TERMS, CONDITIONS, AND PRIVACY
POLICY
FOR MEGALINKS IN CRIMINAL JUSTICE
PLEASE READ this Terms
of Service Agreement (hereafter "Terms of Service") carefully.
Do this BEFORE using the www.drtomoconnor.com website domain.
and BEFORE using any services provided by CJ MegaLinks
and BEFORE accessing any links made through its pages
and BEFORE linking to its pages or copying and graphics
or text.
Use of
MegaLinks in Criminal Justice
constitutes acceptance
of the following Terms of Service Agreement
in conjunction with the following Creative Commons license:
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial
3.0 License.
This work is monitored against plagiarism by
Copyscape.
1. Terms of Service Agreement
The following Terms of Service Agreement is made between
YOU (hereafter the "User")
and CJ MegaLinks (also known as MegaLinks
in Criminal Justice),
its parents, subsidiaries, affiliates, partners, students, and designees
(hereafter
"CJ MegaLinks").
2. Acceptance of Terms of Service
CJ MegaLinks is a free online
information service provided to the User under these Terms of Service.
It is the sole intellectual property of its author and webmaster, Dr.
Tom O'Connor.
No host, sponsor, or parent authority is responsible or liable for its
contents other than the author.
Complete and total ownership rests with the author and not with any
host domain.
The host domain exercises no property or proprietary rights
whatsoever over CJ MegaLinks
except to provide network, server, password and email services for CJ MegaLinks.
Content is not edited or censored by anyone other than the author.
These Terms of Service override any other claims posted anywhere else on the
host domain.
.
BY USING THESE PAGES, YOU, THE USER,
SIGNIFY YOUR ASSENT
TO BE BOUND BY THE FOLLOWING TERMS OF SERVICE.
If you, the User, do not agree
to all of these Terms of Service, do not use CJ
MegaLinks.
Please be advised that CJ MegaLinks
may revise and update these Terms of Service at any time
by posting such revised Terms of Service to this same online page.
Your continued usage of CJ MegaLinks
or any of its services will mean you accept those changes.
3. Academic Fair Use
All of the written materials and graphics on CJ MegaLinks
- to the degree that copyrights are not held by others - are copyrighted
by CJ MegaLinks and all
rights are reserved by the author. Citations
and bibliographic references acknowledge the
intellectual property of others, and this author makes extensive use of
them when the source of ideas are known. In no way is any material
on this site intended
to be plagiarized, libelous, offensive,
obscene or otherwise contrary to law. Regarding graphics,
illustrations, or pictures, the author acknowledges that most of the time,
the copyright is usually held by the photographer or the illustrator, and/or
in other cases, their employer, and that the fair use exception under U.S.
copyright law allows a faithful digitalization of such illustrations when
the depiction in question involves a non-reproducible historic event or an
important educational illustration and no
free alternative can be located or created. Graphic depictions are
usually modified to a lower
resolution, lower-quality form to protect the original and preserve any
rights of the original creator. Academic fair use is
further understood as the copying of 25%
or less of
any page content without the need for citation authorization, and this is
a reciprocal privilege shared with all educational sites.
Copying and redistribution of larger percentages requires acknowledgement, permission and
authorization to cite under a LIMITED FREE USE for EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES
understanding. Copying and redistribution of a whole page for classroom distribution
does not require prior consent, but in all cases should be accompanied by citation, reference, or acknowledgement of
credit. Copying and redistribution of multiple pages may require prior
consent. Copying and redistribution of any pages by non-educational
entities for profit purposes is expressly prohibited or available only by
special permission. No student anywhere is authorized to copy any page
or significant part of any page and turn it in as if it was their own work,
which would be CHEATING or PLAGIARISM. If you are an educator, and are
in question about whether or not you have permission to copy anything from CJ Megalinks,
remember that you can copy about 25% of any page without asking for any
purpose,
a whole page without asking for classroom purposes, and that you should always ask if larger percentages
or longer usages are involved.
The proper citation formats for Internet pages are:
APA Style Format
O'Connor, T. (Year, Month, Day of Last Update at bottom of page). Part
of Web Cited (Name of page at top of browser). Retrieved (Today's date
in Month, Day, Year), from http://www.drtomoconnor.com/rest of URL
Chicago Style Format
O'Connor, Tom "Part of Web Cited." Part of Web Cited APSU.edu. http://www.drtomoconnor.com/rest
of URL
MLA Style Format
O'Connor, Tom. "Part of Web Cited." Part of Web Cited. Day, Month, Year
of Last Update at bottom of page. APSU.edu. Today's date in Day, Month,
Year. <http://www.drtomoconnor.com/rest of URL>.
