Terms & Privacy

TERMS OF USE

1. General Information Regarding These Terms of Use

Master terms: Unless otherwise noted on a particular site or service, these master terms of use (“Master Terms”) apply to your use of all of the websites that Silicon Group Inc. ("Silicon Society") operates, including https://siliconsociety.org/ (the “Websites”), as well as the products, information, and services provided through the Websites (together with the Websites, the “Services”).

Additional terms: In addition to the Master Terms, your use of any Services may also be subject to specific terms applicable to a particular Service (“Additional Terms”). If there is any conflict between the Additional Terms and the Master Terms, then the Additional Terms apply in relation to the relevant Service.

Collectively, the Terms: The Master Terms, together with any Additional Terms, form a binding legal agreement between you and Silicon Society in relation to your use of the Services. Collectively, this legal agreement is referred to below as the “Terms.”

Human-readable summary of Sec 1: These terms, together with any special terms for particular websites, create a contract between you and Silicon Society. The contract governs your use of all websites operated by Silicon Society, unless a particular website indicates otherwise. These human-readable summaries of each section are not part of the contract, but are intended to help you understand its terms.

2. Your Agreement to the Terms

YOUR ACCESS TO OR USE OF ANY THE SERVICES SIGNIFIES THAT YOU HAVE READ, UNDERSTOOD, AND AGREED TO BE BOUND BY THE TERMS. By accessing or using any Services you also represent that you have the legal authority to accept the Terms on behalf of yourself and any party you represent in connection with your use of any Services. If you do not agree to the Terms, you are not authorized to use any Services.

Human-readable summary of Sec 2: Please read these terms and only use our sites and services if you agree to them.

3. Changes to the Terms

From time to time, Silicon Society may change, remove, or add to the Terms, and reserves the right to do so in its discretion. In that case, we will post updated Terms and indicate the date of revision. All new and/or revised Terms take effect immediately and apply to your use of the Services from that date on. Your continued use of any Services after new and/or revised Terms are effective indicates that you have read, understood, and agreed to those Terms.

Human-readable summary of Sec 3: These terms may change. If you continue to use the sites after the changes are made, you agree to the changes.

4. No Legal Advice

Silicon Society is not a law firm, does not provide legal advice, and is not a substitute for a law firm. Sending us an email or using any of the Services, including the licenses, public domain tools, and choosers, does not constitute legal advice or create an attorney-client relationship.

Human-readable summary of Sec 4: We aren't your lawyer. Please consult your own attorney if you need legal advice.

5. Content Available through the Services

Provided as-is: You acknowledge that Silicon Society does not make any representations or warranties about the material, data, and information, such as data files, text, computer software, code, music, audio files or other sounds, photographs, videos, or other images (collectively, the “Content”) which you may have access to as part of, or through your use of, the Services. Under no circumstances is Silicon Society liable in any way for any Content, including, but not limited to: any infringing Content, any errors or omissions in Content, or for any loss or damage of any kind incurred as a result of the use of any Content posted, transmitted, linked from, or otherwise accessible through or made available via the Services. You understand that by using the Services, you may be exposed to Content that is offensive, indecent, or objectionable.

You agree that you are solely responsible for your reuse of Content made available through the Services, including providing proper attribution. You should review the terms of the applicable license before you use the Content so that you know what you can and cannot do.

Human-readable summary of Sec 5: We try our best to have useful information on our site, but we cannot promise that everything is accurate or appropriate for your situation. Content on the site is copyright Silicon Society unless it says it is available under different terms. If you find content through a link on our website, be sure to check the license terms before using it.

6. Content Supplied By You

Your responsibility: You represent, warrant, and agree that no Content posted or otherwise shared by you on or through any of the Services (“Your Content”), violates or infringes upon the rights of any third party, including copyright, trademark, privacy, publicity, or other personal or proprietary rights, breaches or conflicts with any obligation, such as a confidentiality obligation, or contains libelous, defamatory, or otherwise unlawful material.

Licensing Your Content: Unless otherwise indicated, you hereby grant Silicon Society the perpetual right to use any of Your Content for any purpose allowed by law.

Removal: Silicon Society may, but is not obligated to, review Your Content and may delete or remove Your Content (without notice) from any of the Services in its sole discretion. Removal of any of Your Content from the Services (by you or Silicon Society) does not impact any rights you granted in Your Content under the terms of a license.

