BY USING THIS WEBSITE AND ITS RELATED CONTENT AND SERVICES (COLLECTIVELY, THE "WEBSITE"), YOU AGREE TO THE TERMS DESCRIBED BELOW FOR YOUR USE OF THE WEBSITE AND YOUR PARTICIPATION IN THE STANFORD STUDY AS DESCRIBED BELOW ("TERMS OF PARTICIPATION"). If you do not agree to the terms of this agreement, please stop using this Website.
The Study You are invited to participate in an academic research study on improving the algorithms used for data transmission and video streaming over the Internet (the "Study").
The Website will stream live broadcast signals that the Stanford research team receives from our local digital antenna in Stanford, CA, to the study participants without any modification whatsoever to the programing content.
The purpose of the Study is to figure out how to teach a computer to design new algorithms that reduce glitches and stalls in streaming video (especially over wireless networks and those with limited capacity, such as in rural areas), improve picture quality, and predict more accurately how the capacity of an Internet connection will change over time. As you stream video over your Internet connection, the Website will experiment with different algorithms that control the timing and quality of video sent to you. The Website will automatically collect information from your Web browser, including which video channel was sent to you, the picture quality of that video compared with the original version received by our antenna, the timing and duration of stalls in the playback, the timing of the delivery or loss of individual Internet Protocol datagrams or messages, and the accuracy of predictions the Website makes about the capacity of the Internet connection between you and the Website. You will not receive a survey or be required to answer any questions as part of the Study.
This Website was created by the Stanford researchers for the purpose of conducting this academic research Study, and will not be used for any commercial purpose. The information collected by the Website will be used for scientific purposes, including to draft scientific articles submitted for publication or presented at scientific or professional meetings, and to publish open-source software. You will not be individually identified in any publications or software released by the Stanford research team.
The Study is limited to participants in the United States only, who are 18 or above (each a "Study Participant"). During the Study, no more than 500 participants may access the Website at any time.
Participant's Involvement: Your participation will take approximately six to nine months. We expect each participant to stream video from the Website for several hours each week. We reserve the right to terminate your participation if you do not meet the expectation described above, or otherwise violate these Terms of Participation or any applicable laws.
No Compensation and Voluntary Participation Only. You will not receive any compensation for your participation in the Study, and we cannot and do not guarantee or promise that you will receive any benefits from this Study. If you are a Stanford employee and/or student, your decision whether or not to participate in this Study will not affect your employment and/or grades in school.
Internet Connection. Use of the Website and participation in this Study require an internet connection, which you must provide at your expense. You are responsible for all costs and fees charged by your internet service provider related to your use of the Website and participation in this Study.
Participant's Rights. If you have decided to participate in this Study, please understand your participation is voluntary and you have the right to discontinue participation at any time. The alternative is not to participate. You will not receive a survey or be required to answer any questions as part of the Study. The results of this research Study may be presented at scientific or professional meetings or published in scientific journals or conference proceedings. Your individual privacy will be maintained in all published and written data resulting from the Study, and will not be provided to any third party (except in aggregated data, as discussed below). You understand that identifiers might be removed from identifiable private information and, after such removal, the information could be used for future research studies or distributed to another investigator for future research studies without additional consent from you. Subject to the above, you understand that Stanford will collect, use and protect your information in accordance with its privacy policy which can be found here: https://www.stanford.edu/site/privacy/.
Terms of Use. You have a limited, revocable, non-exclusive license to use the Website for personal use only and you agree not to (a) make the Website available on a network to other users; (b) modify, adapt, translate, reverse engineer, decompile or disassemble the Website; (c) create derivative works from the Website; or (d) copy, distribute, publicly perform, publicly display, or broadcast the Website in an manner not expressly authorized in these Terms of Participation. As used herein, "Website" includes this Website, and all associated services and content (including any programing content that is streamed via the Website.)
Questions: If you have any questions, concerns or complaints about this research, please contact the researchers at https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/puffer-stanford.
Copyright Complaints. Stanford respects the intellectual property rights of others. If you believe your copyright has been violated on a Stanford site, please notify puffer-copyright-notices [at] cs.stanford.edu and give notice as stated under Reporting of Alleged Copyright Infringement.
No Guaranteed Service. Stanford may terminate this Study and/or this Website at any time without cause or advance notice to you. Your access to the Website and its services may also be interrupted, suspended or terminated if the user limit is exceeded or if we elect to suspend or terminate an user’s access for any reason.
Additional Disclaimers. THE WEBSITE AND ALL RELATED CONTENT AND SERVICES ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" AND, TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT ALLOWABLE UNDER LAW, STANFORD DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING ANY WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NONINFRINGEMENT. STANFORD DOES NOT WARRANT THAT OPERATION OF THE WEBSITE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR-FREE. STANFORD MAY IN DISCRETION, DISCONTINUE SUPPORTING WEBSITE OR TERMINATE THE STUDY AT ANY TIME, AND STANFORD HAS NO LIABILITY FOR DISCONTINUANCE. STANFORD WILL NOT BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR ANY FORM OF DIRECT OR INDIRECT, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES FROM ANY CAUSES OF ACTION RELATED TO THIS WEBSITE OR YOUR PARTICIPATION IN THIS STUDY.
Miscellaneous. This Agreement is construed and interpreted in accordance with the laws of the State of California applying to contracts fully executed and performed within the State of California. You hereby submit to personal jurisdiction in California and further agree that a dispute shall be brought in a court within Santa Clara County, California. If any provision of this Agreement is held invalid or unenforceable, in whole or in part, that provision will be modified to the minimum extent necessary to make it valid and enforceable, and the validity and enforceability of all other provisions of this Agreement shall not be affected thereby. This Agreement constitutes the entire agreement between the parties related to the subject matter.
