Acceptable Use Policy

HL7 Wiki Acceptable Use Policy

Introduction

The HL7 Wiki is a community edited site for Health Level Seven International. This Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) applies to all HL7-branded Wiki sites and is intended to aid any and all HL7 Wiki users (registered or not) in understanding how the HL7 Wiki may be used. All users of the HL7 Wiki must comply with this AUP, the purpose of which is to encourage the reuse of HL7 materials while preserving HL7 Intellectual Property (IP) and protecting HL7 members and participants of the HL7 community from illegal or irresponsible activities.

The HL7 Wiki is covered under the HL7 Terms and Conditions of Use at the hl7.org website: http://www.hl7.org/legal/tc.cfm. This AUP should be read in conjunction with that document. While material on the HL7 Wiki is available to the public, it is not considered open content. It may contain Intellectual Property that is protected as outlined in the HL7 Bylaws and its Governance and Operations Manual (GOM), or it may represent work-in-progress towards standards material that will be copyrighted once it has gained consensus in the HL7 community.

While anonymous editing is not allowed, we do allow anyone to sign up, and once a user is granted access, active monitoring of the user's activity is not performed (they may add whatever they wish). In addition, content submitted to the HL7 Wiki is not subject to the HL7 Privacy Policy. The Wiki is written and maintained collaboratively by volunteers.

Purpose

The HL7 Wiki is a free and open resource designed primarily for collaboration between members of HL7 for the purpose of managing development activities. HL7 is built on the collaboration of its participants, community members, registered members, and users. In that spirit, HL7 allows access to its site and the materials therein for personal and non-commercial uses as set forth in this policy. HL7 is committed to creating the best and most widely used standards in healthcare by expanding access to development of high quality standards that can be easily incorporated into integration efforts.

HL7 cannot accept responsibility for the opinions of its members, or for their errors or omissions, or for any consequences arising from the use of information contained herein. This Site may contain third party-owned content (e.g., articles, data feeds, abstracts, logos, etc.) and may also include hypertext links to third party-owned web sites. We provide such third party content and links as a courtesy to our users and we do not endorse, sponsor, recommend, or otherwise accept any responsibility for such third party web sites or content or for the availability of such web site.

Agreement

By using the HL7 Wiki, you agree to abide by the terms of this AUP and promise to use any content found on the HL7 Wiki site, whether in whole or in part, only for non-commercial, and educational purposes. You also agree to comply with prevailing United States laws regarding copyright and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998.

Guidelines

• Do not use the HL7 Wiki to announce, advertise or endorse companies / vendors / individuals and their specific products, services, offerings, and/or events. The use of the HL7 Wiki for personal gain is explicitly prohibited.
• Do not distribute or post the private or personal user information of another member of the forum without their express permission. This includes names, addresses, phone numbers, and other relevant information. Do not collect email addresses, screen names, or other identifiers or personal information without the consent of the person identified (including, without limitation, phishing, Internet scamming, password thieving, spidering, and harvesting). Do not collect or use information without the consent of the source of the information.
• Do not post material that is knowingly false, misleading, or inaccurate. Vandalism constitutes a serious offense.
• Do not publish content, including comments, that are unrelated to the page topic. When posting second-hand information, indicate it as such.
• Do not upload, post, e-mail, transmit or otherwise make available any content that you do not have a right to make available.
• Do not publish content that engages in personal attacks, or is excessively violent, incites others to violence, threatens to do violence to another person(s), or contains content which is disreputable or contains harassing, or hateful language.
• Do not publish any content not suitable for a child to read. Any comments which are knowingly false, or made with reckless disregard for the truth, could be used against you in a court of law. You can never really know how the recipient of your remarks will react. Your remarks are your own, and in no way reflect the opinion of others or the consensus of the HL7 community. Conversely, operate on the assumption that you yourself are not under attack.
• Do not revisit issues already raised, discussed, and decided upon. Reopen a discussion only if you have significant new information that would reasonably prompt reconsideration of the original decision.
• Do not edit comments from other users without their permission, with the exception of adding links to improve the interconnectedness of the site. Do not delete comments from other users unless the comment is irrelevant to the page it is on or is in violation of wiki etiquette. If you delete another user's comment, be prepared to explain yourself should that user disagree with your deletion.
• Do not impersonate any person or entity, forge or manipulate identifiers in order to disguise the origin of any posting.
• Do not reproduce, duplicate, copy, sell, trade, resell or exploit for any commercial purpose any portion of the Wiki, use of the Wiki or access to the Wiki.

Violations

All members of the community should take action to report users and posts that violate this AUP. Violations can be reported to Administrators through the Webmaster. Violations of the AUP may result in removal from the Wiki and other HL7 resources. In the case of minor violations, we encourage a quiet request on the offending user's page prior to invoking administrative procedures. HL7 reactions to violations:

• 1st offense: Written warning to offending poster's email address.
• 2nd offense: Written warning posted to offending poster's page and the suspension and/or termination of access to the HL7 Wiki.
• 3rd offense: The suspension and/or termination of access to all HL7 resources and features, including the option to notify to the violator's home institution of the abuse of HL7's services or features and/or other actions deemed appropriate by HL7.

Last revised: 20 September 2010