General Terms & Conditions

This website is the sole and exclusive property of the OSI Academic Fellowship Program. Participation is limited to individuals who are currently AFP Fellows, AFP program staff, AFP Alumni and AFP partners authorized by the program. AFP reserves the right, in its sole, exclusive, and confidential discretion, at any time (a) to verify or validate any individual’s right to participate in the AFP Platform, and (b) immediately and without notice to deny participation to, or terminate the participation of, those it determines to be not validly eligible to participate.

(1) AFP offers Users an Internet platform, on which Users can create and place their own special homepages within the AFP Platform ("Webfolios"). The creation and placement of digital content on Webfolios is achieved through use of a web, a mobile device, or other technical input paths of the User.

(2) Users may request that Webfolios created by the User be placed in different subject areas or interest categories on the AFP Platform in such a way that Webfolios may be searched or sorted for subjects or other information, or that Webfolios may be linked to from within the AFP Platform, though under no circumstances shall AFP be obliged to do so.

(3) AFP may put banner advertisements on Users' Webfolios without reference or notice to the User.

(4) On some pages of the AFP Platform Users may be informed of the opportunity to enter into agreements with third parties. AFP is not liable in relation to, and takes no responsibility for, any contract entered into by Users with any third party.

(1) The AFP Services may only be used by Users who:

a. have completed the AFP registration form ("the Registration Form") and been subsequently validated and accepted by AFP;

b. have an email account acceptable to AFP.

(c) confirm by completing the Registration Form that the information given on the Registration Form is complete and correct.

(d) notify AFP without delay of any and all changes to the information on the Registration Form.

(2) AFP retains the right to refuse registration to any User without giving reasons.

(3) If the User provides any information that is untrue, inaccurate, not current, or incomplete, or should AFP, in its sole, exclusive, and confidential discretion, have reason to suspect that such information is untrue, inaccurate, out of date, or incomplete, AFP has the right, in its sole, exclusive, and confidential discretion, to suspend or terminate the User's account and refuse any and all current or future use by the User of the AFP Services or any part thereof.

(4) The User understands, acknowledges, and agrees that the provision of the AFP Services may involve AFP sending the User certain communications from AFP such as, but not limited to, service announcements and administrative messages, and that such communications are considered part of the AFP Services and that the User will not be able to opt out of receiving them.

(1) Users may open one or more user Webfolios in their own name. However, AFP retains the right, in its sole, exclusive, and confidential discretion, to limit the number of Webfolios available to any one User. Any abusive use of several User Webfolios, especially in rating and commenting on entries within the range of the evaluation system, is prohibited and will lead to termination of all of the User’s AFP Services.

(2) Users undertake to protect access to AFP Services from unauthorized use by third parties. The User agrees not to distribute to any third party said User’s login name and password ("Access Data"). Users hereby acknowledge and agree that they are fully liable for any damages arising from the unauthorized use of their Access Data and the corresponding use of AFP Services. Users notified that their Access Data has been divulged to third parties are obliged to change their password. If this is not possible the User must notify AFP immediately.

(3) The User shall provide AFP with a current email address via which the User is always contactable ("the User’s Authorized Email Address"). AFP will not accept any instructions from the User unless they are sent from the User’s Authorized Email Address. Users must immediately inform AFP of any change to the User’s Authorized Email Address.

The AFP Platform and all AFP Services are provided without any assurance of reliability or quality whatsoever. AFP retains the right to alter, remove, or cease providing any or all of the AFP Platform and the AFP Services at any time without reason and without notice. The User hereby acknowledges and agrees that under no circumstances shall AFP be liable to the User or to any third party for any modification, suspension, or discontinuance of the AFP Platform and/or any of the AFP Services.

(1) Users covenant with and represent and warrant to AFP, and understand, undertake, acknowledge, agree, and accept that all information, data, text, software, music, sound, photographs, graphics, video, messages or other materials, provided to or routed through this site, whether publicly posted or privately transmitted, is the sole responsibility of the person from which such content originated and that the User, not AFP, is solely, exclusively, and entirely responsible for all such content that the User uploads, posts or otherwise transmits via the AFP Service.

