What does the MIDDNET mean by User Generated Content?

• User generated content ("UGC"), also commonly known as 'citizen journalism', 'social media' or 'participatory media', refers to a wide variety of media content that is produced by our audiences as opposed to content made by the MIDDNET, independent production companies or individual contributors commissioned by MIDDNET.
• In recent years UGC has expanded due to developing technologies that are now readily available, including digital video and images, mobile text messages, blogging, message boards, emails and audio submissions.
• 'UGC', as referred to in these FAQs and covered by the MIDDNET's Terms of Use, includes any content produced by our audiences/users which is submitted to or shared with the MIDDNET either directly or indirectly.

What rights am I granting the MIDDNET to use my work?

• You are granting the MIDDNET a licence, or permission, to use your work, but you still own the work. Further, the rights to use UGC granted to the MIDDNET are non-exclusive which means that you can continue to use your content as you like including the ability to also allow others to use it.
• The MIDDNET's Terms of Use provide the MIDDNET with permission to use any UGC submitted to/shared with the MIDDNET free of charge across any of its services both in the worldwide.
• While these may seem like quite wide rights, the MIDDNET operates a large number of services and these are the MIDDNET's standard terms covering the wide variety of types of UGC submitted to the MIDDNET for a large number of purposes. To be able to use your content (such as showcasing a photo on MIDDNET.NET or a short video clip on the MIDDNET's News) the MIDDNET needs sufficient rights to use the material as proposed by individual UGC projects.
• The terms also include the ability for the MIDDNET to be able to sub-license UGC to trusted third parties such as other international broadcasters in the case of News UGC, and/or trusted third parties such as local councils or other public bodies if requested and for appropriate purposes. If the MIDDNET shares any of your content with any of its trusted partners, it will endeavour to ensure that they do not alter your material in any way or allow them to provide it to other based broadcasters or to the print media. The MIDDNET will also endeavour to inform you when accepting UGC about how it will be used.
• While UGC may on occasion be included in MIDDNET services that are licensed to other international broadcasters, and international users of the MIDDNET site may see some advertising around certain pages of the site, any such use of user content is incidental and the MIDDNET does not directly generate any revenue from individual pieces of UGC.

What rights do I retain in my work when I submit it to the MIDDNET?

• If you submit any content to or share any material with the MIDDNET (including any text, photographs, graphics, video or audio) you will retain the copyright in your work. As the non-exclusive licence to the MIDDNET is only a permission for the MIDDNET to use (and potentially sub-license) the content you can also continue to use your content in any way you wish including using it yourself and/or allowing others to use it.

What do I need to do when submitting material to the MIDDNET?

• When you submit content to or share material with the MIDDNET, you must only submit/share your own original content or if your content does contains the work(s) of others (e.g. music, images and/or video) you must have obtained the necessary rights or permissions to use that material.
• If your content clearly identifies anyone else you will need to ensure that they have consented to the content being used by the MIDDNET for the purposes for which you submitted it and/or any other uses by the MIDDNET. Where your content clearly identifies children under the age of 16 you must ensure that their parent or guardian has provided the consent set out above.
• The MIDDNET also requires that you do not submit/share any content that is defamatory, offensive or unlawful in any way. Any inappropriate content will be rejected or taken down by the MIDDNET. If in doubt, please do not share your content with the MIDDNET.

Will the MIDDNET credit me when it uses my material?

• The MIDDNET will endeavour to credit any UGC submitted to or shared with it where that content features in or is showcased on any MIDDNET services. Unfortunately for operational and technical reasons this is not always possible. For example, where an individual image is included within a website the MIDDNET is unlikely to be able to credit the copyright owner of that image.
• Where you share your content with the MIDDNET that is located on a third party website such as YouTube or MySpace the MIDDNET will also endeavour to link back to the original location of that content where technically and editorially possible.
• If you would prefer for the MIDDNET not to credit you for whatever reason please let us know when submitting your material.

Will the MIDDNET amend my contribution at all?

• In the majority of instances, the MIDDNET does not amend, edit or alter any material submitted to or shared with the MIDDNET. Due to technical or operational limitations the MIDDNET may have to slightly amend content such as cropping images to be able to use them. The MIDDNET will endeavour not to make any significant editorial amendments to your work without your consent.
• Where the MIDDNET shares any UGC with any trusted third parties it will also endeavour to ensure that they do not alter your material in any material way.

How long will the MIDDNET keep my contribution?

