Terms of Service

First, an apology.

There is an obvious irony in having the following Terms of Service on a website dedicated to clarity in thinking and presentation. Please don't blame us. The lawyers made us do it.

We draw general inspiration from Edward Tufte's following words in Beautiful Evidence (p. 141):

Making a presentation is a moral act as well as an intellectual activity. The use of corrupt manipulations and blatant rhetorical ploys in a report or presentation — outright lying, flagwaving, personal attacks, setting up phony alternatives, misdirection, jargon-mongering, evading key issues, feigning disinterested objectivity, willful misunderstanding of other points of view — [will not be tolerated on our site].

(Most of the following legalese was inspired by senduit's Terms of Service. We drew inspiration for the DMCA section from YouTube.)

Terms of Service

These Terms of Service (TOS) set forth the terms and conditions upon which Visible Certainty makes available its services. Your use of the services is expressly conditioned on your compliance with these TOS. By clicking accessing or using the services, you are indicating that you agree to be bound by these TOS. This Service is available only to individuals who are at least 13 years old or possess legal parental or guardian consent. If you do not so qualify, do not attempt to use the Service. Visible Certainty may refuse to offer the Service to any person or entity at any time and may change its eligibility criteria, at any time, in its sole discretion. You acknowledge and agree that Visible Certainty may revise these TOS at any time. By continuing to access or use the services after Visible Certainty makes any such revision, you agree to be bound by the revised TOS. We last modified the TOS on February 28, 2008.

Description of Services

Visible Certainty's service allows user to upload, share, tag, chart, present and comment on data.

Availability

Visible Certainty does not guarantee the quality or reliability of its services. Visible Certainty reserves the right to remove any data at any time without notice.

Privacy Policy

Visible Certainty respects the privacy of its users and follows the privacy guidelines defined in our Privacy Policy.

Prohibited Use

As a condition of your use of Visible Certainty's services, you agree not to:

• Upload or transmit any data, text, graphics, content, or material that: (i) is false or misleading; (ii) is defamatory; (iii) invades another's privacy; (iv) is obscene, pornographic, or offensive; (v) promotes bigotry, racism, hatred, or harm against any individual or group; (vi) infringes another's rights, including any intellectual property rights; or (vii) violates, or encourages any conduct that would violate, any applicable law or regulation or would give rise to civil liability;
• Access, tamper with, or use any non-public areas of the Visible Certainty's systems or said system's providers;
• Attempt to probe, scan, or test the vulnerability of the Visible Certainty's systems or any related system or network or breach any privacy, security or authentication measures;
• Interfere with, or attempt to interfere with, the access of any user, host or network, including, without limitation, sending a virus, overloading, flooding, spamming, or mail-bombing Visible Certainty's systems or providers; or
• Impersonate or misrepresent your affiliation with any person or entity.

Visible Certainty will have the right to investigate and prosecute violations of any of the above, including intellectual property rights infringement and security-related issues, to the fullest extent of the law. Visible Certainty may involve and cooperate with law enforcement authorities in prosecuting users who violate these TOS. You acknowledge that Visible Certainty has no obligation to monitor your access to or use of the Visible Certainty's services, but has the right to do so for the purpose of operating Visible Certainty's, to ensure your compliance with these TOS, or to comply with applicable law or the order or requirement of a court, administrative agency, or other governmental body.

Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA)

1. If you are a copyright owner or an agent thereof and believe that any User Submission or other content infringes upon your copyrights, you may submit a notification pursuant to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act ("DMCA") by providing our Copyright Agent with the following information in writing (see 17 U.S.C 512(c)(3) for further detail):
   • A physical or electronic signature of a person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed;
   • Identification of the copyrighted 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;
   • 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 the service provider to locate the material;
   • Information reasonably sufficient to permit the service provider to contact you, such as an address, telephone number, and, if available, an electronic mail;
   • A statement that you have 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
   • A statement that the information in the notification is accurate, and under penalty of perjury, that you are authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.
   • Visible Certainty's designated Copyright Agent to receive notifications of claimed infringement is: Stuart Roseman, 91 Newbury St, DCF 3rd Floor, Boston, MA 02116, email: copyright@visiblecertainty.com, fax: (617) 488-0004. For clarity, only DMCA notices should go to the Copyright Agent; any other feedback, comments, requests for technical support, and other communications should be directed to Visible Certainty customer service through the support link at the bottom of every Visible Certainty web page. You acknowledge that if you fail to comply with all of the requirements of this Section 5(D), your DMCA notice may not be valid.
2. Counter-Notice. If you believe that your User Submission that was removed (or to which access was disabled) is not infringing, or that you have the authorization from the copyright owner, the copyright owner's agent, or pursuant to the law, to post and use the content in your User Submission, you may send a counter-notice containing the following information to the Copyright Agent:
   • Your physical or electronic signature;
   • Identification of the content that has been removed or to which access has been disabled and the location at which the content appeared before it was removed or disabled;
   • A statement that you have a good faith belief that the content was removed or disabled as a result of mistake or a misidentification of the content; and Your name, address, telephone number, and e-mail address, a statement that you consent to the jurisdiction of the federal court in San Francisco, California, and a statement that you will accept service of process from the person who provided notification of the alleged infringement.
   If a counter-notice is received by the Copyright Agent, Visible Certainty may send a copy of the counter-notice to the original complaining party informing that person that it may replace the removed content or cease disabling it in 10 business days. Unless the copyright owner files an action seeking a court order against the content provider, member or user, the removed content may be replaced, or access to it restored, in 10 to 14 business days or more after receipt of the counter-notice, at Visible Certainty's sole discretion.

