We have decided not to continue the Earth.org website. This is a demo version – and if you want to take it forward – please feel free to ask us for the code, which is open. Thank you for visiting.

User Agreement

Terms of Service

Welcome to Earth.org: Open Travel Guide, a Wiki-based travel site providing user-generated travel information. We appreciate your visit and your contributions: without our reader-contributors, it would not be possible to create a world-wide database full of useful information.
This Earth.org's User Agreement (the "User Agreement") sets forth the terms and conditions which apply to your use of all Earth.org web sites ("Earth.org"). Please read them carefully. By using and/or visiting Earth.org (collectively, including all Content), you signify your assent to both these terms and conditions (the "Earth.org User Agreement" and "Earth.org Privacy Policy"). These Terms apply to all users of the Earth.org Websites. If you do not agree to be bound by this User Agreement or the Privacy Police, please discontinue your use of the Earth.org Services.
By accessing the Services and/or submitting any text, pictures or other content ("Content") you signify your agreement to this User Agreement as it has been modified or amended.

 

Basic Rules for Use of the Services

Earth.org uses in general a copyleft license for all user generated text and images (“Copyleft Content”). Excluded from this copyleft license is all other content on Earth.org, in particular excluded is all information protected by property rights, the general website structure, design elements such as the logo and all non editable content or any personal user information that remains property of the user. Anyone can use Earth.org Copyleft Content according to the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license. And anyone can contribute their own or other people's text and images, as long as the work is their own or available under a compatible license.
To grow the commons of free knowledge and free culture, all users contributing to Earth.org are required to grant broad permissions to the general public to re-distribute and re-use their contributions freely, as long as the use is attributed and the same freedom to re-use and re-distribute applies to any derivative works. Therefore, for any text you hold the copyright to, by submitting it, you agree to license it under the Creative Commons Share Alike 3.0 Germany License .

It is a condition of your use of the Services that you do not: (1) restrict or inhibit any other user from using and enjoying the Services; (2) post or transmit any information, software or other material which violates or infringes the rights of others, including material which is an invasion of privacy or publicity rights or which is protected by copyright, trademark or other proprietary right, or derivative works with respect thereto, without first obtaining permission from the owner or right holder; (3) post or transmit comments containing harassing or offensive language, including sexual references or nicknames, racial slurs or rude comments; or engage in disruptive activities online, including excessive use of scripts, sound waves, scrolling (repeating the same message over and over), "WAREZ" (copyrighted software that is distributed illegally), "mp3" files of copyrighted music, copyrighted photographs, text, video or artwork or use viruses, bots, worms, trojan horses or other harmful components; (4) post or transmit any unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane or indecent (including nudity) information of any kind, including without limitation any transmissions constituting or encouraging conduct that would constitute a criminal offense, give rise to civil liability or otherwise violate any local, state, national or international law; (5) post or transmit content that encourages or provides instructional activities about illegal activities; (6) post, transmit or in any way exploit any information, software or other material for commercial purposes or which contains advertising; (7) solicit other users to join, become members of, or contribute money to any online service or other organization, advocate or attempt to get users to join in legal or illegal schemes or plan or participate in scams involving other users; (8) impersonate any person or entity or falsely state or otherwise misrepresent your professional or other affiliation with any person or entity; (9) resell, redistribute, broadcast or transfer any information protected by property rights or use any information protected by property rights in a searchable, machine-readable database; (10) use the Services to collect personally identifying information about users of the Services in violation of our Privacy Policy; or (11) post or transmit comments of a purely political or religious nature or designed to promote any political or religious view over another.
You agree not to use or launch any automated system, including without limitation,"robots," "spiders," "offline readers," etc., that accesses the Website. Notwithstanding the foregoing, Earth.org grants the operators of public search engines permission to use spiders to copy materials from the site for the sole purpose of creating publicly available searchable indices of the materials, but not caches or archives of such materials.
You agree that you will not use the Services, including the information provided therein and all related equipment, networks and network devices (specifically including Internet access) for any unlawful purpose. Earth.org at its sole and absolute discretion shall determine whether any information transmitted or received violates this provision.

 

Member Privileges

Earth.org encourages members to describe any place and destination they know, their travel experiences, build travel pages, and to share their travel experiences using our various features and functions.
We encourage members to describe their experiences and share their knowledge with other readers. We appreciate feedback from our members and we believe that this will increase the integrity of the products that we provide.
In order to access some features of the Website, you must create an account. You may never use another's account without permission. You are solely responsible for the activity that occurs on your account, and you must keep your account password secure. You must notify Earth.org immediately of any breach of security or unauthorized use of your account.