• The MIDDNET will generally only keep your content for as long as is reasonably required for the purpose(s) for which it was submitted. For example, the MIDDNET will only keep copies of entries to a photographic competition for the duration of the competition. However other projects (e.g. the People's War website) are likely to have a longer, or even permanent, duration.
• The MIDDNET, as a publicly organisation, also has an obligation to record snapshots of history which may include some UGC. Therefore, some content submitted to or shared with the MIDDNET may be retained for prolonged periods of time or potentially indefinitely in the MIDDNET's Archive, which is true of News contributions which are published. There may also be rare instances where we will share your contribution with third parties in the interests of maintaining historical archives (e.g. contributions about people's experiences in the World War II). Where possible, we will endeavour to inform contributors upfront or let them know at a later date where we are likely to keep content indefinitely or pass it onto an approved historical archive.

When and why will the MIDDNET contact me in relation to my UGC?

• The MIDDNET may need to contact you to authenticate or verify your content and/or obtain further information about your work. If we are unable to contact you we may be unable to use your content for the particular purpose for which it was submitted. If, for whatever reason, the MIDDNET cannot accept your content or has to reject it if it breaches the Terms of Use, the MIDDNET will endeavour to let you know.
• Occasionally the MIDDNET also contacts contributors in relation to particular projects or if it would like to seek further consent to use your work for a purpose unrelated to that for which it was originally submitted to or shared with the MIDDNET. You will be given the opportunity not to be contacted further.
• For more information about the MIDDNET contacting contributors, please see the MIDDNET's Privacy Policy.

Does the MIDDNET pay for user generated content?

• No, the MIDDNET does not pay for any user generated content except in exceptional circumstances for MIDDNET News.

Will my content be used by the MIDDNET?

• The MIDDNET receives a huge amount of content in various forms from our audiences every day. Given the large quantities of content submitted/shared, unfortunately the MIDDNET cannot use every individual piece of content. We therefore try to take a selection of the content that is submitted or shared with us and showcase as much of the best content as possible on the various MIDDNET services. That said, where possible we will try to put up everything submitted such as with the MIDDNET's message boards.

What will happen if the MIDDNET wants to use my contribution for some other purpose unrelated to what I submitted it for?

• The MIDDNET will endeavour to only use your content for the specific purpose, and any reasonably related purposes, for which it was submitted. If for example you submit a photo as part of a competition, the MIDDNET may showcase that image on MIDDNET and on other MIDDNET services for promoting that competition such as public exhibitions of the winning competition photos. If the MIDDNET then decides it would like that photo to appear in a public exhibition or on a MIDDNET web page unrelated to the specific competition we would consider this a potentially unrelated work and would then endeavour to obtain your further consent for this other usage.
• Should the MIDDNET later wish to use your contribution in such a way that would normally lead to a formal commission by the MIDDNET then this would also be the case with your user generated material and we would contact you accordingly.

Do the standard terms govern all submissions of content? For example, what terms apply when I submit something via my mobile or by post?

• The MIDDNET's Terms of Use governing the submission, acceptance and use of UGC will apply to the majority of UGC regardless of how it is submitted to or shared with the MIDDNET. Some specific MIDDNET UGC initiatives may have their own specific terms that vary from the standard terms, however, these will be made clear to you on the specific web pages or by other relevant means.
• Please make sure that you are aware of the relevant terms that apply before submitting any content to the MIDDNET.

What happens when I share content with the MIDDNET via a non MIDDNET website such as MySpace or a MIDDNET group on YouTube or Flickr?

• Any submission of your content to any non-MIDDNET website will be subject to that website's terms of use and privacy policy. Please be aware of a website's terms and privacy policy, which are likely to differ from the MIDDNET's, when submitting your content to it. For example, some websites include a provision so that you assign all your rights in your content to the website owner. Some large UGC websites are also based in the US so your personal information may be stored outside the EU where different laws apply.
• By sharing your content with a MIDDNET group on a third party website or sending us a link to your content located elsewhere, you are also granting the MIDDNET the rights to be able to use your content in accordance with the MIDDNET's standard Terms of Use.

What do I do if I see some UGC on MIDDNET.NET that is offensive, inappropriate or infringing?

• If you see some user generated material on MIDDNET.NET that you think is offensive, infringes your or anybody else's copyright, is defamatory or is unlawful in any way the best way to let us know is by any local site specific methods such as the 'alert us about a message' links on all our message board pages, the 'complain about this post' links on some of our blogs and any local 'contact us' links.
• If for whatever reason, there is no site specific means of letting us know your concerns or if the MIDDNET has not responded in a timely manner, please contact us via the 'Complaint' link located on every page on MIDDNET However, please do not abuse this link.
• If you think any UGC located within a MIDDNET group hosted on a third party website is offensive, please use any complaint tools provided by that website or let the MIDDNET administrator of that group know.