Official General Terms Of Use

Welcome to the WNIS web site, owned and produced by Sinclair Communications. By using the Site, you agree, without limitation or qualification, to be bound by, and to comply with, these Terms and Conditions and any other posted guidelines or rules applicable to any individual Site (“Agreement”). All such guidelines and rules are hereby incorporated by reference into this Agreement. If you do not agree with all of the following terms of this Agreement, please do not use or access the Site. The Site is intended for your personal entertainment, information, education and communication.

Sinclair Communications reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to change, modify or otherwise alter the terms and conditions in this Agreement at any time. Changes and/or modifications shall become effective immediately upon the posting. Please review this Agreement periodically. Your continued use of the Site following the posting of changes and/or modifications will constitute your acceptance of this Agreement as revised.

1. Use of Materials:

The Site contains material which is derived in whole or in part from material supplied by Sinclair Communications and other sources, and is protected by U.S. and international copyright and trademark laws. No material (including but not limited to the text, images, audio and/or video) and no software (including but not limited to any images or files incorporated in or generated by the software or data accompanying such software) (individually and collectively the “Materials”) may be copied, reproduced, republished, uploaded, posted, transmitted, or distributed in any way or decompiled, reverse engineered or disassembled, except that you may download one copy of the Materials on any single computer for your personal, non-commercial home use only, provided you keep intact all copyright and other proprietary notices. Modification of the Materials or use of the Materials for any other purpose is a violation of Sinclair Communications’ or such other sources’ copyright, trademark and other proprietary rights. In the event that you download Materials from the Site, you are granted a limited license to use such Materials and Sinclair Communications does not transfer title to any such Materials to you. The use of any such Materials on any other web site or networked computer environment without Sinclair Communications’ express written consent is prohibited.

2. Minors:

CHILDREN UNDER THE AGE OF 13 CANNOT REGISTER FOR THE SITE HEREUNDER. YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THAT SOME AREAS OF THE SITE MAY CONTAIN MATERIAL THAT IS INAPPROPRIATE FOR MINORS. If you have agreed to allow your minor child, or a child for whom you are legal guardian (a “Minor”), to register as a member of the Site, you agree that you shall be solely responsible for: (a) the online conduct of such Minor; (b) monitoring such Minor’s access to and use of the Site; and (c) the consequences of any use of the Site by such Minor. At various places on the Site, Sinclair Communications asks whether users are under the age of 13. Sinclair Communications relies on the users of the Site to be truthful in responding to these questions. If a user does not identify or is not truthful about his/her proper age, Sinclair Communications will have no way of verifying actual age with respect to our privacy policy.

3. Personal Safety:

When using the Site, please be certain that anything you say does not compromise your personal safety. Do not provide your name, phone number, postal or e-mail address, your password, or any other personally identifying information to people you do not know. Do not continue any conversation online that makes you feel uncomfortable.

4. Registration:

Certain services provided in the Site may require you to register in order to use such services and you will be required to provide certain information about yourself. In consideration of use of such service(s) in the Site, in registering and providing such data, you represent and warrant that: (a) the information about yourself is true, accurate, current, and complete (apart from optional items) as required by the various services registration forms (“Registration Data”) and (b) you will maintain and promptly update the Registration Data to keep it true, accurate, current and complete. If you provide any information that is untrue, inaccurate, not current or incomplete, or Sinclair Communications has reasonable grounds to suspect that such information is untrue, inaccurate, not current or incomplete, Sinclair Communications has the right to suspend or terminate your account and refuse any and all current or future use of any of the Site’s services. Any personal information supplied hereunder will be subject to the terms of our privacy policy.

5. Password:

Your password will allow you to access certain parts of the Site. You are solely responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of the password and your account information, and are fully responsible for all activities that occur under your password or account. You agree to immediately notify Sinclair Communications of any unauthorized use of your password or account, or any other breach of security.

6. Services:

Sinclair Communications may send you e-mail newsletters informing you of new membership benefits and features, letting you know of problems with the Site or with services offered by Sinclair Communications, or presenting you with the opportunity to buy selected products and services. You may start or stop receiving such e-mail newsletters at any time by sending an e-mail to admin@wnis.com stating that you no longer want to receive such e-mail newsletters.

