American Legion Auxiliary Privacy Policy Statement
The American Legion Auxiliary knows that you care about how your personal information is used and shared, and we take your privacy very seriously. Please read the following to learn more about our privacy policy. By visiting the American Legion Auxiliary website at http://www.legion-aux.org/ (the “Site”), you are accepting the practices outlined in this Privacy Policy.
Our Commitment to Privacy
Our Privacy Policy was developed as an extension of our commitment to combine quality services with integrity in dealing with Site visitors and members. The Policy is designed to assist you in understanding how we collect, use and safeguard the personal information you provide to us and to assist you in making informed decisions when using our site and our products and services.
Modifications to Privacy Policy
The American Legion Auxiliary reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to modify or replace the Privacy Policy at any time. If the alterations constitute a material change to the Terms of Use, the American Legion Auxiliary will notify you by posting an announcement on the Site. What constitutes a “material change” will be determined at the American Legion Auxiliary’s sole discretion, in good faith and using common sense and reasonable judgment. You are responsible for reviewing and becoming familiar with any such modifications. Use of the Site by you following such notification constitutes your acceptance of the terms and conditions of the Terms of Use as modified.
No Use of Our Site by Persons Under 13
We understand and share your concerns regarding your children’s access to the Internet and the Internet’s access to your children. Consistent with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, we do not knowingly request or accept information submitted to the American Legion Auxiliary website by any visitor under 13 years of age. If we become aware that an individual under 13 has provided information to us through the site, we will not use or disclose that individual’s information for any purpose unless required to do so by law. We recommend that minors between the ages of 13 and 18 ask and receive their parents' permission before accessing the Site or sending information about themselves or anyone else over the Internet.
What Information Do We Collect?
When you visit our site you may provide us with two types of information: personal information you actively choose to disclose (“Active Information”); and use information collected, in a way not visible to you, on an aggregate anonymous basis as you and others browse our site ("Passive Information").
Active Information Collected
We receive and store much of the information you enter on our website or provide to us in any other way. You can choose not to provide us with certain information, but then you may not be able to take advantage of many of our special features.
Registration: In order for you to take advantage of certain services provided on the Site, we may require to complete a registration form. As part of this registration form, we may require select personal information, including your full name, city, state and e-mail address. To allow you to express yourself beyond just the information collected during registration, we enable you to provide additional information, such as your name, your address, your email address, a Site Account screen name, etc. In addition, you may choose to include photos of yourself or images of your choosing in your Site Account profile. As indicated below, in the section titled "Sharing Your Information", you can control how this information is displayed and used.
Passive Information Collected
We receive and store certain types of information whenever you interact with us. The American Legion Auxiliary and its authorized agents automatically receive and record certain “traffic data” on their server logs from your browser including your IP address, relevant cookie information, and the page you requested. The American Legion Auxiliary uses this traffic data to help diagnose problems with its servers, analyze trends and administer the website.
How Do We Use the Information Collected?
Broadly speaking, persons we employ directly, or as contractors or agents at our direction, use Active Information for purposes of administering our business activities and providing customer services such as support. Active information is not shared with other organizations unless authorized by the American Legion Auxiliary for the benefit of our members and site users. We may use your Active Information to send emails to you with related news, products, offers, surveys, promotions, information, and notify you about updates to the Site. If at any time you do not wish to receive such emails from us, please send us an email at alahq@legion-aux.org.
We use Passive Information to gather information about our users and to enhance and design the Site to make it easier, faster and friendlier to use. We do not connect any Passive information to your personal information or email address. The Passive information we collect is used for internal review to improve the content of our Site.
The American Legion Auxiliary will use personal information only in ways that are compatible with the purposes for which it was collected or subsequently authorized by you. The American Legion Auxiliary will take reasonable steps to ensure that personal information is relevant to its intended use, accurate, complete and current. The personal information you provide to the American Legion Auxiliary will be retained only for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes for which the information was collected or as required by law.
Your Information In Relation to Others We Link To
You are able to access other websites through the American Legion Auxiliary site(s). When you do so you are doing so subject to their policies regarding privacy and data collection and you should read those sites' privacy policies to make sure you agree to them before using such sites. When you choose to access such sites, you should read their privacy policies to make sure you agree to them.
Sharing Information with Advertisers or Other Third Parties
We may disclose anonymous information about user habits, characteristics and user patterns, based on aggregate user statistics to advertisers on our site. We will not rent or sell your personal information to anyone and will share your personal information only as described below.
