Open Data Initiative
TERMS OF USE
May 2014

Terms of Use

PLEASE CAREFULLY READ THESE TERMS OF USE. BY ACCESSING OR USING THIS WEB SITE, YOU AGREE TO BE BOUND BY THESE. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO ALL OF THESE TERMS, DO NOT USE THIS WEB SITE.


The following Terms of Use apply to visitors to the Los Angeles City Open Data Portal – data.lacity.org (the "Site") and application developers who obtain data through this web portal.


By accessing data sets and feeds available through the Site, the user agrees to all of the Terms of Use and the Privacy Policy for the Site. The user also agrees to any additional terms of use defined by entities providing data or feeds through the Site. Entities providing data include, without limitation, agencies, bureaus, offices, departments and other bodies of the City of Los Angeles ("City").


Public data sets made available on the Site are provided for informational purposes, and provided for the convenience of the reader. While every effort is made to keep such information accurate and up-to-date, the City does not warranty the completeness, accuracy, content or fitness of any public data set made available on the Site for any particular purpose or use.


Submitting City Agencies or other authorized entities are the authoritative source of data available on the Site. These entities are responsible for data quality and retain version control of data sets and feeds accessed on the Site. Data may be updated, corrected, overwritten and/or refreshed at any time. The anticipated update frequency is indicated for each data set on the Site. Older versions of data sets will not be retained.


User Content

  • The Site includes user profiles, datasets, discussion forums, and other interactive areas, features or services in which you or other users create, post or store content, messages, materials, data, datasets, data structures, spreadsheets, entries, information, text, music, sound, photos, video, graphics, code or other items or materials on the Site (“User Content”). You are solely responsible for your User Content and your use of such interactive areas. You agree not to post, upload to, transmit, distribute, store, create or otherwise publish through the Site (including in your datasets) any of the following:
    • User Content that is unlawful, libelous, defamatory, obscene, pornographic, indecent, lewd, suggestive, harassing, threatening, invasive of privacy or publicity rights, abusive, inflammatory, or fraudulent ;
    • User Content that would constitute, encourage or provide instructions for a criminal offense, violate the legal rights of any party, or that would otherwise violate any local, state, national or international law, including, without limitation, the regulations of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission or any rules of a securities exchange such as the New York Stock Exchange, the American Stock Exchange or the NASDAQ;
    • Content that promotes fosters or perpetuates discrimination on the basis of race, creed, color, age, religion, gender, marital status, status with regard to public assistance, sexual orientation, physical or mental disability, or nation origin;
    • User Content that may infringe any patent, trademark, trade secret, copyright or other intellectual or proprietary right of any party. By posting any User Content, you represent and warrant that you have the lawful right to distribute and reproduce such User Content;
    • User Content that impersonates any person or entity or otherwise misrepresents your affiliation with a person or entity;
    • Content in support of, or in opposition to any candidates for elective office or ballot meausures;
    • User Content that is subject to any export control laws or regulations;
    • Promotions, advertising or solicitations of any business or product for sale;
    • Private personal information of any third party, including, without limitation, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, Social Security numbers and credit card numbers; and
    • Viruses, corrupted data or other harmful, disruptive or destructive files.
  • The City takes no responsibility and assumes no liability for any User Content posted, stored or uploaded by you or any third party, or for any loss or damage thereto, nor is the City liable for any mistakes, defamation, slander, libel, omissions, falsehoods, obscenity, pornography or profanity you may encounter. Your use of the Site is at your own risk. The City is not liable for any statements, representations or User Content provided by its users in any forum, personal home page or other interactive area. Any use of the Site in violation of these Terms of Service may result in, among other things, termination or suspension of your rights to use the Site.

Rights to User Content

  • You retain the copyright in and ownership of the User Content you post. However, you grant the City and its officials, departments, boards and commissions a nonexclusive, royalty-free, perpetual, worldwide, irrevocable license, and fully sublicensable right to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, analyze, publicly perform and publicly display such User Content, in whole or in part, on or in connection with the Site or any other publications or works by the City of Los Angeles and its consultants, agents and assigns in any media whether now existing or which come into the existence in the future. You also hereby grant users of the Site a non-exclusive license to access your User Content through the Site, and to use, reproduce, distribute, display and perform such User Content as permitted through the functionality of the Site and under these Terms of Use. You grant the City the right to use the name that you submit in connection with such content, if it chooses. You represent and warrant that you own and control all of the rights to the User Content that you post or you otherwise have the right to post such User Content to the Site and that use and posting of the User Content you supply does not violate these Terms of Use. You agree that the City may collect and analyze the data and data structures you post on the Site, whether private or public, and your other activities on the Site in order to tailor the Site to individual user needs and interests and make the Site the best possible user experience.

