Terms of Use

Thank you for being part of the Society of Actuaries’ (“SOA”) SOA Engage (“Community”).  The purpose of the Community is to provide an engaging forum where SOA volunteers, members and leadership can share timely information, collaborate on projects, and have a mechanism to engage in and encourage discussion. All users of the Community (“Users”) are encouraged to participate in the online discussions by sharing files and content relevant to the discussion and Community. 

 By accessing, browsing, or using the Community, User agrees to be bound by the terms of the SOA Engage Terms of Use (“Terms”). In addition to the Terms, Users that are current SOA members also agree to adhere to Code of Professional Conduct and candidates agree to adhere to SOA's Candidate Code of Conduct. The SOA may revise these Terms at any time; User's continued use of the Community following the posting of notice of a change will confirm User's acceptance of the change. 

 

Rules and Restrictions on Submissions

  1. Users should exercise common sense and courtesy in submitting comments or materials for the Community ("Submissions"). Inappropriate Submissions would include, for example, comments or materials that:
    1. make false or defamatory statements about others;
    2. are obscene, vulgar, abusive, hateful or threatening;
    3. harass or discriminate on the basis of race, religion, nationality, ethnicity, gender, sexual preference or other factors;
    4. are invasive of the privacy rights of others (e.g., by including addresses, phone numbers or other personal information about third persons without their consent.)
  2. Submissions may not include content or materials that violate the copyrights, trademark rights or other intellectual property rights of third parties.
  3. Submissions may not contain unauthorized disclosures of proprietary or confidential information.
  4. Users may not use the Community in a manner or for a purpose that could violate federal or state antitrust laws. For example, the Community may not be used to communicate with competitors about prices, discounts, market shares, sales territories, or other terms or conditions of trade.
  5. Users may not use the Community to promote or provide instructional information about illegal activities or for any purpose that may be illegal.
  6. Due to the SOA's status as a tax-exempt organization and legal limitations on its activities, User Submissions may not contain comments or materials supporting or opposing any candidates for political office or otherwise engage in political activity or activity inconsistent with the SOA's purposes.
  7. Users may not use or attempt to use the Community for commercial purposes. Submissions on the discussion list, resource library entry or other public areas may not include advertisements for goods or services, solicitations, "spam", chain letters, surveys, pyramid schemes or the like. Users are not precluded from posting promotions for actuarial related information and events or job postings in the field of actuarial science, nor are they prohibited from privately contacting an individual with information they believe relevant or helpful.
  8. Submissions may not include false or misleading representations of affiliation with any other person or entity. A User may not employ false identifiers to impersonate any person or entity or to misrepresent or disguise the true origin of any content.
  9. The SOA believes that anonymous postings are neither necessary for purposes of the Community, nor consistent with the professional level of dialogue expected. Therefore, the User's name (which must be provided) will be posted with the Submission.
  10. Submissions should facilitate constructive discussion regarding the actuarial profession and not to air or seek resolution of personal disputes with the SOA, with other members, or with other companies or organizations.
  11. Post Submissions to the most relevant and appropriate list or library; do not repost the same Submission to multiple lists and/or libraries.

 

SOA's Right to Monitor and Administer

SOA reserves the right to monitor and administer the Community and, in its sole discretion, to remove any Submissions to the Community. The SOA reserves the right to terminate any User's posting privileges at any time.

 

Discussion Group Etiquette

  1. Include a signature tag on all messages. Include your name, affiliation and location. 
  2. State concisely and clearly the topic of your comments in the subject line. This allows members to respond more appropriately to your posting and makes it easier for members to search the archives by subject. 
  3. Include only the relevant portions of the original message in your reply. Delete any header information, and put your response before the original posting. 
  4. Only send a message to the entire list when it contains information that can benefit everyone. 
  5. Do not send messages such as, "thanks for the information" or "me, too," to the entire list. Instead, send these types of short messages directly to the individual by using the "Reply to Sender" link to the left side of every message.
  6. Do not send administrative messages, such as, “remove me from the list”. Instead, use the web interface to change your settings or to remove yourself from a list. If you are changing e-mail addresses, you do not need to remove yourself from the list and rejoin under your new e-mail address. Simply change your settings. 
  7. For lengthy messages, warn other list subscribers either in the subject line or at the beginning of the message body with a line that says, "Long Message." 

 

Ownership of the Community, the Contents and Associated Trademarks

All postings originated by the SOA and published on the Community are protected by copyright and owned by the SOA. Except as permitted under U.S. Copyright laws, the Community and the contents thereof may not be copied, reproduced, republished or sold, posted, transmitted, distributed, modified, or used for the creation of derivative works without SOA's prior written consent. The SOA grants User a non-exclusive, non-transferable, limited license to access, display and/or download the Webpages within the Community, solely on User's computer and for User's personal, non-commercial use, and provided that User agrees not to modify the content displayed on this site, including all copyright, trademark and other proprietary notices contained therein.

The SOA does not claim ownership of or copyrights in User Submissions. User understands that Submissions are not confidential and SOA will be free (without compensation to User) to use or disseminate such Submissions on an unrestricted basis for any purpose. User agrees that Submissions may be published, displayed, copied, distributed, downloaded, or transmitted by the SOA or other participants, and User grants SOA and all other users of the Community an irrevocable, unrestricted, perpetual, worldwide, royalty-free license to use, copy, reproduce, display, publish, distribute, transmit, adapt, modify or use for the creation of derivative works (including in digital form) such Submissions.

All Trademarks owned by the SOA and published on the Community are property of the SOA. The SOA's trademarks may not be copied and used by Users without prior written approval from SOA.

