Draft — not yet in force. This document is being prepared and has not been reviewed by the Association's legal counsel. Text in square brackets is a detail still to be settled. It does not yet govern membership.
These Terms of Service ("Terms") are a binding agreement between you and [LEGAL ENTITY NAME],
a [STATE] [nonprofit corporation / unincorporated association] doing business as the **NIT
Raipur USA Alumni Association** ("the Association", "we", "us"), governing your use of
nitrusa.org and any page, feature or service on it (the "Site").
By creating an account, or by using the Site, you agree to these Terms and to our
Privacy Policy, which is incorporated here by reference. **If you do
not agree, do not use the Site.**
Parts of the Site are public. The members' area — the member directory, member profiles, photos
and videos, and members-only documents — is available only to approved members.
To register you must:
[OTHER ELIGIBLE CATEGORY — faculty? honorary?] of theNational Institute of Technology Raipur (or its predecessor, the Government Engineering
College, Raipur); and
Membership is not automatic. Every registration requires verification of your email address,
and approval by the Association — except where the details you give match an entry on the
Association's existing alumni roster, in which case approval is automatic. Email verification
alone is never sufficient. We may decline any registration, and we are not obliged to give
reasons.
[CONFIRM: is there a membership fee, and does non-payment end access? See MEM-3.]
You are responsible for your account: for keeping your password confidential, and for
everything done through your account. Tell us promptly at [SECURITY CONTACT EMAIL] if you
believe your account has been used without your permission.
Do not share your account, and do not create an account for anybody else.
You agree not to:
threatening, or discriminatory;
information**, by any means, whether manual or automated, except as needed for your own
ordinary use of the Site;
campaigning, fundraising, or bulk messaging of any kind, whether or not the member made
those details visible;
you are not authorised to reach;
access control;
engine indexing pages that are public;
permission;
Item 3 and item 4 are the ones that matter most here. The directory exists so alumni can
find each other; it exists on the condition that it is not harvested. Breach of either is
grounds for immediate termination, and may also breach applicable law.
You keep ownership of what you post — your profile information, blog posts, photographs,
video links, comments, and anything else you contribute ("Your Content").
By posting Your Content you grant the Association a **non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free
licence to host, store, reproduce, display and distribute it on the Site, and to use it in the
Association's own newsletters and communications to members**, for as long as you leave it
posted and for a reasonable period afterwards for backup and archival purposes. You may end
this licence for future uses by deleting Your Content or by asking us to.
`[DECIDE: does the Association want the broader right to use member photographs in public
promotional material — the public website, social media, printed material? That is a wider
licence than the one above and members should be asked for it explicitly, not have it buried
here.]`
You represent that:
We do not pre-screen content, but we may remove or suspend anything that breaches these Terms,
and we may do so without notice where the content is unlawful or harmful.
If you believe material on the Site infringes your copyright, send a notice to
[DMCA AGENT NAME AND EMAIL] containing the information required by 17 U.S.C. § 512(c)(3): your
signature, identification of the work, identification of the material and where it is on the
Site, your contact details, a statement of good-faith belief that the use is unauthorised, and
a statement under penalty of perjury that the notice is accurate and that you are authorised to
act.
We will respond to valid notices, and we terminate the accounts of repeat infringers.
`[ACTION: to rely on the DMCA safe harbour the Association must register a designated agent
with the US Copyright Office and pay the fee. Registration must be renewed every three years.
Until it is registered, this section describes a protection the Association does not have.]`
Information you make visible in the directory is visible to other approved members, not to
the public. You control what is visible, field by field, in your profile settings. Contact
details, address and employer are hidden unless you choose to show them.
Members who can see your details are bound by §4 above. But understand the limit of that: once
another human being can see something, the Association cannot technically prevent them from
writing it down. Publish only what you are content for the membership to know.
Bulk export of the directory is restricted to administrators and is recorded in an audit log.
News, announcements, newsletters, event listings and other material published by the Association
is provided for the information of alumni. We try to keep it accurate but do not guarantee it.
Views expressed in member blog posts are the author's, not the Association's.
Association content is © [LEGAL ENTITY NAME]. The NIT Raipur name, seal and marks belong to
the institute and are used [under permission / by custom — CONFIRM]. Do not copy Association
content for commercial use without permission.
