LLx Terms of Service (TOS)

Welcome to LLx. The MIT Lincoln Laboratory Supercomputing Center (LLSC) Online Education Program uses the LLx Open edX platform to provide course materials for individuals who want to expand their understanding of topics of interest to the High Performance Computing Community and/or develop greater understanding of the design and construction of engineering systems. Please read these Terms of Service (“TOS”) and the LLx Privacy Policy and Honor Code prior to registering for LLx or using any portion of the LLx website (the “Site,” which consists of all content and pages located within the bwedx.mit.edu web domain), including accessing any course material, chat rooms, or other electronic services. These TOS, the Privacy Policy and the Honor Code are agreements (the “Agreements”) between you and LLx. By using the Site, you accept and agree to be legally bound by the Agreements, whether or not you are a registered user. If you do not understand or do not wish to be bound by the terms of the Agreements, you should not use the Site.

LLx reserves the right to modify these TOS at any time without advance notice. Any changes to these TOS will be effective immediately upon posting on this page, with an updated effective date. By accessing the Site after any changes have been made, you signify your agreement on a prospective basis to the modified TOS and all of the changes. Be sure to return to this page periodically to ensure familiarity with the most current version of these TOS.

DESCRIPTION OF LLx

LLx offers online courses that include opportunities for learner-to-learner interactivity, individual assessment of a student’s work and, for students who demonstrate their mastery of subjects, other acknowledgment.

RULES FOR ONLINE CONDUCT

You agree that you are responsible for your own use of the Site and for your User Postings. “User Postings” include all content submitted, posted, published or distributed on the Site by you or other users of the Site, including but not limited to all forum posts, wiki edits, notes, questions, comments, videos and file uploads. You agree that you will use the Site in compliance with these TOS, the Honor Code and all applicable local, state, national and international laws, rules and regulations, including copyright laws, any laws regarding the transmission of technical data exported from your country of residence, and all United States export control laws.

As a condition of your use of the LLx services, you will not use the Site in any manner intended to damage, disable, overburden or impair any LLx server or the network(s) connected to any LLx server or to interfere with any other party’s use and enjoyment of the Site. You may not attempt to gain unauthorized access to the Site, other accounts, computer systems or networks connected to any LLx server through hacking, password mining or any other means. You may not obtain or attempt to obtain any materials or information stored on the Site, its servers or associated computers through any means not intentionally made available through the Site.

THE FOLLOWING LIST OF ITEMS IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED ON THE SITE:

Content that defames, harasses or threatens others;
Content that discusses illegal activities with the intent to commit them;
Content that infringes another’s intellectual property, including, but not limited to, copyrights or trademarks;
Profane, pornographic, obscene, indecent or unlawful content;
Advertising or any form of commercial solicitation;
Content related to partisan political activities;
Viruses, trojan horses, worms, time bombs, corrupted files, malware, spyware or any other similar software that may damage the operation of another’s computer or property; and
Content that contains intentionally inaccurate information or that is posted with the intent of misleading others.

Furthermore, you agree not to scrape, or otherwise download in bulk, any Site content, including but not limited to a list or directory of users on the system, on-line textbooks, User Postings or user information. You agree not to misrepresent or attempt to misrepresent your identity while using the Site (although you are welcome and encouraged to use an anonymous username in the forums and to act in a manner that keeps your identity concealed).

USER ACCOUNTS AND AUTHORITY

In order to participate fully in Site activities, you must provide your name, an email address and a user password in order to create a user account (“User Account”). You agree that you will never divulge or share access or access information for your User Account with any third party for any reason. In setting up your User Account, you may be prompted to enter additional optional information (e.g., your address). You represent that all information provided by you is accurate and current. You agree to maintain and update your information to keep it accurate and current.

We care about the confidentiality and security of your personal information. Please see our Privacy Policy for more information about what information about you LLx collects and how LLx uses that information.

