Terms of Service

Welcome to the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC) Data Explorer

UCSC Data Explorer is a cloud-native software platform that allows users to search and filter large genomic datasets for further analysis and processing.

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UCSC Data Explorer

Terms of Service

Last Modified: October, 16, 2023

Effective Date: October, 16, 2023

Certain terms (including capitalized terms) are defined in the Definitions section below.

Introduction

UCSC Data Explorer (“Data Explorer”) is a software platform developed by the University of California, Santa Cruz).

Data Explorer is a cloud-native platform that allows users to search and filter large genomic datasets for further analysis and processing.

The aim of the Data Explorer is to provide researchers in genomics and adjacent fields with a web-based facetted search tool to facilitate finding available open access and managed access data spanning a distributed set of data sets to use in their research.

These Terms of Service (hereinafter “Terms”) apply to your use of Data Explorer software, Data Browser website, and all related tools, services, and documentation (collectively, the “Service" or “Services”), as operated by The Regents of the University of California through its Santa Cruz campus (the “University”, “UCSC” or the “Regents”).

Your use of the Services requires that you agree to these Terms. Please read these materials carefully. If you do not understand these Terms, or do not accept any part of them, then do not use the Services.

Acceptance of Terms

By using the Services, you indicate your unconditional acceptance of, and agreement to, all of the following Terms.

Throughout these Terms, "you" or "your" refers to you as the User accessing or using any of the Services, or if you are using the Services on behalf of an entity such as your employer, “you” or “yours” refers to that entity.

If you are accessing the Services on behalf of a company or entity, you represent and warrant that you have the legal authority to enter into these Terms on that entity’s behalf and agree that UCSC may also contact such entity if you violate these Terms.

The Terms may have changed since your last visit. UCSC reserves the right to change these Terms from time to time for any reason, without notice, which shall be effected by the posting of the updated Terms on the Website. Your use of the Services is subject to the most recent version of the Terms posted on the Website. These Terms apply to all the Services available on the Website unless otherwise expressly indicated herein or on the Website.

Your Use of Services

Registration. You do not need to register for a Services account in order to access the Services. In order to access and use Services, however, you do need to use an account from a Compatible Cloud. You may not access Services using group or shared accounts. To the extent you access Services using a Google Cloud Platform account, the terms of your separate agreement with Google will apply to the processing of your personal data in Google Cloud Platform.

Identity Management. The credentials used for authenticating the User’s access to Services must belong to a single individual and only that individual may use those credentials. In order to protect your access account, keep your credentials confidential. You are responsible for the Services activity that happens on or through your Compatible Cloud account. If you learn of any unauthorized use of your Compatible Cloud account, please contact the appropriate Compatible Cloud provider.

Unauthorized use of the information system is prohibited and may be subject to criminal and civil penalties. The use of the information system indicates consent to monitoring and recording.

No Medical Advice. UCSC and the Services do not provide medical advice. All information accessed or displayed using Services is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding your health. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read in Services. If you think you may have a medical emergency, call your doctor or 911 immediately. UCSC does not recommend or endorse any specific tests, physicians, products, procedures, opinions, or other information that may be mentioned in Services. Reliance on any information provided by UCSC or available on Services is solely at your own risk.

Your Conduct

Don’t misuse the Services. You may use the Services only as permitted by Law, including applicable export and re-export control laws and regulations. You are responsible for your conduct. By accessing the Services, you acknowledge and agree that UCSC may monitor your conduct and your use of Services to filter spam, viruses, and other malware, ensure interoperability, fix bugs and resolve problems, ensure compliance with these Terms, Law, and provide you with help desk services and support. UCSC’s understanding of the way Users interact with the Services may be used to improve the Services. When using or accessing content through or on Services, you agree to comply with all restrictions and controls imposed by the owner of that content.

Acceptable Conduct. Acceptable uses of the Services include:

Conducting research using the Services; or

Sharing reproducible research; or

Developing scientific software tools; or

Making data and scientific software tools available to the biomedical research community; or

Teaching and educational activities.

