BHA Terms of Use Policy

BHA Terms of Use Policy

Thank you for using the website of the Boston Housing Authority (“BHA”). We hope that BHA has made your dealings with your local housing authority easier and more efficient.

1. Users Agree to These Terms. This document contains terms of use for BHA. By using the BHA website you agree to these terms and conditions. Please note that individual city and state agencies and Commonwealth entities and social media may adopt additional terms of use that apply to specific web based transactions with those agencies or data posted on their web sites. In addition, you should also review the BHA Privacy Policy to learn about information collected by BHA, what that information is use for, and how it may be shared.

2. Other Sites Have Other Policies. For your convenience, BHA’s website contains hypertext or other links to external internet sites that are not provided or maintained by the BHA. Please note that the BHA cannot guarantee the accuracy, relevance, timeless, or completeness of these external sites. In addition, the inclusion of links to non-governmental sites is not intended to endorse any views expressed, or products or services offered, on those sites, or the organizations sponsoring the sites. In particular, please note that the agency uses various social media tools. Although some of the social media sites or identities might appear to be part of this site, they are hosted by third party providers. Please review the BHA Social Media Policy for more information on the terms that apply to those cites.

3. Public Record and Copyright. All of the material posted on the BHA’s website and accessible to the public without use of an authenticating and authorizing mechanism (such as a “PIN”, personal identifier number, or password) is public record. Most of the public records posted on BHA’s website can be copied and used for any purpose. For example, all policies and all laws and regulations are public record. Some of the public records posted on the BHA’s website are, however, copyrighted material. With respect to material copyrighted by the BHA, including the design, layout, and other features of BHA’s website, the BHA forbids any copying or use other than “fair use” under the Copyright Act. “Fair use” includes activities such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, research, and other related activities. In addition, please be advised that BHA makes use of materials (including, but not limited to, photographs) copyrighted by third parties, which also cannot be copied or used other than for “fair use” without permission of the copyright owner. If you want to make use of other than “fair use” of any copyrighted material on this website, you must seek permission directly from the copyright owner. The only part of this website to which the copyright rules stated above do not apply is on social media pages that receive comment. Content on these pages is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Content includes all materials posted by the BHA to these pages. In addition, visitors to these pages agree to grant a non-exclusive, irrevocable, royalty-free license to the rest of the world for their submissions to this site under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. A copy of this license is available online at http://creativecommons.org/licenses.

The Boston Housing Authority respects the intellectual property of others, and we ask users of our website to do the same. In accordance with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and other applicable law, we have adopted a policy of terminating, in appropriate circumstances and at our sole discretion, users, subscribers, or account holders on our website who are deemed to be repeat infringers. We may also, at our sole discretion, limit access to our website and/or terminate the accounts of any users who infringe any intellectual property rights of others, whether or not there is any repeat infringement.

Notice of Procedure to Notify Designated Agent of Claims of Copyright Infringement

If you believe that any material on this website infringes upon any copyright which you own or control, or that any link on this website directs users to another website that contains materials that infringes upon any copyright which you own or control, you may file a notification of such infringement with our Designated Agent as set forth below. Notifications of claimed copyright infringement must be sent to BHA’s Designated Agent for notice of claims of copyright infringement. Our Designated Agent may be reached as follows:

Designated Agent: General Counsel
Address: Boston Housing Authority Legal Department 52 Chauncy Street Boston, MA 02111
Telephone Number: (617) 988-4166
E-mail Address: Legal@Bostonhousing.org

4. No warranty, endorsement or liability. The BHA makes no warranty that the materials contained within its site are free from claims, or other restrictions or limitations on free use or display and BHA disclaims any liability for the improper or incorrect use of information obtained from its website.

With respect to the BHA’s social media pages or identities, which are identified on the BHA’s Social Media Policy, any references to commercial entities, products, services, or other nongovernmental organizations or individuals that remain on the site are provided solely for the information of individuals using the social media pages. These references are not intended to reflect the opinion of the Mayor of the City of Boston, the Administrator of the Boston Housing Authority, the Boston Housing Authority or its officers and employees concerning the significance, priority, or importance to be given the reference entity, product, service, or organization. Such references are not any official or personal endorsement of any product, person, or service, and may not be quoted or reproduced for the purpose of stating or implying the Mayor of the City of Boston’s endorsement or Administrator of the Boston Housing Authority’s endorsement or the Boston Housing Authority’s endorsement or approval of any product, person, or service.

The BHA does not guarantee or warrant that any information posted by individuals on the website is correct, and disclaims any liability for any loss or damage resulting from reliance on any such information. The BHA may not be able to verify, does not warrant or guarantee, and assumes no liability for anything posted by any other person. The views expressed on the website by non-agency commentators do not necessarily reflect the official views of the Boston Housing Authority.

5. No waiver; Law, Regulations and Policies Take Precedence. The content published on this website is subordinate to, and not to be interpreted as an amendment to or waiver of Federal and State Laws, regulations and policies applicable to the matters addressed in the site’s content.

Use of the Website

You understand that, while the Boston Housing Authority ("BHA") controls all information, products or services posted to the Website, except for information, products or services clearly identified as not being supplied by the BHA, the BHA does not operate, control or endorse any information, products or services on the Internet in any way. Except for BHA information, products or services, all information, products and services offered through the Website or on the Internet generally are offered by third parties that are not affiliated with the BHA. You also understand that the BHA cannot and does not guarantee or warrant that files available for downloading through the Website will be free of infection or viruses, worms, Trojan horses or other code that manifest contaminating or destructive properties. You are responsible for implementing sufficient procedures and checkpoints to satisfy your particular requirements for accuracy of data input and output, and for maintaining a means external to the Website for the reconstruction of any lost data.

