TERMS OF USE
Why do we need so many rules?
From the beginning, Teen (Summer) Reading Club was created to give teens a place to share their thoughts about books and love of reading. As time went on, book-loving teens and librarians came to the site and built a community of positive, encouraging individuals with a wide range of reading interests. In the spirit of keeping TeenRC a welcoming and friendly place for everyone involved, we have a few ground rules.
The Internet is a wonderful place, but it can also provide people with the means to insult and harass others without taking the full responsibility for their words. A community that allows that type of behavior will quickly decay, so we insist that while you are on TeenRC you respect the people you encounter. You are free to disagree, but you are not free to attack people simply for your amusement. If you wouldn't say it to someone's face, don't say it on TeenRC.
By registering for this site, teens agree:
- that they will not use their real name, e-mail address, or other personal information in their usernames.
- that they are teens; unauthorized adult users will be banned from the site.
- to register for only one account; duplicate accounts will be deleted by forum administrators without notice to the user.
- to use valid e-mail addresses, phone numbers, and names to register for the account; falsified account information will be assumed to be "spam" and accounts with falsified information will be deleted from the site without notice to the user.
- that accounts that are inactive for more than one year will be deleted from the system by site administrators without notice to the user.
- that unused accounts (created but never accessed) will be deleted from the site by site administrators 2 months from their creation without notice to the user.
- to treat fellow users in a respectful manner and without using racist, sexist, homophobic or other oppressive language.
- to not use the site to do anything illegal.
- that libraries are the best thing since ketchup potato chips.
Forum Privacy and Safety
Since we do not assign and cannot control your username, for safety reasons we must assume that it may contain significant portions of your real names. For that reason, the following information relating to you is absolutely not allowed on the site and will be edited out by moderators.
- phone number
- street or mailing address
- hometown
- age
- school name
- email or IM information
- real name
- birthday
- links to personal websites or blogs
- any information, means or method, which in our opinion, could render you identifiable.
While TeenRC moderators will make every reasonable effort to remove links they feel may put teens at risk of being identified, teens who post links to other web sites and those who use those links do so at their own risk. The Greater Victoria Public Library and operators of TeenRC are not responsible for the safety or privacy of anyone who posts to or uses external links. For more information on privacy and the TeenRC site, see our Privacy Policy below.
The following pieces of information are considered non-personally identifiable and are okay to post on the site:
- grade
- home province
- horoscope (star sign – this will let others know approximately but not precisely your age)
- gender
TeenRC librarians and moderators agree:
- not to use contact information for anything other than TeenRC communication.
- to treat teens and fellow moderators with respect.
- to report to the administrators any behaviour or posts which appear to be illegal, threats to personal safety, or from unauthorized adults.
- not to sell, share, or otherwise distribute any personal information found on the TeenRC site.
- that teens are the best thing since chunky peanut butter.
Archives:
The 2008 TeenRC site is available as a read-only archive: http://2008.teenrc.ca.
- Chats will be archived for at least one year and no more than three years.
- Discussion forums will be archived for at least one year and no more than three years.
- Your Words submissions will be archived for at least one year and no more than three years.
- This current site will be archived in June 2010.
Pruning:
Discussion forum threads in the off-topic area that have not received a response in 14 days will automatically be deleted from the forums unless posts in the forum were used to make a decision about a site user.
Personal information:
Any information used to make a decision about a registered user (including blocking, banning, or upgrading) will be retained for at least 1 year. All personal information will be treated in accordance with the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act. Please read our privacy policy below or contact us if you have questions.
Copyright:
All content supplied by teens, moderators, and site administrators is under a Creative Commons Non-Commercial Attribution License. That means that you are free to copy, distribute, adapt, and transmit any of the content that you find on the site so long as you say who wrote the content you're using, you don't use it for commercial purposes (sell it), and you distribute any resulting work under this same or a similar license. More information from the Creative Commons website: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/.
All Teen Reading Club members have a right to privacy and confidentiality during their use of the TeenRC web site and services.
Personal information is collected by the Greater Victoria Public Library (GVPL) under the authority of section 26 of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FOIPPA). This includes information related to registration, such as name e-mail address, phone number, etc., and records you create while using this service, including chat logs, book reviews, discussion forums and writing submissions. It includes any record about an identifiable TeenRC member or individual.
When you visit the TeenRC web site, the IP address of your computer or internet provider and related site visit information may be collected. This information is only used in statistical (non-personal) form to help make improvements to the website.
Book reviews and written submissions to TeenRC are reviewed by member librarians prior to posting. Chat Rooms are moderated while in active use. Your personal information is seen only by library employees who have a need to see it. The GVPL will store your personal information in the TeenRC database for a period of time, but only where the information is needed to provide and improve TeenRC services or as required by law.
The GVPL does not sell or rent personal information. Personal information is disclosed only in accordance with the FOIPPA and as required by law.
The GVPL will make all reasonable efforts to:
- minimize the amount of personal information collected/stored,
- anonymize it where feasible,
- retain it for the minimum time necessary,
- protect it (in all forms) from unauthorized access, use or disclosure, and
- destroy it securely when no longer needed.
See also TeenRC's Forum Privacy & Safety section of the site's Terms of Use above
A Privacy Impact Assessment has been conducted for the Teen Reading Club. For more information about the collection, use or disclosure of personal information by TeenRC, please contact the TeenRC site administrators by writing to info@teenrc.ca.
