LÄHELLÄ.FI ONLINE SERVICE TERMS OF USE - REGISTERED USER
The Lähellä.fi online service is a public, open, and free online service. Lähellä.fi is an easy-to-use online service operating both nationally and regionally in Finland helping individuals find meaningful activities, sense of community, support, and opportunities for participation. The service compiles non-governmental organisations' and communities' support, activities, and events under one address.
Information can be published on the service on behalf of an organisation registered in the system. To publish information, the following conditions must be met:
1) the organisation must be registered on the service, and its basic details must be provided.
2) the individual submitting activity announcements must be a registered user of the service and must have joined and/or been approved as a user of the organisation.
Eligible users for the service include non-commercial actors such as associations, non-governmental organisations, communities, parishes, municipalities, cities, and social enterprises.
By registering, the user confirms that they have read and agree to these terms and commit to adhering to them when using the service. Failure to comply may result in access being denied.
Acceptance of these terms forms a contract under which personal data of the registered user is processed.
Public Information and Registration to the Service
Content published by a registered user is public and visible to other users. The user's name and username are recorded as metadata in each published content. Other user details are not public.
Users must register to the service under the name of the content provider. Users can request the deletion of their user account from the service administration.
Rights and Responsibilities of Registered Users
User accounts are personal. The user is responsible for their username and password and for all activities conducted using their account. The user is responsible for keeping their password safe.
A registered user is responsible for the accuracy, functionality and up-to-dateness of any content they store in or publish on the service.
The user is responsible for ensuring that they possess all necessary copyrights and other rights, or have obtained permission from the relevant rights holders, for any material they publish on the online service (including but not limited to text, images, attachments, audio recordings, and videos). The user must have the consent of any individuals appearing in any image or video to have such material published within the Lähellä.fi online service. In the case of minors, consent from a legal guardian must be available upon request.
By adding content to the service, the user agrees that the content they upload may be freely used, distributed and made available for non-commercial purposes, provided that the rights holder is credited in one of the following ways:
The URL of the content page or a hyperlink leading to the page must be included in the application / shared content.
The content creator must be listed in the source list of the application / shared content in accordance with good citation practices.
Users are free to utilise and use content produced by other users for non-commercial purposes, provided that they credit the original content creator in accordance with the above guidelines. Without proper attribution, materials and protected content from the online service may not be stored, distributed, or copied without separate permission. A separate permission must be requested for the reuse of the site’s structures, forms, and classifications.
Users are not permitted to sell or commercially exploit content produced by other users.
Users may advertise their own non-profit activities within the Lähellä.fi online service, but conducting business or commercial activities through the Lähellä.fi service is not permitted.
Adding content that violates the law or good practice to the Lähellä.fi service is prohibited. This includes, for example, content that is racist, offensive to human dignity, contains personal data of individuals, or infringes on privacy. The service administrators reserve the right to remove any illegal or inappropriate content from the platform.
The Lähellä.fi online service must not be burdened with spam, chain letters, or bulk email messages.
The user is responsible for the use, updating, storage, archiving, and deletion of the material they produce. Users must review and update the content and materials they have provided to the service at least once a year.
The Lähellä.fi online service includes links and connections to third-party websites. These websites are subject to their own terms of use.
Service Provider's Rights and Responsibilities
The service provider has the right to request additional information from the user that is essential for the registration before approving the registration.
The service provider has the right to prevent the publication of content that violates the terms of use, as well as to remove any content or activity that is in breach of the terms of use.
The service provider may suspend a user who repeatedly violates the terms of use, either for a fixed period of three (3) months or permanently, if the user does not cease the infringing behaviour despite receiving a written warning.
Before a suspension is enforced, the user will be given two (2) warnings, clearly depicting that further violations will result in the loss of access rights to the service. If the user continues to breach the terms, the suspension will come into effect. In cases of very serious violations of the terms of use, the service provider and regional service providers reserve the right to suspend the user without prior warning.
The service provider has the right to remove from the service any user who is not entitled to use it (for example, in the Lähellä.fi service, a representative of a commercial enterprise) or who has not used the service as a registered user for at least two years. The user will be notified before removal.
The service provider is responsible, as a data controller, for the content and its accuracy only in relation to the content it has produced itself. Where necessary, the service provider has the right to process personal data received through the service from the user.
The service provider is not liable to the user or any third party for any direct or indirect damages arising from errors, use, deficiencies, or misinterpretations of the service. Furthermore, the service provider does not monitor or take responsibility for the content, material, or services of third-party websites that may be linked to from the online service.
The service provider is not responsible for any service interruptions caused by maintenance work, technical faults, or other similar reasons, nor for any disruptions in telecommunications or internet connectivity. The service provider is not liable for any damage that may result from the functioning or non-functioning of the online service. The service provider has the right to suspend the provision of the service during maintenance and update procedures.
The service provider reserves the right, with discretion and at any time, to modify or amend the terms of use, privacy policy, appearance, content, functionality, and availability of the Lähellä.fi online service in order to improve the service or for any other necessary reason. The service provider also has the right to add to, alter, or remove parts of the online service or to discontinue the service in whole or partly.
The service provider aims to inform users in advance of any changes or interruptions to the service that are relevant to users, either through the service itself or by other means deemed appropriate, provided that giving such notice is reasonable for the service provider. The service provider may also provide information regarding other matters related to the service and its use through the service or by other means deemed appropriate.
The service provider has the right to compile and publish summaries and statistics on the use of the services, provided that no identifiable personal data is included.
The service provider has the right to share both its own content and content produced by third parties via interfaces for the use of non-commercial third parties.
Collection of Visitor Data
The service provider may collect information on how and when the online service is used, for example, which websites users have visited prior to accessing the service or what type of browser they are using. The data collected is anonymous and is not linked to any individual user. The purpose of collecting this data is to analyse the use of the online service and to further develop it to better meet users’ needs.
The service provider complies with legislation concerning personal data, as well as the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), in maintaining the Lähellä.fi online service.
A register of registered users is created for the online service. This register contains personal data provided by contact persons of organisations that register with the Lähellä.fi service and contribute content to the website.
Personal data is also used within the Lähellä.fi online service to process and respond to user feedback, provided the user wishes to receive a reply to their message.
Privacy notices are available on the Lähellä.fi online service.
Dispute Resolution
Disputes concerning the use of the service are primarily resolved through negotiations between the parties. If an agreement cannot be reached, the dispute will be settled in the district court of the service provider in accordance with Finnish law.