Welcome. C-SPAN's Community is a dynamic forum for members to share ideas and opinions, collaborate on solutions, and discuss policy. We encourage your participation.

In order to register to become a member of C-SPAN's Community, you must first agree to the Community Participation Guidelines.

Community Participation Guidelines An Opportunity & A Responsibility. As a community member, you are expected to voice opinions and discuss issues in a respectful manner, and to post information as appropriate to the online discourse. And, as you participate you should understand that it is impossible for C-SPAN to make any promises or warranties about the information your fellow members may include as part of their contributions. That is why we do not make such promises, nor do we verify or guarantee the accuracy of such information posted by community members. It's Your Decision. In other words, you should not conclude that a member's posting is true or accurate (or otherwise), simply because it appears on C-SPAN's website. That is your decision to make -- not ours. Copyright: An Important Notice. One of the most sensitive issues raised by the expansion of the Internet is the protection of intellectual property. C-SPAN respects the copyrights of others just as we respect and protect our own exclusive rights in our programming and other content. We expect members of the C-SPAN Online Community to do the same. Therefore, we do not want you to post anything on our site that belongs to somebody else. And, so that we have the flexibility to use the content of everybody's postings for our public service mission, we must have the right and you must agree and give us the right to use your postings if you register as a member and use our site. The following legal language gives us that right: As a registered community member who provides Content (as such term is defined in The Guidelines) to C-SPAN through participation in C-SPAN's online community activities, you grant C-SPAN the royalty-free, irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive and fully sublicensable license and right to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, perform and display such Content in whole or in part, world-wide and to incorporate it in other works, in any form, media or technology now known or later developed. Assuring a Civil Discussion. C-SPAN provides a suite of online community activities centered around public affairs issues that are often contentious. While we encourage energetic debate, we also intend to keep those debates civil and engaging. That is why when you register as a member you also agree to follow these guidelines: The Guidelines: 1. You agree to participate in dialogue in a manner that enhances discussion and exchanges of information. You understand that you, and only you, will be liable for any and all Content that you transmit to C-SPAN.org. "Content" means any information, including User Names and any other participation identification, any textual material (including discussion forum postings) or graphical material, e-mail addresses, and any other materials. 2. You understand and agree that C-SPAN may monitor the discussion forums and online town hall meetings as it chooses and that we have the right to remove, edit, or otherwise alter Content that we think is inappropriate for any reason whatsoever, and that we may do so without your consent. 3. You understand and agree that C-SPAN is not responsible in any way for any Content posted by you or by any other person. You also agree to indemnify us against any legal claims based on your Content. That means that you agree to pay all C-SPAN's legal defense costs, and other costs, including the cost of its lawyers, and the same costs for any of C-SPAN's employees, agents and affiliates if we (or our employees, etc.) are sued or suffer any harm from any claim or other legal action brought by any other person that is based on Content that you posted. 4. You understand and agree that a C-SPAN Discussion Manager will oversee online community activities regularly to ensure that members comply with these Guidelines. We have the right, through the C-SPAN Discussion Manager, to at any time contact members who violate these Guidelines. We also have the right, in our sole discretion, to permanently remove a user's privilege to participate in C-SPAN's online community. 5. You may contact other registered members outside of the C-SPAN Community web site, but you also agree to indemnify us against any legal claims that may arise from such contacts. That means that you agree to pay all C-SPAN's legal defense costs, and other costs, including the cost of its lawyers, and the same costs for any of C-SPAN's employees, agents and affiliates if we (or our employees, etc.) are sued or suffer any harm from any claim or other legal action brought by any other person that is based on any interaction you have with another outside of the C-SPAN Community web site and other C-SPAN Community web applications whether in the virtual or in the physical world. 6. You understand and agree that C-SPAN's online Community and related services may be used only for lawful purposes. We have the right to restrict or remove any and all of your uses or Content that we believe, in our sole discretion, may be harmful to our systems or to the C-SPAN Networks, to our reputation and good will, to other community members or to any third parties. 7. You understand and agree that we will not accept, and that you will not engage in: Postings that have as their purpose the intimidation of an individual or groups, the impersonation of another, or the harassment of another. If you make such postings you risk removal. Postings that are not relevant to public affairs or relevant to the particular community discussion as managed by a C-SPAN Discussion Manager. The C-SPAN Discussion Manager has the right to remove any off-topic postings from discussion boards. Postings that include the upload, download, or transmission of any Content that would violate, or would facilitate the violation of any applicable law, regulation, or these Guidelines. Postings that include the upload, download, or transmission of any Content that infringes the intellectual property rights, privacy, publicity or other proprietary rights of others including, without limitation, copyright, trademark, patent, or trade secrets. Postings that include the upload, download, or transmission of any Content that is unlawful, libelous, defamatory, obscene, or Content that in C-SPAN's sole judgement is harassing, threatening, invasive of privacy or publicity rights, inflammatory or otherwise objectionable in any manner whatsoever. Postings that include the upload, download, or transmission of any technically harmful Content including, without limitation, viruses, Trojan horses, worms, time bombs, cancelbots or any other computer programming routines that may damage, interfere with, surreptitiously intercept or expropriate any system, program, data or personal information. Postings that include the upload, download, or transmission of any Content offering or disseminating goods, services, schemes, or promotions (e.g., get rich quick schemes, chain letters, pyramid schemes).

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