311 Mobile Application Terms of Service

For Using Newport News 311

Acceptance Of Terms

The City of Newport News ("City") provides the Newport News 311 app for smart phones (“Newport News 311") to you subject to the following Terms of Service Agreement ("Agreement") which may be updated by us from time to time without notice to you. By accessing and using Newport News 311, you accept and agree to be bound by the terms and provision of this Agreement. If you do not agree with any part of this Agreement, do not install or use the Newport News 311 app.

Description of Newport News 311

Newport News 311 provides users with an application to report service issues to the City and check on the status of those requests. It also provides users the opportunity to share those reports (type of request, photo and text) if desired on the application. It allows constituents the opportunity to view requests submitted by other users who have requested that particular reports be shared.

Unless explicitly stated otherwise, any new features that augment or enhance Newport News 311 which are added at a future time are covered by this Agreement.

You are responsible for obtaining access to Newport News 311, and that access may involve third-party fees (such as Internet service provider or airtime charges). You are responsible for those fees.

You understand that the technical processing and transmission of the Newport News 311 services, including your requests, may involve (a) transmissions over various networks; and (b) changes to conform and adapt to technical requirements of connecting networks or devices.

Your Registration Obligations

If you provide any information that is untrue, inaccurate, offensive, not current or incomplete, or the City has reasonable grounds to suspect that such information is untrue, inaccurate, offensive, not current or incomplete, the City has the right to do any or all of the following; delete the information, suspend or terminate your account, and refuse any and all current or future use of the Newport News 311 services (or any portion thereof).

City Public Records Policy

You understand and agree that your use of this app will result in the collection of personal information about you by the City, which may include your name, telephone number, and any other information you submit using Newport News 311. This information is collected in order to respond to your requests and inquiries, and may be disclosed to City departments, agencies, employees and agents so that they may respond to your request.

Registration data as well as service requests you submit using Newport News 311 are subject to all applicable City, State and Federal public records laws.

Member Conduct

You understand that all information, data, text, photographs, graphics or other materials ("Content"), whether marked by the user as shared or not, are the sole responsibility of the person from whom such Content originated. This means that you, and not the City, are entirely responsible for all Content that you submit or otherwise make available via Newport News 311. The City does not control the Content posted via Newport News 311 and, as such, does not guarantee the accuracy, integrity or quality of such Content. You understand that by using Newport News 311, you may be exposed to Content that is offensive, indecent or objectionable. Under no circumstances will the City be liable in any way for any Content, including, but not limited to, any errors or omissions in any Content, or any loss or damage of any kind incurred as a result of the use of any Content submitted or otherwise made available via Newport News 311.

We are under no obligation to enforce this Agreement on your behalf against another user. While we encourage you to let us know if you believe another user violated this Agreement, we reserve the right to investigate and take appropriate action at the City's sole discretion.

You agree to not use Newport News 311 to:

submit Content that is false or inaccurate
submit Content that does not generally pertain to the designated topic or theme
submit or otherwise make available any Content that is unlawful, harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, tortuous, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, libelous, invasive of another's privacy, or otherwise objectionable
submit or otherwise make available any Content that is hateful or otherwise objectionable due to its characterization of any person's race, ethnicity, disability, religion, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation or age
harm minors in any way
impersonate any person or entity, or falsely state or otherwise misrepresent your affiliation with a person or entity
submit or otherwise make available any Content that you do not have a right to make available under any law or under contractual or fiduciary relationships (such as inside information, proprietary and confidential information learned or disclosed as part of employment relationships or under nondisclosure agreements)
submit or otherwise make available any Content that infringes any patent, trademark, trade secret, copyright or other proprietary rights ("Rights") of any party
submit or otherwise make available any unsolicited or unauthorized advertising, promotional materials, "junk mail," "spam," "chain letters," "pyramid schemes," or any other form of communication not relevant to specific City service requests
submit or otherwise make available any material that contains software viruses or any other computer code, files or programs designed to interrupt, destroy or limit the functionality of any computer software or hardware or telecommunications equipment
intentionally or unintentionally violate any applicable local, state, national or international law
"stalk" or otherwise harass another
collect or store personal data about other users in connection with the prohibited conduct and activities set forth in paragraphs (a) through (l) above

You acknowledge that the City may or may not pre-screen Content that is shared, but that the City and its designees shall have the right (but not the obligation) in their sole discretion to pre-screen, refuse, or remove any Content that is available via Newport News 311. Without limiting the foregoing, the City and its designees shall have the right to remove any Content that violates this Agreement or is otherwise objectionable. You agree that you must evaluate, and bear all risks associated with, the use of any Content, including any reliance on the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of such Content.

