Wikitech:Labs Terms of use

Because of the unique nature of Wikimedia Labs, it is not governed by the same policies as other Wikimedia Projects. You can only access and use Wikimedia Labs if you agree to these Terms of Use. For definitions of capitalized terms, see “how are terms defined” below.

What uses of Labs do we like?

The purpose of Wikimedia Labs is to make it easier for developers and system administrators to:

• try out improvements to Wikimedia infrastructure, including MediaWiki;
• run bots;
• do analytics; and
• create other projects related to a Wikimedia Project or to MediaWiki software development or testing.

You agree that your projects on Wikimedia Labs will be related to these purposes. Consult with the Labs administrators or the Labs-l mailing list if you would like to verify whether your project is within the scope of Wikimedia Labs.

What uses of Labs do we not like?

You agree not to use Wikimedia Labs for any of the following (“Prohibited Uses”):

1. Illegal or harmful activity: Do not break the law. This includes, but it is not limited to, accessing other systems without authorization, accessing private data without authorization, harassing or abusing others, engaging in fraud, trafficking in unlawful material, or distributing unsolicited commercial email (spam), viruses, malware, or other malicious code.
2. Misuse of Private Information: Do not collect or misuse private information of users, as defined in “Private Information”, below.
3. Proprietary software: Do not use or install any software unless the software is licensed under an Open Source license.
4. Proprietary content: Do not use or create content unless it complies with the Wikimedia Licensing policy. This includes content in the public domain or freely licensed under an applicable free culture license, such as the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 3.0 license.
5. Using Wikimedia Labs as a network proxy: Do not use Wikimedia Labs servers or projects to proxy or relay traffic for other servers. Examples of such activities include running Tor nodes, peer-to-peer network services, or VPNs to other networks. In other words, all network connections must originate from or terminate at Wikimedia Labs.
6. Disruptive or abusive activity: Do not interfere with other users’ projects, by being respectful of system and network resources.
7. Use of Wikimedia Logos: Do not confuse users by using Wikimedia logos on web pages, or otherwise running sites that don’t properly explain that they are not official Wikipedia Projects. Use the Labs logo instead! For more on avoiding user confusion, see the section on running test wikis below.

Exceptions to this list of prohibited uses can be requested for limited circumstances, such as testing compatibility with proprietary software. To request an exception, please submit a proposal to the Labs administrators.

What happens if I violate this policy?

If you violate this policy, such as by using Labs for one of the prohibited uses, your Labs account, or any projects you run on Labs, can be suspended or terminated. If necessary, the Wikimedia Foundation can also do this in its sole discretion.

What other things do I agree to?

You agree:

• That we can add, change, or discontinue the features or services in Wikimedia Labs.
• That by submitting content to Wikimedia Labs, you consent to transfer and processing of that content in the United States of America.
• That we can notify you of changes to this policy by emailing the Wikimedia Labs-l mailing list.
• That we can contact you for purposes related to Labs at the email address you gave us when you registered.
• That if you seek to file a legal claim against us, you will file and resolve it exclusively in a state or federal court located in San Francisco County, California. You also agree that the laws of the State of California and, to the extent applicable, the laws of the United States of America will govern these terms, as well as any legal claim that might arise between you and us (without reference to conflict of laws principles). You agree to submit to the personal jurisdiction of, and agree that venue is proper in, the courts located in San Francisco County, California, in any legal action or proceeding relating to us or these terms.

What can and can’t be done with user information?

You should not collect or store private data or personally identifiable information, such as user names, passwords, or IP addresses (“Private Information”) from the individuals using your Labs Project (“End Users”), except when complying with the conditions listed below. To avoid violating this policy, and to avoid causing confusion or misunderstandings for users, we recommend that you do not collect any Private Information. Only collect information if the purpose of the Labs Project unavoidably requires such collection. If you do collect any Private Information, you must:

1. Clearly communicate to End Users a) that Private Information is being collected, b) how you will use it, and c) when you will delete it;
2. Inform the End Users that their information may be available to the Wikimedia Foundation, its volunteers, other Wikimedia Labs users, or to the public;
3. Get express authorization from the End Users for the collection;
4. Hash, encrypt, or otherwise properly secure any Private Information you store;
5. Purge, anonymize, or aggregate any Private Information you store no more than 30 days after storing it;
6. Not share any Private Information outside of your Labs Project; and
7. Not store any End User’s Wikimedia Project passwords.

