AFP Collaborate Code of Conduct

COMMUNITY RULES & ETIQUETTE AND PRIVACY GUIDELINES

AFP Collaborate (“Site”) is a community platform owned and sponsored by the Association for Financial Professionals, Inc. (“AFP”) for use by AFP members and registered users to express their ideas, share ideas and information and shall be used exclusively as a community collaboration and networking tool.

By joining and using this community, you agree that you have read and will follow these rules and guidelines. You also agree to reserve discussions and shared files and content to that best suited to the medium. This is a great medium with which to solicit the advice of your peers, benefit from their experience and participate in an ongoing conversation.

Messages should not be posted if they encourage or facilitate members or registered users to arrive at any agreement that either expressly or impliedly leads to price fixing, a boycott of another's business, or other conduct intended to illegally restrict free trade. Messages that encourage or facilitate an agreement about the following subjects are inappropriate: prices, discounts, or terms or conditions of sale; salaries; profits, profit margins, or cost data; market shares, sales territories, or markets; allocation of customers or territories; or selection, rejection, or termination of customers or suppliers.

Please take a moment to acquaint yourself with these Terms of Service. In order to preserve a climate that encourages both civil and fruitful dialogue, AFP reserves the right to suspend or terminate membership in this community for anyone who violates these Terms of Service.

Use of any information obtained via the Site is AT YOUR OWN RISK. AFP in no way endorses any opinions expressed on this Site.

1. By accessing, viewing, or using the Site, You indicate that You understand and intend these Terms of Service to be the legal equivalent of a signed, written contract and equally binding, and that You accept such Terms of Service and agree to be legally bound by them. Please note that AFP reserves the right to change the Terms of Service under which the Site may be extended to You. Your continued use of the Site following such modifications will be conclusively deemed acceptance by You of any changes to these Terms of Service.

2. This Terms of Service Agreement provides You with a personal, revocable, nonexclusive, nontransferable license to use the Site conditioned on Your continued compliance with the Terms of Service. As a condition of use of the Site, You warrant to AFP that You will not use the Site for any purpose that is unlawful or otherwise prohibited by these Terms of Service.

3. AFP accepts no responsibility for the opinions and information posted or circulated by users. AFP cannot warrant the accuracy of any information posted on the Site and AFP disclaims all warranties with regard to information circulated on the Site. This disclaimer includes all warranties of merchantability and fitness. By using or viewing the Site, you agree that AFP is not responsible for any damages (of whatever kind or nature) you may incur by using the Site or any of the content or information contained on the Site. In no event shall AFP be liable for any special, indirect or consequential damages, or any damages whatsoever resulting from loss of use, data or profits arising out of or in connection with the use or performance of any information posted on this Site. In no event is AFP liable for any damage to Your computer system, tablet or mobile device or any business delays caused by computer viruses that may emerge from this Site.

4. Neither AFP nor its directors, officers, staff and volunteers accept any responsibility for the content of the postings on this Site. The content of all postings is solely the responsibility of the authors. AFP reserves the right to delete, move or edit any communications, information or materials at any time, in whole or in part, for any reason or in its sole discretion, but has no obligation to review or remove any such content. In the event that any inappropriate or illegal posting is brought to AFP’s attention, AFP may exercise appropriate action. AFP reserves the right to disclose any information as necessary to satisfy any legal, regulatory or governmental request and/or requirement.