·The American Legion Auxiliary Personnel: Our personnel and authorized consultants and/or contractors may have access to user information if necessary in the normal course of business.
·Business Transfers: In some cases, we may choose to buy or sell assets. In these types of transactions, user information is typically one of the business assets that is transferred. Moreover, if the American Legion Auxiliary, or substantially all of its assets, were acquired, user information would be one of the assets that may be transferred.
·Protection of the American Legion Auxiliary and Others: We may release personal information when we believe in good faith that release is necessary to comply with a law; to enforce or apply our Terms of Use and other policies; or to protect the rights, property, or safety of the American Legion Auxiliary, our employees, our users, or others.
·Site Account information: Information collected during registration and subsequent visits, such as your full name and location, may be displayed to other Site users in your Site Account profile. The Site Account profile is the area on the Site where we allow you to tell other Site users about yourself and your interests. You may control what personal information is displayed in your Site Account profile.
·Member Directory: The email address that you submit upon registration may be searchable by other Site users who know you by your email address, unless you choose to opt out of this feature. This is primarily so that other users can find you and connect with you through the Site. You may opt-out of this feature by visiting the Privacy Settings section of your Site Account profile.
·With Your Consent: Except as noted above, we will contact you when your personal information is shared with third parties or used for a purpose incompatible with the purpose(s) for which it was originally collected, and you will be able to opt out to prevent the sharing of this information.
How Do We Secure Active Information and Passive Information?
We secure your personal information submitted by you by using reasonable efforts to prevent unauthorized access or disclosure, or accidental loss or destruction of Active Information and Passive Information. Communications that you may have with us via email or U.S. Mail may not be secure unless we advise you that security measures are in place prior to your sending information. Therefore, if you choose to communicate with us through these means, you are assuming the risk of doing so and we request that you do not send or post sensitive information through these means.
You can access, update, or delete information in your Site Account profile at any time by logging in to the Site. Once you have logged in, you can update your name, e-mail, password, and/or change your address. You can ask us whether we are keeping personal data about you by sending an email to alahq@legion-aux.org. We may require proof of you identity before we provide this information and we reserve the right to refuse to provide you with a copy of your personal data under reasonable circumstances, but will give reasons for our refusal.
1. Acceptance of Terms
The following agreement outlines your obligations when using the American Legion Auxiliary website available at <http://www.legion-aux.org/>, (the “Site”). The Site is owned and operated by the American Legion Auxiliary (“the American Legion Auxiliary”), and is accessed by you under the terms of use described below (“Terms of Use”). PLEASE READ THESE TERMS OF USE CAREFULLY BEFORE USING THE SERVICES AVAILABLE ON THE SITE. BY ACCESSING THE SITE OR ANY CONTENT ON THE SITE, YOU AGREE TO BECOME BOUND BY THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO ALL THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS, THEN YOU MAY NOT ACCESS THE SITE OR USE THE CONTENT OR ANY SERVICES IN THE SITE. THE AMERICAN LEGION AUXILIARY’S ACCEPTANCE IS EXPRESSLY CONDITIONED UPON YOUR ASSENT TO ALL OF THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS, TO THE EXCLUSION OF ALL OTHER TERMS; IF THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS ARE CONSIDERED AN OFFER BY THE AMERICAN LEGION AUXILIARY, ACCEPTANCE IS EXPRESSLY LIMITED TO THESE TERMS.
2. Modifications of Terms of Use
The American Legion Auxiliary reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to modify or replace the Terms of Use at any time. If the alterations constitute a material change to the Terms of Use, the American Legion Auxiliary will notify you by posting an announcement on the Site. What constitutes a “material change” will be determined at the American Legion Auxiliary’s sole discretion, in good faith and using common sense and reasonable judgment. You are responsible for reviewing and becoming familiar with any such modifications. Use of the Site by you following such notification constitutes your acceptance of the terms and conditions of the Terms of Use as modified.
3. Description of Service
Subject to full compliance with the Terms of Use, the American Legion Auxiliary may offer to provide certain services and content, as described more fully on the Site, (“Services”). Services shall include, but not be limited to, any service the American Legion Auxiliary performs for you, as well as the offering of any content displayed, transmitted or performed on the Site or through the Services (including, but not limited to text, user comments, messages, information, data, graphics, news articles, photographs, images, illustrations, software, audio clips and video clips (together, the “Content”). The American Legion Auxiliary may change, suspend or discontinue the Services including any Content for any reason, at any time, including the availability of any service, feature, or Content. The American Legion Auxiliary may also impose limits on certain features, services, or Content or restrict your access to parts or all of the Services without notice or liability.
