Whyalla City Council Digital Terms of Use
1. Disclaimers
Whyalla City Council (‘Council’) does not endorse the views or material contained in the contributions of members of the public or third-party sites. Council is not responsible for the content, availability or performance of external sites linked to or hosting Council Online Services.
Council Online Services are provided on an “as is” and “as available” basis. You understand and agree that you use Council Online Services at your own discretion and risk and that you will be solely responsible for any damage or loss whatsoever that results from such use. Council disclaims to the fullest extent permitted by law all guarantees, warranties or representations of merchantability, acceptable quality and fitness for any purpose, security, reliability, accuracy, timeliness, and performance of Council Online Services and any content contained therein.
2. Council Online Communities
By utilising Council Online Services, you understand and agree to accepting compliance with these Digital Terms of Use. This includes granting Council permission to direct message your account (if required) in response to any comments you make on any of Council’s Online Services.
While encouraging a range of views and feedback - including rigorous debate and the sharing of diverse opinions - Council expects community members to be open and honest while treating each other with respect and courtesy at all times. These standards apply to interaction within all Council Online Services, including official Council accounts established on third-party social media sites.
You understand and agree that Council has ultimate control over all content on its online services. Council may edit, remove or exercise its discretion not to accept or publish your contribution for legal or operational reasons, including if Council considers it to be:
- defamatory, or otherwise unlawful
- unreasonably bringing a party into disrepute
- harassment, discrimination, racial vilification, or contempt
- intentionally false or misleading
- an infringement of intellectual property rights, including copyright
- abusive, offensive, obscene, threatening, insulting, humiliating, intimidating, provocative, hateful or using inappropriate language
- inappropriate, off-topic, repetitive or vexatious
- For example, Council reserves the right to reject contributions that have been widely canvassed in the forum. It also reserves the right to reject contributions from participants who seek to dominate the discussion
- political campaigning on behalf of an individual
- compromising the privacy of any person or containing inappropriate personal information
- seeking to endorse commercial products or services; or promoting personal / professional interests
- seeking to directly solicit donations
- deliberate provocation of other community members
- impersonating someone else, including purporting to be representing Council without Council’s consent
- posting on behalf of a suspended member
- inciting any of the above
Council reserves the right to close comments on posts that may elicit harmful, overly negative, defamatory or otherwise unlawful user contributions.
Any users found to have breached these Digital Terms of Use will have their offending material removed and be issued a warning by Council, which will be delivered via direct message to the user's account. Repeated breaches will result in your account and / or contributions being blocked from Council’s Online Services. Blocked users will remain blocked for a minimum of 12 months. Once the 12 months is complete, the user will need to request in writing to have the block removed (by emailing council@whyalla.sa.gov.au or via a written submission). The user will be informed if their request has been successful and will be sent a copy of these Digital Terms of Use. Any subsequent breaches of these Digital Terms of Use will result in an immediate ban. This subsequent ban will either be permanent or for a minimum of three years – this will be at Council’s discretion, dependent on the nature of the breach.
Council values the role of its community in guiding content standards and etiquette among members. If you have concerns about inappropriate content on a Council Online Service, you can alert the moderator of that space.
Council will only join online conversations where appropriate / possible and cannot respond to every query / concern. Council does not engage in conversations outside of its official Council Online Services or usual communications channels.
When accessing or participating in a Council-managed space on a third-party platform, such as channels, pages or feeds hosted on an external site, you agree to comply with the terms and conditions specified by that third-party platform.
Council recommends you understand the privacy settings for each platform with which you engage and choose appropriate options to protect your personal details and content shared.
3. Contributing Content
You are responsible for all content you contribute to any Council Online Services, including text, photos, videos, audio and links (‘Your Content’).
By contributing content to any Council Online Service, you grant Council a royalty-free, non-exclusive licence to use Your Content in any way that Council chooses, and in any media worldwide. This may include the use of your photos or video on any Council platform or publication. You retain copyright and any other rights you hold in Your Content and can continue to share and commercialise Your Content as you wish.
You confirm you own or have the right to use any copyright material included in Your Content (including music, photos, quotes and excerpts of audio or video), that you have permission of anyone appearing or performing in Your Content and that you are not infringing any person’s rights by submitting the content to the Council. You also confirm you have, where appropriate, sought the consent of the parent or guardian of any person under the age of 18 who is featured in Your Content.
Please ensure you keep your own copies of Your Content as Council may not archive, store or back-up Your Content nor continue to make Your Content accessible online.
Council will endeavour to provide you with an appropriate credit where possible when using Your Content on Council platforms, though you understand and agree this may not always be possible.
Please ensure you protect the privacy of yourself and others by not including any personal information in your comments (ie email addresses, date of birth, private addresses, phone numbers). If Council requires any of this information, it will contact you directly / privately.
4. Use Of Council Content
All intellectual property rights in the content, software and systems owned by or licensed to Council on any Council Online Services, including logos, images, names, designs, trademarks and copyright (‘Council Content’) are reserved to Council and its licensors. Such content is provided for your personal, non-commercial use only. Unless specifically noted in the House Rules for a particular service, you may not otherwise reproduce, republish, modify, adapt, translate, prepare derivative works from, reverse engineer or disassemble Council Content, without obtaining Council's prior written permission. You agree not to remove, obscure, or alter any Council copyright notice or trademark on any content you access and use. You also agree not to use Council Content in a way that implies endorsement by the Council or any person included in the materials. If you are interested in using Council Content other than for personal, non-commercial use, please contact us for more information (via our online contact form, by emailing customer.service@whyalla.sa.gov.au or phoning +61 (08) 8640 3444).
5. Enquiries/Complaints
If you have concerns about inappropriate or infringing content accessed through any Council Online Service, please alert the moderator of that service where available.
You can also contact Council using the online contact form, by emailing customer.service@whyalla.sa.gov.au or phoning +61 (08) 8640 3444.