5. You agree not to use this Site to post material that:

• contains vulgar, profane, abusive, racist or hateful language or expressions, epithets or slurs, text, photographs or illustrations in poor taste, inflammatory attacks of a personal, racial or religious nature
• is defamatory, threatening, disparaging, grossly inflammatory, false, misleading, fraudulent, inaccurate, unfair, contains gross exaggeration or unsubstantiated claims, violates the privacy rights of any third party, is unreasonably harmful or offensive to any individual or community; violates any right of AFP, its officers, directors, employees, members, volunteers or any third party; discriminates on the grounds of race, religion, national origin, gender, age, marital status, sexual orientation or disability, or refers to such matters in any manner prohibited by law
• violates or inappropriately encourages the violation of any municipal, state, federal or international law, rule, regulation or ordinance
• advertises, promotes or offers to trade any goods or services
• You do not have a right to make available under any law or under contractual or fiduciary relationships (such as inside information, proprietary and confidential information learned or disclosed as part of employment relationships or under nondisclosure agreements)
• violates the antitrust laws by discussing prices, where to do business, or with whom to do or not do business
• infringes any patent, trademark, trade secret, copyright or other proprietary rights of any party
• contains software viruses, spyware or any other computer code, files or programs that interrupt, destroy or limit the functionality of any computer software or hardware or telecommunications equipment
• "stalks," “flames” or otherwise harasses another person or entity.

6. You may not post any information or other material protected by copyright without the permission of the copyright owner. By posting material, You warrant and represents that You own the copyright with respect to such material or that You have received permission from the copyright owner. In addition, You grant AFP and users of this Site the nonexclusive right and license to display, copy, publish, distribute, transmit, print, and use such information or other material. For those whose material has been posted by a user of this Site without permission, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 (the “DMCA”) provides recourse for copyright owners who believe that material appearing on the Internet infringes their rights under U.S. copyright law. AFP reserves the right to remove any material on the Site which allegedly infringes another person’s copyright. Notices to AFP regarding any alleged copyright infringement on the Site should be sent to [email protected]. Please provide the following in your communication:

• a description of the copyrighted work or other intellectual property that you claim has been infringed
• description of where the material that you claim is infringing is located on the Site
• your address, telephone number, and email address
• statement that the use of the copyrighted work is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law
• statement by you, made under penalty of perjury, that the above information in your notice is accurate and that you are the copyright or intellectual property owner or authorized to act on the copyright or intellectual property owner’s behalf
• an electronic or physical signature of the person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the copyright or other intellectual property interest.

7. On this Site, You have the ability to post messages and content using your name or anonymously. You acknowledge, consent and agree that AFP may access, preserve and disclose your personally identifiable information (including but not limited to your real name), account information and Content if required to do so by law or in a good faith belief that such access, preservation or disclosure is reasonably necessary to: (a) comply with legal process; (b) enforce the Terms of Service; (c) respond to claims that any Content violates the rights of third parties; (d) respond to your requests for customer service; or (e) protect the rights, property or personal safety of AFP, its officers, directors, employees, members, volunteers, agents, other Site users or the public.

8. You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless AFP and its officers, directors, employees, members, volunteers agents, and their successors and assigns from and against any and all claims, proceedings, damages, injuries, liabilities, losses, costs, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys’ fees and litigation expenses), relating to or arising from Your use of the Site, any breach by You of this Terms of Service Agreement, or any other matter for which You are responsible hereunder or under law.

9. This Terms of Service Agreement will be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of Maryland, U.S.A., without regard to its conflicts of law provisions. You hereby agree that any cause of action You may have with respect to AFP must be filed in either the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, Greenbelt Division or any state court located in Montgomery County, Maryland, within twelve months of the time in which the events giving rise to such claim began, or you agree to waive such claim.

10. If any part of this Terms of Service Agreement is determined to be invalid or unenforceable pursuant to applicable law including, but not limited to, the warranty disclaimers and the liability limitations set forth above, then the invalid or unenforceable provision will be deemed superseded by a valid, enforceable provision that most clearly matches the intent of the original provision and the remainder of this Terms of Service Agreement shall continue in effect.

11. No joint venture, partnership, employment, or agency relationship exists between you and AFP as a result of this Agreement or Your utilization of the Site.

12. These Terms of Service represent the entire agreement between You and AFP with respect to Your use of the Site, and it supersedes all prior or contemporaneous communications and proposals, whether electronic, oral, written or otherwise between You and AFP with respect to this Site. Any rights not expressly granted herein are reserved.