Privacy & Terms

 

The Boston Real Estate Observer Privacy Policy

The Boston Real Estate Observer (hereinafter, “Website”) has established this privacy policy to explain how user information is protected, collected, and used, which may be updated by the Website from time to time.

We reserve the right, at our sole discretion, to change, modify or otherwise alter this policy. Such modifications shall become effective immediately upon the posting thereof. Users must review this policy on a regular basis to keep apprised of any changes.

Should you object to any condition of this privacy policy, or any subsequent modifications thereto, your only recourse is to immediately discontinue use of the Website.

1. Protecting your privacy

  • The Website does not knowingly collect any information from persons under the age of thirteen. If the Website learns that a posting is by a person under the age of thirteen, the Website will remove that post.
  • The Website, or people who post on the Website, may provide links to third party websites, which may have different privacy practices. We are not responsible for, nor have any control over, the privacy policies of third party websites, and encourage all users to read the privacy policies of each and every website visited.

2. Data we collect

We collect information to provide better services to all of our users – from figuring out basic stuff like which language you speak, to more complex things like which ads you’ll find most useful or the people who matter most to you online.

We collect information in two ways:

  • Information you give us. For example, many of our services require you to sign up or register. When you do, we’ll ask for personal information, like your name, email address, or telephone number.
  • Information we get from your use of our services. We may collect information about the services that you use and how you use them, like when you visit a website that uses our advertising services or you view and interact with our ads and content. This information includes:
    • Device information. We may collect device-specific information (such as your hardware model, operating system version, unique device identifiers, and mobile network information including phone number).
    • Log information. When you use our services or view content provided by the Website, we may automatically collect and store certain information in server logs. This may include:
      • details of how you used our service, such as your search queries.
      • Internet protocol address.
      • device event information such as crashes, system activity, hardware settings, browser type, browser language, the date and time of your request and referral URL.
      • cookies that may uniquely identify your browser.
    • Cookies and anonymous identifiers.  We use various technologies to collect and store information when you visit the Website, and this may include sending one or more cookies or anonymous identifiers to your device. The Website will not (and will not allow any third party to) use the Website to track or collect personally identifiable information of Internet users, nor will the Website (or will the Website allow any third party to) associate any data gathered from the Website (or such third parties’ website(s)) with any personally identifying information from any source as part of your use (or such third parties’ use) of the Website.

3. Data we store

  • All comment and forum postings are stored in our database, and may be deleted at the discretion of the Website.
  • Third parties may be placing and reading cookies on your browser, or using web beacons to collect information, in the course of ads being served on the Website.
  • Our server logs and other records are stored for temporary periods of time, and are occasionally purged.
  • Although we make good faith efforts to store our information in a secure operating environment that is not available to the public, we cannot guarantee complete security.
  • We do not store your credit card information in any form whatsoever.

4. Archiving and display of the Website postings by search engines and other sites

  • Search engines and other sites not affiliated with the Website – including archive.org, google.com, etc. – may archive or otherwise make available the Website postings.

5. The Website only shares personal information with other companies or individuals outside of the Website in the following limited circumstances:

  • We have your consent. We require opt-in consent for the sharing of any sensitive personal information.
  • We have a good faith belief that access, use, preservation or disclosure of such information is reasonably necessary to:
    • satisfy any applicable law, regulation, legal process or enforceable governmental request.
    • enforce applicable Terms of Service, including investigation of potential violations thereof.
    • detect, prevent, or otherwise address fraud, security or technical issues.
    • protect against imminent harm to the rights, property or safety of the Website, its users or the public as required or permitted by law.

If the Website becomes involved in a merger, acquisition, or any form of sale of some or all of its assets, it is your responsibility to review and apprise yourself of any updates to the current privacy policy.

We may share with third parties certain pieces of aggregated, non-personal information, such as the number of users who searched for a particular term, for example, or how many users clicked on a particular advertisement. Such information does not identify you individually.

6. International Users

  • By visiting the Website and providing us with data, you acknowledge and agree that due to the international dimension of the Website we may use the data collected in the course of our relationship for the purposes identified in this policy or in our other communications with you, including the transmission of information outside your resident jurisdiction. In addition, please understand that such data may be stored on servers located in the United States. By providing us with your data, you consent to the transfer of such data.

 

The Boston Real Estate Observer Terms of Service

1. ACCEPTANCE OF TERMS

The Boston Real Estate Observer (hereinafter, “Website”) provides readers with articles, and links to external websites (collectively referred to hereafter as “the Service”) subject to the following Terms of Use (referred to hereafter as “Terms”).

