Terms Of Use

Last Updated: July 1, 2013

Sterling Volunteers, a division of SterlingBackcheck (“Company,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) welcome you to https://www.sterlingvolunteers.com/ (the “Site”). By browsing the Site or using Services available on the Site, you acknowledge that you have read, understood, and agree to be legally bound by these Terms of Use and our accompanying Privacy Policy, and to comply with applicable laws and regulations. If you do not accept these Terms of Use, then you are not granted permission to browse, access, or otherwise use the Site or the Services. Capitalized terms not defined in these Terms of Use shall have the meaning set forth in our Privacy Policy.

About the Information on This Site

Information, data, text, graphics, images, photographs, sound recordings, audiovisual works, trademarks and logos (registered and unregistered), and other materials provided or posted on the Site (collectively, the “Content”) including, but not limited to, Content provided or posted by Registered Users, Registered Clients, their licensors, or by You on this Site, may contain technical inaccuracies or typographical errors. Each submission of Content constitutes a representation and warranty to Company that such Content is your original creation (or that you otherwise have the right to provide the Content), that you have the rights necessary to grant the license to the Content set forth below, and that such Content does not and will not infringe or misappropriate the intellectual property, privacy, publicity, or moral rights of any person or contain any libelous, defamatory, or obscene material or content that violates our Community Guidelines. Content may be removed, changed, or updated without notice. Company may also make improvements and/or changes to the Site or Services at any time without notice to you. Company assumes no responsibility regarding the accuracy of the Content and use of such Content is at Your own risk.

Company may refer to Registered Users as “Sterling Volunteers,” on the Site, in connection with the Services, and/or in other venues such as advertising, marketing and sales. A “Verified Volunteer” simply means that an individual has completed the registration process on this Site to become a Registered User. Registration does not include any background check, verification of information provided or any evaluation or investigation of the registering individual by Company or its affiliates. COMPANY DOES NOT ENDORSE, RECOMMEND OR OTHERWISE OFFER ANY OPINION REGARDING ANY VERIFIED VOLUNTEER OR REGISTERED USER, OR THEIR SUITABILITY FOR VOLUNTEER SERVICES. SELECTION OF VOLUNTEERS IS SOLELY THE JUDGMENT, AND RISK, OF CLIENTS.

User Submissions

Except as may be set forth in the Terms of Service for Registered Clients or Registered Users, as applicable, any Content sent to Company or posted on the Site will be deemed NOT to be confidential. By sending Content to Company or posting Content on the Site, you hereby grant Company an unrestricted, irrevocable, perpetual, royalty-free, fully paid-up, assignable, and sublicensable right and license to use, reproduce, display, perform, modify, transmit, create derivative works of, distribute, use in connection with marketing and advertising, and otherwise exploit such Content, and you also agree that Company is free to use any ideas, concepts, know-how, or techniques that you send us for any purpose.

Community Guidelines

Our community, like any community, functions best when its users follow a few simple rules. By accessing the Site and/or using the Services, you hereby agree to comply with these community guidelines:

  • You will not use the Site or the Services for any unlawful purpose;
  • You may not use the Site or the Services to engage in any commercial activities, including, without limitation, advertising or promoting a product, service, or company; or engaging in any pyramid or other multi-tiered marketing scheme;
  • You will not access the Site or use the Services to collect any market research for a competing business;
  • You will not upload, post, e-mail, transmit, or otherwise make available any User Content for the Site or the Services that:
    • is false, deceptive, misleading, deceitful, misinformative, or constitutes a “bait and switch” offer;
    • infringes any copyright, trademark, right of publicity, or other proprietary rights of any person or entity;
    • is threatening, tortious, defamatory, libelous, indecent, obscene, pornographic, invasive of another’s privacy, or promotes violence; or
    • discloses any sensitive information about another person, including that person’s e-mail address, postal address, phone number, credit card information, or any similar information;
  • You will not “stalk” or otherwise harass another;
  • You will not impersonate any person or entity or falsely state or otherwise misrepresent your affiliation with a person or entity;
  • You will not cover, obscure, block, or in any way interfere with any safety features (e.g., report abuse button) on the Site;
  • You will not take any action that imposes or may impose (in our sole discretion) an unreasonable or disproportionately large load on our technical infrastructure;
  • You will not use automated means, including spiders, robots, crawlers, data mining tools, or the like to download or scrape data from the Site, except for Internet search engines (e.g., Google) and non-commercial public archives (e.g., archive.org) that comply with our robots.txt file;
  • You will not use any automated device or software that enables the submission of automatic postings on the Site without human intervention or authorship, including, without limitation, the use of any such automated posting device in connection with bulk postings or for automatic submission of postings at certain times or intervals; and
  • You will not interfere with or attempt to interrupt the proper operation of the Site or the Services through the use of any virus, device, information collection or transmission mechanism, software or routine, or access or attempt to gain access to any data, files, or passwords related to the Site or the Services through hacking, password or data mining, or any other means.