Prohibited Conduct. You agree that you will not engage in the following conduct and will not authorize or aid others in doing so:

Utilize any automated means, including without limitation scraping, to obtain content with the exception of authorized use of the UCSC Data Explorer API; or

Impersonate another person; or

Introduce viruses, worms, Trojan horses and/or harmful code to the Services or implement a denial-of-service attack or introduce or implement any other code or routine which results in disruption or damage to the Services; or

Obtain unauthorized access to any computer system through the Services; or

Invade the privacy of any person, including but not limited to posting personally identifying or otherwise private information about a person without their consent (or their parent's consent in the case of a child under 13 years of age); or

Use, or allow the use of, the Services for any unfair or deceptive practices or in contravention of any federal, state, local, foreign, or other applicable law, or rules and regulations of regulatory or administrative organizations; or

Encourage conduct that would constitute a criminal or civil offense; or

Use the Services on a service bureau, time sharing or any similar basis, or for the benefit of any other person or entity; or

Reverse engineer, reverse assemble or decompile, or otherwise attempt to derive source code from, the Services or any software component of the Services; or

Alter, damage or delete any data, or retrieve or record information about the Services or its uses; or

Act in a fraudulent, tortious malicious, or negligent manner when using the Services.

Retained Rights

Using the Services does not give you ownership of any intellectual property rights in the Services you access. These Terms do not grant you the right to use any branding or logos used in Services. Do not remove, obscure, or alter any marks, designations, or legal notices displayed in or along with Services.

The Services, including but not limited to all software available on or in respect of the Services or used to create and operate the Services, is the property of the University or its licensors. In particular, you acknowledge that the structure, organization, and code used in conjunction with the Services, including without limitation the UCSC Data Explorer, are owned by The Regents of the University of California.

Software and Tools

UCSC Data Explorer has been developed and is available under an open-source license (Apache 2.0). In addition to the foundational open code, UCSC may make various software and tools available through Services. UCSC may add, change, or remove such software and tools at any time in UCSC’s sole discretion. Third parties may also provide software and tools for use with UCSC Data Explorer, and your use of such third-party tools is subject to the terms on which they are made available. UCSC Data Explorer may contain errors, defects or inaccuracies.

Some third-party incorporated software used in Services may be offered under open-source licenses. UCSC will make the terms of those licenses available to you. There may be provisions in the open-source license that expressly override some of these Terms only with regard to the specific software associated with such provisions. To the extent not permitted under the applicable open source license, you may not copy, modify, distribute, sell, or lease any part of UCSC Data Explorer or included tools, nor may you reverse engineer or attempt to extract the source code of those tools, unless Laws prohibit those restrictions or you have the University’s explicit signed written permission.

External Links, Third-Party Products and Services

Your use of Services includes using repositories and computing resources of third-party services, including as may be offered by/through Terra or their respective affiliates. In addition, Services may provide links that are maintained or controlled by external organizations. The listing of links is not an endorsement of information, products, or services, and does not imply a direct association between UCSC and the operators of the outside resource links. Products and services that provide additional services or functions for use with Services (including by/through Terra) are made available under a separate agreement. Your use of such additional products and services is subject to those separate agreements.

If you access Services using your Google Cloud Platform account, the terms of your separate agreement for Google Cloud Platform will apply to your use of Google Cloud Platform. Your agreements with Google or an authorized reseller of Google Cloud Platform services, and not these Terms, will apply to your use of Google Cloud Platform.

Warranty – Disclaimers and Limitations

UCSC operates the Services using a reasonable level of skill and care and UCSC hopes that you will enjoy using the Services. But there are certain things that UCSC does not promise about the Services, including that Services will change in any way or not change in any way. Other than as expressly stated, UCSC does not make any commitments about the specific form, features, or functionality available through the Services, its reliability, availability, or ability to meet your needs. UCSC may change the form, features, or functionality of the Services at any time in UCSC’s sole discretion.

