1.  introduction (the pleasure is all ours)
THE FOLLOWING DESCRIBES THE TERMS ON WHICH HITCHSTERS.COM INC. OFFERS YOU ACCESS TO OUR SERVICES.  

Welcome to the user agreement (the "Agreement" or "User Agreement") for Hitchsters.com ("hitchsters").  This Agreement describes the terms and conditions applicable to your use of our services available under the domain and sub-domains of www.hitchsters.com (our "Site").  If you do not agree to be bound by the terms and conditions of this Agreement, do not use or access our services.  

You must read, agree with and accept all of the terms and conditions contained in this User Agreement, the Privacy Policy and the Rules of the Road, which include those terms and conditions expressly set out below and those incorporated by reference, before you may use hitchsters’ services.  
 
We may amend this Agreement at any time by posting the amended terms on the Site.  All amended terms shall automatically be effective immediately after they are initially posted on the Site.  This Agreement may not be otherwise amended except in a writing signed by you and hitchsters.  This Agreement is effective on November 11, 2006 for all users.  

2.  user  eligibility (let’s be adults about this)
Our services are available only to, and may only be used by, individuals who can form legally binding contracts under applicable law.  Without limiting the foregoing, our services are not available to children (persons under the age of 18) or to temporarily or indefinitely suspended hitchsters users.  If you do not qualify, please do not use our Site.

3. rules of the road (catchy, huh?)
You agree that you will abide by the Rules of the Road available on our Site at http://www.hitchsters.com/about/rules/.  You agree and represent that you are using our Site in order to find someone with whom you can share a taxi.

4. fees and services (better try it while it’s free)
It is free to use hitchsters for Manhattan (if taking a car from Brooklyn to an NYC-area airport as provided by our car service provider, you will be charged as based upon our price list).  We reserve the right to charge fees for our currently free services in the future.   We may in our sole discretion change some or all of our services at any time.  In the event we introduce a new service, the fees for that service are effective at the launch of the service.  Unless otherwise stated, all fees are quoted in U.S. dollars.  You are responsible for paying all fees associated with using our service and our Site and all applicable taxes.

5. hitchsters is only a venue (we don’t know your co-rider from Adam)

5.1 hitchsters is not a middleman
We are only a venue that facilitates individuals sharing taxis and cars provided by car services.  You acknowledge that you understand that we do not pre-screen individuals who use our Site, are not involved in the actual transaction between co-riders and are not affiliated with taxi companies or taxi drivers in Manhattan.  You acknowledge that you understand that we have no control over the people who use our Site, the drivers of the taxis or taxi companies or car service providers.  We do not guarantee that, when matched with a prospective co-rider, you and your co-rider will be able to meet or that you will be able to share a taxi or a car provided by a car service.  Your interactions with users found on or through our Site, including what you decide between yourselves regarding how to meet up, who gets out first and how to split the taxi fare, are solely between you and your co-rider.  We have provided the Rules of the Road in this User Agreement in the hope that it will assist you in your interactions with your co-rider, but we make no guarantee that other users will abide by such or otherwise be polite and friendly.

5.2 identity
We make no efforts to identify the users of our Site before or after a match is made. As a safety precaution, we take steps to preserve the phone numbers entered by the two riders when a match is made. We will release the two phone numbers and other information relating to a particular match only upon receipt of a legal document compelling us to release such information.  Upon such occurrence,  we will endeavor to limit our response and to ensure that the recipient of such information will handle it with due care.  By using our Site, you agree to accept such risks and acknowledge that hitchsters is not responsible for the acts or omissions of users of our Site.

5.3 release
You agree that hitchsters shall not be responsible or liable for any loss or damage of any sort incurred as the result of any dealings related to the services we have provided on our Site.  In the event that you have a dispute with one or more users, you release hitchsters (and our officers, directors, agents, subsidiaries, joint ventures, employees and successors) from claims, demands and damages (actual and consequential) of every kind and nature, known and unknown, suspected and unsuspected, disclosed and undisclosed, arising out of or in any way connected with such disputes.  If there is a dispute between users of our Site, or between users and any third party, you understand and agree that hitchsters is under no obligation to become involved.

6. license  (just to be extra careful)
Solely to enable hitchsters to use the information you supply us and to ensure that we are not violating any rights you might have in that information, you agree to grant us a non-exclusive, worldwide, perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free, sublicensable (through multiple tiers) right to exercise the copyright, publicity and database rights you have in the information you enter on our Site, in any media now known or not currently known.  hitchsters will only use your information in accordance with our Privacy Policy. 