Human-readable summary of Sec 6: If you post your content on our site, we're allowed to use it, unless you indicate otherwise. If you don't own the content, then you should not post it unless its license grants you the right to do so. That license must accompany any such content when you upload it. You are responsible for any content you upload to our site.

7. Account Registrations and Signups

By registering for an account or signing up for a service through any of the Services, you represent and warrant that you (1) are the age of majority in your jurisdiction (typically age 18) or, (2) are over the age of 13 and have the express permission of a legal guardian to obtain an account and to use Services in connection with the account. Silicon Society may or may not offer the ability to register or sign up for or through Services. Services offered to registered users are provided subject to these Master Terms and any Additional Terms specified on the relevant Website(s).

Registration: You agree to (a) only provide accurate and current information about yourself (though use of an alias or nickname in lieu of your legal name is encouraged), (b) maintain the security of your passwords and identification, (c) promptly update the email address listed in connection with your account to keep it accurate so that we can contact you, and (d) be fully responsible for all uses of your account. You must not set up an account on behalf of another individual or entity unless you are authorized to do so.

No Membership in Silicon Society: Creating an account or using any of the related Websites or Services does not and shall not be deemed to make you a member, shareholder, or affiliate of Silicon Society for any purposes whatsoever, nor shall you have any of the rights of statutory members.

Termination: Silicon Society reserves the right to modify or discontinue your account at any time for any reason or no reason at all.

Human-readable summary of Sec 7: Please do not register for an account on our site unless you are 18 years old, or over 13 with the consent of your parents. Silicon Society has the right to end your account at any time. You are responsible for use of your account. And of course, please do not set up an account for someone else unless you have permission to do so. Setting up an account doesn't make you a member of Silicon Society.

8. Prohibited Conduct

You agree not to engage in any of the following activities:

1. Violating laws and rights:

2. Solicitation:

3. Disruption:

4. Harming others:

5. Impersonation or unauthorized access:

Human-readable summary of Sec 8: Play nice. Be yourself. Don't break the law or be disruptive.

9. DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTIES

TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, SILICON SOCIETY OFFERS THE SERVICES (INCLUDING ALL CONTENT AVAILABLE ON OR THROUGH THE SERVICES) AS-IS AND MAKES NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND CONCERNING THE SERVICES, EXPRESS, IMPLIED, STATUTORY, OR OTHERWISE, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION, WARRANTIES OF TITLE, MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, OR NON-INFRINGEMENT. SILICON SOCIETY DOES NOT WARRANT THAT THE FUNCTIONS OF THE SERVICES WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR-FREE, THAT CONTENT MADE AVAILABLE ON OR THROUGH THE SERVICES WILL BE ERROR-FREE, THAT DEFECTS WILL BE CORRECTED, OR THAT ANY SERVERS USED ARE FREE OF VIRUSES OR OTHER HARMFUL COMPONENTS. SILICON SOCIETY DOES NOT WARRANT OR MAKE ANY REPRESENTATION REGARDING USE OF THE CONTENT AVAILABLE THROUGH THE SERVICES IN TERMS OF ACCURACY, RELIABILITY, OR OTHERWISE.

Human-readable summary of Sec 9: Silicon Society does not make any guarantees about the sites, services, or content available on the sites.

10. Limitation of Liability

TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, IN NO EVENT WILL SILICON SOCIETY BE LIABLE TO YOU ON ANY LEGAL THEORY FOR ANY INCIDENTAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, PUNITIVE, ACTUAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR OTHER DAMAGES, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION, LOSS OF REVENUE OR INCOME, LOST PROFITS, PAIN AND SUFFERING, EMOTIONAL DISTRESS, COST OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES, OR SIMILAR DAMAGES SUFFERED OR INCURRED BY YOU OR ANY THIRD PARTY THAT ARISE IN CONNECTION WITH THE SERVICES (OR THE TERMINATION THEREOF FOR ANY REASON), EVEN IF SILICON SOCIETY HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, SILICON SOCIETY IS NOT RESPONSIBLE OR LIABLE WHATSOEVER IN ANY MANNER FOR ANY CONTENT POSTED ON OR AVAILABLE THROUGH THE SERVICES (INCLUDING CLAIMS OF INFRINGEMENT RELATING TO THAT CONTENT), FOR YOUR USE OF THE SERVICES, OR FOR THE CONDUCT OF THIRD PARTIES ON OR THROUGH THE SERVICES.

