GUIDELINES FOR SUBMISSIONS

SUBMISSIONS

The website may provide features that allow you to post messages and content, to annotate imagery and data, to interact with Ocean Networks Canada and other users and to upload files, documents or other materials (collectively, Submissions).

When using any of the features of the website which allow you to post, upload or make Submissions, it is a condition of your use of the website that you observe the rules of netiquette and that you do not: (i) restrict or inhibit any other user from using and enjoying the website, interfere or attempt to interfere with the proper workings of the site or do anything which in the sole discretion of ONC imposes an unreasonable or disproportionately large load on the ONC website infrastructure; (ii) post or transmit any unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane or indecent information of any kind, including, without limitation, any Submission constituting or encouraging conduct that would constitute a criminal offense, give rise to civil liability or otherwise violate any local, state, provincial, national or international law or regulation; (iii) post or transmit any Submission, including, without limitation, articles, images, stories, software or other material, which violates or infringes upon the rights of others, including material which is an invasion of privacy or publicity rights or which is protected by any intellectual property rights, including, without limitation, copyright, patent, trade secret, trademark or other proprietary rights herein, or derivative works with respect thereto, without first obtaining permission from the owner or rights holder; (iv) post or transmit any Submission that promotes racism, bigotry, hatred or physical harm of any kind against any group or individual, could be harmful to minors, harasses or advocates harassment of another person, provides material that exploits people under the age of 18 in a sexual or violent manner, provides instructional information about illegal activities, including, without limitation, the making or buying of illegal weapons; (v) post or submit any Submission which solicits passwords or personal identifying information for commercial or unlawful purposes from other users; (vi) post or transmit any Submission which contains a virus or other harmful component, or provides or creates computer viruses; (vii) post or transmit junk mail, chain letters, unsolicited mass mailing or spam; or (viii) use the website for commercial purposes, including, without limitation, posting, uploading or transmitting any Submissions which contain advertising or which engage in commercial activities and/or sales, or which involve contests, sweepstakes, barter, advertising, and/or pyramid schemes.

By posting or uploading Submissions to the website, you grant ONC a royalty-free, perpetual, non-exclusive, irrevocable, unrestricted, worldwide license to: (i) use, reproduce, store, adapt, translate, modify, make derivative works from, transmit, distribute, publicly perform or display such Submissions for any purpose; and (ii) to sublicense to third parties the unrestricted right to exercise any of the foregoing rights. In addition to the grant of the above license, you hereby (i) agree to waive all moral rights in any Submission in favour of ONC; (ii) consent to your name appearing as the contributor of any Submission, where applicable, and to the disclosure and/or display of such information and any other information which appears in or is associated with a Submission; (iii) acknowledge and agree that ONC is not responsible for any loss, damage, or corruption that may occur to your Submissions; and (iv) acknowledge and agree that any Submissions you provide for display on the website will be considered non-confidential.

Ocean Networks Canada may review Submissions before or after they are posted. ONC may refuse to post any Submission to the website. ONC reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to edit or remove any Submission, whether or not the Submission is in violation of the provisions hereof or otherwise objectionable.

You acknowledge and agree that ONC may, in its sole discretion, monitor the website periodically and disclose any information as necessary to satisfy any law, regulation or other governmental or Court request, to operate the website properly or to protect itself or other users of the website. Any such disclosure shall be in accordance with ONC's Privacy Policy.

ONC is not responsible for the content of any Submission. Submissions represent the views and opinions of the person(s) posting the Submission and do not represent the views or opinions of ONC.

While ONC is under no obligation to investigate any complaint regarding any Submission, it may, in its sole discretion, investigate complaints and take any actions it deems appropriate in the circumstances, including, without limitation, removing the offending communication from the website and terminating the submitting party's right to access and use the website (or any portion thereof).