Please let us know about inappropriate User Content. If you find something that violates our Community Guidelines, please let us know, and we’ll review it. We reserve the right, but have no obligation, to review and remove any User Content for any reason at any time without notice.

Third-Party Sites

This Site includes links to third-party sites. Company has no control over the privacy practices or the content of these sites, including any sites that may include a Company trademark or logo. If you visit these sites or use services available through these sites, you will be subject to their terms of use and privacy policies. You should check the applicable third-party terms of use and privacy policy when visiting any other site. In addition, a link to a non-Company Site does not mean that Company endorses or accepts any responsibility for the content or the use of such Site. It is up to you to take precautions to ensure that whatever site you select for your use is free of such items as viruses, worms, trojan horses, and other items of a destructive nature.

Warranty Disclaimer.

COMPANY, ITS AFFILIATES, AND ITS AND THEIR OFFICERS, DIRECTORS, EMPLOYEES, AND AGENTS (COLLECTIVELY THE COMPANY PARTIES”) HEREBY DISCLAIM ANY AND ALL WARRANTIES AND REPRESENTATIONS ABOUT THE SITE, THE SERVICES, AND THE CONTENT INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE WARRANTIES OF TITLE, MERCHANTABILITY, NON-INFRINGEMENT OF THIRD PARTIES’ RIGHTS, AND FITNESS FOR PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND ANY WARRANTIES ARISING FROM A COURSE OF DEALING OR USAGE OF TRADE. THE SITE, THE SERVICES AND THE CONTENT ARE PROVIDED “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE” WITHOUT ANY WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND. YOU AGREE THAT YOU USE THE SITE, THE SERVICES AND THE CONTENT ENTIRELY AT YOUR OWN RISK. IF YOU ARE DISSATISFIED WITH THE SITE, THE SERVIES OR THE CONTENT, YOUR SOLE REMEDY IS TO DISCONTINUE USING THEM.

Limit of Liability.

IN NO EVENT SHALL ANY OF THE COMPANY PARTIES BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER (INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, INCIDENTAL AND CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, LOST PROFITS, OR DAMAGES RESULTING FROM BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) RESULTING FROM YOUR USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE SITE, THE SERVICES OR THE CONTENT, WHETHER BASED ON WARRANTY, CONTRACT, TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE), OR ANY OTHER LEGAL THEORY, EVEN IF THE COMPANY PARTIES HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW EXCLUSION OF IMPLIED WARRANTIES OR LIMITATION OF LIABILITY FOR DIRECT, INCIDENTAL, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, SO THE ABOVE LIMITATIONS OR EXCLUSIONS MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU. IN SUCH JURISDICTIONS, OUR LIABILITY SHALL BE LIMITED TO THE LESSER OF (I) ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS, OR (II) THE LOWEST AMOUNT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW.