By using the Service in any way, you are agreeing to comply with these Terms. In addition, when using particular Website services, you agree to abide by any applicable posted guidelines for all Website services, which may change from time to time.

Should you object to any term or condition of these Terms, any guidelines, or any subsequent modifications thereto or become dissatisfied with the Website in any way, your only recourse is to immediately discontinue use of the Website.

2. MODIFICATIONS TO THIS AGREEMENT

We reserve the right, at our sole discretion, to change, modify or otherwise alter these terms and conditions at any time. Such modifications shall become effective immediately upon the posting thereof.  You must review this agreement on a regular basis to keep yourself apprised of any changes.

3. CONTENT

You understand that all postings, messages, text, files, images, photos, video, sounds, or other materials (”Content”) posted on, transmitted through, or linked from the Service, are the sole responsibility of the person from whom such Content originated. More specifically, you are entirely responsible for all Content that you post, email or otherwise make available via the Service. You understand that the Website does not control, and is not responsible for Content made available through the Service, and that by using the Service, you may be exposed to Content that is offensive, indecent, inaccurate, misleading, slanderous, or otherwise objectionable. Furthermore, the Website and Content available through the Service may contain links to other websites, which are completely independent of the Website. The Website makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy, completeness or authenticity of the information contained in any such site, or in the Website itself.

Your linking to any other websites is at your own risk. You agree that you must evaluate, and bear all risks associated with, the use of any content, that you may not rely on said Content, and that under no circumstances will the Website be liable in any way for any Content or for any loss or damage of any kind incurred as a result of the use of any Content posted, emailed or otherwise made available via the Service. You acknowledge that the Website does not pre-screen or approve Content, but that the Website shall have the right (but not the obligation) in its sole discretion to refuse, delete or move any Content that is available via the Service, for violating the letter or spirit of the Terms or for any other reason.

4. THIRD PARTY CONTENT, SITES,ANDSERVICES

The Website and Content available through the Service may contain features and functionalities that may link you or provide you with access to third party content which is completely independent of the Website, including websites, directories, servers, networks, systems, information and databases, applications, software, programs, products or services, and the Internet as a whole.

Your interactions with organizations and/or individuals found on or through the Service, including payment and delivery of goods or services, and any other terms, conditions, warranties or representations associated with such dealings, are solely between you and such organizations and/or individuals.

You should make whatever investigation you feel necessary or appropriate before proceeding with any online or offline transaction with any of these third parties.

You agree that the Website shall not be responsible or liable for any loss or damage of any sort incurred as the result of any such dealings. If there is a dispute between participants on this site, or between users and any third party, you understand and agree that the Website is under no obligation to become involved. In the event that you have a dispute with one or more other users, you hereby release the Website, its officers, employees, agents and successors in rights from claims, demands and damages (actual and consequential) of every kind or nature, known or unknown, suspected and unsuspected, disclosed and undisclosed, arising out of or in any way related to such disputes and / or our service. If you are a California resident, you waive California Civil Code Section 1542, which says: “A general release does not extend to claims which the creditor does not know or suspect to exist in his favor at the time of executing the release, which, if known by him must have materially affected his settlement with the debtor.”

5. NOTIFICATION OF CLAIMS OF INFRINGEMENT

If you believe that your work has been copied in a way that constitutes copyright infringement, or your intellectual property rights have been otherwise violated, please notify the Website’s agent for notice of claims of copyright or other intellectual property infringement (”Agent”), via our Contact Us page.

The Website will remove the infringing posting(s), subject to the procedures outlined in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).

6. PRIVACYANDINFORMATION DISCLOSURE

The Website’s Privacy Policy explains how we treat your personal data and protect your privacy when you use the Website. By using the Website, you agree that the Website can use such data in accordance with our privacy policies.

7. CONDUCT

You agree not to post, email, or otherwise make available Content:

a) that is unlawful, harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, defamatory, libelous, invasive of another’s privacy, or is harmful to minors in any way;

b) that is pornographic,

c) that harasses, degrades, intimidates or is hateful toward an individual or group of individuals on the basis of religion, gender, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, age, or disability;

d) that violates the Fair Housing Act by stating, in any notice or ad for the sale or rental of any dwelling, a discriminatory preference based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status or handicap (or violates any state or local law prohibiting discrimination on the basis of these or other characteristics);

e) that impersonates any person or entity, including, but not limited to, a Website associate, or falsely states or otherwise misrepresents your affiliation with a person or entity (this provision does not apply to messages that are lawful non-deceptive parodies of public figures.);

f) that includes personal or identifying information about another person without that person’s explicit consent;

g) that is false, deceptive, misleading, deceitful, misinformative, or constitutes “bait and switch”;

h) that infringes any patent, trademark, trade secret, copyright or other proprietary rights of any party, or Content that you do not have a right to make available under any law or under contractual or fiduciary relationships;

i) that constitutes or contains “affiliate marketing,” “link referral code,” “junk mail,” “spam,” “chain letters,” “pyramid schemes,” or unsolicited commercial advertisement;

j) that constitutes or contains any form of advertising or solicitation if: posted in areas of the Website which are not designated for such purposes; or emailed to the Website users who have not indicated in writing that it is ok to contact them about other services, products or commercial interests.