User Conduct

  • As an online service provider, we are not responsible for the conduct of our users. However, we want the Site to be a safe place on the Web. Therefore, in using the Site you may not:
    • Violate any local, state, national or international law or post any User Content that would encourage or provide instructions for a criminal offense
    • Impersonate any person or entity or otherwise misrepresent yourself, your age or your affiliation with any person or entity
    • Forge or otherwise manipulate identities in order to disguise the origin of any User Content transmitted through the Site
    • Use the Site to send or make available any advertising, solicitations, promotional materials, “junk mail,” “spam,” “chain letters,” “pyramid schemes,” or any other form of solicitation
    • Post or share any personally identifiable or private information of any third party or collect or store personally identifiable or private information of any third party without written City authorization
    • Solicit passwords or personal information from anyone under 18 years old
    • Post any material that contains software viruses or any other computer code, files or programs designed to interrupt, destroy or limit the functionality of any computer software or hardware or telecommunications equipment
    • Register for more than one account or use or attempt to use another’s account, service or system without that person’s or entity’s authorization or create a false identity on the Site
    • Engage in any predatory or stalking conduct
    • Interfere with or disrupt the Site, servers or networks connected to the Socrata Service or disobey any requirements, procedures, policies or regulations of networks connected to the Site
    • Submit or post any User Content in violation of the rules set forth above.
    • Any use of the Site in violation of the foregoing violates these Terms of Use and may result in, among other things, termination or suspension of your rights to use the Site.

Third Parties and External Links

  • The City does not certify the authenticity of information that originates from third parties and is not liable for any deficiencies in the completeness, accuracy, content, or fitness for any particular purpose or use of any public data set, or application utilizing such data set, provided by any third party.
  • The City permits the establishment of external hyperlinks on its official website only if the links strictly comply with this policy and only if they link to other Web sites operated by the City or another government agency. In establishing and maintaining its official website, the City does not intend to create any forum or other means for public discourse. Rather, the sole and limited purpose of the permitted external links is to provide information about the City and its government for residents, businesses and visitors. The City does not endorse or provide preferential treatment to any third party websites or associated organizations or persons. Additionally, the City does not control third party sites and therefore does not warrant that third party sites are accurate, reliable, or that they have operational links.
  • In addition, the City reserves the right, at any time and without notice, to: a) Deny a link that does not meet the criteria set forth in this policy; b) Deny or discontinue an external link at any time if the website provides or promotes false, slanderous, illegal, infringing or incorrect information; c) Deny or discontinue an external link at any time if a substantial purpose of the linked website is to support or oppose a candidate or ballot measure; d) Remove any external link if the nature of the organization to which the link relates no longer complies with the City's external link policy; e) promotes, advertises, or solicits for a company or business or product or organization; f) Revise this policy without prior notice when the City considers such revision to be in its best interests.

Indemnification

You agree to defend, indemnify and hold harmless the City, its independent contractors, service providers and consultants, and their respective directors, employees and agents, from and against any claims, damages, costs, liabilities and expenses (including, but not limited to, reasonable attorneys’ fees) arising out of or related to any User Content you post, store or otherwise transmit on or through the Site or your use of the Site, including without limitation any actual or threatened suit, demand or claim made against the City and/or its officials, employees, independent contractors, service providers, contractors or consultants, arising out of or relating to the User Content, your conduct, your violation of these Terms of Use or your violation of the rights of any third party.

Disclaimer

The City is neither responsible nor liable for any viruses or other contamination of your system nor for any delays, inaccuracies, errors or omissions arising out of your use of the Site or with respect to the material contained on the Site, including without limitation, any material posted on the Site. This site and all materials contained on it are distributed and transmitted "as is" without warranties of any kind, either express or implied, including without limitation, warranties of title or implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. The City is not responsible for any special, indirect, incidental or consequential damages that may arise from the use of, or the inability to use, the site and/or the materials contained on the site whether the materials contained on the site are provided by the City, or a third party.

How to Contact Us

If you have any questions or concerns about this privacy policy, please send us an email at ita.data.lacity@lacity.org.


Date of Last Revision: May 23, 2014