4. User Conduct
As a condition of use, you promise not to use the Services for any purpose that is unlawful or prohibited by these Terms of Use, or any other purpose not reasonably intended by the American Legion Auxiliary. By way of example, and not as a limitation, you agree not to use the Services:
1. to abuse, harass, threaten, impersonate, or intimidate others;
2. to post or transmit, or cause to be posted or transmitted, any Content that is infringing, libelous, defamatory, obscene, pornographic, abusive, offensive, profane, or otherwise violates any law or right of any third party;
3. for any illegal or unauthorized purpose. If you are accessing the Site from outside the United States, you agree to comply with all local laws regarding online conduct and use of the Services;
4. to post or transmit, or cause to be posted or transmitted, any communication or solicitation designed or intended to obtain any password or other confidential information, or private information from any Site user;
5. to create or submit unwanted email (“Spam”) to any other person or any URL;
6. to submit content linking or otherwise directing others to affiliate programs, multi-level marketing schemes, or off-topic content;
7. with the exception of accessing RSS feeds, to use any robot, spider, scraper or other automated means to access the Site for any purpose without our express written permission
8. to take any action that imposes, or may impose in our sole discretion an unreasonable or disproportionately large load on our infrastructure;
9. to interfere or attempt to interfere with the proper working of the Site or any activities conducted on the Site;
10. to bypass any measures we may use to prevent or restrict access to the Site or any part of the Site;
11. to advertise to, or solicit, any user to buy or sell any products or services or to use any information obtained from the Services in order to contact, advertise to, solicit, or sell to any Site user without their prior explicit consent;
12. Engage in any action which the American Legion Auxiliary determines is detrimental to the use and enjoyment of the Site, including creating multiple Site Accounts or screen names for an individual Site user;
13. share, sell, transfer your, Site Account, login information, or password or otherwise permit any other person to access the Site using your Site Account, login information, or password.
5. Privacy Policy The American Legion Auxiliary’s current privacy policy is available at the top of this page. (back to top)
6. Indemnity
You will indemnify and hold harmless the American Legion Auxiliary, its parents, subsidiaries, affiliates, customers, vendors, officers and employees from any liability, damage or cost (including reasonable attorneys. fees and cost) from any claim or demand made by any third party due to or arising out of your access to the Site, use of the Services, violation of the Terms of Use, or the infringement by you of any intellectual property or violation of any right of any person or entity by you or any third party using your Site Account, login information, or password.
7. Warranty Disclaimers
You acknowledge that the American Legion Auxiliary has no control over, and no duty to take any action regarding: which users gain access to the Site or use the Services; what effects the content on the Site may have on you; how you may interpret or use the content on the Site; or what actions you may take as a result of having been exposed to the content on the Site. You release the American Legion Auxiliary from all liability for you having acquired or not acquired content through the Site or the Services. The Site or Services may contain, or direct you to sites containing, information that some people may find offensive or inappropriate. The American Legion Auxiliary makes no representations concerning any content contained in or accessed through the Site or Services, and the American Legion Auxiliary will not be responsible or liable for the accuracy, copyright compliance, legality or decency of material contained in or accessed through the Site or the Services. The American Legion Auxiliary makes no guarantee or warranty, express or implied, as to the reliability, accuracy, timeliness or completeness of that information and assumes no responsibility for any errors or omissions therein. USER ACCESSES THIS SITE AT HIS OR HER OWN RISK. THE SITE IS PROVIDED ON AN “AS IS, AS AVAILABLE” BASIS WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND AND ANY AND ALL WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR NON-INFRINGEMENT ARE SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIMED. NEITHER THE AMERICAN LEGION AUXILIARY NOR ITS AFFILIATES, EMPLOYEES, AGENTS OR THIRD PARTY CONTENT PROVIDERS SHALL BE LIABLE FOR ANY LOSS RESULTING FROM USE OR UNAVAILABILITY OF INFORMATION OR CONTENT ON THIS SITE, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY LOST PROFITS, LOSS OR DAMAGE TO DATA, OR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, COMPENSATORY OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF THEY HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. THIS DISCLAIMER IS APPLICABLE TO ANY DAMAGE OR INJURY RESULTING FROM NEGLIGENCE OR OMISSION OF THE AMERICAN LEGION AUXILIARY, COMPUTER VIRUS OR OTHER SIMILAR ITEM, TELECOMMUNICATIONS ERRORS, OR UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS TO OR USE OF USER INFORMATION THROUGH THEFT OR ANY OTHER MEANS. THE AMERICAN LEGION AUXILIARY IS NOT LIABLE FOR CRIMINAL, TORTUOUS, OR NEGLIGENT ACTIONS OR OMISSIONS OF THIRD PARTIES THAT AFFECT THIS SITE. IN NO EVENT WILL THE AMERICAN LEGION AUXILIARY OR ANY OF ITS AFFILIATES, AGENTS, EMPLOYEES, ASSIGNS OR THIRD PARTY CONTENT PROVIDERS BE HELD LIABLE FOR ANY TORTUOUS OR ILLEGAL CONDUCT OF OTHER USERS. IN NO EVENT WILL THE AMERICAN LEGION AUXILIARY OR ANY OF ITS AFFILIATES, AGENTS, EMPLOYEES OR ASSIGNS BE HELD LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGE TO EQUIPMENT, HARDWARE OR OTHER PROPERTY OF USER OR PERSONAL INJURY THAT ARISES IN CONNECTION WITH USE OF THE SITE.