4. Accuracy and
Quality of Information
Every attempt is made to see that the content at CJ MegaLinks is
accurate, complete, and updated. The author is a subject matter
expert on all the topics discussed, and his intent has been to provide
high quality core subject matter material. On select subtopics,
representational accuracy may be sacrificed for the sake of illustration or
explanation, however. Quality control and assurance are accomplished through
bibliographic citation, extensive Internet searches, helpful emails from
visitors, and an informal peer-review process whereby expert colleagues in various
specialties
volunteer to look
over material for errors or inaccuracies, in essence, serving as an anonymous board of
reviewers
for CJ MegaLinks. No legal
advice is given, explicitly or implicitly. No personal or family advice is
given. No referrals are made for the purchase of goods
or services, including academic institutions or employers. No academic
advising takes place with CJ MegaLinks. All educational exercises
and other assignments are intended primarily for the students of the author who are enrolled in his courses and under
his direct
supervision. No claim is made that any of these assignments or material
will be useful in other contexts, although the primary purpose of the
website is to afford other instructors access to materials which may
assist in their teaching. Any opinions, political, scientific or
otherwise, expressed on CJ MegaLinks, are solely
those of the author and should not be construed as the
opinions of anyone else, his employer, the criminal justice community, criminal
justice or criminology professors, or any other parties.
5. No Advertising, Sponsorship, or Commercial Interests
CJ MegaLinks does not accept advertising nor corporate
sponsorship except where services such as Bulletin Boards, Search
Engines, shareware, applets, and multimedia enhancements
offer features consistent with its educational purpose. Any such installed
features
shall be client-side since CJ MegaLinks does not operate its own server, and runs no server-side
scripts. Logos, tickers, and popups will be disabled, and not even
Javascript is used. CJ MegaLinks accepts no payments, remuneration, or favors of any kind
for listing a site, service, or publication. There are no
guarantees or warranties regarding the content, completeness, availability
or legality of any links to or from other internet sites owned
and operated by third parties. No commercial purpose is intended by any
mention of involvement by the author with certain publishers,
associations, grantors, or academic and research institutions. There
are no fees or passwords required for using CJ MegaLinks, except those
pages which are password-protected because their content is too
"sensitive" for general public consumption and such pages are also
hidden from spiders and bots used by search engines. The username and password to
any secure
area is given out freely on a request
basis. The
information here is part of the author's teaching and outreach role in
conjunction with his duties as a college professor, but does not
constitute a complete exhaustion of that role.
6. Reciprocal Link Policy
Permission is hereby given to third-parties to freely link to CJ
MegaLinks as they see fit, and requests for reciprocal links will be
honored on a case-by-case basis, depending upon fit with educational
purpose, the degree to which the other site is deemed useful to
users, and consistency with non-commercial purpose. A common reason
why link requests are not honored is because the other site is deemed too
commercial in nature. Any click-through to other sites by means of links, graphics,
banners, or bits are solely between the user and the respective party, as
they meet these requirements. The
user agrees to absolve CJ MegaLinks, the host domain, the author's
employer, the author's board, the author's friends and family, and/or any
other relevant
entities from any and all
liability from losses or damages incurred as the result of any such
dealings or as the result of any such click-through
links, and likewise with any content at this site. CJ Megalinks takes no responsibility for the appropriateness,
accuracy or quality of other sites it is linked to.
7. No Guarantee of Uninterrupted Service
CJ MegaLinks does not warrant that it shall be uninterrupted or
error-free or that defects in CJ MegaLinks shall not take place. Server
crashes and equipment failure which are beyond the control of CJ MegaLinks
shall not become the basis of any liability for loss of information
arising from any inability to access information. CJ MegaLinks is provided
on an "as is" basis, which means "as is available at any given time
online." Also, from time-to-time, the site may be reorganized and
specific URLs may change without redirection pointers. In such cases, it
is the user's responsibility to update their own links. The most common
reason for an URL to change at CJMegalinks is that a course number
changes, or the lecture lineup of a course changes. The course number is a four digit number
between slashes in the URL. Please refer to the home page for
current course numbering.
8. Privacy and Decency Policy
CJ MegaLinks
does not collect personally identifiable data about the user unless the user
chooses affirmatively to provide that data. CJ MegaLinks does not collect data
via trackers, cookies, page counters, or similar items. The host domain
server may log various aggregate statistical information but in no way
identifies individual users. Mailing lists are maintained by the author
for students enrolled in classes, prospective students, and
prospective distance education learners. In some cases, the latter are
shared with the author's employer for admissions purposes. Also, upon request and by mutual agreement, CJ MegaLinks
may share information about hits and visits for
educational purposes on a limited basis in ways that may be of
mutual interest to researchers. CJ MegaLinks may also refer a user to the
appropriate law enforcement agency if a good-faith belief exists that this is required by law or
the protection of property or life. Minors under the age of majority in
their jurisdiction should not use CJ MegaLinks,
or if so, only via adequate supervision by their parents, teachers, or
legal guardians. Forewarning
is hereby given that certain sections of CJ MegaLinks are inappropriate
for minors under the age of 14, and other material exists which might be found
indecent, offensive or troublesome since parts of this site often deal
with the gruesome aspects of crime scenes or the worst parts of criminal
behavior. It is not the intention of the author to sensationalize
such things, and in fact, just the opposite is intended - to
objectively and scientifically explore what are often considered taboo or
controversial topics, and to do so in a manner as civil and decent as
possible.