Certain jurisdictions do not permit the exclusion of certain warranties or limitation of liability for incidental or consequential damages, which means that some of the above limitations may not apply to you. IN THESE JURISDICTIONS, THE FOREGOING EXCLUSIONS AND LIMITATIONS WILL BE ENFORCED TO THE GREATEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW.

Human-readable summary of Sec 10: Silicon Society is not responsible for the content on the sites, your use of our services, or for the conduct of others on our sites.

11. Indemnification

To the extent authorized by law, you agree to indemnify and hold harmless Silicon Society, its employees, officers, directors, affiliates, and agents from and against any and all claims, losses, expenses, damages, and costs, including reasonable attorneys fees, resulting directly or indirectly from or arising out of (a) your violation of the Terms, (b) your use of any of the Services, and/or (c) the Content you make available on any of the Services.

Human-readable summary of Sec 11: If something happens because you violate these terms, because of your use of the services, or because of the content you post on the sites, you agree to repay Silicon Society for the damage it causes.

Privacy Policy

Silicon Society is committed to responsibly handling the information and data we collect through our Services in compliance with our Privacy Policy, which is incorporated by reference into these Master Terms. Please review the Privacy Policy so you are aware of how we collect and use your personal information.

Human-readable summary of Sec 12: Please read our Privacy Policy. It is part of these terms, too.

13. Trademark Policy

Silicon Society's name, logos, icons, and any trademarks may only be used in accordance with our Trademark Policy, which is incorporated by reference into these Master Terms. Please review the Trademark Policy so you understand how Silicon Society's trademarks may be used.

Human-readable summary of Sec 13: Please read our Trademark Policy. It is part of these terms, too.

Copyright Complaints

Silicon Society respects copyright, and we prohibit users of the Services from submitting, uploading, posting, or otherwise transmitting any Content on the Services that violates another person's proprietary rights.

Human-readable summary of Sec 14: Please let us know if you find infringing content on our website.

15. Termination

By Silicon Society: Silicon Society may modify, suspend, or terminate the operation of, or access to, all or any portion of the Services at any time for any reason. Additionally, your individual access to, and use of, the Services may be terminated by Silicon Society at any time and for any reason.

By you: If you wish to terminate this agreement, you may immediately stop accessing or using the Services at any time.

Automatic upon breach: Your right to access and use the Services terminates automatically upon your breach of any of the Terms.

Survival: The disclaimer of warranties, the limitation of liability, and the jurisdiction and applicable law provisions will survive any termination. The license grants applicable to Your Content are not impacted by the termination of the Terms and shall continue in effect subject to the terms of the applicable license. Your warranties and indemnification obligations will survive for one year after termination.

Human-readable summary of Sec 15: If you violate these terms, you may no longer use our sites.

16. Miscellaneous Terms

Choice of law: The Terms are governed by and construed by the laws of the State of Delaware in the United States, not including its choice of law rules.

Dispute resolution: The parties agree that any disputes between Silicon Society and you concerning these Terms, and/or any of the Services may only brought in a federal or state court of competent jurisdiction sitting in Delaware, and you hereby consent to the personal jurisdiction and venue of such court.

No waiver: Either party's failure to insist on or enforce strict performance of any of the Terms will not be construed as a waiver of any provision or right.

Severability: If any part of the Terms is held to be invalid or unenforceable by any law or regulation or final determination of a competent court or tribunal, that provision will be deemed severable and will not affect the validity and enforceability of the remaining provisions.

No agency relationship: The parties agree that no joint venture, partnership, employment, or agency relationship exists between you and Silicon Society as a result of the Terms or from your use of any of the Services.

Integration: These Master Terms and any applicable Additional Terms constitute the entire agreement between you and Silicon Society relating to this subject matter and supersede any and all prior communications and/or agreements between you and Silicon Society relating to access and use of the Services.

Human-readable summary of Sec 16: If there is a lawsuit arising from these terms, it should be in Delaware and governed by Delaware law. We are glad you use our sites, but this agreement does not mean we are partners.

Effective Date: December 18, 2022.