 

Age Limitation

You affirm that you are either more than 18 years of age, or an emancipated minor of at least 13 years of age, or possess the legal consent of your parent or guardian, and are fully able and competent to enter into the terms, conditions, obligations, affirmations, representations, and warranties set forth in these Terms of Service, and to abide by and comply with these Terms of Service.

 

Advertisement

We may display advertisement or other forms of revenue-generating content, and/or links as well as our logo on any page including our users' Travel Pages. Our users do not share in any revenue which may be derived from such advertisements. Our logo and the banner advertisements of our sponsors are a distinct and separate file from the Content provided on Member home pages and do not interfere with users' Content.
Earth.org is not responsible for the delivery or quality of any goods or services sold or advertised by our sponsors on any part of the Earth.org sites.

 

Electronic Communications

Earth.org uses email to inform you of the status of your Travel Page, new membership benefits and features, or important changes or problems on our site, and to present special members-only opportunities to use or buy products and services that we think are appropriate to the interests of our community. You may elect not to receive our email messages by removing yourself from our mailing list; you will find instructions for doing so in every email. If you opt to answer the questions of other users, they may send you messages. Earth.org will not display your email address to other users. The best way to respond to an unwanted email request is to do nothing or to contact us for appropriate action.

 

Licensed Content

All written contributions to Earth.org are and must be licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Germany license (CC-BY-SA 3.0). Consequently, all redistributed and derivative works of Earth.org's text must also be licensed as CC-BY-SA 3.0 or a compatible license according to the terms of Creative Commons, for more details see www.creativecommons.org .

Files uploaded to Earth.org are and must be licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Germany license (CC-BY-SA 3.0). Consequently, all redistributed and derivative works including Earth.org images and other files must provide file-specific attribution and licensing information, available on the individual file page.

FOR USERS:
Copyleft means that every single author or editor who puts their work into Earth.org gives you the right to read, copy, print, save, download, read aloud, project, modify, email, distribute, sell, photocopy and correct their work however you want to.
 
The only restrictions are that, if you distribute it, or derive new work from it:
•    you must give attribution to the creators
•    you must retain the work and any derivative works under the same licensing.
 
In other words, we give you practically every freedom within the boundaries of the law to use the information in
Earth.org, except the freedom to take that freedom away from others.
In addition, there may be other restrictions on use or distribution based on law in your country or state; in
particular, consider privacy rights for photographs of people and derivative works for photographs of buildings
and artworks.

Information for re-users
You can re-use all content published under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 from Earth.org, with the exception of content that is used under "fair use" exemptions, or similar exemptions of copyright law and with exception of all information protected by property rights or any personal user information . Please follow the guidelines below:
•    Attribution: To re-distribute a text page in any form, provide credit to the authors either by including a) a hyperlink (where possible) or URL to the page or pages you are re-using, b) a hyperlink (where possible) or URL to an alternative, stable online copy which is freely accessible, which conforms with the license, and which provides credit to the authors in a manner equivalent to the credit given on this website, or c) a list of all authors. (Any list of authors may be filtered to exclude very small or irrelevant contributions.) This applies to text developed by the Earth.org community.
•    Copyleft/Share Alike: If you make modifications or additions to the page you re-use, you must license them under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0 or later.
•    Indicate changes: If you make modifications or additions, you must indicate in a reasonable fashion that the original work has been modified. If you are re-using the page in a wiki, for example, indicating this in the page history is sufficient.
•    Licensing notice: Each copy or modified version that you distribute must include a licensing notice stating that the work is released under CC-BY-SA and either a) a hyperlink or URL to the text of the license or b) a copy of the license. For this purpose, a suitable URL is: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
•    For further information, please refer to the legal code of the CC-BY-SA License.

 

Personal Profile Information

The personal profile information that you submit to Earth.org remains your property. We do not sell our member list. By submitting that information to Earth.org you grant Earth.org the right to use that information for the use of communication with you and establish contact or exchange information between users. Anyhow, you can elect not to receive our email messages by removing yourself from our mailing list. In addition, Earth.org reserves the right to release current or past member information in the event Earth.org believes that the membership is being or has been used in violation of this User Agreement or to commit unlawful acts, if the information is subpoenaed, or when Earth.org deems it necessary or appropriate. By agreeing to the conditions of this User Agreement, you hereby consent to disclosure of any record or communication to any third party when Earth.org, in its sole discretion, determines the disclosure to be appropriate.