THE PARTIES ACKNOWLEDGE AND AGREE THAT THE LIMITATIONS AND EXCLUSIONS OF LIABILITY IN THIS SECTION ARE REASONABLE AND THAT THE PROVISIONS OF THIS SECTION ALLOCATE THE RISKS UNDER THIS AGREEMENT BETWEEN VERIFIED VOLLUNTEERS AND YOU, AND THE PARTIES HAVE RELIED UPON THE LIMITATIONS SET FORTH HEREIN IN DETERMINING WHETHER TO ENTER INTO THIS AGREEMENT THE REMEDIES PROVIDED TO YOU IN THIS AGREEMENT ARE EXCLUSIVE. THE LIMITATION ON LIABILIY IN THIS SECTION SHALL APPLY EVEN IF ANY LIMITED REMEDY SPECIFIED IN THIS AGREEMENT IS FOUND TO HAVE FAILED OF ITS ESSENTIAL PURPOSE.

Indemnity.

You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold the Verified Volunteer Parties harmless from and against any and all third party claims, losses, liabilities, and expenses (including attorneys’ fees) related to or arising from: (i) your use of and access to the Site, the Services and the Content; (ii) your violation of (a) these Terms of Use, (b) applicable law, and/or (c) any third party right. This defense and indemnification obligation will survive termination, modification, or expiration of these Terms of Use.

Monitoring of Site

Although Company has no obligation to do so, Company explicitly reserves the right to view, monitor, and record activity on the Site without notice or permission from you. Any information obtained by monitoring, reviewing, or recording is subject to review by law enforcement organizations in connection with investigation or prosecution of possible illegal activity on the Site. Company will also comply with all court orders as well as all law enforcement and regulatory inquiries involving requests for such information. Company reserves the right, in its sole and absolute discretion for any reason or no reason, to remove or modify any Content, or any other element of the Site or the Services, without notice or permission from you.

Updates to Terms of Use; Additional Services

These Terms of Use are effective as of the date stated at the top. We may change these Terms of Use from time to time. If you visit the Site or use the Services after a change to these Terms of Use is posted on the Site, you will be bound by such change. Please refer back to these Terms of Use on a regular basis.

Registered Clients may enter into a master services agreement (“MSA”) with us in order to access certain additional Services. The terms and conditions of an MSA shall supersede and replace these Terms of Use with respect to all Services provided to the applicable Registered Client.

Digital Millennium Copyright Act

Company respects the intellectual property rights of others and attempts to comply with all relevant laws. We will review all claims of copyright infringement received and remove any Content deemed to have been posted or distributed in violation of any such laws.

Our designated agent under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (the “Act”) for the receipt of any Notification of Claimed Infringement which may be given under that Act is as follows:

Sterling Volunteers
Attention:
Andrew Porter
General Counsel
SterlingBackcheck
1 State Street Plaza
New York, New York 10004
212-812-1008
646-536-5243
aporter@sterlinginfosystems.com

If you believe that your work has been copied on the Site in a way that constitutes copyright infringement, please provide our agent with notice in accordance with the requirements of the Act, including: (i) a description of the copyrighted work that has been infringed and the specific location on the Site where such work is located; (ii) a description of the location of the original or an authorized copy of the copyrighted work; (iii) your address, telephone number and e-mail address; (iv) a statement by you that you have a good faith belief that the disputed use is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent or the law; (v) a statement by you, made under penalty of perjury, that the information in your notice is accurate and that you are the copyright owner or authorized to act on the copyright owner’s behalf; and (vi) an electronic or physical signature of the owner of the copyright or the person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the copyright interest.

Privacy

Your use of the Site and/or the Services may involve the transmission of your Personal Information. Our policy regarding the collection and use of Personal Information is governed by our Privacy Policy, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

General

These Terms of Use are governed by the laws of the State of New York, and all disputes arising hereunder will be resolved in state or federal court located in New York County, New York. You may not assign these Terms of Use without our prior written consent. These Terms of Use binds the parties, their successors and permitted assigns. Except for Client Terms of Service, Sterling Volunteers Terms of Service, and MSAs, as applicable, these Terms of Use and the Privacy Policy constitute the entire agreement between Company and you regarding the Site and the Services.