8. Limitation of Liability
IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AMERICAN LEGION AUXILIARY OR ITS SUPPLIERS BE LIABLE UNDER CONTRACT, TORT, STRICT LIABILITY, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER LEGAL THEORY (I) WITH RESPECT TO THE SITE, THE SERVICES OR ANY CONTENT FOR ANY LOST PROFITS OR SPECIAL, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, PUNITIVE, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OF ANY KIND WHATSOEVER, SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES (HOWEVER ARISING), OR (II) FOR ANY DIRECT DAMAGES IN EXCESS OF (IN THE AGGREGATE) $100. SOME STATES DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, SO THE ABOVE LIMITATIONS AND EXCLUSIONS MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.
9. Your Registration Obligations
Members of the American Legion Auxiliary will be able to access and utilize certain Services not available to others via their Site Account. Non-members may access and utilize certain Services only by establishing a Site Account. Non-members may not have access to the same set of Services as members.
If you establish or utilize your Site Account in order to participate in certain services on the Site or receive information from us, you are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your Site Account and any login information and password that may be established. By establishing a Site Account, you agree to accept responsibility for all activities that occur at the Site under and through your Site Account. The American Legion Auxiliary reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to refuse service or terminate your Site Account at any time and for any reason.
When establishing a Site Account, you shall provide the American Legion Auxiliary with accurate, complete, and updated registration information. Failure to do so shall constitute a breach of the Terms of Use, which may result in immediate termination of your Site Account. You may not select or use as a screen name a name (i) of another person with the intent to impersonate that person; (ii) subject to any rights of a person other than you without appropriate authorization; (iii) suggests a false association between you and the American Legion Auxiliary, or (iii) that is otherwise offensive, vulgar or obscene. The American Legion Auxiliary reserves the right to refuse registration of, or cancel any screen name in its discretion. You shall be responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your password.
10. Content Ownership and Usage Rights
The American Legion Auxiliary shall retain all worldwide rights in the intellectual property of the Site, including, but not limited to, trademarks, the “look and feel” of the Site, its color combinations, layout, and all other graphical elements, and the copyright in and to its original content. You should assume that everything you read or see on the Site is copyrighted or otherwise protected and owned by the American Legion Auxiliary, or a third party who licensed the right to use such content to the American Legion Auxiliary. Unless otherwise expressly noted, nothing that you read or see on the Site or other Site Content, or any of the source code or HTML code that the American Legion Auxiliary uses to generate the Site may be copied, reproduced, modified, distributed, transmitted, republished, displayed, or performed for commercial use without the prior written consent of the American Legion Auxiliary, except as provided in the Terms of Use without prior written consent or otherwise permitted by relevant law.
The American Legion Auxiliary is not the publisher or speaker of any information on the Site that is provided by third party content providers, and the American Legion Auxiliary is not liable for any claims related to such information. Any mention in the Site of products or services provided by third parties is for informational purposes only and constitutes neither an endorsement nor a recommendation by the American Legion Auxiliary. The American Legion Auxiliary assumes no responsibility for those products or services.
