Code of Conduct

SUBSCRIPTION AGREEMENT

Welcome to PSConnect, the professional networking site for the public safety communications community provided by APCO International (APCO). To ensure the best possible experience for all PSConnect subscribers, we have established the following Code of Conduct and related policies and terms for participation.

By using PSConnect, you (the “subscriber”) agree that you have read and will abide by the Code of Conduct and all policies and terms as set forth (“Agreement”). You also agree to reserve list discussions for topics best suited to the medium. This is a great medium with which to solicit the advice of your peers, benefit from their experience, and participate in an ongoing conversation. Questions about PSConnect should be directed to APCO International, apco@apcointl.org.

In order to preserve a climate that encourages both civil and fruitful dialogue, APCO reserves the right at its sole discretion to limit, suspend, or terminate use of any or all components of PSConnect for subscribers who violate the Code of Conduct and related policies and terms herein.

Code of Conduct

  1. No anonymous postings are permitted. You must include a signature tag on all messages that minimally identifies you by your first and last name, organizational affiliation, if any, and geographic location (e.g., city and state or province, and country if outside the U.S.).

  2. Keep the dialogue focused on professional issues and do not engage in personal attacks or name-calling. The discussions on the lists are meant to stimulate conversation, so use a respectful and constructive tone. Let others have their say, just as you may.

  3. Do NOT post the following content in any eGroup discussion or blog:

    1. Job postings. This is not an appropriate or effective means to make people aware of vacancies.

    2. Commercial messages. Contact people directly with product and service information if you believe it would help them.

  4. Use caution when discussing products or services. Information posted in the discussions is available for all to see, and comments are subject to libel, slander, and antitrust laws. Avoid making any endorsement of a product or service and be certain to disclose any material connections with the seller of the product or service (such as being compensated by or related to the seller directly or indirectly).

  5. All defamatory, abusive, profane, threatening, offensive, or illegal posting of comments or materials are strictly prohibited. You will not bully, intimidate, or harass any subscriber; post content that is hateful, threatening, or pornographic; incites violence; or contains nudity or graphic or gratuitous violence or other indecent content.

  6. Do not post any information or other material protected by copyright without the permission of and attribution to the copyright owner. APCO and PSConnect subscribers have the right to reproduce postings of eGroup discussions subject to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 and other applicable laws and regulations.

  7. Send your message only to the most appropriate list(s). Generally, do not post to several lists with the same message.

  8. All messages should add to the body of knowledge. APCO reserves the right to reject or delete any message for any reason.

  9. State concisely and clearly the topic of your comments in the subject line. This allows subscribers to respond more appropriately to your posting and makes it easier for them to search the archives by subject.

  10. Abide by the following guidance to streamline eGroup communications:

    1. Only send a message to the entire list when it contains information that everyone can benefit from;

    2. Include only the relevant portions of the original message in your reply. Delete any header information, and put your response before the original posting;

    3. Send messages such as "thanks for the information" or "me, too" to individuals--not to the entire list. Do this by using the "Reply to Sender" link to the right of every message;

    4. Do not send administrative messages, such as remove me from the list, through the eGroup. Instead, use the Web interface to change your settings or to remove yourself from a list. If you are changing e-mail addresses, you do not need to remove yourself from the list and rejoin under your new e-mail address. Simply change your settings;

Related Policies and Terms

  1. PSConnect is provided as a subscription service (“Services”) to APCO members and other public safety communications professionals. APCO is not responsible for the opinions and information posted on this site by others. APCO disclaims all warranties with regard to information posted on this site, whether posted by APCO or subscribers.

  2. You hereby acknowledge and agree that PSConnect may only be used for lawful purposes. The Services are available only to persons who can form legally binding contracts under applicable law. Without limiting the foregoing, the Services are not available to individuals under the age of 18. If you do not qualify, you are not permitted to use the Services.

  3. The Services are provided subject to this Agreement, as it may be amended by APCO, and any guidelines, rules or operating policies that APCO may establish and post from time to time. By posting updated versions of the Agreement on its website, or otherwise providing notice to you, APCO may modify the terms of the Agreement and may discontinue or revise any or all aspects of the Services at its sole discretion. All such changes shall become effective upon posting of the revised Agreement on the PSConnect website.

