implemented a policy that provides for the termination in appropriate circumstances of users and account holders who infringe the rights of copyright holders. If you believe that your work has been copied in a way that constitutes copyright infringement, please provide the Society’s Copyright Agent the following information required by the Online Copyright Infringement Liability Limitation Act of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. 512:
  1. A physical or electronic signature of a person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed;
  2. Identification of the copyright work claimed to have been infringed, or, if multiple copyrighted works at a single online site are covered by a single notification, a representative list of such works at that site;
  3. Identification of the material that is claimed to be infringing or to be the subject of infringing activity and that is to be removed or access to which is to be disabled, and information reasonably sufficient to permit us to locate the material;
  4. Information reasonably sufficient to permit us to contact the complaining party;
  5. A statement that the complaining party has a good-faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law; and
  6. A statement that the information in the notification is accurate, and under penalty of perjury, that the complaining party is authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.

For copyright inquiries under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act please contact:

Copyright Agent
The Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society of the Protestant Episcopal Church
815 Second Avenue
New York, N.Y. 10017
Phone: (800) 334-7626
Email: rmancini@episcopalchurch.org

For web posting, reprint, transcript or licensing requests for Society material, please contact mmacdonald@episcopalchurch.org.

These Terms of Service were last updated on September 7, 2017.