This page states the terms of use for visitors of our websites (kalahari-meerkats.com, including our presence in social media), and Friends of the Kalahari Meerkat Project.
Terms of Use
By submitting your membership application to become a Friend of the Kalahari Meerkat Project (FKMP), you agree to the following terms.
- Validity: Your membership is valid for one year starting with the date your Friends login is created, and for the group(s) you have chosen. To extend the membership for another year, the fee is due again. You can choose additional groups anytime. If you decide to subscribe to additional groups (“upgrade your membership”) within one month after the initial activation of your membership, you will just pay the difference between the initial and the new level. Later membership upgrades are calculated on a pro rata temporis basis.
- Information rights/copyright: As a Friend of the Kalahari Meerkat Project, you will gain access to a wealth of research data that is not available to the public. The kalahari-meerkats.com website and the information provided to Friends contain content (e.g. text, photographic and graphic images, sound, and video samples, and other protected material) which is derived in whole or in part from material supplied by the Kalahari Meerkat Project (KMP), and is protected by copyright and other intellectual property laws. It is for your personal, noncommercial use, and you may not modify, copy, sell, distribute, transmit, display, perform, reproduce, publish, or license any content from this site, to other individuals, groups or publicly (e.g. on the Worldwide Web, in discussion forums, or on Wikipedia) during the membership, or after the membership was terminated or not renewed. The KMP and FKMP retain the ownership and copyright to this private and privileged information, and share it in an honour system with the member. The data reserved for Friends may be discussed in the FKMP forum.
- Termination of membership: The FKMP reserves the right to immediately terminate a membership if the member publicly damages the interests or reputation of the FKMP or the KMP, or if a violation or infringement of the copyright as stated in point 2 is detected. In such a case, the membership, and the associated rights, are canceled by the FKMP without appeal, or refund of the membership fee.
The following rules apply to both Friends of the Kalahari Meerkat Project and website visitors. By visiting our websites, you agree to the following terms:
- Types of information: It is at the sole discretion of the KMP and the FKMP to decide what information is shared. Especially information on current research cannot be made available due to conflicts with scientific publication practice. The information is presented for an audience interested in meerkats, with an interest in or affinity to scientific research. The presentation strives to remain neutral in language, but the facts presented may contain data that are not suitable for all audiences, including e.g. death, or violence between meerkats. The FKMP or KMP cannot be held liable for any negative consequence arising from the use, or inability to use, the material provided to Friends, or on this website. If you are dissatisfied with any material, or with any of the FKMP’s terms and conditions, your sole and exclusive remedy is to discontinue using or visiting the kalahari-meerkats.com website, and unsubscribe from information the FKMP provides by other means (e.g. via social media). Dissatisfaction with the content provided explicitly does not entitle a refund of the membership fee.
- Scientific independence: The KMP alone decides on the direction and methods of scientific research performed with the meerkat groups. The FKMP or its members or website visitors have no influence on the operation and strategy of the KMP.
- Changes occurring in groups: By supporting the KMP’s research or by visiting our website, you may receive information about an established meerkat group living in its natural environment. Your group can experience changes, or splits to form new groups. If the group is last seen, e.g. if it is taken by a disease, or disappears for other reasons, you may choose another group and will retain your rights as a Friend of the Kalahari Meerkat Project, and will receive further periodic information. The membership fee is not refundable however. If a Friends package contains more than one group, the possibility to choose a replacement group becomes available only if all groups in the respective Friends package are last seen. It is also possible to subscribe to lost groups to receive information about them.
- Accounting: The KMP or independent researchers at the KMP will use the funds contributed by Friends or other sources for project-related expenses. The KMP or the grant recipient are responsible to account for the usage of funds contributed by memberships.
- Payment: Contributions like membership fees or Friends visit fees are fixed in British Pound, and may vary in US Dollars, depending on the exchange rate. The FKMP can change fees without prior notice, but paid fees of present members are not affected. Membership fees are not refundable.
- Communication by Friends or website users, data protection: Communications to the FKMP, or in the FKMP forum, are public and not private. The content of these communications by yourself and others are not to be considered an endorsement by the FKMP, and shall not be considered reviewed, screened, or approved by the FKMP or KMP. Your communication in the forum, or via email to the FKMP or KMP, shall remain the property of the FKMP, and can be used for any purpose, commercial or otherwise, without compensation to the author or provider. The FKMP complies to privacy protection laws for any data that are shared by email or other personal communication to the FKMP, and will not share your personal data with any third party other than the KMP. If you choose to share your personal data in the forum, you do so at your own risk and liability.
- Modifications: These Terms of Use may be modified by the FKMP at any time and will be binding at the time of implementation. Members have the responsibility of reviewing the Web sites’ terms and conditions.