  4. By posting material, the posting party warrants and represents that he or she owns the copyright with respect to such material or has received permission from the copyright owner. In addition, the posting party grants APCO and subscribers of PSConnect a non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty-free, worldwide license to display, copy, publish, distribute, transmit, print, and use such information or other material.

  5. Messages should not be posted if they encourage or facilitate subscribers to arrive at any agreement that either expressly or impliedly leads to price fixing, a boycott of another's business, or other conduct intended to illegally restrict free trade. Messages that encourage or facilitate an agreement about the following subjects are inappropriate: prices, discounts, or terms or conditions of sale; salaries; profits, profit margins, or cost data; market shares, sales territories, or markets; allocation of customers or territories; or selection, rejection, or termination of customers or suppliers.

  6. The site is not actively monitored for inappropriate postings and APCO does not undertake editorial control of postings. However, in the event that any inappropriate posting is brought to APCO’s attention, APCO has the right, but not the responsibility, to remove or amend postings.

  7. You will provide true, accurate, current, and complete information about yourself. You will not provide any false information or create a profile or post for anyone other than yourself without permission. You will not create more than one personal profile. If we disable your account, you will not create another one without APCO’s permission. APCO does not guarantee that PSConnect will be safe or secure. Use it at your own risk. You are solely responsible for maintaining the security of any proprietary data that you furnish.

  8. You will not use PSConnect to: (i) send or otherwise post unauthorized commercial communications, e.g., spam; (ii) collect subscriber content or information, or access PSConnect, using automated means, e.g., harvesting bots, robots, spiders, or scrapers; (iii) engage in unlawful multi-level marketing, such as a pyramid scheme; (iv) upload viruses or other malicious code; (v) do anything unlawful, misleading, malicious, or discriminatory; or (vi) engage in any practices that could disable, overburden, or impair the proper working of PSCconnect , such as a denial of service attack.

  9. By virtue of this Agreement, you are not granted a license to any software used in this subscription service. You will not, directly or indirectly: reverse engineer, decompile, disassemble, or otherwise attempt to discover the source code, object code, or underlying structure, ideas, or algorithms of, or found at or through the Services or any software, documentation, or data related to the Services ("Software"); remove any proprietary notices or labels from the Services or any Software, modify, translate, or create derivative works based on the Services or any Software; or copy, distribute, pledge, assign, or otherwise transfer or encumber rights to the Services or any Software. Violation of these restrictions may result in the termination of this Agreement.

  10. You acknowledge and agree that the Services and the company names and logos and all related product and service names, design marks and slogans, are the property of APCO or its affiliates or suppliers (collectively, the "Marks"). You are not authorized to use any of the Marks in any advertising, publicity or any other commercial manner without the prior written consent of APCO. Your use of the Services confers no title or ownership in the Services, the Software or the Marks and is not a sale of any rights in the Services, the Software or the Marks.

  11. You hereby agree to indemnify and hold harmless APCO and its business partners, third-party suppliers and providers, licensors, officers, directors, employees, distributors and agents against any damages, losses, liabilities, settlements, and expenses (including without limitation costs and reasonable attorneys' fees) in connection with any claim or action that arises from an alleged violation of the foregoing or otherwise arising from or relating to your use of the Services. In addition, you acknowledge and agree that APCO has the right to seek damages when you use the Services for unlawful purposes, in an unlawful manner, and/or in a manner inconsistent with the terms of this Agreement.

  12. In using the varied features of the Services, you may provide information (such as name, contact information, or other subscriber information). APCO may use this information and any technical information about your use of the Services to tailor its presentations to you, facilitate your movement through the Services, or communicate separately with you. PSConnect is intended to be advertiser-supported and APCO will sell a limited amount of advertising space in ways that are intended to be non-obtrusive, which may appear on any eGroup, blog, profile or other component of the PSCconnect site. Ads must not be false, misleading, fraudulent, or deceptive. Ads, or categories of ads, which receive a significant amount of negative subscriber feedback, or are otherwise deemed in violation of community standards will not be permitted. APCO may reject, edit or adjust any ad for any reason at its sole discretion.