k) that includes links to commercial services or web sites, except as allowed in “services”;

l) 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;

m) that disrupts the normal flow of dialogue with an excessive number of messages (flooding attack) to the Service, or that otherwise negatively affects other users’ ability to use the Service; or

n) that employs misleading email addresses, or forged headers or otherwise manipulated identifiers in order to disguise the origin of Content transmitted through the Service.

Additionally, you agree not to:

p) contact anyone who has asked not to be contacted;

q) “stalk” or otherwise harass anyone;

r) collect personal data about other users for commercial or unlawful purposes;

s) use automated means, including spiders, robots, crawlers, data mining tools, or the like to download data from the Service – unless expressly permitted by the Website;

t) post non-local or otherwise irrelevant Content, repeatedly post the same or similar Content or otherwise impose an unreasonable or disproportionately large load on our infrastructure;

u) post the same item or service in more than one classified category or forum, or in more than one metropolitan area;

v) attempt to gain unauthorized access to the Website’s computer systems or engage in any activity that disrupts, diminishes the quality of, interferes with the performance of, or impairs the functionality of, the Service or the Website; or

w) use any form of automated device or computer program that enables the submission of postings on the Website without each posting being manually entered by the author thereof (an “automated posting device”), including without limitation, the use of any such automated posting device to submit postings in bulk, or for automatic submission of postings at regular intervals.

8. NO SPAM POLICY

You understand and agree that sending unsolicited email advertisements to the Website email addresses or through the Website computer systems, which is expressly prohibited by these Terms, will use or cause to be used servers located inCalifornia. Any unauthorized use of the Website computer systems is a violation of these Terms and certain federal and state laws, including without limitation the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (18 U.S.C. § 1030 et seq.), Section 502 of the California Penal Code and Section 17538.45 of the California Business and Professions Code. Such violations may subject the sender and his or her agents to civil and criminal penalties.

9. LIMITATIONS ON SERVICE

You acknowledge that the Website may establish limits concerning use of the Service, including the maximum number of days that Content will be retained by the Service, the maximum number and size of postings, email messages, or other Content that may be transmitted or stored by the Service, and the frequency with which you may access the Service. You agree that the Website has no responsibility or liability for the deletion or failure to store any Content maintained or transmitted by the Service. You acknowledge that the Website reserves the right at any time to modify or discontinue the Service (or any part thereof) with or without notice, and that the Website shall not be liable to you or to any third party for any modification, suspension or discontinuance of the Service.

10. ACCESS TO THE SERVICE

The Website grants you a limited, revocable, nonexclusive license to access the Service for your own personal use. This license does not include any collection, aggregation, copying, duplication, display or derivative use of the Service nor any use of data mining, robots, spiders, or similar data gathering and extraction tools for any purpose unless expressly permitted by the Website. A limited exception is provided to general purpose internet search engines and non-commercial public archives that use such tools to gather information for the sole purpose of displaying hyperlinks to the Service, provided they each do so from a stable IP address or range of IP addresses using an easily identifiable agent and comply with our robots.txt file. “General purpose internet search engine” does not include a website or search engine or other service that specializes in classified listings or in any subset of classifieds listings such as jobs, housing, for sale, services, or personals, or which is in the business of providing classified ad listing services.

The Website permits you to display on your website, or create a hyperlink on your website to, individual postings on the Service so long as such use is for noncommercial and/or news reporting purposes only (e.g., for use in personal web blogs or personal online media). If the total number of such postings displayed or linked to on your website exceeds one hundred (100) postings, your use will be presumed to be in violation of these Terms, absent express permission granted by the Website to do so. You may also create a hyperlink to the home page of the Website so long as the link does not portray the Website, its employees, or its affiliates in a false, misleading, derogatory, or otherwise offensive matter.