You assume total responsibility and risk for your use of the Website and the Internet. The BHA does not make any express or implied warranties, representations or endorsements whatsoever (including without limitation warranties of title or non-infringement, or the implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose) with regard to your use of, or reliance on the Website, any merchandise, information or service provided through the Website or on the Internet generally, and the BHA shall not be liable for any cost or damage arising either directly or indirectly from any such transaction. It is solely your responsibility to evaluate the accuracy, completeness and usefulness of all opinions, advice, services, merchandise and other information provided through the Website or on the Internet generally. The BHA does not warrant that the Website will be uninterrupted or error-free, or that defects in the Website will be corrected. The Website and any software made available on the Website are provided on an "as is, as available" basis.

You understand further that the Internet contains unedited materials, some of which may be offensive to you. You access such materials at your risk. The BHA has no control over and accepts no responsibility whatsoever for such materials.

In no event will the BHA be liable for (I) any incidental, consequential, or indirect damages (including, but not limited to, damages for loss of profits, business interruption, loss of programs or information, and the like) arising out of your use of or inability to use the Website, or any information, or transactions provided on the Website or downloaded or hyperlinked from the Website, even if the BHA or its authorized representatives have been advised of the possibility of such damages, or (II) any claim attributable to errors, omissions, or other inaccuracies in the Website and/or materials or information downloaded through, or hyperlinked from, the Website. Because some states do not allow the exclusion or limitation of liability for consequential or incidental damages, the above limitation may not apply to you. In such states, the liability of the BHA is limited to the extent permitted by law.

Indemnification

You agree to indemnify, defend and hold harmless the BHA, its officers, directors, employees, agents, licensors, suppliers and any third party information providers to the Website from and against all losses, expenses, damages and costs, including reasonable attorneys' fees, resulting from any violation of this Agreement by you.

Operating Policies

Your participation in on-line communications occurs in real time and is not edited, censored, or otherwise controlled by the BHA. The BHA cannot and does not screen content provided by users of the Website. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the BHA reserves the right to monitor content on the Website and to remove content which the BHA, in its sole discretion, determines to be harmful, offensive, or otherwise in violation of these Operating Policies. In order to maintain an informative and valuable service that meets the needs of the users of the Website and avoids the harm that can result from disseminating statements that are false, malicious, violate the rights of others, or otherwise harmful, it is necessary to establish the following rules to protect against abuse:

• i) Unless you are participating in an area of the Website that requires or encourages anonymity, use your real name in online communications.
• ii) You may not post or transmit any message which is libelous, defamatory or which discloses private or personal matters concerning any person. You may not post or transmit any message, data, image or program which is indecent, obscene or pornographic.
• iii) You may not post or transmit any message, data, image or program that would violate the property rights of others, including unauthorized copyrighted text, images or programs, trade secrets or other confidential proprietary information, and trademarks or service marks used in an infringing fashion.
• iv) You may not interfere with others using the Website.
• v) You may not post or transmit any file which contains viruses, worms, "Trojan horses" or any other contaminating or destructive features.
• vi) You may not post or transmit any message which is harmful, threatening, abusive or hateful. It is not the Website's intent to discourage you from taking controversial positions or expressing vigorously what may be unpopular views; however, BHA reserves the right to take such action as it deems appropriate in cases where the Website is used to disseminate statements which are deeply and widely offensive and/or harmful.
• vii) You may not post or transmit charity requests, petitions for signatures, chain letters or letters relating to pyramid schemes. You may not post or transmit any advertising, promotional materials or any other solicitation of other users of the Website for goods or services except in those areas (e.g., a classified bulletin board) that are designated for such purpose. You may not post or transmit any materials for any personal political activity in support of particular candidates or causes.
• viii) You may not post or list articles that are off-topic according to the description of the group or list or send unsolicited mass emailings.
• ix) You may not use the facilities and capabilities of the Website to conduct any activity or solicit the performance of any illegal activity or other activity that infringes the rights of others.

Copyright, Licenses and Idea Submissions

The entire contents of this website are copyrighted under the United States copyright laws. The owner of the copyright is the Boston Housing Authority ("BHA"). You may print and download portions of material from the different areas of this website solely for your own non-commercial use. You may make (a) one machine readable copy, (b) one backup copy, and (c) one print copy of any portions of material downloaded from the different areas of this website solely for your non-commercial use. Any other copying, redistribution, retransmission or publication of any downloaded material, is strictly prohibited without the express written consent of the BHA or any third party information provider to this website. You agree not to change or delete any proprietary notices from materials downloaded from this website. You agree to grant to the BHA a non-exclusive, royalty-free, worldwide, perpetual license, with the right to sublicense, to reproduce, distribute, transmit, create derivative works of, publicly display and publicly perform any materials and other information (including, without limitation, ideas contained therein for new or improved products and services) you submit to public areas of this website (such as bulletin boards, forums and newsgroups) by all means and in any media now known or hereafter developed. You also grant to the BHA the right to use your name in connection with the submitted materials and other information as well as in connection with all advertising, marketing and promotional material related thereto. You agree that you shall have no recourse against the BHA for any alleged or actual infringement or misappropriation of any proprietary right in your communications to us.