Use is at Your Risk. THE SERVICES ARE INTENDED FOR USE IN RESEARCH AND EDUCATIONAL PURPOSE, NOT FOR ANY DIAGNOSIS OR TREATMENT OF ANY HUMAN DISEASE OR CONDITION. USE OF THE SERVICES IS ENTIRELY AT YOUR OWN RISK AND THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA MAKE NO REPRESENTATIONS OF ANY KIND AS TO THE OPERATION OR USE OF SERVICES. YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THAT THE SERVICES ARE PROVIDED "AS IS"; THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA MAKE NO REPRESENTATION OR WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. SPECIFICALLY, BUT WITHOUT LIMITATION, THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA DISCLAIM ANY REPRESENTATION AND DO NOT WARRANT THAT: (I) THE SERVICES OR RESULTS OF THE SERVICES WILL BE FREE OF ERRORS; (II) THE FUNCTIONS OR SERVICES WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, SECURE, OR BE AVAILABLE OR ‘UP’ AT ANY TIME; (III) DEFECTS, ERRORS, OR INACCURACIES WILL BE CORRECTED:(IV) THE SERVICES OR THE SERVER(S) THAT MAKE(S) IT AVAILABLE ARE FREE OF VIRUSES OR OTHER HARMFUL COMPONENTS; OR (V) OR WILL OPERATE IN A FASHION THAT IS FIT FOR ANY SPECIFIC RESEARCH OR COMMERCIAL APPLICATION.

THERE MAY BE PROVISIONS IN THE OPEN-SOURCE LICENSE THAT EXPRESSLY OVERRIDE SOME OF THESE TERMS ONLY WITH REGARD TO THE SPECIFIC SOFTWARE ASSOCIATED WITH SUCH PROVISIONS.

Liability – Disclaimers and Limitations

Do Not Rely on the Results of the Services. THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, AND ITS AFFILIATES AND LICENSORS, ARE NOT LIABLE OR RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY RESULTS GENERATED THROUGH THE USE OF THE SERVICES. Under no circumstances will The Regents of the University of California be liable for any loss or damage caused by your reliance on the Services’ information. It is your responsibility to evaluate the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any information, opinion, advice or other content available through UCSC Services. You are responsible for seeking the advice of professionals, as appropriate, regarding the evaluation of any results of the Services.

Disclaimer. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA BE LIABLE TO ANY USER OF UCSC SERVICES OR ANY OTHER PERSON OR ENTITY FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR EXEMPLARY DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF PROFITS, LOSS OF DATA, LOSS OF USE, OR COSTS OF OBTAINING SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES) ARISING OUT OF THE USE, INABILITY TO USE, UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS TO OR USE OR MISUSE OF THE WEBSITE OR ANY INFORMATION CONTAINED THEREON, WHETHER BASED UPON WARRANTY, CONTRACT, TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE), OR OTHERWISE, EVEN IF HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES OR LOSSES.

Limitation. THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA’S AGGREGATE LIABILITY FOR ALL CLAIMS ARISING FROM THESE TERMS OR THE SERVICES, CUMULATIVELY BETWEEN YOU AND UCSC, SHALL NOT EXCEED THE GREATER OF (I) $1.00 OR (II) THE AGGREGATE AMOUNT YOU HAVE PAID TO UCSC FOR THE SERVICES, IF ANY, IN THE THEN-PRIOR TWELVE (12) MONTH PERIOD.

Waiver of Class Action.

ANY CLAIMS BROUGHT BY YOU OR UCSC DATA EXPLORER MUST BE BROUGHT IN THAT PARTY'S INDIVIDUAL CAPACITY, AND NOT AS A PLAINTIFF OR CLASS MEMBER IN ANY PURPORTED CLASS OR REPRESENTATIVE PROCEEDING.

Exclusions and Severability. SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OF CERTAIN WARRANTIES OR THE LIMITATION OR EXCLUSION OF LIABILITY FOR INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES. ACCORDINGLY, SOME OF THE ABOVE PROVISIONS MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.