You hereby grant the American Legion Auxiliary a nonexclusive, royalty-free, perpetual, worldwide, irrevocable, and fully sublicensable right to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, and display, throughout the world in any media, any and all content that you post or otherwise submit to the Site. You represent and warrant that you own or otherwise control all of the rights to the content that you submit; that the submitted content is accurate; that use of submitted content does not violate this Agreement and will not cause injury to any person or entity; and that you will indemnify the American Legion Auxiliary for all claims resulting from the submitted content. The American Legion Auxiliary takes no responsibility and assumes no liability for any User Content.
11. Linking and Framing
The American Legion Auxiliary grants you a limited, revocable, and nonexclusive right to create a hyperlink to the homepage of the Site so long as the link does not portray the American Legion Auxiliary or its products or services in a false, misleading, derogatory, or otherwise offensive matter. You may not use any of the American Legion Auxiliary’s logo or other proprietary graphic or trademark as part of the link without express written permission. “Framing” or “mirroring” the Site or any of its content is prohibited without the prior written consent of the American Legion Auxiliary.
The Site may provide links to other sites or resources. Because the American Legion Auxiliary has no control over such sites and resources, you acknowledge and agree that the American Legion Auxiliary is not responsible for the availability of such external sites or resources, and does not endorse and is not responsible or liable for any content, advertising, products or other materials on or available from such sites or resources. You further acknowledge and agree that the American Legion Auxiliary shall not be responsible or liable, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with use of or reliance on any such content, goods or services available on or through any such site or resource.
12. Copyright Complaints
The American Legion Auxiliary respects the intellectual property of others. It is the American Legion Auxiliary 's policy to respond expeditiously to claims of copyright and other intellectual property infringement. The American Legion Auxiliary will promptly process and investigate notices of alleged infringement and will take appropriate actions under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”) and other applicable intellectual property laws. Upon receipt of notices complying or substantially complying with the DMCA, the American Legion Auxiliary may act expeditiously to remove or disable access to any material claimed to be infringing or claimed to be the subject of infringing activity and may act expeditiously to remove or disable access to any reference or link to material or activity that is claimed to be infringing. The American Legion Auxiliary will terminate access for Site Account holders who are repeat infringers.
Notifying the American Legion Auxiliary of Copyright Infringement: To provide the American Legion Auxiliary notice of an infringement, you must provide a written communication to the attention of “DMCA Infringement Notification Dept.” care of abuse_policy@legion-aux.org that sets forth the information specified by the DMCA (http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap5.html#512). Please note that we may post or publish your notification, with personally identifiable information redacted. Please also note that you may be liable for damages (including costs and attorneys' fees) if you materially misrepresent that an activity is infringing your copyright. If you are uncertain whether an activity constitutes infringement, we recommended seeking advice of an attorney.
Providing the American Legion Auxiliary with Counter-Notification: If we remove or disable access to content in response to an infringement notice, we will make reasonable attempts to contact the owner or administrator of the affected content. If you feel that your material does not constitute infringement, you may provide the American Legion Auxiliary with a counter notification by written communication to the attention of "DMCA Counter Notification Dept." at abuse_policy@legion-aux.org that sets forth all of the necessary information required by the DMCA (http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap5.html#512). Please note that you may be liable for damages (including costs and attorneys' fees) if you materially misrepresent that an activity is not infringing the copyrights of others. If you are uncertain whether an activity constitutes infringement, we recommended seeking advice of an attorney.
13. Trademarks and Trade Names
THE AMERICAN LEGION, SONS OF THE AMERICAN LEGION, AMERICAN LEGION AUXILIARY, AMERICAN LEGION RIDERS, THE AMERICAN LEGION LEGACY RUN, the American Legion Auxiliary logos, graphics, designs, page headers, button icons, scripts, and other service names are the trademarks and trade names of The American Legion and the American Legion Auxiliary. The American Legion Auxiliary’s trademarks and trade names may not be used, including as part of trademarks and/or as part of domain names, in connection with any product or service in any manner that is likely to cause confusion.
14. Security
Users are prohibited from violating or attempting to violate the security of the Site. the American Legion Auxiliary will investigate occurrences of possible violations and will cooperate with all applicable law enforcement authorities in prosecuting violators.
15. Termination
The American Legion Auxiliary may terminate or suspend any and all Services and your Site Account immediately, without prior notice or liability, if you breach any of the terms or conditions of the Terms of Use. Upon termination of your Site Account, your right to use the Services will immediately cease. All provisions of the Terms of Use which by their nature should survive termination shall survive termination, including, without limitation, ownership provisions, warranty disclaimers, indemnity and limitations of liability.