Event listings are published as a service to members. Unless we say otherwise in the listing:
Association, and the Association is not responsible for them; and
`[CONSIDER: for in-person events, does the Association want a waiver of liability signed at
registration? That is a separate document and this clause does not substitute for one.]`
Delete this entire section if the Site does not take payments. [MEM-7] is unresolved.
Membership dues and donations are `[processed by PAYMENT PROCESSOR — the Association does not
store your card details]`.
[AMOUNT] per [PERIOD] and [are / are not] refundable.[STATE THE REFUND POLICY EXPLICITLY — silence is read against the drafter.]
donation was made in error and we are told promptly.
more, as required by IRS rules. No goods or services are provided in return for a donation
unless the acknowledgement says otherwise.]`
your account or by emailing [CONTACT].
We do not receive or store full payment card numbers.
We send two kinds of email: transactional messages your own actions trigger (verification,
password reset, approval, receipts), and optional communications (newsletters,
announcements, event notices).
in the message, and we act on it immediately.
works.
You may leave at any time by `[deleting your account in settings / emailing CONTACT —
CONFIRM which exists]`. On request we will delete or de-identify your personal information,
subject to the retention rules in the Privacy Policy.
We may suspend or terminate your account — with notice where practical, and without it
where the breach is serious — if you breach these Terms, if your registration information was
false, if your conduct harms other members, or if required by law. Where the issue is capable
of being fixed, we will normally say what is wrong and give you a chance to fix it first.
If your membership ends: your access ends, content you posted may be removed or may remain in
the Association's records [CHOOSE ONE AND SAY SO — this is a real decision], and §§5, 12, 13,
14 and 16 survive.
`[POLICY QUESTION for the Association: is there an appeal? Who decides? A community portal
benefits from a stated appeal route, and it costs little to offer one.]`
The Site is provided "as is" and "as available". To the fullest extent permitted by law, the
Association disclaims all warranties, express or implied, including merchantability, fitness for
a particular purpose, and non-infringement.
We do not warrant that the Site will be uninterrupted, secure, or error-free, that any defect
will be corrected, or that information on the Site is accurate or current. **We are a volunteer-
run alumni association, not a commercial service provider.**
We are not responsible for content posted by members, for the conduct of any member — online or
in person — or for anything that happens at an event we did not organise.
To the fullest extent permitted by law:
indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary or punitive damages, or for lost
profits, lost data, or loss of goodwill, arising out of your use of the Site; and
[the amount you paid us in the 12 months before the claim] or [US $100].
Some jurisdictions do not allow these limits, so some may not apply to you.
You agree to indemnify and hold harmless the Association and its officers, directors and
volunteers from any claim, demand, loss or expense (including reasonable legal fees) arising out
of Your Content, your use of the Site, your breach of these Terms, or your violation of any law
or of anyone's rights.
We may change or discontinue any part of the Site.
We may change these Terms. If a change is material, we will give at least [30] days' notice
by email to your registered address and by a notice on the Site, and it takes effect on the
date stated. Continuing to use the Site after that date means you accept the change; if you
do not, close your account before it takes effect.
The date at the top of this document says when it was last changed.
These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of [STATE], without regard to its conflict
of laws rules. [Subject to the paragraph below, ]you and the Association agree to the exclusive
jurisdiction of the state and federal courts in [COUNTY, STATE].
Before filing anything, please write to us. Most disputes in an alumni association are
better settled by a conversation, and we commit to responding within [30] days to any dispute
raised at [CONTACT EMAIL].
[DECISION REQUIRED — binding arbitration and class-action waiver.]Many US terms of serviceinclude one. For a volunteer alumni association the trade-off is genuinely two-sided: it can
cap the cost of a dispute, but it reads as adversarial to a membership that is also the
Association's own community, several states now restrict them, and consumer arbitration fees
can exceed the cost of the small claim itself. My recommendation is to omit it and rely on
the informal-resolution paragraph above plus the venue clause, unless counsel advises
otherwise for a specific risk. If it is wanted, it must be drafted by counsel, be
conspicuous, and include an opt-out window.
about the Site.
[CONTACT EMAIL] and [MAILING ADDRESS].
[LEGAL ENTITY NAME]
[MAILING ADDRESS]
[CONTACT EMAIL]
Draft — not yet in force. This document is being prepared and has not been reviewed by the Association's legal counsel. Text in square brackets is a detail still to be settled. It does not yet govern membership.