 

Investigation of Complaints

We reserve the right to monitor and to investigate any complaints regarding any Content on Earth.org and to take the appropriate action if Earth.org finds any violation of this User Agreement. Accordingly, you agree that Earth.org will have the right to access your site at any time, without advance notice. If access to your site is restricted, whether by password or otherwise, you agree to provide Earth.org with whatever information is required to access your site. In the case of any such complaint, Earth.org reserves the right to remove the Content complained of while the Earth.org member and the complaining party attempt to resolve their dispute. This could result in your page(s) and/or contributions being removed from Earth.org for as long as it takes to resolve the dispute.

 

Termination of Membership

You may terminate your membership at any time by sending us your termination request via Contact Us form. Further, Earth.org reserves the right to modify or remove anything submitted to Earth.org, and to cancel any membership, at any time for any reason without prior notice. Earth.org is not obliged to maintain back-up copies of any material submitted or posted on our site. Actions or activities that may cause termination of your membership and/or removal of your page(s) include, but are not limited to: posting or providing links to any Content which violates this User Agreement; conducting or providing links to any raffle, contest, or game which violates any local, state or national laws; sending any unsolicited advertisement to other users; displaying on your page any paid advertising or other paid sponsorship banner; using in the registration of your Earth.org membership an email account that is not your own or that is or becomes inactive; sending unsolicited email using a Earth.org address or containing any reference to your Earth.org home page; or reproducing, distributing, republishing or retransmitting any material on Earth.org other than for personal use without the prior permission. Earth.org is the final arbiter of what is and is not allowed on our site.

 

Content Disclaimer

Earth.org is not responsible for the Content posted by Earth.org members or visitors on any area of our site. The opinions and views expressed by Earth.org members or visitors do not necessarily represent those of Earth.org and Earth.org does not verify, endorse, or vouch for the intent or accuracy of such information.
If you believe that any of the Content posted by our members or visitors violates your proprietary rights, including copyrights, please contact our Designated Agent to Receive Notification of Claimed Infringement identified below.

 

Monitoring

It is our intent to keep Earth.org free of any unwelcome Content as stated in this User Agreement. Therefore you are solely and fully responsible for any Content that you post on any area of our site. You understand that Earth.org has no obligation to monitor the Services or any use by members of the Services. However, Earth.org reserves the right at all times to disclose any information as necessary to satisfy any law, regulation or governmental request, or to refuse to post or to remove any information or materials, in whole or in part, that in Earth.org's sole and absolute discretion are objectionable or in violation of this User Agreement. You acknowledge that Earth.org reserves the right to, and may from time to time, monitor any and all information transmitted or received through the Services, for operational and other purposes. During monitoring, information may be examined, recorded, copied, and used for purposes authorized in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

 

Infringement Policy

As noted above, Earth.org does not allow any material that violates or infringes in any way upon the proprietary rights of others, including, without limitation, copyright or trademark rights. If you do not own the copyright or have express authorization and documented permission to use, adapt or excerpt another person's writing or images in whole or in part, do not post it on Earth.org. If you do have express permission you must say so clearly on each page where such content is displayed. Repeated infringement of this policy will result in your membership being terminated and your pages being removed.
If you have a concern regarding your use of copyrighted material on the Earth.org website, please contact Earth.org's agent, designated below, to respond to reports alleging copyright infringement.
Earth.org reserves the right, but not the obligation, to terminate your license to use the Earth.org websites if it determines in its sole and absolute discretion that you are involved in infringing activity, including alleged acts of first-time or repeat infringement, regardless of whether the material or activity is ultimately determined to be infringing.

Our designated agent to receive notification of claimed infringement is:
Mathias Stricker
Nymphenburger Str. 155
80634 München

All infringement claims regarding any defamatory or infringing activity, whether of a copyright, patent, trademark or other proprietary right must be in writing (either electronic mail or paper letter) and must include the following elements:
•    A physical or electronic signature of a person authorized to act on behalf of (1) the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed or (2) the person defamed.
•    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. Similarly for other types of infringed materials, a list of such materials.
•    Identification of the material that is claimed to be infringing, to be the subject of infringing activity, or to be defamatory; and that is to be removed or made inaccessible; as well as information reasonably sufficient to permit us to locate the material.
•    Sufficient information to allow us to contact you, such as your address, telephone number, and/or valid electronic mail address.
•    A statement of your good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright or other proprietary right owner, its agent, or the law.
•    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 or on behalf of the person defamed.