YOUR RIGHT TO USE CONTENT ON THE SITE

Unless indicated as being in the public domain, the content on the Site is protected by United States and foreign copyright laws. Unless otherwise expressly stated on the Site, the texts, exams, video, images and other instructional materials provided with the courses offered on this Site are for your personal use in connection with those courses only. We aim to make much of the LLx course content available under more open license terms that will help create a vibrant ecosystem of contributors and further LLx’s goal of making education accessible and affordable to the world.

Certain reference documents, digital textbooks, articles and other information on the Site are used with the permission of third parties, and use of that information is subject to certain rules and conditions, which will be posted along with the information. By using this Site you agree to abide by all such rules and conditions.

You agree to retain all copyright and other notices on any content you obtain from the Site. All rights in the Site and its content, if not expressly granted, are reserved.

USER POSTINGS

User Postings Representations and Warranties. By submitting or distributing your User Postings, you affirm, represent and warrant (1) that you have the necessary rights, licenses, consents and/or permissions to reproduce and publish the User Postings and to authorize LLx and its users to reproduce, modify, publish and otherwise use and distribute your User Postings in a manner consistent with the licenses granted by you below, and (2) that neither your submission of your User Postings nor the exercise of the licenses granted below will infringe or violate the rights of any third party. You, and not LLx, are solely responsible for your User Postings and the consequences of posting or publishing them.

License Grant to LLx. By submitting or distributing your User Postings, you hereby grant to LLxa worldwide, non-exclusive, transferable, assignable, sub licensable, fully paid-up, royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable right and license to host, transfer, display, perform, reproduce, modify, distribute, re-distribute, relicense and otherwise use, make available and exploit your User Postings, in whole or in part, in any form and in any media formats and through any media channels (now known or hereafter developed).

License Grant to LLx Users. By submitting or distributing your User Postings, you hereby grant to each user of the Site a non-exclusive license to access and use your User Postings in connection with their use of the Site for their own personal purposes.

CERTIFICATES, ETC.

Generally. LLx may offer a certificate of achievement or other acknowledgment (a “Certificate”) for students who, in their judgment, have satisfactorily demonstrated mastery of the course material. Certificates LLx will be issued by under the LLSC name. The decision whether a Certificate will be awarded to a given student will be solely within the discretion of the LLSC. LLx providing courses on the Site may choose not to offer a Certificate for some courses.

No Other Enrollment. When you take a course through LLx, you will not be an applicant for admission to, or enrolled in, any degree program of MIT as a result of registering for or completing a course provided by the LLx site. You will not be entitled to use any of the LLSC resources of the beyond the online courses provided on the Site, nor will you be eligible to receive student privileges or benefits provided to students enrolled in degree programs of the MIT.

TRADEMARKS

Use of LLx, LLSC, Beaver Works, edX, MIT Supercloud, edX, MIT, Trademarks and Service Marks The “LLx,” and “MIT,” names, logos and seals are trademarks (“Trademarks”) of the respective entities. You may not use any of these Trademarks, or any variations thereof, without the owner’s prior written consent. You may not use any of these Trademarks, or any variations thereof, for promotional purposes, or in any way that deliberately or inadvertently claims, suggests or, in these institutions’ sole judgment, gives the appearance or impression of a relationship with or endorsement by these institutions.

All Trademarks not owned by LLx that appear on the Site or on or through the services made available on or through the Site, if any, are the property of their respective owners.

Nothing contained on the Site should be construed as granting, by implication, estoppel or otherwise, any license or right to use any Trademark displayed on the Site without the written permission of the owner of the applicable Trademark.

DIGITAL MILLENNIUM COPYRIGHT ACT

Copyright owners who believe their material has been infringed on the Site should contact edX’s designated copyright agent at dmca-agent@edX.org or at 141 Portland St. 9th Floor, Cambridge, MA 02139, Attention: edX DMCA Agent/General Counsel.