[LEGAL ENTITY NAME], doing business as the NIT Raipur USA Alumni Association ("the
Association", "we", "us"), operates nitrusa.org. We are the party responsible for the
personal information described here.
Contact for privacy questions: [PRIVACY CONTACT EMAIL]
Postal: [MAILING ADDRESS]
This policy explains what we collect, why, who sees it, and what you can do about it. It
applies to the website and to the email we send you. It does not apply to sites we link to.
You give us:
| Information | When |
|---|---|
| Name, email address | Registration |
| Graduation year, branch/discipline | Registration and profile |
| Password (stored only as a cryptographic hash — we never see it) | Registration |
| Profile details you choose to add: photograph, city and state, employer, job title, phone number, postal address, social or professional links, biography, chapter | Your profile, at your option |
| Evidence you send to support a membership application | If your registration needs manual approval |
| Photographs, video links, blog posts, comments, and the descriptions attached to them | When you contribute them |
Event responses [if RSVP is built — EVT-6 is open] |
When you respond |
Payment information [if payments are built — MEM-7 is open] |
At checkout, by our payment processor, not by us |
| Messages you send us | When you write to us |
We generate or observe:
signed in, your email verification status, your membership and dues status, and the privacy
choices you have made.
directory exports — recorded so the Association can account for its own decisions.
server records, kept for security and troubleshooting.
We may receive from others:
institute's alumni body, which may already contain your name, graduation year and branch.
This is how a registration can be approved automatically when your details match.
what basis. If it does, this section must say so plainly, and §13 (your rights) must work for
someone who never registered at all.]`
What we deliberately do not collect: we do not ask for government identification numbers,
financial account details, health information, or any special-category data. Please do not put
such information into a free-text profile field.
| Purpose | Information used |
|---|---|
| Create and administer your account; verify eligibility | Name, email, year, branch, evidence |
| Run the member directory so alumni can find each other | The profile fields you have chosen to show |
| Publish what you contribute — blogs, photos, videos | Your Content and your name as author |
| Send transactional email (verification, password reset, approval, receipts) | Email address |
| Send the newsletter, announcements and event notices, if you have not opted out | Email address, preferences |
Collect dues and donations [if built] |
Payment records |
| Keep the Site secure; investigate abuse; keep the audit record | Logs, account records |
| Comply with law, and with the Association's own governance obligations | As required |
We do not use your information for advertising, and we do not sell it. We do not profile
members, and there is no automated decision-making that produces legal effects — a registration
that is not matched to the roster is approved by a person.
This is the part that matters most in a community portal, so it is set out explicitly.
Public — anyone on the internet:
indexed by search engines and is not reachable by guessing a URL.
Other approved members:
address and employer are hidden by default and stay hidden until you turn them on. Your
choice is applied everywhere the same way — in the directory, in search, on your profile, and
in any export.
Association administrators:
submitted. Administrators can export the directory in bulk; **every export is recorded in the
audit log**, and the ability is restricted to administrators.
**We do not disclose your information to other alumni associations, to the institute, or to any
third party for their own purposes**, except as described in §5.
We share personal information with a small number of providers who process it on our
instructions and for no purpose of their own:
| Provider | What it handles | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Google Cloud Platform | Hosting, database, backups, encryption keys | United States (us-central1) |
| Amazon Web Services (SES) | Sending our email; bounce and complaint handling | United States (us-east-2) |
| MailPoet | Newsletter list management and sending | [CONFIRM — sub-processors and location] |
[Payment processor] |
Dues and donations, if built | [ ] |
We may also disclose information:
permitted to tell you, we will;
investigate a serious breach of the Terms of Service;
body, in which case we will tell you first and this policy continues to apply until it is
replaced.
**We do not sell personal information, and we do not share it for cross-context behavioural
advertising** — as those terms are defined under California law. We have never done so.
We use:
as a grid; and
We do not use advertising cookies, and the site currently runs no third-party analytics. If
that changes, this policy will be updated before the change goes live, and you will be asked for
consent where consent is required.
`[IF ANY EU/UK MEMBERS: a cookie banner is required for anything beyond strictly necessary
cookies. The functional cookies above are arguably strictly necessary; analytics would not be.]`
part of running your account and continues while your account is open.
in every message, and you can change your choices in your settings at any time. Unsubscribes
take effect immediately.
and a spam complaint is treated as an immediate and permanent opt-out from all optional
email.
checked.
