Community guidelines | Privacy FAQ | Privacy Policy | Cookie Policy | Children's Privacy Policy | General Terms of Use | Teen Terms of Use | UK Digital Citizenship Terms of Service| Survey Privacy Policy
Last Updated: July 29, 2019
1. INTRODUCTION
Welcome to our Site (www.commonsensemedia.org)! We are Common Sense Media or CSM. As a teenage user of our Site, these terms apply to you. Once you turn 18 years old, or the relevant age of majority in your state, your use of our Site will be governed by the General Terms of Use. If you are under 13 years old, a parent or guardian must review and agree to the General Terms of Use on your behalf in order for you to use our Site.
If you are already at or older than 18, or the relevant age of majority in your state, please see our General Terms of Use, which governs your use of our Site.
Teens, please read these terms carefully because they are a legally binding contract between you and CSM. If you use our Site, you are indicating that you agree with these terms. If you do not agree with these terms, please do not use our Site.
We may change these terms at any time and may do so simply by posting a revised version here. You can always check if we have changed the terms by looking to the date at the top of the page. If they have been modified, you will want to take time to review what has changed.
You will also want to take a close look at Section 15, which requires that legal disagreements between you and us be resolved through a legal process called arbitration, rather than in a court room before a judge and jury.
WHAT TERMS APPLY TO EU-BASED USERS – If you are a teenage user (acting as a consumer) who is based in a Member State of the European Union or the UK (whether or not the UK remains an EU Member State), please note that these Terms of Use apply to you in a slightly amended form. The amendments applicable to you are outlined in the EU-specific terms contained in Section 18 (Terms specific to EU-based users).
2. MATERIALS ON THE SITE
As between you and us, we own the rights to all of the images and other materials on our Site. You may use these images and other materials in accordance with these terms, but may not make any changes to them. We try to keep our Site up-to-date, but it is possible our Site may not be fully accurate or complete. The trademarks and logos on the Site belong to either us or their owners and may not be used by you unless the owner gives you permission to do so. Examples of our trademarks include COMMON SENSE, COMMON SENSE MEDIA, COMMON SENSE EDUCATION and COMMON SENSE KIDS ACTION.
3. SUBMISSION OF MATERIALS
We welcome your participation on our Site! Please be sure, however, that anything you submit is in accordance with our Teen Code of Conduct, Community Guidelines, these terms and our Privacy Policy. If you submit something, you hereby grant to us the right to use it or share it with anyone, at any time, for any reason, which may include use of your name, if we choose. Please be careful in choosing what to submit. You should not submit something if you do not have the right to do so and we recommend that you do not submit any of your personal information through our Site.
Among other things, we have the right to monitor and analyze our forums and our Site, including submissions to our Site, but we don’t promise that we will do so. We may use or share this information with anyone for any number of reasons.
Our Site may contain, or provide you with access to, information, content and other materials, including submissions, that are provided by third parties, rather than by us. We are not responsible for the information, content and other materials provided by these third parties, and we note that the information, content and other materials they provide may not be true. You may need to agree to separate terms with these third parties in order to access or use their information, content or other materials.
4. USE OF MATERIALS
We grant to you permission to use our Site, and materials, and to link to our homepage, but just for your personal use. Please note that your use of our Site is subject to all of the other terms throughout these Teen Terms of Use and may also be subject to certain third-party terms. Unfortunately, if you can’t comply with these terms, you can’t use our Site, or materials, or link to our homepage (or any other page of our Site).
5. CONTENT ACCESSIBLE THROUGH LINKS FROM OUR SITE
Our Site may provide you with access to content, goods, services and other materials, including through links to other third‑party websites or resources. We are not responsible for these third-party websites or resources (or the content, goods, services or materials provided by them), and we note that they may not necessarily be safe or secure.
6. YOUR ACCOUNT
You may need to have an account with us in order to use our Site. If you choose to create an account with us, you agree to provide us with your real e-mail address and to keep your information up-to-date. You can choose your own username and password, but we may ask you to change it or refuse to approve you for an account. Please do not use your real name as your username, and keep your username and password confidential; please let us know if you learn that someone is misusing your account. You will be responsible for anything that happens on our Site through your account.
7. TEEN CODE OF CONDUCT
There are certain ground rules to protect our Site community and to help make sure that all users can make the most of our Site. Our full of Code of Conduct is available as part of the General Terms of Use and, in addition to the rules listed there, this Teen Code of Conduct requires that you not harass or spam other users, post inappropriate content or advertisements, transmit any viruses or engage in any disruptive or illegal conduct. While we don’t want to be in a situation where we have to cut off your access to our Site, we can do so if you violate our Code of Conduct or these terms, or otherwise behave badly in using our Site. Please be considerate of the other users on our Site and let us know if you suspect someone is acting inappropriately! You can reach us at [email protected].
