Terms and conditions

The Global Collaborative is a special interest Web portal and mailing list service for the Global Problem Solving community.  We are building a community that tries to solve global problems.  We seek to keep people informed of developments in the field.

Who owns the Global Collaborative?

• You, as an individual member, own and manage your personal details. 
• The Global Collaborative publishes content under a non-commercial Creative Commons licence.  Other people can republish material on the Global Collaborative as long as they attribute it, do not change it and do not charge for it.
  
• The Nautilus Institute has built and owns the Global Collaborative and its logo.
  
• The software behind the Global Collaborative is open source.

Who can join the Global Collaborative?

Membership comes in several flavours:

• Not a member.  Someone who finds our pages through a search engine (eg Google) is not a member.  They can only see published pages.
• Individual member.  An individual member has signed up through the Global Collaborative's membership form.  They have a log-in name and a password.  Individual members can be given permission to read private documents and edit documents. They can join and leave the Global Collaborative at any time.
• Organisational member.  Organisations that join the Global Collaborative are given a space where they can create their own pages.  They sign a written agreement with the Global Collaborative organisation governing their use of the Global Collaborative Web portal.
  

Who can contribute to the Global Collaborative?

• An organisation controls who can contribute to their Web content.
• An organisation controls who can join, contribute to and who must leave their mailing lists.
• The Global Collaborative reserves the right to restrict the rights of any individual member on the Global Collaborative, including removing them permanently.
• The Global Collaborative reserves the right to remove any illegal material on the Web site.
• The Nautilus Institute controls which organisations can join and must leave the Global Collaborative.
• The Nautilus Institute reserves the right to inform all members of the Global Collaborative about developments in the area of Global Problem Solving.
  

Who funds the Global Collaborative?

• There are currently no fees for individuals or organisations to join the Global Collaborative.
• Organisations are responsible for funding their own activities on the Global Collaborative.
• At the moment, the Nautilus Institute raises funds from a variety of funding organisations to develop and maintain the Global Collaborative.
  
• The Nautilus Institute will develop and maintain the Global Collaborative to the best of its ability, given the funds available.

What rules govern behaviour on the Global Collaborative?

• The Global Collaborative is bound by the law of California, USA.  
• All individuals and organisations using the Global Collaborative (including the Global Collaborative itself and the Nautilus Institute) are bound by the law of California, USA when using the Global Collaborative. This includes copyright laws, defamation laws, privacy laws and spam laws.
• You may also be bound by the laws of your own jurisdiction when using the Global Collaborative.
• The Nautilus Institute reserves the right to take action to protect the Global Collaborative Web site.
• Changes in the terms and conditions will be sent to all organisational members of the Global Collaborative.
  

But what does that really mean?

Do not spam!  If you are sending information to people, make sure that they are people that you know, or have a clear business relationship with. Spam blacklists automatically block mail from spammers, based on complaints from people. If someone complains about you as a spammer, all mailing lists on the Global Collaborative will be blacklisted.

Respect copyright. A good rule of thumb is to only quote up to 50 words, or 10%, whichever is less.  And always attribute your quotation. In the US, some authors are automatically sending out 'take-down' notices if their name appears on a Web page or PDF. We will always try to check a take-down notice before acting on it.  However, if the article is in breach of copyright, we will take it down.

Respect privacy. If you are collecting information about people, such as e-mail subscriptions to mailing lists, do not pass that information on to other organisations. Allow people access to the information you hold on them, and allow them to delete, update or correct the information. Make it clear why you need the information, and what you use it for.

Behave responsibly. The Nautilus Institute reserves the right to take action to protect the Global Collaborative Web site. That includes removing content and deleting individual membership accounts if necessary.  We will always try to contact the person and organisation involved in the time available.