We take this seriously, and the specifics are these:
database and its backups.
database, uploads and backups.
address, family details, dues history, and any registration evidence — so that those fields
are unreadable even to someone holding a copy of the database.
authenticates against your email and the directory needs to be searchable by name. We say
this plainly rather than implying more protection than exists.
Hiding a link is not treated as security.
No system is perfectly secure, and we do not claim otherwise. If a breach affects your personal
information we will notify you and the relevant authorities as the law requires, without undue
delay.
`[ADD, once decided: the Association's internal rules on who holds administrator accounts,
whether multi-factor authentication is mandatory for them, and how access is removed when an
officer's term ends. A policy is only as good as that.]`
| Record | Kept |
|---|---|
| Your account and profile | While your membership is active, and [PERIOD] after it ends |
| Content you published (blogs, photos, videos) | [Until you delete it / indefinitely as part of the Association's archive — DECIDE] |
| The Association's alumni roster | Indefinitely, as the Association's own historical record |
| Audit log of administrative actions | [PERIOD] — it exists to be a record, so it outlives the account it describes |
| Server logs | [30–90 days] |
| Financial records for dues and donations | As long as tax and accounting law requires, typically [7] years |
| Email suppression list (bounces, complaints) | Indefinitely — it is what stops us emailing you again |
When we no longer need information we delete it or de-identify it so it can no longer be
connected to you.
Whoever and wherever you are, you can:
[PRIVACY CONTACT EMAIL].Under the California Consumer Privacy Act as amended by the CPRA, you have the right to:
and the categories of third party it has been disclosed to;
Site therefore carries no "Do Not Sell or Share" link;
trigger this right; and
membership changes because you asked.
How to exercise them: email [PRIVACY CONTACT EMAIL]. We will verify your identity —
usually by confirming control of the email address on your account — and respond within **45
days**, extendable once by a further 45 where necessary. An authorised agent may act for you
with written permission.
Categories collected in the last 12 months, in CCPA's own terms: identifiers; personal
information under Cal. Civ. Code §1798.80; internet activity; geolocation `[only to the extent
an IP address is treated as such]`; professional or employment information; education
information; and inferences [none — confirm].
`[CONFIRM APPLICABILITY: CCPA applies to a "business" meeting revenue or volume thresholds, and
non-profits are generally outside it. The Association may not be covered at all. My
recommendation is to honour these rights regardless — it is good practice, members expect it,
and it costs little — but the wording must not claim a statutory status that is wrong. Counsel
should settle whether this section is stated as obligation or as voluntary commitment.]`
[KEEP ONLY IF THE ASSOCIATION HAS MEMBERS THERE — alumni move abroad, so check before cutting.]
You have the rights of access, rectification, erasure, restriction, portability, and objection,
and the right to complain to your national data protection authority.
Our lawful bases are: contract (running your membership), legitimate interests
(operating the directory, securing the Site, keeping the Association's records), consent
(optional email, and any profile field you choose to make visible), and legal obligation.
Your information is stored in the United States. Transfers are made on the basis of
`[Standard Contractual Clauses with our providers / the EU–US Data Privacy Framework —
CONFIRM which applies to GCP and AWS for this deployment]`.
Residents of `[Virginia, Colorado, Connecticut, Utah, Texas and other states with comprehensive
privacy laws]` have broadly similar rights of access, correction, deletion and portability, and
a right to appeal a refusal. Use the same contact address; we apply the same process to
everyone, whether or not a statute requires it in your state.
The Site is for adults, and members must be at least 18. **We do not knowingly collect personal
information from anyone under 13**, and if we learn that we have, we delete it. If you believe a
child has given us information, write to [PRIVACY CONTACT EMAIL].
We will update this policy when what we do changes. If a change is material we will tell you by
email and by a notice on the Site before it takes effect. The date at the top says when it
last changed, and [we will keep previous versions available at LOCATION].
Questions, requests, or complaints:
[LEGAL ENTITY NAME]
[MAILING ADDRESS]
[PRIVACY CONTACT EMAIL]
If you are not satisfied with our response, you may complain to `[your state Attorney General /
your data protection authority]`.