User Agreement

Effective as of: July 1, 2024 

NOTICE: Welcome to a website operated by the American Civil Liberties Union Northern California and the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation Northern California (collectively, ACLU Northern California). Each such website is referred to as an ACLU of Northern California "Site."

The Sites include the Union’s website at www.aclunc.org, which may host Foundation content, and any other ACLU of Northern California-operated Site that links to this User Agreement. In addition to the Sites, this User Agreement may also apply and govern your use of any mobile application, online service, or platform operated by ACLU of Northern California (together with the Sites, ACLU of Northern California “Digital Services”) that link to this User Agreement.

This User Agreement also does not apply to Digital Services that the ACLU of Northern California does not operate where ACLU of Northern California entity has a presence, such as ACLU of Northern California pages on Facebook. 

Finally, this is not the User Agreement for the websites of any other "ACLU Organizations," which, along with ACLU of Northern California, include the national organizations: the American Civil Liberties Union, Inc., the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation, Inc., and the ACLU Voter Education Fund (collectively, “National”), and other ACLU local/state/territory affiliated organizations (ACLU “Affiliates”). In all those cases, site-specific terms of use apply, and are posted accordingly.

Introduction

By using the ACLU of Northern California Site, you agree to follow the rules set forth on these web pages. From time to time, we may revise this User Agreement, including our Privacy Statement, so be sure to check these web pages occasionally. If we do make material changes, we will post a notice on our home page that the User Agreement has been modified and provide a link to the revised User Agreement. When you continue to use the ACLU of Northern California Site after we post a change, it means you agree to the new rules. 

The ACLU of Northern California and the ACLU of Northern California Foundation

The American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California and its affiliated organization, American Civil Liberties Union Foundation, are separate organizations that are each engaged in the same mission of defending the rights guaranteed under the U.S. Constitution, including First Amendment freedoms, equality, privacy rights, and fundamental fairness.

Privacy Statement

Please review our Privacy Statement, which is part of this User Agreement and describes how we handle personal information collected and stewarded by the ACLU of Northern California. You have several choices in relation to your personal information stewarded by the ACLU of Northern California. To learn more, see Your Choices & Rights.

Intellectual Property Rights

Licensing of ACLU of Northern California Content

Except where otherwise indicated, ACLU of Northern California owns or licenses the copyright in all the materials on the ACLU of Northern California Digital Services, including text, graphics, logos, button icons, audio clips, video clips, photographs, and software, and those rights are protected by United States and international copyright laws and other intellectual property laws ("ACLU of Northern California Content"). To the extent your use of material on our Site does not constitute "fair use" for which you do not need our permission, the following rules apply to use of the material:

Automatically Permitted Distribution

Unless the specific web page from which ACLU of Northern California text material is available indicates you may not do so, you may copy or distribute text materials that appear on the ACLU of Northern California Digital Services, in print or digital format, subject to three limitations:

1. You may not use the materials for any commercial purpose, including any purpose connected with the sale of goods or services;
2. You may not make editorial changes to material you attribute to us; and
3. You may not excerpt, juxtapose, or present attributed material in any way that is misleading as to our original editorial intent, or as to your relationship with us.

You may also copy or distribute ACLU of Northern California Content that is not ACLU of Northern California text materials if and only to the extent that the specific launching page from which that ACLU of Northern California Content is accessible, and/or the ACLU of Northern California Content itself, explicitly indicates that the ACLU of Northern California Content may be distributed in a specified manner, subject to the same three limitations stated above.

All distributed copies, whether of text or non-text materials, must display the following copyright notice:

Copyright 2024 ACLU of Northern California.
Originally posted by the ACLU of Northern California at https://www.aclunc.org/home
Distribution Requiring Advance Written Permission

You must obtain written permission in advance if you wish to reproduce ACLU of Northern California Content in any manner not listed in the previous section. You can request this permission by sending us an email at press@aclunc.org that contains the information listed below:

• a complete description of the ACLU of Northern California Content requested, such as the URL of the web page that contains the ACLU of Northern California Content, a description of the sections or paragraphs that will be distributed, and, where applicable, the title and date of the ACLU of Northern California Content;
• a description of the intended audience;
• a description of the manner of distribution;
• to any extent applicable, the length, retail price, and approximate size of first printing or circulation that will include the ACLU of Northern California Content;
• a description of the geographic scope of the distribution and the length of time for which rights are being requested. (Please note that the ACLU of Northern California grants only nonexclusive rights);
• a reply fax number or email address and a phone number.