If ONC authorizes in writing that you may use Content to create new content, including for example and without limitation, a "mash-up" for a ONC contest or promotion, and which for the avoidance of doubt you acknowledge, unless explicitly stated otherwise, is intended to be a Submission pursuant to this section, ("Derivative Content"), you agree that the Derivative Content shall be fully and immediately communicated to ONC and become ONC's sole and absolute property. You irrevocably assign, transfer and abandon all of your rights, titles and interests in and to the Derivative Content to ONC. Accordingly, ONC has the exclusive right to implement and authorize any provision under any law pertaining to intellectual property, including without limitation, the right to protect in its own name, as owner and author, the Derivative Content and any of its derivatives under law. Further, you agree that you may not use the Derivative Content, except as specifically indicated in writing by ONC.

Further, you agree that you may not use the Derivative Content, except as specifically indicated in writing by ONC.

COMMENTS

What kind of comments are suitable?

We want your perspective. Probe, analyze, inform. Challenge, advocate, debate. Inspire, entertain, enjoy. Your contributions make our website and on-air programming richer, the conversations more lively and diverse.

What is and isn’t acceptable?

• Please keep your submissions relevant to the topic.
• Be civil.
• When you are writing about legal issues, remember that people are innocent until proven guilty (that may mean using words such as "allegedly").
• Feel free to link internally within the ONC site as many times as you would like. As for external web addresses, we allow three links per post.
• Avoid lengthy excerpts from other posts. We want to hear your own opinion.
• Avoid racist, sexist and offensive language.
• Avoid personal attacks and defamatory statements.
• Avoid breaking copyright rules (that includes copying and pasting excerpts from other sites without permission and attribution).
• Avoid violating someone’s privacy.
• Avoid threats or suggesting committing a criminal act.
• Avoid insensitive comments regarding the death or injury of private individuals, especially children.
• Avoid posting your message in all CAPS (this makes it difficult to read and in online speak is considered yelling).
• Avoid posting press releases and commercial promotions.
• If you violate any of these rules, your comment will not be posted and your account may be suspended.

How do I comment?

Comments are solicited at the bottom of most stories, blogs and other types of content. In most cases, you need to log in or create an account before commenting. Annotations can be added to video and other data sequences via tools such as SeaTube and Digital Fishers.

What about including personal information in comments?

If sharing more about yourself is relevant, go ahead. However, we do ask that you don’t include personal information in comments, such as phone numbers and e-mail addresses.

How are comments moderated?

All comments to the Ocean Networks Canada websites are moderated. That means that we read them to make sure they adhere to our guidelines. We won’t edit your comments; but to ensure that your comment is not removed, we ask that you follow the submission guidelines to create a thriving conversation.

All published comments are subject to reactive moderation.

What if I see a comment I don’t like?

If you think a comment violates our guidelines; that’s your opportunity to respond. If you feel someone has broken the guidelines; please contact us with the particulars.

How will you use my submissions?

Your submissions may be used elsewhere by ONC which reserves the right to identify you by name and city of residence when using your submissions (i.e. John Doe from Toronto says…).

By submitting your content, you grant us the non-exclusive right to use your content royalty-free.

How will you post my submissions?

ONC will post submissions but cannot guarantee that every contribution will be published. We may also edit the submissions for length, size or clarity.

We reserve the right to identify you by name and city of residence when using your submissions (i.e. John Doe from Vancouver says…).

By submitting your content, you grant us the non-exclusive right to use your content royalty-free.

WEB-BASED ANALYTICAL TOOLS

The Ocean Networks Canada websites makes use of Google Analytics (or other web-based analytical tools) to assist in monitoring traffic patterns and the types of technology our visitors use. Note that Google Analytics (or other web-based analytical tools) uses cookies and JavaScript. Data collected (including your IP address) is transmitted to Google (or the web-based tool). For this purpose, the IP address will be processed and stored in the United States. Google may transfer this information to other parties when required to do so by US law.

By using this website you are agreeing to the disclosure of your IP address to Google analytics for this limited purpose.