To use this website, you must be at least 18 years old. If you are age 17 or younger, use of this site is strictly prohibited.

This website is owned and operated by:

Barbara Smith, LLC, a Delaware Limited Liability Company

NOTE: Barbara Smith does NOT accept service of any legal process via email or fax.

By using this site and/or by submitting any content to BarbaraSmith (including posts, photos, comments, and any other material), you agree to the following terms:

1. Acceptable Use

The purpose of this website is to allow our users to exercise their rights under the First Amendment. This means you can use this site to share your thoughts, views, comments, stories and opinions with the world. However, the rights established by the First Amendment are not unlimited. We therefore require you to comply with the following standards:

— Submissions must be factually true. Publishing false statements can, depending on other factors, subject the author to significant civil and/or criminal liability. Only post factually true information, or matters of personal opinion which are clearly identified as such.
— By posting any content on BarbaraSmith, you represent and warrant that your submission is factually true, and not unlawful (i.e., not an invasion of privacy).
— Submissions must be fair and not misleading. For example, if someone was arrested for a crime and the charges were later dropped or the defendant was found not guilty, you should include that information in your post. In other words, don’t leave out important details that make your story misleading.
— Submissions should contain your real contact info (name/email). As a general rule, we will protect the identity of our users to the fullest extent permitted by law, but we may be required to release information when served with a valid subpoena or court order. If you are extremely concerned about protecting your identity, it is OK to use a pseudonym.

2. Prohibited Use

You must also comply with the following standards:

— Do not post false, defamatory, or otherwise unlawful material. You are legally responsible for your words, so please don’t lie.
— Do not post material that violates another person’s intellectual property rights (copyrights, etc.).
— Do not post nudity, pornography or obscenity, including but not limited to “revenge porn”.
— Refrain from profanity/vulgarity.
— Do not post threats of violence/harm.
— Do not post images of minor children except when relevant to the story (i.e., a kidnapping case).
— Do not post hate speech such as comments attacking other people for their sexual orientation, gender identity, race, religion, national origin, or physical/mental disability, except when necessary to the story (i.e., “Can you believe Donald Trump said the following things about this group of people….?”)
— Do not bully or harass anyone (criticism is OK when warranted, but please exercise restraint and common decency).
— NEVER encourage any form of self-harm (cutting/suicide, etc.)

3. Resolution of Complaints Regarding Inappropriate Content

As a matter of policy, BarbaraSmith will remove any content from this site that we determine, in our sole editorial discretion, to be unlawful, obscene, inappropriate, or unduly offensive. Although we reserve the right to make exceptions from our own policies at any time and for any reason, content removal will generally comply with the standards described on our Legal FAQ page. It is our policy to comply with any valid/lawful court orders, however we can’t promise that we will always comply with every order or judgment we receive. Also, to avoid any confusion caused by cases such as Barnes v. Yahoo!, Inc., 570 F.3d 1096 (9th Cir. 2009), nothing in our Terms of Service may be construed as a promise to remove any content.

We can and will remove content that we believe, in our sole editorial discretion, should not be on our site. However, unless you have obtained a valid court order proving that something in a post is false, please do NOT ask us to remove content on the grounds that it is false. We are not the truth police and will not remove content just because someone has made an unverified claim that a post is false. Disputes over the accuracy of content posted on BarbaraSmith should be resolved in court between the author of the post and the subject of the post. It is not necessary, and not appropriate, to name BarbaraSmith as a party in such a case.

Notwithstanding the above, the images, text, documents, comments and graphics published at BarbaraSmith are NOT verified for accuracy by BarbaraSmith LLC does not fact-check posts or comments submitted by users and cannot ensure the accuracy of any content presented on BarbaraSmith by third parties. Content appearing on this site may contain rumors, speculation, assumptions, opinions and other unverified information from our users. Because they are not verified, postings may contain erroneous or inaccurate information. BarbaraSmith LLC makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy, completeness or authenticity of the information or opinions appearing on BarbaraSmith. BarbaraSmith LLC does not endorse, adopt, or ratify the opinions or views of third parties expressed on this site or on any other linked sites.

4. Grant of Exclusive Rights

By posting material on BarbaraSmith, you grant to BarbaraSmith LLC an irrevocable, perpetual, fully-paid, worldwide exclusive license to use, copy, perform, display and distribute such information and content and to prepare derivative works of, or incorporate into other works, such information and content, and to grant and authorize sublicenses of the foregoing.