7.  your access to our Site (mess with us, ruin for everyone)
The Site contains robot exclusion headers.   You agree that you will not use any robot, spider, scraper or other automated means to access our Site for any purpose without our express written permission.   Additionally, you agree that you will not: (i) take any action that imposes, or may impose in our sole discretion an unreasonable or disproportionately large load on our infrastructure; (ii) copy, reproduce, modify, create derivative works from, distribute or publicly display any content from our Site without the prior expressed written permission of hitchsters and the appropriate third party, as applicable; (iii) interfere or attempt to interfere with the proper working of our Site or any activities conducted on our Site; or (iv) bypass our robot exclusion headers or other measures we may use to prevent or restrict access to our Site. You will not engage in advertising to, or solicitation of, other users to buy or sell any products or services through our Site.

8.  breach (we’re serious about this agreement)
Without limiting other remedies, we reserve the right, at any time and in our absolute discretion, to limit your activity, warn our community of your actions, issue a warning, temporarily suspend, indefinitely suspend or terminate your ability to use our Site and refuse to provide our services to you if you breach this Agreement, the Rules of the Road or the Privacy Policy, or if we believe that your actions may cause financial loss, personal injury or legal liability for you, our users or us.

9.  privacy (you can trust us – we like our privacy, too)
We do not sell or rent your personal information to third parties for their marketing purposes without your explicit consent and we only use your information as described in the Privacy Policy.  We view protection of users' privacy as very important.  We understand clearly that you and your information is one of our most important assets.  We store and process your information on computers located in the United States that are protected by physical as well as technological security devices.  Our current Privacy Policy is available at http://www.hitchsters.com/about/privacy.   If you object to your information being transferred or used in this way or in the ways we describe in our Privacy Policy, please do not use our services. 

10.  no warranty (our lawyer says we should say this)
WE, OUR SUBSIDIARIES, OFFICERS, DIRECTORS, EMPLOYEES AND OUR SUPPLIERS PROVIDE OUR WEB SITE AND SERVICES "AS IS" AND WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY OR CONDITION, EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR STATUTORY.  WE, OUR SUBSIDIARIES, OFFICERS, DIRECTORS AND EMPLOYEES SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIM ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF TITLE, MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NON-INFRINGEMENT.  Some states do not allow the disclaimer of implied warranties, so the foregoing disclaimer may not apply to you.  This warranty gives you specific legal rights and you may also have other legal rights that vary from state to state.

11.  liability limit (c’mon, we just want to help you save money)
IN NO EVENT SHALL WE, OUR SUBSIDIARIES, OFFICERS, DIRECTORS, EMPLOYEES OR OUR SUPPLIERS BE LIABLE FOR LOST PROFITS OR ANY SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH OUR SITE, OUR SERVICES OR THIS AGREEMENT (HOWEVER ARISING, INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE).

OUR LIABILITY, AND THE LIABILITY OF OUR SUBSIDIARIES, OFFICERS, DIRECTORS, EMPLOYEES AND SUPPLIERS, TO YOU OR ANY THIRD PARTIES IN ANY CIRCUMSTANCE IS LIMITED TO THE AMOUNT OF FEES YOU PAY TO US IN THE 12 MONTHS PRIOR TO THE ACTION GIVING RISE TO LIABILITY.

12.  indemnity (if we get blamed for something stupid you do)
You agree to indemnify and hold us and, as applicable, our parent, subsidiaries, affiliates, officers, directors, agents, employees and successors, harmless from any claim or demand, including reasonable attorneys' fees, made by any third party due to or arising out of your breach of this Agreement, the Rules of the Road or the Privacy Policy, or your violation of any law or the rights of a third party.

13.  legal compliance (in fact, a good rule for life in general)
You shall comply with all applicable domestic and international laws, statutes, ordinances and regulations regarding and related to your use of our Site.

14.  no agency relationship (we’re close but not THAT close)
No agency, partnership, joint venture, employee-employer or franchiser-franchisee relationship is intended or created by this Agreement.

15.  notices (thank-you cards and constructive feedback preferred)
Any notices shall be given by postal mail to Hitchsters.com Inc., P.O. Box 3132, New York, NY 10126-3132 (in the case of hitchsters), or to the email address you provide to hitchsters when entering your name for a match (in your case).  Notice shall be deemed given 24 hours after email is sent, unless the sending party is notified that the e-mail address is invalid.   

16.  additional terms (only a few more)
The following policies are incorporated into this Agreement by reference and provide additional terms and conditions related to specific services offered on our Site:

Privacy Policy: http://www.hitchsters.com/about/privacy/
Rule of the Road: http://www.hitchsters.com/about/rules/

Each of these policies may be changed from time to time and are effective immediately after we initially post the changes on our Site.  In addition, when using particular services on our Site, you agree that you are subject to any posted policies or rules applicable to services you use through our Site, which may be posted from time to time.  All such posted policies or rules are hereby incorporated by reference into this User Agreement. 

17.  disclosures (another website had this, so we added it, too)
The services hereunder are offered by Hitchsters.com Inc., a Delaware corporation.

Commercially available parental control protections (such as computer hardware, software, or filtering services) are commercially available that may assist you in limiting access to material that is harmful to minors.

18.  general (just to make sure we’ve included the kitchen sink)