Notification must include:

Identification of the copyrighted work, or, in the case of multiple works at the same location, a representative list of such works at that site.
Identification of the material that is claimed to be infringing or to be the subject of infringing activity. You must include sufficient information for us to locate the material (e.g., URL, IP address, computer name).
Information for us to be able to contact the complaining party (e.g., email address, phone number).
A statement that the complaining party believes that the use of the material has not been authorized by the copyright owner or an authorized agent.
A statement that the information in the notification is accurate and that the complaining party is authorized to act on behalf of the copyright owner.

DISCLAIMERS OF WARRANTY / LIMITATIONS OF LIABILITIES

THE SITE AND ANY INFORMATION, CONTENT OR SERVICES MADE AVAILABLE ON OR THROUGH THE SITE ARE PROVIDED “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE” WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND (EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR OTHERWISE), INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NON-INFRINGEMENT, EXCEPT INSOFAR AS ANY SUCH IMPLIED WARRANTIES MAY NOT BE DISCLAIMED UNDER APPLICABLE LAW.

LLX AND THE LLX PARTICIPANTS (AS HERINAFTER DEFINED) DO NOT WARRANT THAT THE SITE WILL OPERATE IN AN UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR-FREE MANNER, THAT THE SITE IS FREE OF VIRUSES OR OTHER HARMFUL COMPONENTS, OR THAT THE COURSES OR CONTENT PROVIDED WILL MEET YOUR NEEDS OR EXPECTATIONS. LLX AND THE LLX PARTICIPANTS ALSO MAKE NO WARRANTY ABOUT THE ACCURACY, COMPLETENESS, TIMELINESS, OR QUALITY OF THE SITE OR ANY COURSES OR CONTENT, OR THAT ANY PARTICULAR COURSES OR CONTENT WILL CONTINUE TO BE MADE AVAILABLE. “LLX PARTICIPANTS” MEANS MIT, MIT LINCOLN LABORATORY, MIT SUPERCLOUD, THE OTHER MEMBERS, THE ENTITIES PROVIDING INFORMATION, CONTENT OR SERVICES FOR THE SITE, THE COURSE INSTRUCTORS AND THEIR STAFFS.

USE OF THE SITE, AND THE CONTENT AND SERVICES OBTAINED FROM OR THROUGH THE SITE, IS AT YOUR OWN RISK. YOUR ACCESS TO OR DOWNLOAD OF INFORMATION, MATERIALS OR DATA THROUGH THE SITE OR ANY REFERENCE SITES IS AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION AND RISK, AND YOU WILL BE SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGE TO YOUR PROPERTY (INCLUDING YOUR COMPUTER SYSTEM) OR LOSS OF DATA THAT RESULTS FROM THE DOWNLOAD OR USE OF SUCH MATERIAL OR DATA, UNLESS OTHERWISE EXPRESSLY PROVIDED FOR IN THE LLX PRIVACY POLICY

User Postings Disclaimer. You understand that when using the Site you will be exposed to User Postings from a variety of sources and that neither LLX nor the LLx Participants are responsible for the accuracy, usefulness, reliability or intellectual property rights of or relating to such User Postings. You further understand and acknowledge that you may be exposed to User Postings that are inaccurate, offensive, defamatory, indecent or objectionable and you agree to waive, and hereby do waive, any legal or equitable rights or remedies you have or may have against LLx or any of the LLx Participants with respect thereto. Neither LLx nor any of the LLx Participants endorse any User Postings or any opinion, recommendation or advice expressed therein. Neither LLx nor any of the LLx Participants have any obligation to monitor any User Postings or any other user communications through the Site.

However, LLx reserves the right to review User Postings and to exercise its sole discretion to edit or remove, in whole or in part, any User Posting at any time and for any reason, or to allow the LLx Participants to do so. Without limiting the foregoing, upon receiving notice from a user or a content owner that a User Posting allegedly does not conform to these TOS, LLx may investigate the allegation and determine in its sole discretion whether to remove the User Posting, which it reserves the right to do at any time and without notice.

Links to Other Sites. The Site may include hyperlinks to sites maintained or controlled by others. LLx and the LLx Participants are not responsible for and do not routinely screen, approve, review or endorse the contents of or use of any of the products or services that may be offered at these sites. If you decide to access linked third-party websites, you do so at your own risk.

TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, YOU AGREE THAT NEITHER LLX NOR ANY OF THE LLX PARTICIPANTS WILL BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR ANY LOSS OR DAMAGES, EITHER ACTUAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL, ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THESE TERMS OF SERVICE, OR YOUR (OR ANY THIRD PARTY’S) USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE THE SITE, OR YOUR PLACEMENT OF CONTENT ON THE SITE, OR YOUR RELIANCE UPON INFORMATION OBTAINED FROM OR THROUGH THE SITE, WHETHER YOUR CLAIM IS BASED IN CONTRACT, TORT, STATUTORY OR OTHER LAW.

IN PARTICULAR, TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, NEITHER LLX NOR ANY OF THE LLX PARTICIPANTS WILL HAVE ANY LIABILITY FOR ANY CONSEQUENTIAL, INDIRECT, PUNITIVE, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, WHETHER FORESEEABLE OR UNFORESEEABLE AND WHETHER OR NOT LLX OR ANY OF THE LLX PARTICIPANTS HAS BEEN NEGLIGENT OR OTHERWISE AT FAULT (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, CLAIMS FOR DEFAMATION, ERRORS, LOSS OF PROFITS, LOSS OF DATA OR INTERRUPTION IN AVAILABILITY OF DATA).

CERTAIN STATE LAWS DO NOT ALLOW LIMITATIONS ON IMPLIED WARRANTIES OR THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF CERTAIN DAMAGES. IF THESE LAWS APPLY TO YOU, SOME OR ALL OF THE ABOVE DISCLAIMERS, EXCLUSIONS, OR LIMITATIONS MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU, AND YOU MIGHT HAVE ADDITIONAL RIGHTS.

INDEMNIFICATION

You agree to defend, hold harmless and indemnify MIT, MIT LLSC and the LLx Participants, and their respective subsidiaries, affiliates, officers, faculty, students, fellows, governing board members, agents and employees from and against any third-party claims, actions or demands arising out of, resulting from or in any way related to your use of the Site, including any liability or expense arising from any and all claims, losses, damages (actual and consequential), suits, judgments, litigation costs and attorneys’ fees, of every kind and nature. In such a case, LLx or one of the LLx Participants will provide you with written notice of such claim, suit or action.

MISCELLANEOUS

Termination Rights; Discontinuation of Courses and Content. You agree that LLx, in its sole discretion, may terminate your use of the Site or your participation in it, for any reason or no reason, upon notice to you. It is LLx’s policy to terminate in appropriate circumstances the accounts of users of the Site who are repeat copyright infringers. LLx and the LLx Participants reserve the right at any time in their sole discretion to cancel, delay, reschedule or alter the format of any course offered through LLx, or to cease providing any part or all of the Site content or related services, and you agree that neither LLx nor any of the LLx Participants will have any liability to you for such an action. If you no longer desire to participate in the Site, you may terminate your participation at any time. The rights granted to you hereunder will terminate upon any termination of your right to use the Site, but the other provisions of these TOS will survive any such termination.

Entire Agreement. These TOS, the Honor Code, and the Privacy Policy together constitute the entire agreement between you and LLx with respect to your use of the Site, superseding any prior agreements between you and LLx regarding your use of the Site.

Waiver and Severability of TOS. The failure of LLx to exercise or enforce any right or provision of these TOS shall not constitute a waiver of such right or provision. If any provision of these TOS 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 these TOS shall remain in full force and effect.

Choice of Law/Forum Selection. You agree that these TOS and any claim or dispute arising out of or relating to these TOS or any content or service obtained from or through the Site will be governed by the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, excluding its conflicts of law provisions. You agree that all such claims and disputes will be heard and resolved exclusively in the federal or state courts located in and serving Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.A. You consent to the personal jurisdiction of those courts over you for this purpose, and you waive and agree not to assert any objection to such proceedings in those courts (including any defense or objection of lack of proper jurisdiction or venue or inconvenience of forum).

Effective Date: April 1, 2019