MyCTA Community Standards Acceptable Use Policy
Summary
Welcome to MyCTA. MyCTA is a place for CTA members to meet, interact, and share ideas with each other. Since CTA members have a shared purpose as expressed in the CTA Goals and Objectives, it is important that they build a community that is based on clarity of purpose, trust, and boundaries, the same issues that exist in a real-world community.
As in any community, including a cyber-community, members have different opinions and choose to express those ideas in many ways. However, community is most effective when its members remember a few rules that foster respect for individuals, groups, and the organization. It is CTA’s intent to provide its members with the best service possible through the MyCTA website, as it does in all other areas of member service. To accomplish this task, The CTA Board of Directors has adopted this policy to outline acceptable use of MyCTA. To participate in this site, you must follow the policies outlined below and in the expanded Acceptable Use Policy that follows this brief summary.
Policies
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As a user of this site, you agree not to impersonate any person or entity, including but not limited to, an official of CTA or its affiliated local associations, or otherwise misrepresent your affiliation with a person or entity.
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You agree not to forge headers or otherwise manipulate identifiers in order to disguise the origin of any text, music, sound, photographs, graphics, video or other materials.
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You agree not to post any material or lines to any material that you know to be false and/or defamatory, inaccurate, abusive, vulgar, hateful, harassing, obscene, profane, sexually oriented, threatening, invasive of person’s privacy, or that otherwise violate any local, state, or federal law.
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You further agree not to transmit or otherwise make available any content that infringes any patent, trademark, copyright, or other proprietary rights of any party.
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You also agree not to transmit or make available any content containing any “virus,” “worm,” “Trojan horse,” or any computer code, file, or program designed to interrupt, destroy, or limit the functionality of any computer software or hardware or telecommunications equipment.
In addition:
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CTA uses moderators to monitor the content and appearance of messages posted. Users agree that neither any Bulletin Board, nor any person(s) associated with them, will be held responsible for the content, accuracy, completeness, validity, nor character of any information posted here.
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CTA strongly discourages the visible posting of personal email addresses within the body of any message on its site, except where CTA deems it necessary for member service (i.e., email addresses of CTA offices). Responses may be unwelcome, inappropriate, offensive, abusive, hateful, obscene, or threatening. In using any part of MyCTA, users agree to take full responsibility for any personal distress that could result from such action.
MyCTA Acceptable Use Policy
Note: CTA may review this Acceptable Use Policy from time to time without notice by posting a new version of this document on the MyCTA website at www.cta.org (or any successor URL). All revised policies are effective immediately after posting. Accordingly, members and users of MyCTA should regularly visit the website and review the Policy to ensure that their activities conform to the most recent version. In the event there is a conflict between any member or user and this policy, the terms of this policy will govern. Questions regarding this policy may be directed to http://cta.org/about/ContactUs/ContactUs.htm.
It is CTA’s intent to provide its members with the best service possible through the MyCTA website as it does in all other areas of member service. To accomplish this task, the CTA Board of Directors has adopted this Acceptable Use Policy. This Policy outlines acceptable use of MyCTA as well as permissible and prohibited conduct while using this website.
It is the responsibility of all MyCTA users and members who have access to MyCTA, to comply with this Policy. It is your responsibility to secure your computer equipment so that it is not subject to external threats such as viruses, spam and other methods of intrusion. Failure to comply with these or other policies could result in the suspension or termination of your access to MyCTA. If you do not agree to abide by all of these policies, you must immediately stop using MyCTA and notify CTA so that your account access may be closed.
CTA reserves the right to terminate the use of MyCTA if you engage in any of the prohibited activities listed in this Policy, or if you use MyCTA in a way that is contrary to any CTA policies. You must adhere strictly to any policy set forth by any service provider accessed through MyCTA as well. You should be aware that CTA policies are constantly changed and updated by vote of both the CTA Board of Directors and the CTA State Council of Education at its regularly scheduled meetings (monthly for the CTA Board; quarterly for the State Council). Any policy changes that affect MyCTA will be considered adopted as soon as action is taken by the appropriate CTA governance body and you will be responsible for adhering to those policies immediately.
Prohibited Uses and Activities
Prohibited uses include, but are not limited to, using MyCTA to:
1. Undertake or accomplish any unlawful purpose. This includes posting, sorting, transmitting or disseminating information, data or materials that is libelous, obscene, unlawful, threatening, defamatory, or infringes the intellectual property rights of any person or entity, or that in any way constitutes or encourage conduct that would constitute a criminal offense, give rise to civil liability, or otherwise violate any local, state, federal or international law, order or regulation.
2. Post, store, send, transmit, or disseminate any information or material that a reasonable person could deem to be objectionable, offensive, indecent, pornographic, harassing, threatening, embarrassing, distressing, vulgar, hateful, racially or ethnically offensive, or otherwise inappropriate, regardless or whether this material or its dissemination is unlawful.
3. Upload, “hotlink,” post, publish, transmit, reproduce, create derivative works or distribute in any way information, software or other material obtained through MyCTA that is protected by copyright or other proprietary right, without obtaining permission of the owner.
4. Restrict, inhibit, or otherwise interfere with the ability of any other person, regardless of intent, purpose, or knowledge, by posting or transmitting any information software that contains a worm, virus, or other harmful features or generating levels of traffic sufficient to impede others’ ability to send or retrieve information.
5. Transmit unsolicited bulk or commercial messages or “spam.” This includes unsolicited advertising, promotional materials, or other solicitation materials, bulk mailing of commercial advertising, chain mail, informational announcements, charity requests and petitions for signature.