The Website offers various parts of the Service in RSS format so that users can embed individual feeds into a personal website or blog, or view postings through third party software news aggregators. The Website permits you to display, excerpt from, and link to the RSS feeds on your personal website or personal web blog, provided that (a) your use of the RSS feed is for personal, non-commercial purposes only, (b) each title is correctly linked back to the original post on the Service and redirects the user to the post when the user clicks on it, (c) you provide, adjacent to the RSS feed, proper attribution to ‘the Website as the source, (d) your use or display does not suggest that the Website promotes or endorses any third party causes, ideas, web sites, products or services, (e) you do not redistribute the RSS feed, and (f) your use does not overburden the Website’s systems. The Website reserves all rights in the content of the RSS feeds and may terminate any RSS feed at any time.

Use of the Service beyond the scope of authorized access granted to you by the Website immediately terminates said permission or license. In order to collect, aggregate, copy, duplicate, display or make derivative use of the Service or any Content made available via the Service for other purposes (including commercial purposes) not stated herein, you must first obtain a license from the Website.

11. TERMINATION OF SERVICE

You agree that the Website, in its sole discretion, has the right (but not the obligation) to delete or deactivate your account, block your email or IP address, or otherwise terminate your access to or use of the Service (or any part thereof), immediately and without notice, and remove and discard any Content within the Service, for any reason, including, without limitation, if the Website believes that you have acted inconsistently with the letter or spirit of the Terms. Further, you agree that the Website shall not be liable to you or any third-party for any termination of your access to the Service.

Further, you agree not to attempt to use the Service after said termination.

Sections 2, 4, 6 and 10-16 shall survive termination of these Terms.

12. PROPRIETARY RIGHTS

The Service is protected to the maximum extent permitted by copyright laws and international treaties. Content displayed on or through the Service is protected by copyright as a collective work and/or compilation, pursuant to copyrights laws, and international conventions. Any reproduction, modification, creation of derivative works from or redistribution of the site or the collective work, and/or copying or reproducing the sites or any portion thereof to any other server or location for further reproduction or redistribution is prohibited without the express written consent of the Website. You further agree not to reproduce, duplicate or copy Content from the Service without the express written consent of the Website, and agree to abide by any and all copyright notices displayed on the Service. You may not decompile or disassemble, reverse engineer or otherwise attempt to discover any source code contained in the Service. Without limiting the foregoing, you agree not to reproduce, duplicate, copy, sell, resell or exploit for any commercial purposes, any aspect of the Service. the Website is a registered mark in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Although the Website does not claim ownership of content that its users post, by posting Content to any public area of the Service, you automatically grant, and you represent and warrant that you have the right to grant, to the Website an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, fully paid, worldwide license to use, copy, perform, display, and distribute said Content and to prepare derivative works of, or incorporate into other works, said Content, and to grant and authorize sublicenses (through multiple tiers) of the foregoing. Furthermore, by posting Content to any public area of the Service, you automatically grant the Website all rights necessary to prohibit any subsequent aggregation, display, copying, duplication, reproduction, or exploitation of the Content on the Service by any party for any purpose.

13. DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTIES

YOU AGREE THAT USE OF THE WEBSITEANDTHE SERVICE IS ENTIRELY AT YOUR OWN RISK. THE WEBSITEANDTHE SERVICEAREPROVIDED ON AN “AS IS” OR “AS AVAILABLE” BASIS, WITHOUT ANY WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND.ALLEXPRESSANDIMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE,ANDNON-INFRINGEMENT OF PROPRIETARY RIGHTSAREEXPRESSLY DISCLAIMED TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW. TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, THE EBSITE DISCLAIMS ANY WARRANTIES FOR THE SECURITY, RELIABILITY, TIMELINESS, ACCURACY,ANDPERFORMANCE OF THE WEBSITEANDTHE SERVICE. TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, THE WEBSITE DISCLAIMS ANY WARRANTIES FOR OTHER SERVICES OR GOODS RECEIVED THROUGH OR ADVERTISED ON THE WEBSITE OR SERVICE, OR ACCESSED THROUGH ANY LINKS ON THE WEBSITE. TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, THE WEBSITE DISCLAIMS ANY WARRANTIES FOR VIRUSES OR OTHER HARMFUL COMPONENTS IN CONNECTION WITH THE WEBSITE OR THE SERVICE. Some jurisdictions do not allow the disclaimer of implied warranties. In such jurisdictions, some of the foregoing disclaimers may not apply to you insofar as they relate to implied warranties.