9. International Law and Academic Freedom
Online translation of CJ MegaLinks pages into
foreign languages by translating services is permitted, and offline
translation is allowable subject to the aforementioned restrictions on
academic fair use. Certain government-related information as well as
reference to any prominent figures on CJ MegaLinks exist pursuant to 17
U.S.C. Sections 105 and 107 and should not be construed as libel,
slander, copyright infringement, violation of National Security directives or
any other law because the intended use is
criticism, education, or teaching. Ideas expressed on CJ MegaLinks
are the intellectual property of the author, and in no way represent the
policies or opinions of anyone else. At times, declassified or redacted documents are
relied upon as sources of information. No classified material is
relied upon in any way. No warrant of
accuracy is made on any information about governments and the people they
control, U.S. or foreign. Users should be advised that
international email traffic involving certain keywords commonly used at CJ MegaLinks may be monitored by certain intelligence agencies. Users may normally
communicate their ideas freely, without fear of referral or reprisal, as CJ MegaLinks
does not normally cooperate with investigations unless directed to do so
by Presidential Directive (PDD)
62 or 63.
Users need not worry about CJ Megalinks and its host domain being
subject to government-ordered surveillance and tracking, as the host
provider does not normally
cooperate in such a way with such activities. Users should feel free to express
their feelings, attitudes, and ideologies under the umbrella protection of
academic freedom that covers this site.
10. Media Relations Policy
From time to time, the author of CJ
Megalinks receives requests for interviews or comments from members of the
news media and/or news reporters, and at other times, the author
discovers he has been cited and reported in the media. In
such cases, the author may feel the coverage is favorable and at
other times may feel the coverage is unfavorable. Since this appears to
be a selective process of chance, it is therefore the policy of CJ Megalinks to respond selectively to any and all
requests for news media relations, and in all cases will first check
with the public relations department of the author's employer.
The author operates without agents or consultants, and accepts no fees or
reimbursements. Be advised that if
the author does not take affirmative steps to get back to you, as a media
representative, this usually means that the author is not interested, does
not trust you or your organization, and/or does not consider himself an
expert on that particular issue. This is especially so with ongoing
criminal trials and/or investigations, which the author has a definite
NO COMMENT POLICY on. Telephone calls are not the author's desired
means of communication, as the media will find the author more receptive
to e-mail inquiries. The author is most willing to share his
commentary with the news media if the particular issue relates to the
author's main areas of expertise, which are primarily theoretical,
comparative, and criminological in nature. Do not contact the author
if what you are seeking is comment on the specific misconduct of criminal
justice employees, for example, an evaluation of a specific government
policy decision or a case of alleged police brutality, since if any commentary is granted, it will most likely be at
such a high level of theoretical abstraction, strategy, or policy to be
practically useless for media purposes. Recording of the author's
comments at symposia, conferences, and similar events, even if compensated
as a speaker, is expressly prohibited and/or subject to any conditions
placed upon such matters by the event hosts. Requests for obtaining
the services of the author as a speaker can be addressed directly to him
or via the public relations department at APSU toll-free at
1-877-861-APSU.
11. Trademarks
CJ MegaLinks™ and MegaLinks in Criminal Justice™
are
trademarks of Dr. Tom O'Connor, and represent both the design and intellectual creations of
the author. It is
expected that these trademarks will not be infringed upon with
prejudice. Web builders using trademarked graphics in any way are expected to download their
own copy of such items instead of pointing to the graphics bin of CJ MegaLinks for it. CJ MegaLinks will, upon request, remove or amend any link
or commentary to any site which regards its own trademark as being violated or negatively affected. Interpretation of
recent cyberlaw also mandates limits to deep-linking, e.g. opening CJ MegaLinks up in a new browser window,
adding pop-up ads to copies of its content, or keeping Users stuck in
a frame while curtailing or constraining the flow of traffic and/or
reading content.
12. Last Update
This CJ MegaLinks Terms of Service Agreement was last updated on Mar.
07, 2013.
13. Contact Information
Questions or comments regarding the Terms of Service
Agreement, the Privacy or Decency Policy, or any Disclaimers
should be sent by e-mail to oconnort@apsu.edu
or by mail to
Tom O'Connor, APSU, 601 College St., Clarksville, TN 37044