6. Send numerous copies of the same or substantially similar messages, empty messages, or messages that contain no substantive content or send very large messages or files to a recipient that disrupts a server, account, newsgroup, or chat service.
7. Initiate, perpetuate or in any way participate in any pyramid or other illegal soliciting scheme.
8. Participate in the collection of email addresses, screen names, or other identifiers or others (spidering or harvesting) or participate in the use of software (including “spyware”) designed to facilitate this activity.
9. Collect responses from unsolicited messages.
10. Impersonate any person or entity, engage in sender falsification, forge anyone else’s digital manual signature or perform any other similar fraudulent activity.
11. Collect, or attempt to collect, personal information about third parties without their consent.
12. Violate the rules, regulations, or policies applicable to any network, servers, computer databases or websites that you access.
Security
You are responsible for any misuse of MyCTA, even if the misuse was committed by a friend, family member, or guest with access to MyCTA.
Therefore, you must take steps to ensure that others do not use your account to gain unauthorized access to MyCTA by strictly maintaining the confidentiality or your login and password. In all cases, you are solely responsible for any data stored on your home computer that has been downloaded from MyCTA.
Inappropriate Content and Transmission
MyCTA reserves the right, but not the obligation, to refuse to transmit or post and to remove or block any information or materials, in whole or in part, that it, in its sole discretion deems to be offensive, indecent, or otherwise inappropriate, regardless or whether the materials or its dissemination is unlawful. Neither CTA nor any of its affiliates or agents has any obligation to monitor transmissions or postings including, but not limited to, email, newsgroup, instant message transmission, or chat discussions as well as any information available on MyCTA. However, CTA and its affiliates have the right to monitor these transmissions and postings from time to time for violations of this Policy and to disclose, block, or remove them in accordance with this Policy and Subscriber Agreement and any other CTA agreements and policies.
Newsgroups
Messages posted to newsgroups must comply with the written charters or Frequently Asked Questions for those newsgroups as well as any other terms and conditions applicable to any particular newsgroups. Advertisements, solicitations, or other commercial messages may not be posted. You are responsible for determining the policies of each newsgroup before posting to it. CTA reserves the right to discontinue access to any newsgroup at any time for any reason.
Copyright Infringement
CTA is committed to complying with U.S. copyright and related laws, and requires all members and users of MyCTA to comply with these laws. Accordingly, you may not post or disseminate any material or content in any manner that constitutes an infringement of third party intellectual property rights, including rights granted by U.S. copyright law. MyCTA reserves the right to terminate its usage to any member or user who is either found to infringe on copyright or other intellectual property rights, including those that CTA believes, in its sole discretion, is infringing these rights. MyCTA may terminate usage at any time without notification for any affected member or user.
User-Submitted Content
By submitting content to be included on MyCTA via Bulletin Boards, a feedback form, or other means, you represent and warrant that:
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Publication of the content on MyCTA will not infringe any patent, trademark, trade secret, copyright, or other proprietary right of any party, and
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You have complied with this Policy.
You also grant MyCTA, CTA and its affiliates:
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A nonexclusive, royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable and fully sub-licensable right to use, represent, modify, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, and display such content to the world in any medium.
Dealings with Advertisers
To defray the costs associated with providing MyCTA, CTA may sell advertising space on this site. CTA does not examine or evaluate the products, services, or offerings of advertisers found on MyCTA, except those specifically listed as “endorsed” by CTA. Accordingly CTA does not warrant any products, services, or offerings of such advertisers. Your correspondence with or dealings with such advertisers are solely between you and the advertiser. You acknowledge that CTA shall not be held liable for any loss or damage incurred as a result of any such contract or dealings.
Violation of Acceptable Use Policy
CTA routinely monitors the activity of MyCTA postings, messages, or chat rooms for violation of this Policy. In its effort to promote good citizenship within the Internet community, CTA will respond appropriately if CTA becomes aware of inappropriate use of this service. Although CTA has no obligation to monitor MyCTA postings and the network, CTA reserves the right at any time to monitor usage, transmissions, and content from time to time; to identify violations of this policy, and to protect the network, MyCTA, CTA, and its members.
MyCTA requires that its users maintain appropriate and courteous behavior at all times. MyCTA will attempt to advise members of inappropriate behavior and any necessary corrective actions. However, if MyCTA is used in a way that CTA or its affiliates, at their sole discretion, believe violates this Policy, CTA may take any responsive actions it deems necessary. These actions include, but are not limited to, temporary or permanent removal of content, cancellation of newsgroup postings, filtering in Internet transmissions, and the immediate suspension or termination of all or any portion of its service. Neither MyCTA nor CTA or its affiliates or agents have any liability for any of these responses. In addition, these actions are not MyCTA’s exclusive remedies and CTA may take any other legal or technical action it deems appropriate.
The failure of CTA to enforce this Policy, for whatever reason, shall not be construed as waiver of any right to do so at any time. You agree that if any portion of this Policy is held invalid or unenforceable, that portion will be construed consistent with applicable law as nearly as possible, and the remaining portions will remain in full force and effect.
You agree to indemnify and hold harmless MyCTA, CTA, and its affiliates and agents against claims and expenses (including reasonable attorney fees) resulting from your engaging in any of the prohibited activities listed in this Policy. Your indemnification will survive any termination of the Policy and Subscriber Agreement.
MyCTA Acceptable Use Policy and Subscriber Agreement