14. LIMITATIONS OF LIABILITY

UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES SHALL THE WEBSITE BE LIABLE FOR DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR EXEMPLARY DAMAGES (EVEN IF THE WEBSITEHASBEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES), RESULTING FROM ANY ASPECT OF YOUR USE OF THE WEBSITE OR THE SERVICE, WHETHER THE DAMAGES ARISE FROM USE OR MISUSE OF THE WEBSITE OR THE SERVICE, FROM INABILITY TO USE THE WEBSITE OR THE SERVICE, OR THE INTERRUPTION, SUSPENSION, MODIFICATION, ALTERATION, OR TERMINATION OF THE WEBSITE OR THE SERVICE. SUCH LIMITATION SHALL ALSO APPLY WITH RESPECT TO DAMAGES INCURRED BY REASON OF OTHER SERVICES OR PRODUCTS RECEIVED THROUGH OR ADVERTISED IN CONNECTION WITH THE WEBSITE OR THE SERVICE OR ANY LINKS ON THE WEBSITE, ASWELLAS BY REASON OF ANY INFORMATION OR ADVICE RECEIVED THROUGH OR ADVERTISED IN CONNECTION WITH THE WEBSITE OR THE SERVICE OR ANY LINKS ON THE WEBSITE. THESE LIMITATIONS SHALL APPLY TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW. In some jurisdictions, limitations of liability are not permitted. In such jurisdictions, some of the foregoing limitation may not apply to you.

15. INDEMNITY

You agree to indemnify and hold the Website, its officers, subsidiaries, affiliates, successors, assigns, directors, officers, agents, service providers, suppliers and employees, harmless from any claim or demand, including reasonable attorney fees and court costs, made by any third party due to or arising out of Content you submit, post or make available through the Service, your use of the Service, your violation of the Terms, your breach of any of the representations and warranties herein, or your violation of any rights of another.

16. GENERAL INFORMATION

The Terms constitute the entire agreement between you and the Website and govern your use of the Service, superseding any prior agreements between you and the Website. The Terms and the relationship between you and the Website shall be governed by the laws of the State ofTexaswithout regard to its conflict of law provisions. You and the Website agree to submit to the personal and exclusive jurisdiction of the courts located within thecountyofTravis,Texas. The failure of the Website to exercise or enforce any right or provision of the Terms shall not constitute a waiver of such right or provision. If any provision of the Terms is found by a court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, the parties nevertheless agree that the court should endeavor to give effect to the parties’ intentions as reflected in the provision, and the other provisions of the Terms remain in full force and effect. You agree that regardless of any statute or law to the contrary, any claim or cause of action arising out of or related to use of the Service or the Terms must be filed within one (1) year after such claim or cause of action arose or be forever barred.

17. VIOLATION OF TERMSANDLIQUIDATED DAMAGES

Please report any violations of the Terms, by flagging the posting(s) for review, or by contacting us via our Contact Us page.

Our failure to act with respect to a breach by you or others does not waive our right to act with respect to subsequent or similar breaches.

You understand and agree that, because damages are often difficult to quantify, if it becomes necessary for the Website to pursue legal action to enforce these Terms, you will be liable to pay the Website the following amounts as liquidated damages, which you accept as reasonable estimates of the Website’s damages for the specified breaches of these Terms:

a. If you post a message that (1) impersonates any person or entity; (2) falsely states or otherwise misrepresents your affiliation with a person or entity; or (3) that includes personal or identifying information about another person without that person’s explicit consent, you agree to pay the Website one thousand dollars ($1,000) for each such message. This provision does not apply to messages that are lawful non-deceptive parodies of public figures.

b. If the Website establishes limits on the frequency with which you may access the Service, or terminates your access to or use of the Service, you agree to pay the Website one hundred dollars ($100) for each message posted in excess of such limits or for each day on which you access the Website in excess of such limits, whichever is higher.

c. If you send unsolicited email advertisements to the Website email addresses or through the Website computer systems, you agree to pay the Website twenty-five dollars ($25) for each such email.

d. If you post messages in violation of these Terms, other than as described above, you agree to pay the Website one hundred dollars ($100) for each such message. In its sole discretion, the Website may elect to issue a warning before assessing damages.

e. If you aggregate, display, copy, duplicate, reproduce, or otherwise exploit for any purpose any Content (except for your own Content) in violation of these Terms without the Website’s express written permission, you agree to pay the Website three thousand dollars ($3,000) for each day on which you engage in such conduct.

Otherwise, you agree to pay the Website’s actual damages, to the extent such actual damages can be reasonably calculated. Notwithstanding any other provision of these Terms, the Website retains the right to seek the remedy of specific performance of any term contained in these Terms, or a preliminary or permanent injunction against the breach of any such term or in aid of the exercise of any power granted in these Terms, or any combination thereof.

f. Comments to blog posts are welcome, but those that are derogatory and/or libelous in nature, may be removed, at the Website’s discretion.