Licensing of User Content

To the extent you voluntarily post material to the ACLU of Northern California Site for display on the ACLU of Northern California Site itself, you automatically grant to ACLU of Northern California an irrevocable, perpetual worldwide license for the ACLU of Northern California to display such material on the ACLU of Northern California Site, except to the extent we have indicated otherwise on the portion of the ACLU of Northern California Site that permits you to post such information (e.g., if a particular blog or forum on the ACLU of Northern California Site posts any specific terms of use that applies to that particular blog or forum). Additionally, unless otherwise explicitly agreed upon in writing by you and ACLU of Northern California, by posting any material to the ACLU of Northern California Site for display on the ACLU of Northern California Site, you are representing, warranting, and covenanting to the ACLU of Northern California that those materials are original to you or you have obtained permissions, releases, rights, or licenses, if any are required (including where use of that material does not constitute "fair use"), that you assume full responsibility for the posting of such material vis-à-vis third parties, including but not limited to making any payments to third parties with respect to displaying such third party material. By posting material for display on a portion of the ACLU of Northern California Site that contains specific terms of use applicable to that portion of the ACLU of Northern California Site, you agree you have read, understand, agree to, and accept such specific terms of use.

Trademarks (Including Logos)

The American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California, American Civil Liberties Union Foundation, ACLU of Northern California, ACLU of Northern California logos, and any other trademarks on the ACLU of Northern California Site (collectively "ACLU of Northern California Trademarks") are trademarks of ACLU of Northern California in the United States and other countries unless it is explicitly stated on the ACLU of Northern California Site where a trademark appears that the trademark is the trademark of a third party (or it is obvious from the context that it is the trademark of a third party; e.g., where we include on the ACLU of Northern California Site the name or logo of a coalition partner) ("Third-Party Trademarks"). To the extent your use of ACLU of Northern California Trademarks does not constitute "fair use" for which you do not need our permission, the following rules apply to use of the material:

You may not use the ACLU of Northern California Trademarks for any product or service that does not belong to ACLU of Northern California, nor in any manner that is likely to cause confusion about whether we are the source, affiliated with, sponsor of, or endorser of any product service, event or organization. Further, you will not use ACLU Trademarks in connection with any content that makes direct or indirect reference to, features or otherwise depicts any candidate for elective office. In addition, you may not use the ACLU of Northern California Trademarks in any manner that illegally disparages or discredits us.

Your ability to use a Third-Party Trademark that appears on the ACLU of Northern California Site is limited to the manner, if any, in which the ACLU of Northern California Site explicitly states on the page on which such Third-Party Trademark appears that such use in such manner is authorized by the third-party owner of that Third-Party Trademark (unless your use is permissible under the law [e.g., it is "fair use"] or the owner of such Third-Party Trademark has specifically granted you the right to such use in such manner).

Links and Frames

You may link to the ACLU Sites as long as the link does not cast us in a false or misleading light. You may not frame the content of the ACLU of Northern California Site. You may not use metatags or any other "hidden text" that incorporates ACLU of Northern California Trademarks or our name without our express written consent.

Links to Other Websites

The ACLU of Northern California Site contains links to other websites that we think may be of interest to you. We are not responsible for and have no control over these other sites or their content. Remember that when you link to another site, that other site is governed by its own user agreement and privacy statement, which you should be sure to read.

Disclaimers and Limitation of Liability

ALTHOUGH WE TAKE REASONABLE STEPS TO PREVENT THE INTRODUCTION OF VIRUSES, WORMS, "TROJAN HORSES," OR OTHER DESTRUCTIVE MATERIALS TO THE ACLU of Northern California SITE, WE DO NOT GUARANTEE OR WARRANT THAT THE ACLU of Northern California SITE OR MATERIALS THAT MAY BE DOWNLOADED FROM THE ACLU of Northern California SITE ARE FREE FROM SUCH DESTRUCTIVE FEATURES. WE ARE NOT LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES OR HARM ATTRIBUTABLE TO SUCH FEATURES.

WE ARE NOT LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, LOSS, OR INJURY BASED ON ERRORS, OMISSIONS, INTERRUPTIONS. OR OTHER INACCURACIES IN THE ACLU of Northern California SITE, NOR FOR ANY CLAIM, LOSS. OR INJURY THAT RESULTS FROM YOUR USE OF THE ACLU of Northern California SITE OR YOUR BREACH OF ANY PROVISION OF THIS USER AGREEMENT.

Termination

We reserve the right to terminate the ACLU of Northern California Site and this User Agreement at any time without notice for any reason, including, in the case of the User Agreement, for your violation of any of its provisions. The Limitation of Liability and Governing Law Sections of this User Agreement survive any such termination.

Governing Law

This User Agreement is governed by the laws of the State of California applicable to contracts made and performed there without regard to its conflicts of law principles. You agree to submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the state and federal courts in the State of California and County of San Francisco and waive any jurisdictional, venue, or inconvenient forum objections to such courts.