(2) Users covenant with and represent and warrant to AFP, and understand, undertake, acknowledge, agree, and accept that all Webfolios and any bulletin board services, chat rooms, newsgroups, forums, communities, and/or news and communication services contained in or accessed through the AFP Platform (together, "Communities") may be used by the User only to publish, send, or receive material that is appropriate and related to the Community in question. Users covenant with and represent and warrant to AFP, and understand, undertake, acknowledge, agree, and accept that, when using a Webfolio, the AFP Platform, the AFP Services, or any Communities, they will not:

a. post, upload, email, or otherwise transmit any material, the publication, dissemination, use or possession of which infringes the rights of any person or which is unlawful in any other respect;

b. behave in any way which is abusive, defamatory or obscene, or which will or is likely to harass

any person or which might restrict or inhibit the use and enjoyment of Webfolios, the AFP Platform, the AFP Services, or any Communities by any person;

c. post, upload, email, or otherwise transmit any unsolicited or unauthorised advertising, promotional materials, competitions, "junk mail", "spam", "chain letters", "pyramid schemes", "snowball-systems", "mass-emails", or any other form of solicitation or commercial exploitation;

d. post, upload, email, or otherwise transmit any material that contains software viruses or any other computer code, files, or programs designed to interrupt, restrict, destroy, limit the functionality of, or compromise the integrity of any computer software or hardware or telecommunications equipment;

e. create a database (electronic or otherwise) other than on a Webfolio that includes material downloaded or otherwise obtained from Webfolios, the AFP Platform, the AFP Services, or any Communities (without prior written permission from AFP);

f. transmit or re-circulate any material obtained from Webfolios, the AFP Platform, the AFP Services, or any Communities to any third party otherwise than through the Communities without prior written permission from AFP);

g. publish text, images, files, data, hyperlinks, software, or other content, which on the basis of a discretionary evaluation by AFP may be construed as abusive, harassing, libelous, obscene, pornographic, or in any other way offensive;

h. forge headers, or otherwise manipulate identifiers to disguise the origin of any material transmitted through the AFP Service, or develop restricted or password-only Webfolios, or hidden pages or images;

i. collect or otherwise store information about other users (without prior permission from AFP);

j. promote or provide information about illegal activities, or promote physical harm or injury against any group or individual

k. Offer or advertise products of services for commercial purposes;

l. pretend to be an official representative of AFP (or any subsidiary, affiliate or partner of AFP) or an official party in any other way responsible for the AFP Services;

m. delete or misrepresent author’s, legal, or other notices of property relating to the source of a software or other material that is uploaded;

n. engage in any activity that is harmful to minors (directly or indirectly) in any way;

o. behave in any way that might bring AFP into disrepute; or

p. place any material on or in the Webfolios or Communities that constitute efforts to influence the enactment or non-enactment of specific pending legislation or specific legislative proposals, or which support or oppose any candidate for public elective office or any political party.

(3) AFP retains the right to suspend and terminate all current and future use of the AFP Services (or any portion hereof) without giving reasons and without notice.

(4) Users recognize, acknowledge, and agree that:

a. entries placed in Webfolios or Communities are accessible by the other users and do not represent private diaries or conversations;

b. entries placed in Webfolios or Communities can be read publicly without the User’s knowledge;

c. "Privately" placed entries in Webfolios or Communities may also be read publicly if a User makes an operating error, third parties enter the system illegally, or there are errors in the computer software

d. AFP is not liable for the unintended publication or public or private use of any communication posted to this site, Webfolio(s) or Community or Communities, whether of a public, private, and/or personal nature;

e. AFP does not control or endorse the news and information that is found in Webfolios or Communities and is not liable in respect of any such material;

f. AFP website managers, guest bloggers, or other members of the Community are not authorized spokespersons for AFP and their opinions do not necessarily reflect the opinions of AFP;

g. AFP does not and will not actively monitor, edit, or supervise Webfolios, the Communities or the contents thereof, and does not accept responsibility or liability for material posted by Users although, at a Users’ request or on AFP’s own initiative should it determine in its sole, exclusive, and confidential discretion that such steps are necessary, AFP will remove any material that a User finds offensive; and

h. AFP retains the right to delete or block Community and/or Webfolio content and to remove it without giving reasons;

i. users can provide their feedback to any material of any Webfolio in the form of comments placed on the same Webfolio, and these comments will be accessible by other Users;

(5) In addition, Users agree that it is a condition that they conform to and respect the AFP Webfolio and Community Rules in their most recent form. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing sentence of this subparagraph 5, Users further covenant with and represent and warrant to AFP, and understand, undertake, acknowledge, agree, and accept that, subject to the content-related rules set forth above, and to preserve the textual and graphical integrity of a discrete posting as of the date it is posted, said material cannot and shall not be modified, adapted, or changed following its posting.

(1) Users acknowledge and agree that the AFP Platform and the AFP Service involves the use of software ("Software") that contain proprietary and confidential information that is protected by applicable intellectual property and other laws. Users further acknowledge that the content of Webfolios, the AFP Platform and the Communities contain advertisements or information that may also be protected by copyright, trade mark registrations, patents or other proprietary rights and laws. The download and use of copyright material that is provided by AFP or these third parties may only be used for private, non-commercial purposes. Users may not copy, imitate, transfer, distribute, publish or commercially use this material or use it in any other manner without prior written permission from AFP.

