Terms and conditions of use

We welcome you to Minka

These Terms and Conditions of Use (hereinafter, "Conditions") govern your use of Minka (hereinafter, the "Service"), detailed below. When you create a Minka account or use Minka, you agree to these terms.

WHAT IS MINKA?

When we refer to "Minka" or the Service throughout these Conditions, we include all functions, apps, services, technologies, software and/or hardware necessary to fulfill Minka's mission: to facilitate the management of community data. of citizen science that actively contributes to the monitoring of the sustainable development goals (SDGs). MINKA is coordinated by the EMBIMOS team (Participatory Environmental and Sustainability Information Systems). EMBIMOS is an interdisciplinary research group focused on the understanding, creation, and application of participatory information systems for decision-making that favor environmental sustainability. The group is part of the Institute of Marine Sciences under the Higher Council for Scientific Research (hereinafter, ICM-CSIC) with address at Passeig Marítim de la Barceloneta, 37-49. 08003 Barcelona (Spain) and telephone +34 93 230 95 00.

As a research group, EMBIMOS operates under the principles of open and collaborative science. The group seeks to promote cooperation ties between the different areas of participation, such as civil society, non-governmental organizations, academia, industry, and political leaders.

How is our Service financed?

Minka, as part of the research project led by the ICM-CSIC within the EMBIMOS research group, is financed with its own funds, which means that the data you provide us will not be used for anything other than providing you with the service, allowing you to communicate with other members of the community, allow you to share the contents of the network, communicate incidents or any other information through the email account or the contact forms that we make available to you, send you the newsletters in which you sign up, and participate in those activities that you want and for which we will ask for your specific consent.

Therefore, Minka will not transfer your data, nor will it trade with it, nor will it serve you personalized advertising based on your profile. Our commitment to the protection of your rights is absolute.

OUR COMMITMENTS

We promise to provide you with access to our platform, as it is, maintaining high availability, through the Minka website and app, provided that you comply with the community guidelines and these terms of use. This obligation does not oblige us to always be available, to meet your expectations, nor to provide uses or services other than those that, at any given time, we decide to offer.

In addition, we promise to respect your privacy and your right to the protection of personal data (see more details in our privacy policy](/pages/privacy_policy) In order to provide our Service and for you to be able to access Minka and use its platform, we must collect and use your information in the strict terms indicated in our Privacy Policy. It explains how we collect and use the personal data you provide us. In any case, we promise not to share your data with any third-party entity without your express consent.

YOUR COMMITMENTS

We promise to provide you with the Service in the indicated terms but you will necessarily have to assume the commitments indicated below.

Who can use Minka?

We want our Service to be as inclusive and open as possible, but we also want it to be safe and compliant with the law. To do this, it is necessary that you agree to comply with some restrictions in order to be part of the Minka community.

• You must be at least 18 years old.

• You must not be prohibited from using any aspect of our Service under applicable laws.

• We must not have previously disabled your account due to a violation of the law or any of our policies.

• You must not be a convicted sex offender.

How can you NOT use Minka?

Delivering a safe and open Service to a broad community requires all of us to do our part.

• You may NOT impersonate someone else or provide incorrect information. You do not need to reveal your identity in Minka. However, you must provide us with accurate and up-to-date information (including registration information), which may require you to include personal data. In addition, you may not impersonate any person or entity or create an account on behalf of someone else, unless you have their express written permission and can prove it.

• You may NOT engage in illegal, deceptive, or fraudulent activities, or activities for illegal or unauthorized purposes.

• You may NOT violate these Terms or our policies (or help or encourage others to do so), in particular the Community Guidelines.

• You may NOT engage in activities that interfere with the Service or prevent it from operating as intended.

• You may NOT attempt to create accounts or collect or access information without authorization. This includes creating accounts or collecting information in an automated way without our express permission.

• You may NOT sell, license, or buy accounts and data you have accessed through us or our Service. This includes attempting to buy, sell or transfer any aspect of the account (such as the username); solicit, collect, or use login credentials of other users; request or collect passwords or usernames from Minka; or steal access tokens without permission.

• You may NOT post another person's private or confidential information without permission or take any action that violates the rights of others, such as intellectual property rights (eg, copyright or trademark infringement, counterfeit or pirated products). You may use the works of others with exceptions or limitations under copyright or other related rights under applicable law. You represent that you own or have obtained all necessary rights to the content you post or share. If you are the owner of the rights to an image or content published by a third party, let us know by sending an email to help@minka-sdg.org with your name, surname, ID, and proof of ownership that you claim to hold. We value it and we will give you an answer as soon as possible.

• You may NOT modify or translate our products or their components, nor make derivative works or reverse engineer them, when they are proprietary software. In all other cases in which we use open source software, this prohibition will not apply.

• You may NOT use a domain name or URL in the username without our prior written consent.

Permissions you grant us

In order to use the Service and as part of this agreement, you agree to grant us the following permissions that are necessary for the provision of the Service.

• We do NOT claim ownership of your content nor do we intend to keep it, but in order to publish it you must grant us a license to use it. Nothing changes regarding your rights to your content. We do not claim ownership of the content you post on or through the Service, and you are free to share your content with whomever and wherever you wish. However, we need you to grant us certain legal permissions (known as "licenses") to provide the Service. By the mere fact of sharing, publishing, or uploading content that is protected by intellectual property rights (photos, videos, texts, etc.) on our Service, or in relation to it, you grant us an international, sublicensable, transferable license, free and non-exclusive to host, use, distribute, modify, perform, copy, publicly display or display and translate your content, as well as create derivative works from it (in accordance with the privacy and app settings). The license will terminate once your content is removed from our systems. You can delete content individually or together by deleting your account.