PRIVACY POLICY

Preamble

This Master Privacy Policy (“Privacy Policy”) explains the collection, use, and disclosure of “personal information” by Silicon Group Inc. ("SiSo" or “Silicon Society”). Unless otherwise noted on a particular site or service, this Privacy Policy applies to your use of all websites that Silicon Society operates, including https://siliconsociety.org, as well as the products, information, and services provided through the Websites. This Privacy Policy does not apply to any of the websites operated by affiliates of Silicon Society.

In addition, supplemental Privacy Policy terms (“Supplemental Privacy Policy Terms”) may apply to a particular Service. All such Supplemental Privacy Policy Terms will be accessible for you to read either within, or through your use of, that particular Service.

This Privacy Policy also explains our commitment to you with respect to our use and disclosure of non personal browsing and site usage data that Silicon Society collects as the provider of the Services. That commitment is contained in a “Data Usage Policy,” below. As used in this policy, “personal information” means information that would allow a party to identify you such as, for example, your name, address or location, telephone number, or email address.

By accessing or using any of the Services, you are accepting and agreeing to the practices described in this Privacy Policy.

Our Principles

Silicon Society is committed to handling responsibly the information and data we collect about you through our Services, whether personal information or non personal browsing and site usage data. We have designed our Privacy Policy and our Data Usage Policy consistent with the following principles (the “Principles”):

  1. Privacy policies and data collection and use policies should be human readable, comprehensive, and easy to locate;
  2. Only the minimum amount of information reasonably necessary to provide you with services should be collected and maintained, and only for so long as reasonably needed or required;
  3. Information you provide through our Services, or that we gather as a result of your use of our Services, should not be used for marketing or advertising purposes, nor should it be provided voluntarily (without your permission) to anyone else unless required; and
  4. If Silicon Society is required to provide a third party with your personal information (whether by subpoena or otherwise), then provided we have collected and retained an email address for you, Silicon Society will use reasonable means to notify you promptly of that event, unless prohibited by law or Silicon Society is otherwise advised not to notify you on the advice of legal counsel.

Personal Information Silicon Society Collects

We may collect personal information through our Services, including without limitation:

What Silicon Society Does with Personal Information

Emails and Newsletters. We use the personal information you provide to us when you send us emails or sign up to receive updates from Silicon Society in order to respond to your request – for example, to reply to your email or to send you communications about Silicon Society news and campaigns.

When you subscribe to updates from us, your email address is sent to and stored by SendGrid, Inc. d/b/a SendGrid ("SendGrid"), a Colorado-based corporation owned by Twilio Inc. d/b/a/ Twilio ("Twilio"). Any personal information you provide in this context is treated according to SendGrid's privacy policy and terms of use. As of the most recent revision of this document, SendGrid's terms of use, privacy policy, and other legal references are located at https://www.twilio.com/legal/tos and https://www.twilio.com/legal/privacy.

Events: If you sign up for an event hosted or run by Silicon Society, we may share your personal information with vendors and third party contractors solely for the purpose of organizing and running the event, unless otherwise indicated.

Donations. When you donate money to us or purchase merchandise, your personal information will be handled depending on which option you choose.

Participating in Our Community

Registered Users. When you register to obtain a user account on any of the Services (any such person, a “Registered User”), you may be asked to provide personal information to create your account and establish a password and profile. We encourage you to use an alias or nickname if you are not comfortable providing your legal name. The name or nickname you provide in connection with your account may be used to attribute you in connection with any content you submit to any Service. We also use that personal information to establish and maintain your account, to provide you with the features we provide Registered Users, and to email you regarding changes to this policy or other applicable policies. If you sign up to receive updates from Silicon Society when you create your account, we will use your personal information to send you communications about Silicon Society news and campaigns.

Any other personal information that we may collect which is not described specifically in this Privacy Policy will only be collected and used in accordance with the Principles.

Disclosures of Personal Information

In general, it is not Silicon Society's practice to disclose personal information to third parties. Other than providing you with attribution using a registered nickname in connection with any accounts you may have registered with Silicon Society, we may share your personal information in two instances:

First, Silicon Society may share personal information with our contractors and service providers in order to maintain, enhance, or add to the functionality of the Services, or to organize and run an event you signed up to attend.

Second, we may disclose your personal information to third parties in a good faith belief that such disclosure is reasonably necessary to (a) take action regarding suspected illegal activities; (b) enforce or apply our Master Terms of Use and Privacy Policy; (c) comply with legal process, such as a search warrant, subpoena, statute, or court order; or (d) protect our rights, reputation, and property, or that of our users, affiliates, or the public.