7. Unsolicited Material:

Sinclair Communications’ longstanding company policy does not allow it to accept or consider creative ideas, suggestions or materials other than those Sinclair Communications has specifically requested. This policy is to avoid the possibility of future misunderstandings when projects developed by Sinclair Communications might seem similar to the creative ideas, suggestions or materials submitted by users. However, if you do send Sinclair Communications any creative materials, including creative suggestions, ideas, notes, drawings, concepts or other information or if you transmit to the Site by electronic mail or otherwise, communications including any data, questions, comments, suggestions, or the like (collectively, the “Unsolicited Material”), the Unsolicited Material shall be deemed, and shall remain, the property of Sinclair Communications. Sinclair Communications may edit, copy, publish, distribute, translate, and otherwise use or exploit in any medium any Unsolicited Material that you forward to Sinclair Communications and Sinclair Communications will own exclusively all such rights, titles, and interest and shall not be limited in any way in its use, commercial or otherwise, of the Unsolicited Material. If you are a member of any guild or union, such as the Writers Guild of America, for example, the Unsolicited Material is not subject to the terms of any collective bargaining agreement. Sinclair Communications is and shall be under no obligation to: (1) maintain any of your or any user’s Unsolicited Material in confidence; (2) to pay to you or any user any compensation for any Unsolicited Material; or (3) to respond to any of your or any other user’s Unsolicited Material.

8. Rules:

It is a condition of your use of the Site that you do not:

a: Restrict or inhibit any other user from using and enjoying the Bulletin Boards;

b: Alter any material Sinclair Communications posts on the Site;

c: Post or transmit any unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, derogatory, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane, offensive or indecent information of any kind, including images and language;

d: Post any message that solicits gambling or engage in any gambling activity;

e: Post any hateful or harassing messages, information or material;

f: Post, or transmit or in any way exploit any information, software or other material for commercial purposes or which contains advertising, promotion or marketing;

g: Transmit or upload any information, software or other material which violates or infringes upon the rights of others, including material which is an invasion of privacy or publicity rights or which is protected by copyright, trademark or any other proprietary right, or derivative works with respect thereto, without first obtaining permission from the owner or rights holder;

h: Transmit or upload any information, software or other material which contains viruses, time bombs, trojan horses, cancelbots, worms or other harmful or deleterious components or devices or engage in disruptive activities online, including excessive use of scripts, sound waves and scrolling;

i: Use any Bulletin Boards for any illegal purposes (or to solicit any illegal act);

j: Use the Site for the purposes of sending junk e-mail, chain letters, duplicative or unsolicited messages or “spamming” or in connection with contests, surveys or pyramid schemes;

k: Use the Site to collect personally identifying information about users of the Site in violation of Sinclair Communications’ Privacy Policy;

l: Try to gain unauthorized access to the Site, other users’ accounts, or computers connected to the Site though password mining or other means;

m: Interfere with another user’s use and enjoyment of the Site or any other individual’s user and enjoyment of similar services;

n: Resell, redistribute, broadcast or transfer the information or use the information derived from the Site in a searchable, machine-readable database;

o: Disguise a file type to thwart Sinclair Communications’ detection processes;

p: Submit to the Live Directory multiple web sites with different URLs that re-direct a user to one web page; (xv) submit to Live Directory more than one URL for a single category or update Live Directory listings with intent to distort or misrepresent them, including but not limited to changing titles of the entries, descriptions of the entries, URLs, or keywords; and

q: Attempt to gain unauthorized access to other computers, computer systems or networks connected to the Site.

10. Sweepstakes and Other Activities:

Sinclair Communications provides rules for certain activities on the Site including, without limitation, e-mail services, contests, sweepstakes, and auctions sponsored by Sinclair Communications and in conjunction with third parties. This Agreement is incorporated by reference to the specific rules, which appear in connection with information about a particular activity. To the extent that any conflict exists between this Agreement and specific rules, the rules for the activity in which you choose to participate shall govern. Your participation in any such activities shall be subject to the applicable laws of your state.