THERE MAY BE PROVISIONS IN THE OPEN-SOURCE LICENSE THAT EXPRESSLY OVERRIDE SOME OF THESE TERMS ONLY WITH REGARD TO THE SPECIFIC SOFTWARE ASSOCIATED WITH SUCH PROVISIONS.

If any provision of these Terms of Service is or becomes illegal, unenforceable, or invalid in any jurisdiction, it shall not affect (1) the enforceability or validity in that jurisdiction of any other provision of this Agreement, or (2) the enforceability or validity in other jurisdictions of that or any other provision of these Terms of Service.

Indemnification

By using UCSC’s Services, you agree to indemnify, hold harmless and fully defend The Regents of the University of California (and their respective officers, agents and employees) from any claims, damages, losses, liabilities, and all costs and expenses of defense, including but not limited to, attorneys' fees and expenses, resulting directly or indirectly from a claim by you or a third party, that arises in connection with your use of the Services and/or your breach of these Terms.

Laws Governing these Terms

These Terms, and any dispute between you and the University, shall be governed by the laws of the state of California. The University reserves the right to seek temporary or preliminary injunctive relief (or an equivalent type of urgent legal relief) in any jurisdiction. You waive the right to seek any equitable or legal remedies to restrain the operation of Services.

Jurisdictional Issues

The University makes no representation that information available through the Services is appropriate or available for use outside the United States. Those who choose to access the Services from outside the United States do so on their own initiative and at their own risk and are responsible for compliance with applicable local laws. By using the Services, you consent to having your personal information transferred to and processed in the United States.

Names and Trademarks

Nothing contained in these Terms confers any right to use in advertising, publicity, or other promotional activities any name, trade name, trademark, or other designation of either party hereto (including contraction, abbreviation or simulation of any of the foregoing). Unless required by law, your use of the name "The Regents of the University of California" or the name of any campus of the University of California is prohibited, without the express written consent of the University.

Term and Termination

These Terms shall apply for so long as a User accesses and/or uses the Services. UCSC may terminate any User's access to the Services, for any reason and at any time, with or without prior notice. It is UCSC’s policy to terminate users who violate these Terms, as deemed appropriate in UCSC’s sole discretion. You agree that the University is not liable to you or any third party for any termination of your access to the Services. UCSC will have no obligation to compensate you for the value of any loss of data, research or loss of opportunity attributed to termination of your access to the Services. Even after your right to use the Services is terminated or suspended, these Terms will remain enforceable against you.

Definitions

“Compatible Cloud” means the Google Cloud Platform. UCSC may add to or remove from any Compatible Cloud with Services at any time in UCSC’s sole discretion.

“Law” means all laws, regulations, court orders, frameworks, guidelines and standards applicable to your use of Services, including but not limited to HIPAA, CCPA, the U.S. Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, E.U. General Data Protection Regulation, U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act, the National Institute of Standards and Technology Cybersecurity Framework, and any similar laws in any other jurisdictions, any applicable ethical standards, and any applicable informed consent documents. Something is “illegal” if it violates any Law.

“Non-Profit Entity” means an entity that is (a) not a for-profit commercial business, such as any for-profit pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device, or food or cosmetics company, and (b) (i) if an entity organized in the United States, exempt from U.S. federal income tax under Section 501(a) of the Internal Revenue Code (for example, a 501(c)(3) or 501(c)(4) tax-exempt organization) or (ii) if an entity organized outside of the United States, that has equivalent tax-exempt status under other applicable laws or that otherwise operates as a not-for-profit business. Non-Profit Entities may include, by way of example, educational institutions, research institutions, academic medical centers, and government entities that operate as a not-for-profit business.

“Terra” means the platform developed by Verily, Microsoft and The Broad Institute. https://terra.bio/.

“User” means any person who has accessed the Services.

“Website” means the access to UCSC Data Explorer, available at https://explore.anvilproject.org/datasets.