(2) If a user publishes text, images, graphics, or multimedia-files in a publicly accessible Webfolio or area of the AFP Platform, they hereby grant other Users a free, unlimited, perpetual, and non-exclusive license to access that content and use it for the purpose of displaying the Webfolio/material in question.

(3) If a User publishes other digital contents in a publicly accessible area of AFP (e.g., layouts, design templates, scripts, navigation elements or structures), they hereby grant other members of the Community the free, unlimited, perpetual, and non-exclusive right to use these contents wholly or partially in all manners. This paragraph only concerns content that is legal and the publication of which is not against applicable law.

(4) Users covenant with and represent and warrant to AFP that they validly possess any and all rights and/or permissions necessary to display the content they place or cause or authorize to be placed on Webfolios, Communities, or elsewhere on the AFP Platform.

(1) AFP does not guarantee and is not liable for the constant and uninterrupted use of the AFP Platform, the AFP Services or the Webfolios.

(2) AFP does not guarantee and is not liable for contracts or offers made or accepted through AFP except where such contracts and/or offers are made by duly authorized representatives of AFP itself.

(3) AFP is not responsible for the content of advertising banners and other external non-AFP-originating contents on the AFP Websites. Likewise, AFP is not liable for the contents of external Websites referred to at AFP and by AFP.

(4) The provision of the necessary technical prerequisites for use of the AFP Services, especially the necessary hardware and software (e.g., internet browser) as well as access and transfer services must be provided and paid for by Users. AFP does not guarantee the compatibility of the AFP Services with the individual hardware and software furnishing of a User.

(5) AFP works to maintain the privacy of any personally identifiable information (name, mailing address, email address, etc.) that may be collected though this site. Please note, however, that, though this site has security measures in place, AFP does not represent, warrant, or guarantee to any User or other person or entity that personal information will be protected against unauthorized access, loss, misuse, or alterations. Similarly, AFP hereby disclaims liability for personal information submitted through the website. Users are hereby advised that they submit such personal information at their own risk. AFP does not accept any liability for any losses or damage suffered by Users as a result of any use by a User of Webfolios, the AFP Platform, AFP Services or the Communities.

(6) Each User hereby indemnifies and holds AFP, and its subsidiaries, affiliates, officers, and agents, harmless from any claim or demand, including legal fees, made by any third party due to or arising out of the User’s use of the AFP Services or the AFP Platform or arising out of any breach of the General Terms and Conditions of Service or arising as a result of any other activity of the User. Without limiting the foregoing sentence of this subparagraph 9(6), Users hereby agree to indemnify and hold harmless AFP from and against any costs, sums, fees, damages, penalties, fines, assessments, or other amounts of any kind whatsoever (including, without limitation, actual attorneys’ fees), that AFP is or may be required to pay as a result of a User’s breach of the covenants, representations, and warranties set forth in subparagraphs 7(2)(p) and 8(4). .

10. Termination of Contract

(1) Users may cancel their account and their agreement with AFP for provision of the AFP Services at any time by giving AFP two weeks’ notice. AFP has the right to cancel a User’s account and cancel AFP’ agreement with a User with immediate effect without notice.

(2) On termination, all personal content of the User will immediately be removed from Webfolios, and otherwise from the AFP Platform and the Communities. If requested by a User within a reasonable time of the termination date and provided that AFP does not in its reasonable opinion think that it would be inappropriate to do so, these contents may be made available to the User in digital form subject to the User’s payment of AFP standard administrative charge.

(3) Users agree that AFP shall not be liable for to Users or to any third party for any termination of access to service or removal of content.

Whilst effort has been taken to ensure that the AFP Platform, Webfolios and the Communities are free from viruses, AFP gives no warranties to Users that it will always be free from viruses and Users are responsible for ensuring that they have installed adequate and up-to-date virus-checking software. AFP excludesall liability and responsibility for any viruses or any other computer code, files or programs designed to interrupt, restrict, destroy, limit the functionality of or compromise the integrity of any computer software or hardware or telecommunications equipment or other material transmitted with or as part of the AFP Platform, the AFP Services, Webfolios and the Communities.

(1) The names, images and logos identifying AFP/HESP/OSI or third parties and their products and services, are the proprietary marks of AFP/HESP/OSI, and/or may be the proprietary marks of third parties. No use may be made of these marks absent the prior written consent of the marks’ owner(s).

(2) If any of the General Terms and Conditions of Service should be determined to be illegal, invalid, or otherwise unenforceable, the term or terms in question shall be severed and deleted from the General Terms and Conditions of Service and the remaining terms shall survive, remain in full force and effect, and continue to be binding and enforceable.

(3) These terms and conditions shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of Switzerland. Any disputes arising from matters relating to the Site shall be exclusively subject to the jurisdiction of the courts of Switzerland.