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Terms & Conditions

Consent to AHED Usage Terms

Every user must consent to the following statement before accessing AHED:

You are accessing a U.S. Government information system, which includes:
  1. this computer;
  2. this computer network;
  3. all computers connected to this network; and
  4. all devices and storage media attached to this network or to a computer on this network; and
  5. cloud and remote information services.

This information system is provided for U.S. Government-authorized use only. You have no reasonable expectation of privacy regarding any communication transmitted through or data stored on this information system. At any time, and for any lawful purpose, the U.S. Government may monitor, intercept, search and seize any communication or data transiting, stored on, or traveling to or from this information system. You are NOT authorized to process classified information on this information system. Unauthorized or improper use of this system may result in suspension or loss of access privileges, disciplinary action, and civil and/or criminal penalties.

Use of Submitted Information

AHED asks data submitters to document their datasets with a minimal set of required information, including contact information.

The following information will be published on the site:
  • Contact’s name
  • Scientific data files and “metadata”

It is AHED’s policy to NOT distribute any other personal information to other parties, except as required by law.

Terms and Conditions

The AHED Data Repository is a public site to which Registered Users are allowed to upload content and anyone may view or download content. Users are responsible for ensuring that they have the rights to distribute any data uploaded to this site and that the data is appropriate to distribute. Users should not upload any information considered: Classified, Control Unclassified Information (CUI), Copyrighted (without retaining proper copyright notices and without permission where not the owner), ITAR restricted, or Proprietary without permission.

NASA Web Privacy and Other Important Notices

All of NASA web privacy policies, especially dealing with personal information and the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), and other important notices are available here.

ITAR, Export Controlled, and Proprietary or Copyrighted Information

The AHED Data Repository is not for the transfer or storage of classified, sensitive or proprietary data; therefore, classified, Control Unclassified Information (CUI), or other sensitive or proprietary data (such as inventions or other forms of intellectual property) may not be processed, entered or stored in AHED. Information is considered "classified" if it contains national security information, which requires proper handling and safeguarding under national security laws and regulations. Information is considered "proprietary" where such information was developed at private expense and embodies trade secrets or contains commercial or financial information over which the owner intends to control access and use. Users must have explicit written approval from the owner before removing the status of proprietary information and before such information is uploaded onto the website.

NASA Civil Servants and Contractors are each individually responsible for ensuring all information they post has been through the STI Documentation Availability Authorization review process (NF-1676B at NASA Ames, including other proper forms for your center), which includes a review for export-controlled information. Other individual contributors are responsible to ensure that information uploaded on the website complies with export control regulations.

Datasets are submitted to AHED under the terms of the Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) license.

For more information on license, see: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

Intellectual Property Policy

AHED is developed to enable collaboration and data sharing among researchers in the Astrobiology community. Our policy is to respect the intellectual property rights of others so we are asking you to do the same.

As a Collaborator, when you post full-text articles or supplementary materials on AHED, you do not transfer or assign the copyright to AHED. Rather, you make the content available to the public while retaining the right to remove such content from AHED at any time, or to make it private so it is available only to you.

When you upload content we encourage you to first confirm your rights before doing so. As a general matter, if you are an author publishing in a journal, you may be allowed to publish certain versions of your article, but not others, and privately share certain content with others. However, many journals restrict publication of final versions and impose limitations on private sharing.

Your starting point for understanding your rights is the agreement(s) you have with your publisher or other rights owner. If you’re still unsure about what you’re allowed to share on AHED, we recommend that you contact your publisher. There are other resources available that you might also find useful in understanding your rights, such as How Can I Share It (http://www.howcanishareit.com).

Please be aware that if we receive notice of an alleged violation of copyright or intellectual property rights we will disable access to or remove the content complained.

Consequences for Inappropriate and Illegal Behavior

Users who post illegal material or who use this website for illegal activities will lose access to their account and any privilege to approve an account, and will be reported to the appropriate authorities. Users who post inappropriate or otherwise defamatory or obscene content may receive only a one-time warning for the first such posting. Should the transgression occur again, the User would lose access to their account and any privilege to approve an account. Users who post information that violate CUI/Official Use Only requirements, copyright or proprietary rights will be warned and their Civil Servant sponsor (for Civil Servants, their immediate supervisor) will be notified. Upon a case-by-case review, such users could potentially lose access and any privilege to approve an account.

Liability

For data available from this server, the U.S. Government does not warrant or assume any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed.

DMCA Requests

The DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) notice and takedown process is a tool for copyright holders to remove user-uploaded material that infringes their copyright from websites.

DMCA takedown notices must cover work that is protected by copyright and must identify a specific copyrightable work. Much of the information in these datasets is publicly available work, so please double check that your DMCA request does not include work in the public domain. If you have a trademark abuse complaint, please contact us directly instead of filing a DMCA takedown request.

In your request please include:

  • An identification of the copyrighted work you believe has been infringed
  • Material in AHED that is part of the mentioned copyrighted work
  • Your contact information
  • A line stating:
  • "I swear, under penalty of perjury, that the information in this notification is accurate and that I am the copyright owner, or am authorized to act on behalf of the owner, of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed."
  • We will review your request and inform you on removed unauthorized copyrighted content. You may receive a counter-notice if the work falls outside of these guidelines.

Data Redistribution

Data acquired through the AHED Data Repository website are distributed under NASA's Open Access Data Policy at White House - Open Government Plan.

Citing AHED Data Sets

To acknowledge the scientists who have provided data, we request that you include a bibliographic citation to all AHED-provided data that you use in your publications. Such citations will help others find the products and see how they have been used. Citation information is provided below.

  • Acknowledgement:

    A general statement crediting AHED for data, assistance, and/or review. This statement is included in a paragraph at the end of an article, before the reference list.

    Example Acknowledgment for AHED data:
    "Data are courtesy of the NASA AHED Data Repository."

  • Reference Citation:

    Author. Product title. Publisher (AHED). Retrieved Date of the data product which is being credited (Day Month Year format), URL. You can also copy the citation text generated at the bottom right-hand corner on the dataset landing page.

    Example Reference Citation:
    "Bebout, L. Ames Exobiology Culture Collection Dataset. Astrobiology Habitable Environment Database. Retrieved Date: Jun 19, 2019. https://doi.org/XXX.YYY"