8. MAKING PURCHASES
We may make available various products or services for purchase on our Site. Please note that we may run out of or change these products or services at any time or may choose not to sell you something. Just because we make available a product or service on our Site does not mean we endorse it and you should be sure you are allowed to use a product or service before purchasing it. You are responsible for all purchases made using your username and password.
9. CLAIMS OF COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT
If you see something on our Site that you believe is your copyrighted work, but which you have not authorized to be on our Site, please see Section 9 of our General Terms of Use for information on how to notify us of the suspected unauthorized use.
10. OUR PROPRIETARY RIGHTS
Our Site, as well as the information, content and other materials on our Site, are owned by us (and our licensors) and are protected by intellectual property rights and laws.
11. IMPORTANT DISCLAIMERS
Our Site, and everything provided through our Site, is provided to you “as is” and we disclaim warranties of any kind (express or implied). We can’t guarantee that our services will always be accurate, available or error free. Your use of our Site, and anything you download or access through our Site, is at your own risk and could result in harm, including to your computer system. Depending on where you live, this Section may not apply to you.
12. LIMITATION OF LIABILITY
In addition to the Section above, please note that if something bad happens to you while using our Site (including any information, content or other materials on our Site), our liability to you is limited to the amount you have paid to use our Site. We will only be responsible for that amount and not for any other damages of any kind (including consequential, incidental, indirect, special or punitive damages). If you don’t like something about our Site, please stop using our Site. Similar to the Section above, depending on where you live, this Section may not apply to you.
13. TERMINATION
We may suspend or terminate your access to use our Site at any time and for any reason. If we choose to do so, you may not have further access to your user account or any materials associated with your account, including your submissions. If our Site allowed for you to download any materials, you will need to delete or destroy those materials, if we terminate your access to our Site.
14. NOTICE FOR CALIFORNIA USERS
If you are a resident of California and have a concern about our Site, you can contact the Complaint Assistance Unit of the Division of Consumer Services of the California Department of Consumer Affairs in writing at 1625 North Market Blvd., Suite N 112, Sacramento, CA 95834, or by telephone at (916) 445-1254 or (800) 952-5210.
15. APPLICABLE LAW AND JURISDICTIONAL ISSUES
Our Site is controlled and operated from San Francisco, California, and is only directed to you if you live in the United States. If you access our Site from outside of the United States, it is your responsibility to comply with all local laws. If there is a legal disagreement between us, arbitration will be used to resolve our disagreement, rather than a court room with a judge and jury, using the laws of the United States and the State of California, without regard to its principles of conflicts of laws or your location, and you and us hereby expressly exclude application of the United Nations Convention on the International Sale of Goods. If you would like to know more about our arbitration process, we describe the specifics in legalese below:
Except for disputes that qualify for small claims court, any dispute or claim arising out of or relating to these Teen Terms of Use or any aspect of the relationship between you and CSM, whether based in contract, tort, statute, fraud, misrepresentation or any other legal theory, will be resolved through final and binding arbitration before a neutral arbitrator instead of in a court by a judge or jury and you agree that CSM and you are each waiving the right to trial by a jury. The arbitration will be administered by the American Arbitration Association under its Consumer Arbitration Rules, as amended by this Agreement. The Consumer Arbitration Rules are available online at https://www.adr.org/sites/default/files/Consumer_Rules_Web.pdf. The arbitrator will conduct hearings, if any, by teleconference or video conference, rather than by personal appearances, unless the arbitrator determines upon request by you or by us that an in-person hearing is appropriate. Any in-person appearances will be held at a location which is reasonably convenient to both parties with due consideration of their ability to travel and other pertinent circumstances. If the parties are unable to agree on a location, such determination should be made by the AAA or by the arbitrator. The arbitrator’s decision will follow these Teen Terms of Use and will be final and binding. The arbitrator will have authority to award temporary, interim or permanent injunctive relief or relief providing for specific performance of these Teen Terms of Use, but only to the extent necessary to provide relief warranted by the individual claim before the arbitrator. The award rendered by the arbitrator may be confirmed and enforced in any court having jurisdiction thereof. Notwithstanding any of the foregoing, nothing in these Teen Terms of Use will preclude you from bringing issues to the attention of federal, state or local agencies and, if the law allows, they can seek relief against us for you.
16. QUESTIONS
If you have any questions or comments about our Site, please contact us! We are reachable at 699 8th Street, Suite C150, San Francisco, 94103, or contact us.