You acknowledge, consent and agree that the City may access, preserve and disclose your account information and Content if required to do so by law or in a good faith belief that such access preservation or disclosure is reasonably necessary to:

comply with legal process
enforce this Agreement
respond to claims that any Content violates the rights of third parties
respond to your requests for customer service
protect the rights, property or personal safety of the City, its users and the public

You may not attempt to override or circumvent any of the usage rules embedded into Newport News 311. Any unauthorized reproduction, publication, further distribution or public exhibition of the materials provided on Newport News 311, in whole or in part, is strictly prohibited.

You may not trace any information of any other Newport News 311 user or visitor or otherwise use Newport News 311 for the purpose of obtaining information of any other Newport News 311 user.

You may not modify or create derivative works of Newport News 311, decompile or reverse engineer Newport News 311 or otherwise attempt to create the source code from Newport News 311, or in any way attempt to, or encourage or assist any other person to, circumvent or modify any security technology or software that is part of Newport News 311.

You may not attempt to gain unauthorized access to Newport News 311 or the computer systems and networks connected to Newport News 311 through hacking, password mining, or any other means.

You may not use any robot, spider, search/retrieval application, or other automated device, process or means to access, retrieve, scrape, or index any portion of Newport News 311 or any City content. You may not access, retrieve or index any portion of Newport News 311 for purposes of constructing a searchable database of data collected by Newport News 311.

You may not release the results of any performance or functional evaluation of Newport News 311 to any third party without prior written approval of the City for each such release.

You may not take any action that imposes, or may impose, in the City's sole discretion, an unreasonable or disproportionately large load on the City's technology infrastructure or otherwise make excessive traffic demands of Newport News 311.

Interstate Nature Of Communications On Newport News 311

When you use the application, you acknowledge that in using Newport News 311 to send service requests, you will be causing communications to be sent potentially through a variety of networks (Internet service provider, wireless phone network, etc.) As a result, even communications that seem to be intrastate in nature can result in the transmission of interstate communications regardless of where you are physically located at the time of transmission. Accordingly, you agree that use of the Newport News 311 may result in interstate data transmissions.

Content Submitted On Newport News 311

With respect to Content you submit on Newport News 311, the City may use, distribute, reproduce, modify, adapt, and publicly display such Content for the purposes of promoting Newport News 311 or any other City-related efforts. This right does not terminate.

Submissions To The City

By submitting ideas, suggestions, documents, and/or proposals ("Submissions") to the City through its suggestion or feedback pages, you acknowledge and agree that:

your Submissions do not contain confidential or proprietary information
the City is not under any obligation of confidentiality, express or implied, with respect to the Submissions
the City shall be entitled to use or disclose (or choose not to use or disclose) such Submissions for any purpose, in any way, in any media worldwide
the City may have something similar to the Submissions already under consideration or in development
your Submissions automatically become the property of the City without any obligation of the City to you
you are not entitled to any compensation or reimbursement of any kind from the City under any circumstances

Indemnity

You agree to indemnify and hold the City and its subsidiaries, affiliates, officers, agents, employees, partners and licensors harmless from any claim or demand (including reasonable attorneys` fees) made by any third party due to or arising out of:

Content you submit or otherwise make available through Newport News 311
your use of Newport News 311
your connection to Newport News 311
your violation of this Agreement
your violation of any Rights of another

No Commercial Reuse Of Newport News 311

You agree not to reproduce, duplicate, copy, sell, trade, resell or exploit for any commercial purposes, any portion or use of, or access to, Newport News 311.

Modifications To Newport News 311

The City reserves the right at any time and from time to time to modify, or discontinue, temporarily or permanently, Newport News 311 (or any part thereof) with or without notice. You agree that the City shall not be liable to you or to any third party for any modification, suspension or discontinuance of the Newport News 311 (or any part thereof).

Termination

You agree that the City may, without prior notice, immediately terminate, limit your access to or suspend your Newport News 311 service. Cause for such termination, limitation of access or suspension shall include but not be limited to:

breaches or violations of this Agreement or other incorporated agreements or guidelines
requests by law enforcement or other government agencies
discontinuance or material modification to Newport News 311 (or any part thereof)
unexpected technical or security issues or problems,
extended periods of inactivity
engagement by you in fraudulent or illegal activities

Further, you agree that all terminations, limitations of access and suspensions for cause shall be made in the City's sole discretion and that the City shall not be liable to you or any third party for any termination of your account, any associated email address, or access to Newport News 311.

