Terms & Conditions of use

Everyone who registers to use Local Vocal is subject to the following terms and conditions. These rules also govern how Tunbridge Wells Borough Council moderates user submissions, as defined below, and the message boards on the site. These rules may be reviewed and updated at any time; the latest copy will be displayed on this page. See the section below about legal issues which apply to your user submissions.

• Contributions must be civil and tasteful – there is a wide audience viewing this site and accessing your content, please consider this when posting. Criticism is part of debate but please make it respectful and constructive
• No disruptive, offensive or abusive behaviour: contributions must be constructive and polite, not mean-spirited or contributed with the intention of causing trouble. Offensive material is anything that is pornographic; involves threats violence; promotes illegal acts, racial or religious hatred or discrimination of any kind. It also covers material, which the person knows, or could have reasonably expected to know would have offended another person with particular sensitivities, even if it is not explicitly offensive, e.g. religious views or nudity.
• No unlawful or objectionable content: unlawful, harassing, defamatory, abusive, threatening, harmful, obscene, profane, sexually oriented, racially offensive or otherwise objectionable material is not acceptable.
• Please abide by the moderators decisions – any user who is not abiding by these terms and conditions will have their account suspended or closed down.
• If you use multiple logins for the purpose of disrupting the community or annoying other users you may have action taken against your accounts.
• No spamming or off-topic material: Please don't re-submit the same contribution many times, or contribute off-topic material in subject-specific areas.
• No advertising or promotion of irrelevant websites or services
• Contributions must be in English – we do not have the resources to moderate user submissions in other languages
• No impersonation – though anonymous contributions are accepted it is not acceptable to pretend to be another person

General safety advice

• Make sure you have the permission of other people who may appear in your video, photograph or audio file
• You are recommended to choose a user name which is different from your name
• Never reveal any personal information about yourself or anyone else (for example, telephone number, home address or email address).
• Never agree to meet anybody from the site – they may not be who they say they are
• Further safety advice can be found by following this link.

Advice – if you're under 16:

• In order to register to use Local Vocal, you will need your parent’s or guardian’s permission. Without this, you will not be able to take part in a discussion or submit a video, photograph or audio file.
• Make sure you have the permission of other people who may appear in your video, photograph or audio file
• Never agree to meet anybody from the site – they may not be who they say they are
• You are recommended to choose a user name which is different from your name
• Never give out any personal information about yourself or anyone else e.g. telephone / mobile number, home address, email address and full name

User Submissions:
Your user submissions will be subject to the following terms and conditions
User submissions to Local Vocal include any text, photographs, graphics, video or audio you send to us or submit to our website. By submitting your contribution you agree to grant Tunbridge Wells Borough Council a perpetual, royalty-free, non-exclusive, sub-licenceable right and license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, perform, play, make available to the public, and exercise all copyright and publicity rights with respect to your contribution worldwide and/or to incorporate your contribution in other works in any media now known or later developed for the full term of any rights that may exist in your contribution, and in accordance with privacy restrictions set out under the site’s Data Protection statement. If you do not want to grant to Tunbridge Wells Borough Council the rights set out above, please do not submit your contribution to Local Vocal

By submitting your contribution to Local Vocal, you warrant that:

• it is your own original work and that you have the right to make it available to Tunbridge Wells Borough Council for all the purposes specified above
• you have the permission of every identifiable person in your user submission to appear on Local Vocal
• it is not defamatory
• it does not infringe any law
• it does not violate, plagiarise, or infringe the rights of third parties including copyright, trade mark, trade secrets, privacy, publicity, personal or proprietary rights.

You also agree to indemnify Tunbridge Wells Borough Council against all legal fees, damages and other expenses that may be incurred by the as a result of your breach of the above warranty; and waive any moral rights in your contribution for the purposes of its submission to and publication on Local Vocal and the purposes specified above.

About the law:

• You may not submit any defamatory or illegal material of any nature in Local Vocal. This includes text, graphics, video, programs or audio.
• Contributing material with the intention of committing or promoting an illegal act is strictly prohibited.

Breaching these Terms of Use:

• If you fail to abide by Local Vocal terms and conditions, you will be sent an e-mail that informs you why your contribution has been rejected and / or why your account has been suspended / deleted.
• If you post or send offensive or inappropriate content anywhere on or to Local Vocal, Tunbridge Wells Borough Council may notify relevant third parties about your content
• Tunbridge Wells Borough Council reserves the right to delete any contribution, or take action against any account, at any time, for any reason and without notice.
• Tunbridge Wells Borough Councils procedure for reporting breaches of these terms of use is set out in the moderators code of conduct.
• If you would like to report a breach of these terms of use within the Local Vocal website you can register your complaint to Diane Talbot, Communications Manager, Town Hall, Royal Tunbridge Wells, Kent, TN1 1RS, Tel: 01892 554270 or email pressoffice@tunbridgewells.gov.uk or you can go to www.IWF.org.uk the Internet Watch Foundation for reporting illegal content.

General Points

• The views expressed in Local Vocal are those of members of the public
• The views of Tunbridge Wells Borough Council are indicated, but may also represent the personal opinions of council officers or councillors and not agreed council policy
• These terms shall be governed by and interpreted in accordance with the laws of England and Wales.

Data Protection Statement

This statement covers the personal data you give us when you register to use the service:
Data protection: Your personal data you give us on the registration form will be held and used in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998. Information on the Act can be found at http://www.ico.gov.uk/for_organisations/data_protection_guide.aspx
Purpose: Your personal data will be used for the purpose of communicating with you, evaluating the project and ensuring that Local Vocal is being used in accordance with the terms of use for the site. The data will not be used for any other purpose that is not compatible with the purposes for which it is collected.
Storage: Your personal account information will be securely stored and will only be accessible by Tunbridge Wells Borough Council and the website’s development partner Public-i.
Time: Your personal data will be stored for a period of up to 2 years.
Queries: Any data protection queries please email: pressoffice@tunbridgewells.gov.uk.