11. Hyperlinks to Third Party Sites:

The appearance of external hyperlinks are presented as a convenience only and do does not constitute endorsement by Sinclair Communications, its subsidiaries, assigns, licensees and related entities of the opinions or views expressed by these linked web sites and Sinclair Communications does not verify, endorse, or take responsibility for the accuracy, currency, completeness or quality of the content contained in linked sites. Furthermore, Sinclair Communications is not responsible for the quality or delivery of the products or services offered, accessed, obtained by or advertised by such sites. As such, neither Sinclair Communications, nor its subsidiaries and related entities will be responsible for any errors or omissions or for the results obtained from the use of such information contained in these sites. To the extent that these sites collect personal information or postings from the end user, be advised that in no event shall Sinclair Communications assume or have any responsibility or liability for the manner in which such information or postings are exploited or for any claims, damages, or losses resulting from their use and/or appearance on these sites. Finally, under no circumstances will Sinclair Communications be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental or special loss or other damage, whether arising from negligence, breach of contract, defamation, infringement of copyright or other intellectual property rights, caused by the exhibition, distribution or exploitation of any information or content contained within these sites.

12. Termination:

Sinclair Communications may, in its sole discretion, discontinue or alter any aspect of the Site or any services included on or through the Site at any time with or without notice and for any reason, including but not limited to (i) restricting the time of availability, (ii) restricting the availability and/or scope of the Site for computer types and operating systems, (iii) restricting the amount of use permitted, and (iv) restricting or terminating any user’s right to use all or part of the site. Sinclair Communications shall not be liable to any party for any such termination or alteration.
You are responsible for all charges (e.g., telephone, cable, electricity, etc.) associated with connecting to the Site through an available access number or Internet service provider. You are also responsible for obtaining or providing all telephone or cable access lines, telephone, cable and computer equipment (including modem), or other access devices necessary to access the Site.
If you object to any of the terms in this Agreement, you may discontinue use of the Site. You may cancel your subscription to any Sinclair Communications service by following the directions provided in such service.

13. Disclaimer:

TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMISSIBLE PURSUANT TO APPLICABLE LAW, NEITHER Sinclair Communications NOR ANY OTHER PARTY INVOLVED IN CREATING, PRODUCING OR DELIVERING THE SITE IS LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, INDIRECT OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF YOUR ACCESS TO, OR USE OF, THE SITE. WITHOUT LIMITING THE FOREGOING, EVERYTHING ON THE SITE IS PROVIDED TO YOU “AS IS” WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, OR NON-INFRINGEMENT.

You assume all risk of errors and/or omissions in the Site, including the transmission or translation of information. You assume full responsibility for implementing sufficient procedures and checks to satisfy your requirements for the accuracy and suitability of the Site, including the information provided thereon, and for maintaining any means that you may require for the reconstruction of lost data or subsequent manipulations or analyses of the information provided hereunder. You acknowledge and agree that your use of the Site, and any information sent or received in connection therewith, may not be secure and may be intercepted by unauthorized parties. YOU ASSUME RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ENTIRE COST OF ALL NECESSARY MAINTENANCE, REPAIR OR CORRECTION TO YOUR COMPUTER SYSTEM OR OTHER PROPERTY.

You specifically acknowledge and agree that Sinclair Communications is not liable for any defamatory, offensive, harassing or illegal conduct of any user.

14. Limitation of Liability:

Your use, access to and browsing of the Site is at your risk. Sinclair Communications assumes no responsibility for any personal injury or property damage which results from your use of and access to the Site. If you are dissatisfied with any of the Materials contained in the Site, or with any part of this Agreement, your sole and exclusive remedy is to discontinue accessing and using the Site. Sinclair Communications also assumes no responsibility, and shall not be liable for any damages to, or viruses, worms or bots that may infect, your computer equipment or other property on account of your access to, use of, or browsing in the Site or your downloading of any Materials from the Site. Sinclair Communications does not warrant or make any representations of any kind or nature with respect to the Materials. You are responsible for compliance with local laws, if and to the extent local laws are applicable.