Warranties

THE SERVICES ARE PROVIDED 'AS IS', WITHOUT WARRANTY OR CONDITION OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED. WITHOUT LIMITING THE FOREGOING, VISIBLE CERTAINTY EXPLICITLY DISCLAIMS ANY WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR NON-INFRINGEMENT. VISIBLE CERTAINTY MAKES NO WARRANTY THAT THE SERVICES WILL MEET YOUR REQUIREMENTS OR WILL BE AVAILABLE ON AN UNINTERRUPTED, SECURE, OR ERROR-FREE BASIS. YOUR USE OF THE SERVICES IS AT YOUR OWN RISK. YOU ACKNOWLEDGE AND AGREE THAT VISIBLE CERTAINTY WILL NOT BE RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGES TO YOUR COMPUTER SYSTEM OR TO THE COMPUTER SYSTEM OF ANY THIRD PARTY THAT RESULT FROM USE OF THE SERVICES.

Indemnity

You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless Visible Certainty, its officers, directors, employees and agents, from and against any claims, liabilities, damages, losses, and expenses, including, without limitation, reasonable legal and accounting fees, arising out of or in any way connected with your access to or use of the Services, or your violation of these TOS.

Limitation of Liability

VISIBLE CERTAINTY TAKES NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE CONTENT OF ITS USERS DATA. IN NO EVENT WILL VISIBLE CERTAINTY BE LIABLE TO YOU OR TO ANY THIRD PARTY FOR ANY INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THESE TOS OR FROM THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE SERVICES OR ANY USER INFORMATION SENT THROUGH, STORED BY OR DOWNLOADED FROM THE SERVICES, WHETHER BASED ON WARRANTY, CONTRACT, TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE) OR ANY OTHER LEGAL THEORY, AND WHETHER OR NOT VISIBLE CERTAINTY HAS BEEN INFORMED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE, EVEN IF A REMEDY SET FORTH HEREIN IS FOUND TO HAVE FAILED OF ITS ESSENTIAL PURPOSE.

IN NO EVENT WILL VISIBLE CERTAINTY'S AGGREGATE LIABILITY TO YOU OR TO ANY THIRD PARTY FOR ANY AND ALL CLAIMS ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OF THE SERVICES EXCEED ONE DOLLAR ($1). THE LIMITATIONS OF DAMAGES SET FORTH ABOVE ARE FUNDAMENTAL ELEMENTS OF THE BASIS OF THE BARGAIN BETWEEN VISIBLE CERTAINTY AND YOU.

SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF LIABILITY FOR CONSEQUENTIAL OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, SO THE ABOVE LIMITATION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.

Severability

In the event that any provision of these TOS is held to be invalid or unenforceable, the remaining provisions of the TOS will remain in full force and affect.

Waiver

The failure of Visible Certainty to enforce any right or provision of these TOS will not be deemed a wavier of such right or provision.

Controlling Law and Jurisdiction

These TOS and any action related thereto will be governed by the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts without regard to its conflict of law provisions. The exclusive jurisdiction and venue of any action with respect to the subject matter of these TOS will be the state and federal courts located in and around Boston, Massachusetts and you waive any objection to jurisdiction and venue in such courts.

Entire Agreement

These TOS are the entire and exclusive agreement between Visible Certainty and you regarding Visible Certainty's services, and these TOS supersede and replace any prior agreements between TOS and you regarding the Services. You also may be subject to additional terms and conditions that may apply when you use or purchase certain other Visible Certainty services, affiliate services or third-party content software or services.