17. MISCELLANEOUS
These terms, including any terms and conditions incorporated into these terms, are the only agreement between us regarding our Site and how these terms are interpreted. In the event any provision is found to be unenforceable, it will be limited only to the extent necessary and the remaining provisions will remain enforceable.
18. TERMS THAT APPLY TO EU-BASED USERS
The amendments made to these Terms of Use by this Section 18 (Terms specific to EU-based users) apply to you if you are teenage user (acting as a consumer) who is ordinarily resident in a Member State of the European Union or the UK (whether or not the UK remains an EU Member State) (“European Users”). They do not apply to any other person.
All references to “you”, “your” or “user(s)” in this Section 18 (Terms specific to EU-based users) are references to European Users.
a) GENERAL. The terms and conditions set out in these Terms of Use will only apply to a European User if and to the extent that those terms and conditions are fair and enforceable against consumers under the applicable laws of the jurisdiction in which such European User is ordinarily resident.
b) UNAMENDED SECTIONS. If any Sections of these Terms of Use are not amended by this Section 18 (Terms specific to EU-based users), they will continue apply to European Users in accordance with their terms just as they would apply to any other teenage user who uses the Site and agrees to these Terms of Use.
c) DISAPPLIED SECTIONS. The following Section of the Terms shall not apply to European Users:
i. Paragraph 5 of Section 1 (Introduction), which relates to notice of certain arbitration-specific provisions, which are not applicable to European Users.
d) REVISED SECTIONS. The Sections of these Terms of Use listed below shall be removed or revised (as applicable) in the context of European Users:
i. Section 11 (Important Disclaimers) is replaced with the following:
You expressly understand and agree that (to the extent permitted by applicable law) your use of the Site is at your own risk. The Site is provided on an “as is” and “as available” basis, it is not bespoke to you and has not been developed to meet your individual requirements. For this reason, it is your responsibility to ensure that the generally available facilities and functions of the Site meet your requirements – for more information on the nature of the facilities and functions of the Site, please see our ‘About Us’ page.
ii. Section 12 (Limitation of Liability) is replaced with the following:
Commercial loss excluded.
Subject only to the sub-section below titled Compliance with the Law, we have no liability to you for any loss of profit, loss of business, business interruption, loss of business opportunity, or any other business-related loss or damage, which arises as a result, or in the course, of your use of the Site for any commercial, business or resale purposes.
Only Foreseeable Loss Covered.
To the extent that we may be liable to you for loss you suffer as a result of your non-commercial use of the Site, we are only responsible for loss or damage you suffer that is a foreseeable result of our breach of the Terms or our negligence up to the limit specified in sub-section below titled Cap on Liability, below.
IMPORTANT NOTE: We are not responsible or liable for any loss or damage which you may suffer:
- that is not "foreseeable" – please see below for an explanation of what we mean by the word foreseeable here, as it has a particular ‘legal’ meaning in this context; or
- that results from your breach of these Terms of Use or negligence.
Loss or damage you may suffer will be “foreseeable” if either:
- it is obvious that it would result from our breach or negligence; or
- at the time you enter into these Terms of Use, both we and you knew it might result from our breach or negligence.
Cap on Liability.
Subject only to the sub-section below titled Compliance with the Law, our maximum aggregate liability to you under or in connection with the Site and these Terms of Use whether in contract, tort (including negligence) or otherwise, shall in all circumstances be limited to one hundred US Dollars (US $100) or the equivalent amount in your local currency.
Compliance with the Law.
Nothing in this Section or anywhere else in the Terms of Use shall limit or exclude our liability to you for:
- our willful misconduct;
- death or personal injury resulting from our negligence;
- our fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation;
- our breach of any terms implied by Section 46 (Remedy for Damage to Device or to other Digital Content) of the UK Consumer Rights Act 2015 or any equivalent provision of consumer-protection law implemented elsewhere in the European Union and applicable to you; or
- any other liability that cannot be excluded or limited by applicable law.
iii. Section 15 (Applicable Law and Jurisdictional Issues) shall be replaced with the following:
Please note that these Terms of Users, and their subject matter and its formation, are governed by English law. We and you both agree that the courts of England will have non‑exclusive jurisdiction in respect of any disputes arising out of in connection with these Terms of Use or their subject matter. However, if you are a resident of a country elsewhere in the European Union, nothing in this Section will prevent you from bringing proceedings against us in the jurisdiction in which you are ordinarily resident.
iv. The following sentence shall be deleted from Section 17 (Miscellaneous):
“These terms, including any terms and conditions incorporated into these terms, are the only agreement between us regarding our Site and how these terms are interpreted.”