• Permission to use your username, profile picture, and information about your relationships and the actions you take. You grant us permission to display your username, profile photo, and information about the actions you take or your relationships with other members of the network, as well as the content you post for free.

• You agree that we may download and install Service updates to your device when you use the app.

Additional Rights We Reserve

• If you select a username or similar identifier for your account, we may change it if we deem it appropriate or necessary. For example, if you infringe another person's intellectual property rights or impersonate another user.

• You may not use our intellectual property and trademarks.

Removal of content and disabling or canceling the account

• We may remove any content or information you share on the Service if we believe it violates these Terms of Use or our Community Guidelines or where required by law.

  We may refuse to provide or stop providing all or part of the Service (including terminating or disabling your access to MINKA) to protect our community or services, whenever you pose a risk to us or expose us to legal action, violate these Terms of Service use or our Community Guidelines, repeatedly violate the intellectual property rights of other people, or when the law requires us to do so.

  We may also terminate or modify the Service, remove or block content or information that has been shared on our Service, or stop providing all or part of the Service if we determine that doing so is reasonably necessary to avoid or mitigate legal or regulatory consequences resulting from adverse to us.

  In some cases where we remove content, we will notify you and explain your options for requesting another review, unless you seriously or repeatedly violate these Terms or, in doing so, expose ourselves or others to legal liability; harm our user community; we compromise the integrity or operation of any of our services, systems or products, or interfere with them; we are restricted by technical limitations; or we are prohibited from doing so for legal reasons.

  If you believe that we have canceled your account by mistake or you want to disable or delete it permanently, let us know through the contact form.

  When you request that content or your account be removed, the removal process will begin within 30 days of the day after your request was submitted. After you have started the process, the removal of the content may carry an additional period of 30 days. While the removal process is carried out, the content remains subject to these Terms of Use, to Community Guidelines and Privacy Policy. After content is deleted, it may take up to another 90 days for it to be removed from backup or disaster recovery systems.

• The content will not be deleted within the periods indicated from the deletion of your account in the following cases:

  • When other users have made use of your content under this license and those users have not removed it (in which case, the license will continue to apply until the content is permanently removed).
  • When it is not possible to remove it within the indicated timeframes due to technical limitations of our systems, in which case, we will complete the process as soon as it is technically feasible.

  • When the deletion restricts our ability to:

    • investigate or identify illegal activity or violations of our terms and policies (for example, to identify or investigate misuse of our products or systems);
    • protect the security of our systems and users;
    • comply with a legal obligation, such as the preservation of evidence; either
    • comply with a request from a judicial or administrative authority, law enforcement authorities or a government agency.

    In this case, the content will be retained only for as long as it is necessary for the purpose in question (the exact duration will vary from case to case).

• If you delete or if we disable your account, these Terms will cease to apply except for the following section, "General Terms", which will continue in full force, even after your account is canceled, disabled, or deleted.

GENERAL CONDITIONS

• If any part of these Terms of Use is unenforceable, the rest will continue in effect.

• Any modification to the Terms of Use or waiver must be in writing and signed by us. Our failure to perform any part of this agreement will not be considered a waiver.

• We reserve all rights not expressly granted to you.

To whom rights are granted under this agreement

• This agreement does not grant rights to any third party.

• You may not transfer your rights or obligations under this agreement without our consent.

• You agree that we assign our rights and obligations to a third party, for example, in the event that the ownership of the project changes.

Who takes responsibility if something happens

• We will use reasonable efforts to provide the Service to you and to maintain a secure and bug-free environment. However, we cannot guarantee that our Service will always work without interruptions, delays or imperfections.

  Provided we use all reasonable efforts we will not assume any liability for:

  • losses arising due to our breach of these Terms or as a result of our actions;
  • losses that neither you nor we could have reasonably foreseen at the time you accepted these Terms;
  • content posted by others that is offensive, inappropriate, obscene, illegal or otherwise objectionable and that you may find on our Service; and
  • events beyond our reasonable control.

How we will resolve disputes

If a claim or dispute arises out of or in connection with your consumer use of the Service, we both agree that you may resolve the individual claim or dispute against us, and that we may resolve the claim or dispute against you, before a competent court in the country where you reside and that has jurisdiction over your claim or dispute; in addition, the laws of that country will apply, without prejudice to any rules on conflict or choice of laws.

If any claim or dispute arises between us in connection with your use of the Service in any other way, including, without limitation, use of or access to the Service for business or commercial purposes, you agree that such claim or dispute must be resolved before the courts and tribunals of Barcelona capital and that Spanish law will be applied, without prejudice to any rule on conflict or choice of laws.

Unsolicited stuff

Comments or suggestions are always welcome. However, we may use them without restriction or obligation to provide you with compensation, and we are under no obligation to keep them confidential.

Update of these Conditions

We may change our Service and policies, and we may need to update these Terms so that they accurately reflect our Services and policies. Unless otherwise provided by law, we will notify you (for example, via email or the app) at least 30 days before we change these Terms, and we will give you an opportunity to review the changes before they become effective. vigor. Your continued use of the Service will be subject to the updated Terms. If you do not want to accept these and other updated Terms, you can delete your account.