 

SOA.org Website Security

When using the Community, a User may not upload, post or transmit any material containing software viruses or any other computer code, files or programs designed to interrupt or limit the functionality of the SOA's website, computer software or hardware, or telecommunications equipment. A User may not attempt to decompile, reverse engineer, modify or hack the website or underlying software to defeat or overcome any encryption or digital rights management technology implemented by the SOA, or to harm, disable, overburden, misuse or interfere with any other party's use of the Community or the SOA website, servers, networks or systems.

 

DISCLAIMERS

THE SOA MAKES NO REPRESENTATION OR WARRANTY AS TO THE ACCURACY OR SUFFICIENCY OF THE INFORMATION POSTED ON THE COMMUNITY, WHETHER POSTED BY THE SOA OR ANY THIRD PARTY. THE SOA MAKES NO WARRANTY THAT THE COMMUNITY, OR ANY COMPUTER, SERVER, DEVICE, SOFTWARE, OR OTHER ASSOCIATED TECHNOLOGY, IS FREE OF VIRUSES, WORMS, OR OTHER ELEMENTS OR CODES THAT MANIFEST CONTAMINATING OR DESTRUCTIVE PROPERTIES. SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OF WARRANTIES, SO THE ABOVE EXCLUSIONS MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.

Postings, including but not limited to comments and replies to discussion topics, are not to be relied on as professional opinions or advice, and postings are not intended to constitute technical, financial or legal guidelines or to supplant individual judgment with respect to particular situations. Postings may not be construed in any way as investment or tax advice and are not intended to be used, and may not be used, by any person for the purpose of avoiding any penalties that may be imposed under the Internal Revenue Code.

The SOA does not endorse, approve, recommend, or certify any information, product, process, service or organization presented or mentioned on the Community, and information from there should not be referenced in any way to imply such approval or endorsement. The views expressed on the Community are those of the individual participants. They do not and should not be construed as representing the views of the SOA. While the SOA reserves the right to monitor the Community and remove Submissions or materials it believes are not in conformity with these Terms or in the best interests of the SOA and its members, the SOA undertakes no obligation to do so.

LIMITATIONS OF LIABILITY

NEITHER THE SOA NOR ITS OFFICERS, DIRECTORS, EMPLOYEES, AGENTS, OR REPRESENTATIVES SHALL BE RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY LOSS OR DAMAGE OF ANY KIND ARISING FROM OR IN ANY WAY RELATING TO (A) THE USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE THE COMMUNITY (B) ERRORS IN OR OMISSIONS FROM THE CONTENT, (C) ANY THIRD PARTY WEB SITES OR CONTENT THEREIN DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY ACCESSED THROUGH LINKS IN ANY COMMUNITY CONTENT, (D) THE UNAVAILABILITY OF THE COMMUNITY, (E) ANY USE OR RELIANCE BY THE USER ON ANY INFORMATION OR CONTENT CONTAINED THEREIN; NOR SHALL THEY BE LIABLE TO USERS OR ANY OTHER PERSON FOR ANY SPECIAL, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING FROM OR IN ANY WAY RELATING TO THE FOREGOING, EVEN IF THEY HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES OCCURRING.

IN NO EVENT MAY USER BRING ANY CLAIM OR CAUSE OF ACTION AGAINST SOA MORE THAN ONE (1) YEAR AFTER SUCH CLAIM OR CAUSE OF ACTION ARISES.

 

REPRESENTATIONS BY USERS; INDEMNIFICATION

USER IS SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR THE CONTENTS OF HIS/HER SUBMISSIONS TO THE COMMUNITY. USER REPRESENTS THAT HE/SHE HAS ALL RIGHTS NECESSARY TO POST THE INFORMATION, CONTENT OR MATERIALS SUBMITTED TO THE COMMUNITY WITHOUT VIOLATING THE COPYRIGHTS OR ANY OTHER INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS OF THIRD PARTIES, AND THAT NO SUBMISSION BY THE USER WILL VIOLATE THE LAWS OR THE RIGHTS OF THIRD PERSONS. USER HEREBY INDEMNIFIES AND AGREES TO DEFEND AND HOLD HARMLESS THE SOA AND ITS OFFICERS, DIRECTORS, EMPLOYEES, AGENTS AND REPRESENTATIVES FROM ANY AND ALL CLAIMS ASSERTED AGAINST THEM AND ANY LIABILITY, LOSS, DAMAGE, COSTS OR EXPENSES (INCLUDING REASONABLE ATTORNEYS' FEES) INCURRED OR SUFFERED BY THEM IN CONNECTION WITH OR ARISING OUT OF USER'S ACTS OR OMISSIONS OR THE MATERIALS OR INFORMATION USER SUBMITS TO THE COMMUNITY.

 

Choice of Law and Venue

This Agreement will be interpreted and governed in all respects by the laws of the State of Illinois without regard to its choice of laws rules. Any dispute arising under these Terms or in connection with the User's use of the Community shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of either the state or federal courts in and for Cook County, Illinois, and User and SOA hereby consent to the personal jurisdiction of such courts over them.

 

Procedures for Requesting the Removal of Infringing Material

The owner of a copyrighted work (or the agent for the owner) who believes that material posted on the Community infringes on the copyrighted work may request that the allegedly infringing material be removed by notifying the SOA's designated agent for such purposes:

 

Customer Service
Society of Actuaries
475 N. Martingale Road, Suite 600
Schaumburg, IL 60173
1-888-697-3900 
customerservice@soa.org

 

How to Contact the SOA

To report errors or other issues with the Community, or for questions regarding these Terms, please contact SOA Customer Service via the Contact Us link on SOA.org, or by email sent to customerservice@soa.org.