Collecting any Private Information without complying with these requirements is a prohibited use and is grounds for account termination.

What should I do to avoid confusing users when running a test wiki?

If your Labs Project includes a publicly accessible wiki, you must ensure that it is not confusingly similar to a Wikimedia project. For example, you should include a prominent disclaimer that it is a test project (see a sample disclaimer below), set the robots.txt file to disallow indexing in a search engine, and use labs logos instead of Wikimedia logos. We can require that you modify your Labs Project or suspend your account if we receive complaints that End Users have been confused by the appearance or operation of your Labs Project.

What information should I provide to users?

If my tools have account creation...

If End Users of your Labs Project are allowed to create accounts, you must display this disclaimer on your Labs Project during the account creation process:

Warning: Do not use the Labs Project (this site) if you do not agree to the following: information shared with the Labs Project, including usernames and passwords, will be made available to volunteer administrators and may not be treated confidentially.

Volunteers may have full access to the systems hosting the projects, allowing them access to any data or other information you submit.

As a result, use of your real Wikimedia credentials is highly discouraged in wmflabs.org projects. You should use a different password for your account than you would on projects like Wikipedia, Commons, etc.

By creating an account in this project and/or using other Wikimedia Labs Services, you agree that the volunteer administrators of this project will have access to any data you submit.

Since access to this information by volunteers is fundamental to the operation of Labs, these terms regarding use of your data expressly override the Wikimedia Foundation's Privacy Policy as it relates to the use and access of your personal information.

If my tools collect Private Information...

If you collect any Private Information from End Users, you must display this disclaimer to the End Users before you collect the Private Information:

By using this project, you agree that any private information you give to this project may be made publicly available and not be treated as confidential.

By using this project, you agree that the volunteer administrators of this project will have access to any data you submit. This can include your IP address, your username/password combination for accounts created in Labs services, and any other information that you send. The volunteer administrators of this project are bound by the Wikimedia Labs Terms of Use, and are not allowed to share this information or use it in any non-approved way.

Since access to this information is fundamental to the operation of Wikimedia Labs, these terms regarding use of your data expressly override the Wikimedia Foundation's Privacy Policy as it relates to the use and access of your personal information.

If my tools include a beta or test wiki...

If you run a beta or test wiki, you must display this notice on the wiki (such as in the footer):

Warning: this is not a live Wikimedia Foundation project.

This site is used only for testing and development purposes. This site is not covered by the Wikimedia Foundation’s Terms of Use or Privacy Policy. Do not disclose personal information on this site and do not use this site to post any illegal or harmful content.

For more information on this test environment, see Wikimedia Labs.

What disclaimers does the Foundation want to make?

While the Foundation obviously wants to make Labs as reliable and robust as possible, all software is imperfect, and we also provide Labs to you at no charge. As a result, we can’t be responsible if something goes wrong. In more formal legal language, this means:

Wikimedia Labs may be used as a testing or development environment, so all your use of Wikimedia Labs is at your sole risk. We provide Wikimedia Labs on an “as is” and “as available” basis, and we expressly disclaim all warranties of all kinds, including implied warranties of fitness for a particular purpose, merchantability, and non-infringement. We make no warranty that Wikimedia Labs will meet your requirements, be safe, secure, or uninterrupted.

We are not responsible for the content, data, or actions of third parties, and you release us, our directors, employees, and agents from any claims and damages, known and unknown, arising out of or in any way connected with any claim you have against such a third party.

How are terms defined?

In this document, when we say “Wikimedia Labs”, we mean content or services hosted on wikitech.wikimedia.org, wmflabs.org, or a subdomain of wmflabs.org.

When we say a “Labs Project”, we mean the virtual environment that your account on Wikimedia Labs allows you to use.