 

Links to Third-Party Sites

This Web site may contain hyperlinks to Web sites operated by parties other than Earth.org. Such hyperlinks are provided for your reference only. Earth.org does not control such Web sites and is not responsible for their contents. Earth.org's inclusion of hyperlinks to such Web sites does not imply any endorsement of the material on such Web sites or any association with their operators.

 

Disclaimer of Warranties

Your use of Earth.org Services and any content on Earth.org is at your sole risk. All Earth.org Services are provided on an "as is" basis without warranties of any kind, either express, implied, constructive, or statutory, including, without limitation, any implied warranties of merchantability, noninfringement, personal injury or fitness for a particular purpose. Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion of implied warranties, so this exclusion may not apply to you in full.

 

Limitation of Liability

Earth.org makes no guarantee of availability of Services and reserves the right to change, withdraw, suspend, or discontinue any functionality or feature of the Earth.org Services. IN NO EVENT WILL EARTH.ORG BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF THE USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE EARTH.ORG'S SERVICES OR ANY CONTENT THEREON FOR ANY REASON INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, EARTH.ORG'S REMOVAL OR DELETION OF ANY MATERIALS OR RECORDS SUBMITTED OR POSTED ON EARTH.ORG'S SITE FOR ANY REASON. THIS DISCLAIMER APPLIES, WITHOUT LIMITATION, TO ANY DAMAGES OR INJURY, WHETHER FOR BREACH OF CONTRACT, TORT, OR OTHERWISE, CAUSED; ANY FAILURE OF PERFORMANCE, ERROR, OMISSION, INTERRUPTION, DELETION, DEFECT, COMPUTER VIRUS, BUGS, FILE CORRUPTION, NETWORK OR SYSTEM OUTAGE; OR THEFT, DESTRUCTION, UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS TO, ALTERATION OF, OR USE OF ANY RECORD.
Any advice or information that you get from us in any form is without any warranty or guarantee as long as a warranty is not explicitly declared in written form.

 

Indemnification

You agree to defend, indemnify and hold harmless Earth.org, their affiliates and their respective directors, officers, employees and agents from and against any and all claims, actions, suits or proceedings, as well as any and all losses, liabilities, damages, costs and expenses (including reasonable attorneys fees) arising out of or accruing from (a) any material posted or otherwise provided by you that infringes any copyright, trademark, trade secret, trade dress, patent or other intellectual property right of any person or defames any person or violates their rights of publicity or privacy; (b) any non-compliance by you with the terms and conditions of this User Agreement; (c) any misrepresentation made by you in connection with your use of the Services and (d) claims brought by persons or entities other than the parties to this User Agreement arising from or related to your access and use of the Services, including the information obtained through the Services.

 

Applicable Law

You agree that the Earth.org Website shall be deemed solely based in Germany. By visiting Earth.org you agree that the laws of the Federal Republic of Germany, without regard to principles of conflict of laws, will govern these Conditions of Use and any dispute of any sort that might arise between you and Earth.org or its affiliates. Earth.org makes no representation that materials on these Services are appropriate or available for use outside of Germany. Those who choose to access these Services from outside of Germany do so on their own initiative and are responsible for compliance with local laws, if and to the extent that local laws are applicable.
Any dispute relating in any way to your visit to Earth.org shall be submitted to confidential arbitration and jurisdiction in Munich, Germany, except that, to the extent you have in any manner violated or threatened to violate Earth.org's rights, Earth.org may seek injunctive or other appropriate relief in any other country, and you consent to exclusive jurisdiction and venue in such courts.

 

Miscellaneous

We reserve the right to make changes to our site, policies, and these Conditions of Use at any time without notice.
The headings used in this User Agreement are for convenience and reference purposes only, and shall not be used in construing or interpreting the scope or intent of this User Agreement or any provision hereof.
Please review our other policies. These policies also govern your visit to Earth.org. If any one or more of the provisions of this Agreement should be or become invalid, then all other provisions shall remain effective. The invalid provision or provisions shall be replaced by an analogous amendment to the Agreement which comes closest to the intentions of this agreement.

No warranty whatsoever is made that any of the articles we publish on our website are accurate. There is no assurance that any statement contained in one or all of the articles is true, correct, up to date or precise.