The American Legion Auxiliary may remove or disable access any Site content and suspend or ban your Site Account at any time for any reason (including, but not limited to, upon receipt of claims or allegations from third parties or authorities relating to such content), or for no reason at all. To report violations of the Terms of Use, please email: abuse_policy@legion-aux.org.org.
You are solely responsible for your interactions with other users of the Site. The American Legion Auxiliary reserves the right, but has no obligation, to monitor disputes between you and other users.
16. Miscellaneous
The Terms of Use constitutes the entire agreement between users of the Site and The American Legion Auxiliary, and regarding the subject matter hereof. If you breach any term of the Terms of Use, the American Legion Auxiliary may pursue any legal or equitable remedy available, including but not limited to, direct, consequential, and punitive damages and injunctive relief. The American Legion Auxiliary’s remedies are cumulative and not exclusive. Failure of the American Legion Auxiliary, to exercise any remedy or enforce any portion of the Terms of Use at any time shall not operate as a waiver of any remedy or of the right to enforce any portion of the Agreement at any time thereafter. If any provision of the Terms of Use is found to be unenforceable or invalid, that provision shall be limited or eliminated to the minimum extent necessary so that the Terms of Use shall otherwise remain in full force and effect and enforceable. The Terms of Use is not assignable, transferable or sublicensable by you except with the American Legion Auxiliary's prior written consent. The American Legion Auxiliary may transfer, assign or delegate the Terms of Use and its rights and obligations without consent. Users of this Site are responsible for compliance with all applicable regulations and laws. Any dispute arising out of the Terms of Use or the Privacy Policy shall be governed by the laws of Indiana, notwithstanding any conflicts of law principles. Any action relating to the Terms of Use or the Privacy Policy must be filed and maintained in a court in the state of Indiana, USA, and users consent to exclusive jurisdiction and venue in such courts for such purpose.
17. The American Legion Auxiliary Social Computing Guidelines
The purpose of these guidelines is to provide practical advice to guide and protect Members of the American Legion Auxiliary, and others in the social computing space available on the American Legion Auxiliary website and on other online communications networks. The guidelines are as follows:
Know and abide by the American Legion Auxiliary’s principles when participating on social computing networks.
Understand that you are personally responsible for any content you publish, regardless of whether or not you believe your publication is “anonymous.” You should also understand that once published, content is immediately public and perhaps permanently available to others.
Do not misidentify yourself or your relationship with the American Legion Auxiliary. Make it clear that you are speaking for yourself and not on behalf of the American Legion Auxiliary or any other entity that has not authorized you to do so.
Respect all relevant laws, including copyright and defamation laws.
a. Copyright infringement is a serious matter and can be very costly. The general law of copyright gives copyright owners the exclusive right to reproduce, distribute, creative derivative works, and publicly perform and display their works. There are exceptions to this general rule, but these exceptions are often misunderstood. As a good rule of thumb, you should not necessarily assume that you may use content created by others simply because:
i. you believe the content is in the public domain;
ii. the original content is publicly available elsewhere;
iii. your use is for the purpose of criticism, commentary, education;
iv. the content is newsworthy; or
v. others are using the content without apparent consequence.
b. To protect from allegations of copyright infringement, consider seeking written permission from copyright owners to use their content. Also, consider linking to original content rather than copying the content as linking generally does not implicate the exclusive rights of copyright owners.
c. Defamation is generally any false communication that harms a person's reputation; decreases the respect, regard, or confidence in which a person is held; or induces disparaging, hostile, or disagreeable opinions or feelings against a person. Defaming others is against the law and can have serious consequences.
Respect the privacy of others. Divulging private information of others can be a criminal offense.
Respect others. Do not publish content that is unlawful, defamatory, obscene, pornographic, abusive, offensive, profane, racist, or otherwise violates the rights of others. The American LegionAuxiliary has the right to remove any information or dialogue, which is deemed in the American Legion Auxiliary's sole discretion as harmful, offensive, or otherwise in violation of any rules the American Legion Auxiliary has in place at the time.
Demonstrate proper consideration regarding topics that may be considered objectionable or inflammatory, such as politics and religion.
Do not plagiarize or mislead others as to the source of content. As a general rule, you should never quote more than short excerpts of someone else’s content and you should always cite the author. When possible, provide a link to original content.
18. Donation Refund Policy
By making a charitable gift to the American Legion Auxiliary, a 501 (c)(19) organization or to the American Legion Auxiliary Foundation, a 501 (c)(3) organization, the donor understands that charitable donations are not refundable.