If Silicon Society is required to provide a third party with your personal information (whether by subpoena or otherwise), then provided we have collected and retained an email address for you, Silicon Society will use reasonable means to notify you promptly of that event, unless prohibited by law or Silicon Society is otherwise advised not to notify you on the advice of legal counsel.

Security of Personal Information Collected via the Services

Silicon Society has implemented reasonable measures to protect against unauthorized access to and unlawful interception or processing of personal information that Silicon Society stores and controls. However, no website can fully eliminate security risks. Third parties may circumvent our security measures to unlawfully intercept or access transmissions or private communications. We will post a reasonably prominent notice to the Websites if any such security breach occurs.

Data Usage Policy: Non Personal Browsing and Site Usage Information

Our Data Usage Policy covers how we maintain and use information about you that is collected by our Services.

Non Personal Browsing Information We Collect

When you use the Services, our servers (which may be hosted by a third party service provider) may collect information indirectly and automatically (through, for example, the use of your “IP address”) about your activities while visiting the Websites and information about the browser you are using. In addition, whenever you use any account you may have registered with Silicon Society to log into a website, our servers (which, again, may be hosted by a third party service provider) may keep a log of the websites you visit and when you visit them.

Google Analytics and Cookies

Silicon Society uses various products and services provided by Google, including Google Analytics. Silicon Society and Google use first-party cookies (such as the Google Analytics cookie) and third-party cookies together to inform, optimize, and serve ads—as well as to better understand the Services and its users—based on your past visits to our Website. This includes remarketing metrics. This means that vendors including Google will display Silicon Society-related promotional material on other sites you visit across the Internet.

You may opt out of Google Analytics for Display Advertisers including AdWords and opt out of customized Google Display Network ads by visiting the Google Ads Preferences Manager. To provide website visitors more choice on how their data is collected by Google Analytics, Google has developed an Opt-out Browser add-on, which is available by visiting Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on, to enable you to opt out of Google's programs. Google's full Privacy Policy and Terms of Service can be viewed at https://policies.google.com.

For more information about cookies, visit https://www.cookiesandyou.com/.

No Selling or Sharing

Except in the unique situations identified in this Privacy Policy, Silicon Society does not sell or otherwise voluntarily provide the non personal browsing information we collect about you or your website usage to third parties.

No Access

Silicon Society will never use your user account information to log in to a service on your behalf without your consent unless otherwise required by law.

Notice

If Silicon Society is required to provide a third party with your non personal browsing information or to log in to a service on behalf of a user (whether by subpoena or otherwise), then Silicon Society will use reasonable means to notify you promptly of that event, unless Silicon Society is prohibited by law from doing so or is otherwise advised not to notify you on the advice of legal counsel.

Any other non-personal information that we collect which is not described specifically in this Privacy Policy will only be collected and used in accordance with the Principles.

Reorganization or Spin-Offs

Silicon Society may transfer some or all of your personal and/or non personal browsing information to a third party as a result of a reorganization, spin-off, or similar transaction. Upon such transfer, the acquirer's privacy policy will apply. In such event, Silicon Society will use reasonable efforts to notify you and to ensure that at the time of the transaction the acquirer's privacy policy complies with the Principles.

Children

The Services are not directed at children under the age of 13. Consistent with the federal Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 (COPPA), we will never knowingly request personal information from anyone under the age of 13 without requiring parental consent. Our Master Terms of Use specifically prohibit anyone using our Services from submitting any personally identifiable information about persons under 13 years of age. Any person who provides their personal information to Silicon Society through the Services represents that they are 13 years of age or older.

Third-Party Sites

The Services may include links to other websites. You should consult the respective privacy policies of these third-party sites. This Privacy Policy does not apply to, and we cannot control the activities of, such other websites.

Special Note to International Users

The Services are hosted primarily in the United States. However, please note that your personal data may be located on servers in any country. By providing your personal data you consent to the use of your personal data for the uses identified above in accordance with the Privacy Policy.

Changes and Updates to this Privacy Policy

We may occasionally update this Privacy Policy. When we do, we will also revise the listed Effective Date. We encourage you to periodically review this Privacy Policy to stay informed about how we are protecting the personal information we collect. Your continued use of the Services constitutes your agreement to this Privacy Policy and any updates.

Questions?

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact us by email at privacysiliconsociety.org.

Effective Date: December 18, 2022