You represent and warrant that the Content you submit is an original work by you, that you own or control 100% of the rights in and to your Content and the rights granted to BarbaraSmith in this license, and such rights are and shall be free and clear of any and all claims, rights and obligations; and that you have the right to grant to BarbaraSmith the rights granted to us in this license, you do not require the consent of any third party and that there is no contract with any third party that could in any way interfere with BarbaraSmith’s rights under this license or require any payment to be made to anyone by BarbaraSmith.

You hereby expressly waive, to the fullest extent permitted by law, any so-called ‘moral rights’ which may now or may hereafter be recognized by legislative enactment or otherwise at law or in equity with respect to the Content.

Although we reserve the right to remove content at any time and for any reason, we generally do not remove content when asked by a person claiming to be the original author. We cannot verify claims of authorship and therefore will usually not remove content merely because a person claiming to be the original author asks us to remove something.

5. Copyright Policies

BarbaraSmith is fully compliant with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”) 17 U.S.C. § 512, et. seq. If someone has submitted your copyrighted material without permission, please let us know by visiting our Copyright Page.

6. Responsibility for Unlawful Content

Except for comments written in bold and signed “-xposed“, all written submissions on this site are opinions of third parties and not of BarbaraSmith LLC. BarbaraSmith LLC is not responsible for, and does not endorse, verify, or ratify any of the written opinions and/or content submitted by third parties.

For more information regarding our legal policies, please read our Legal FAQ page.

7. No Third Party Beneficiaries

These terms constitute a legal agreement between you and BarbaraSmith, LLC. These terms are not intended to be, and shall not be, enforceable by any third party/parties.

If you do not agree with any of these Terms of Use please do not use this site. By using this site you will be deemed to have irrevocably agreed to these terms.

8. Notice of Availability of Parental Control Protections

Federal law, specifically 47 U.S.C. § 230(d), requires the provider of an “interactive computer service” (such as a website) to “notify [each] customer that parental control protections (such as computer hardware, software, or filtering services) are commercially available that may assist the customer in limiting access to material that is harmful to minors.”

Pursuant to this requirement, if you are a parent and you are interested in obtaining commercial tools to help you limit access to material that is harmful to minors, you can find a list of such tools here: PCMag.com – The Best Parental Control Software for 2016.

NOTE – BarbaraSmith has no relationship with either PCMag.com or with any of the software vendors mentioned in this article. We do not endorse or recommend any specific parental control software, product, or service.

9. California Online Eraser Act Compliance

The State of California recently passed a new “Online Eraser” law which is supposed to require websites to delete content posted by minors when asked by the original author. The new law became effective on January 1, 2015. You can read a copy here.

For various different reasons, we do not believe that California’s “Online Eraser” law applies to us. However, until the courts have resolved this issue we are willing to consider removal requests from California residents who posted content on our site while they were under the age of 18, subject to appropriate proof.

If you would like to request removal under this law, please email us at legal@BarbaraSmith.com.

Please include a link to the page in question and a clear copy of your government issued-ID. We may also request additional information as needed to process your request.

Also, the law requires that we provide notice of the following:

Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code § 22581. (a) An operator of an Internet Web site, online service, online application, or mobile application directed to minors or an operator of an Internet Web site, online service, online application, or mobile application that has actual knowledge that a minor is using its Internet Web site, online service, online application, or mobile application shall do all of the following:
(1) Permit a minor who is a registered user of the operator’s Internet Web site, online service, online application, or mobile application to remove or, if the operator prefers, to request and obtain removal of, content or information posted on the operator’s Internet Web site, online service, online application, or mobile application by the user.
(2) Provide notice to a minor who is a registered user of the operator’s Internet Web site, online service, online application, or mobile application that the minor may remove or, if the operator prefers, request and obtain removal of, content or information posted on the operator’s Internet Web site, online service, online application, or mobile application by the registered user.
(3) Provide clear instructions to a minor who is a registered user of the operator’s Internet Web site, online service, online application, or mobile application on how the user may remove or, if the operator prefers, request and obtain the removal of content or information posted on the operator’s Internet Web site, online service, online application, or mobile application.
(4) Provide notice to a minor who is a registered user of the operator’s Internet Web site, online service, online application, or mobile application that the removal described under paragraph (1) does not ensure complete or comprehensive removal of the content or information posted on the operator’s Internet Web site, online service, online application, or mobile application by the registered user.