IN NO EVENT SHALL Sinclair Communications, ITS PARENT OR SUBSIDIARIES, ITS LICENSEES OR ASSIGNS, OR ITS AFFILIATES OR SUPPLIERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, PUNITIVE, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR OTHER DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF OR IN ANY WAY CONNECTED WITH YOUR USE OF THE SERVICE OR WITH THE DELAY OR INABILITY TO USE THE SERVICE, OR FOR ANY INFORMATION, SOFTWARE, PRODUCTS AND SERVICES ADVERTISED IN OR OBTAINED THROUGH THE SERVICE, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, ANY UNAVAILABILITY THEREOF, Sinclair Communications’ REMOVAL OR DELETION OF ANY MATERIALS SUBMITTED OR POSTED ON ITS SITE, OR OTHERWISE ARISING OUT OF THE USE OF THE SERVICE, WHETHER BASED ON CONTRACT, TORT, STRICT LIABILITY OR OTHERWISE, EVEN IF Sinclair Communications OR ANY OF ITS SUBSIDIARIES, AFFILIATES OR SUPPLIERS IS AWARE OR HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF DAMAGES. THIS WAIVER APPLIES, WITHOUT LIMITATION, TO ANY DAMAGES OR INJURIES ARISING FROM ANY FAILURE OF PERFORMANCE, ERROR, OMISSION, INTERRUPTION, DELETION, DEFECT, DELAY IN OPERATION OR TRANSMISSION, COMPUTER VIRUS, WORMS, POWER FAILURE, FILE CORRUPTION, COMMUNICATION-LINE FAILURE, NETWORK OR SYSTEM OUTAGE, OR THEFT, DESTRUCTION, UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS TO, ALTERATION OF, OR USE OF ANY MATERIAL. YOU SPECIFICALLY ACKNOWLEDGE AND AGREE THAT Sinclair Communications, ITS PARENT, SUBSIDIARIES, AFFILIATES OR SUPPLIERS SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY DEFAMATORY, OFFENSIVE OR ILLEGAL CONDUCT OF ANY USER OF THE SERVICE. IF YOUR STATE DOES NOT ALLOW LIMITATIONS ON HOW LONG AN IMPLIED WARRANTY LAST, THE ABOVE LIMITATION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU. SOME STATES DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, SO THE ABOVE LIMITATION OR EXCLUSION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU. THIS WARRANTY GIVES YOU SPECIFIC LEGAL RIGHTS, AND YOU MAY ALSO HAVE OTHER RIGHTS WHICH VARY FROM STATE TO STATE.

15. Indemnification:

You agree to indemnify, defend and hold harmless Sinclair Communications and its parent, subsidiaries, affiliates, licensees and assigns, and their respective officers, directors, employees, agents, licensors, representatives, and third party providers to the Site from and against all losses, expenses, damages, and costs, including reasonable attorneys’ fees, resulting directly or indirectly from or in connection with (a) any violation of the terms and conditions of this Agreement, (b) any material posted or otherwise provided by you that infringes any copyright, trademark, trade secret, trade dress, patent or other intellectual property right of any person or defames any person or violates their rights of publicity or privacy, (c) any misrepresentation made by you in connection with your use of the Site; and (d) claims brought by persons or entities other than the parties to this Agreement arising from or related to your access and use of the Site, including the information obtained through the Site. Sinclair Communications reserves the right to assume, at its sole expense, the exclusive defense and control of any matter subject to indemnification by you, in which event you will fully cooperate with Sinclair Communications in asserting any available defenses.

16. United States Export Controls:

Sinclair Communications operates at Norfolk, VA and controls the Site from its offices and Engine Hosting in Minneapolis, MN. The Site is intended exclusively for residents of the United States. Sinclair Communications makes no representation that materials on the Site are appropriate or available for use in any particular location. Those who choose to access the Site do so on their own initiative and are responsible for compliance with local laws, if and to the extent local laws are applicable. Software from the Site is further subject to United States export controls. No software from the Site may be downloaded or otherwise exported to re-exported (i) into (or to a national or resident of) Cuba, Iraq, Libya North Korea, Iran, Syria or any other country to which the U.S. has embargoed goods; or (ii) to anyone on the U.S. Treasury Department’s list of Specially Designated Nationals or the U.S. Commerce Department’s Table of Deny Orders. By using the Site, you represent and warrant that you are not located in, under the control of, or a national or resident of any such country or on any such list.

17. Miscellaneous:

This Agreement contains the entire understanding and supersedes all prior understanding of the parties hereto relating to the subject matter hereof, and cannot be changed or terminated orally. If any provision of this Agreement is found to be illegal or unenforceable, this Agreement will be deemed curtailed only to the extent necessary to make it legal and enforceable and will remain, as modified, in full force and effect.
This Agreement shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of Texas and the United States without giving effect to any principles of conflicts of law. You hereby consent to the exclusive jurisdiction and venue of courts in Austin, Texas, U.S.A., regarding any and all disputes relating to this Agreement or your use of the Site and waive any right you may have pursuant to any state, local or national law with respect to forum non conveniens and choice of law. The titles and headings used in this Agreement are used for convenience only and are not to be considered in construing or interpreting this Agreement.