Links

The City may provide links to other World Wide Web sites or resources. You acknowledge and agree that the City is not responsible for the availability of such external sites or resources.

Newport News 311 may facilitate your use of third party services not provided by the City ("Third Party Services"). The City makes no representations or warranties regarding the performance of such Third Party Services, their compliance with applicable laws and regulations, or any other aspects of such Third Party Services. Your use of Third Party Services is at your own risk and you are solely responsible for complying with all legal and contractual requirements necessary for using Third Party Services.

The City's Proprietary Rights

You acknowledge and agree that Newport News 311 contains proprietary and confidential information that is owned by the City and protected by applicable intellectual property and other laws. You will not use such proprietary information in any way whatsoever except for use of Newport News 311 in compliance with the provisions of this Agreement.

Disclaimer Of Warranties

You expressly understand and agree that:

Your use of Newport News 311 is at your sole risk. the application is provided on an "as is" and "as available" basis. the city expressly disclaims all warranties of any kind, whether express or implied, including, but not limited to the implied warranties of title, merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose and noninfringement
The City and its subsidiaries, affiliates, officers, employees, agents, partners and licensors make no warranty that:

Newport News 311 will meet your requirements
Newport News 311 will be uninterrupted, timely, secure or error free
the results that may be obtained from the use of Newport News 311 will be accurate or reliable
any errors in the software will be corrected
Newport News 311 will be free from corruption, viruses, hacking, or other security intrusion

Limitation Of Liability

You expressly understand and agree that the city shall not be liable to you for any punitive, indirect, incidental, special, consequential or exemplary damages, including, but not limited to, damages for loss of profits, goodwill, use, data or other intangible losses resulting from:

your access to or use of or inability to access or use the services
any conduct or content of any third party on the services, including without limitation, any defamatory, offensive or illegal conduct of other users or third parties
any content obtained from the services
unauthorized access, use or alteration of your transmissions or content, whether based on warranty, contract, tort (including negligence) or any other legal theory, whether or not the city has been informed of the possibility of such damage, and even if a remedy set forth herein is found to have failed of its essential purpose

You expressly agree that the city is not responsible for any contact or interaction between you and any other user of Newport News 311 and that you bear the sole risk of transmitting through the application any content, including information which identifies you or your location.

You agree that the negation of damages set forth above is a fundamental element of the basis of the bargain between the city and you and that the foregoing limitation of liability is an agreed upon allocation of risk between you and the city. you acknowledge that absent your agreement to this limitation of liability the city would not provide Newport News 311 to you.

Notice

The City may provide you with notices regarding Newport News 311, including changes to this Agreement, by email, SMS, text message, postings on Newport News 311, or any other reasonable means now known or hereafter developed. Notices shall be effective immediately.

Such notices may not be received if you violate this Agreement by accessing the Newport News 311 in an unauthorized manner. You agree that you will be deemed to have received any and all notices that would have been delivered had you accessed Newport News 311 in an authorized manner.

Ability to Accept Agreement

You confirm that you are at least 18 years of age and are fully able and competent to consent to, accept, and be bound by the terms of this Agreement.

Governing Law And Venue

This Agreement is governed by the laws of the State of Virginia without regard to any conflict of law provisions. You agree that any claim or dispute with the City relating in any way to your use of Newport News 311 shall be brought exclusively before a state or federal court sitting in Newport News, Virginia, and you irrevocably waive any jurisdictional, venue, or inconvenient forum objections to such courts.

Miscellaneous

This Agreement constitutes the entire agreement between you and the City with respect to your use of Newport News 311, superseding any prior version of this Agreement between you and the City with respect to Newport News 311.

If any provision of this Agreement shall be unlawful, void, or unenforceable, then that provision shall be deemed severed from this Agreement and shall not affect the validity or enforceability of the remaining provisions of this Agreement.

The City's failure to assert any right or provision under this Agreement shall not constitute a waiver of such right or provision.

You agree that any cause of action arising out of or related to your use of Newport News 311 must commence within one year after the cause of action accrues. Otherwise, such cause of action is permanently barred.

The section titles in this Agreement are for convenience only and have no legal or contractual effect.