  13. USE OF THE SERVICES AND ANY RELIANCE BY YOU UPON THE SERVICES, INCLUDING ANY ACTION TAKEN BY YOU BECAUSE OF SUCH USE OR RELIANCE, IS AT YOUR SOLE RISK. THE INFORMATION CONVEYED ON PSCONNECT DOES NOT SUPERCEDE LAW, POLICY OR REGULATION OF ANY JURISDICTION. THE SERVICES ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" AND APCO DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. YOUR SOLE REMEDY FOR ANY FAILURE OR NONPERFORMANCE OF THE SERVICES SHALL BE FOR APCO TO USE COMMERCIALLY REASONABLE EFFORTS TO ADJUST OR REPAIR THE SERVICES. APCO WILL NOT GUARANTEE A RESPONSE TIME OR SATISFACTORY RESOLUTION.

  14. TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES AND UNDER NO LEGAL THEORY, TORT, CONTRACT, OR OTHERWISE, SHALL APCO OR ANY OF ITS UNDERLYING SERVICE PROVIDERS, BUSINESS PARTNERS, INFORMATION PROVIDERS, ACCOUNT PROVIDERS, LICENSORS, OFFICERS, DIRECTORS, EMPLOYEES, DISTRIBUTORS OR AGENTS (COLLECTIVELY REFERRED TO FOR PURPOSES OF THIS SECTION AS "APCO") BE LIABLE TO YOU OR ANY OTHER PERSON FOR ANY MONEY DAMAGES, WHETHER DIRECT, INDIRECT, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, COVER, RELIANCE OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF APCO SHALL HAVE BEEN INFORMED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES, OR FOR ANY CLAIM BY ANY OTHER PARTY. IN THE EVENT THAT NOTWITHSTANDING THE FOREGOING, APCO IS FOUND LIABLE TO YOU FOR DAMAGES FROM ANY CAUSE WHATSOEVER, AND REGARDLESS OF THE FORM OF THE ACTION (WHETHER IN CONTRACT, TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE), PRODUCT LIABILITY OR OTHERWISE), THE LIABILITY OF APCO TO YOU WILL BE LIMITED TO THE AMOUNT YOU PAID FOR THE SERVICES. SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, SO THIS LIMITATION AND EXCLUSION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.

  15. You may not remove or export from the United States or allow the export or re-export of the Services, or any direct product thereof, including technical data, in violation of any restrictions, laws, or regulations of the United States or any other applicable country. For subscribers outside the United States, you consent to having your personal data transferred to and processed in the United States.

  16. If any provision of the Agreement is found to be unenforceable or invalid, that provision will be limited or eliminated to the minimum extent necessary so that this Agreement will otherwise remain in full force and effect and enforceable.

  17. APCO and you agree that the Agreement is the complete and exclusive statement of the mutual understanding of the parties and supersedes and cancels all previous written and oral agreements, communications, and other understandings relating to the subject matter of the Agreement, and that all waivers and modifications must be in a writing signed by both parties, except as otherwise provided herein. No delay or omission by either party in exercising any right or remedy under this Agreement or existing law or equity shall be considered a waiver of such right or remedy.

  18. No agency, partnership, joint venture, or employment is created as a result of the Agreement, and you do not have any authority of any kind to bind APCO in any respect whatsoever.

  19. In any action or proceeding to enforce rights under the Agreement, the prevailing party will be entitled to recover its costs and attorneys' fees.

  20. All matters relating to the Agreement shall be governed and enforced according to the laws of the State of Florida, USA without regard to its choice of law or conflict of law provisions. Such lawsuit shall be commenced in the courts of the State of Florida, County of Volusia, or the federal court having subject matter jurisdiction and encompassing the County of Volusia (collectively, the “Florida Courts”). The parties further acknowledge and agree that they will not object to jurisdiction or venue in the Florida Courts pursuant to the foregoing.