Wikimedia Labs/Terms of use

These Terms of Use apply to account holders' use of Wikimedia Labs, which is wmflabs.org and any subdomain of wmflabs.org. Different rules may apply to end-users Labs projects. By creating an account and using Labs you agree to abide by these terms. Failure to comply with these terms may result in your account being suspended or your contributions being rejected.

Wikimedia Labs is a sandbox server environment based on a virtualization cluster for supporting development and operations engineering by both staff members and selected volunteers. Labs allows access to system resources, software and configuration without compromising the security of the production server clusters, in a time and cost effective way. This open access allows effective collaboration and innovation for development and is necessary for the operation of Labs, however it does mean that account holders are required to follow rules of the road when developing in Labs. You agree to the following:

1. No hacking / cracking
   • You should not attempt to or access the private data of other users
   • You should not attempt to override any permissions
2. No proprietary software
   • Do not incorporate any software that does not have OSI-approved open source licenses
3. No content that isn't open
   • All content must be licensable under an applicable free cultural works license as per this Definition of Free Cultural Works
4. No offering of illegal content.
   • Do not include anything that could be considered a violation of the Wikimedia Foundation Terms of use or any applicable laws
5. No tor nodes/peer to peer network services / VPNs from labs to other networks.
   • Using Labs as a proxy between networks is not allowed.
6. Only Wikimedia-related work.
   • Clarification: MediaWiki work that isn't directly related to Wikimedia is allowed. The MediaWiki software is a Wikimedia Project, and as such, any work related to development of MediaWiki is considered related to Wikimedia.
7. No collection or storage of private data or personally identifiable information without the express authorization of the individuals you are collecting it from.
   • Because the confidentiality of any private data or personal information can not be guaranteed, this information should only be collected in rare circumstances and end users must be warned that their information may be stored and that staff and volunteers may have access to this data.
   • We recommend you do not collect information of this sort to avoid misunderstandings.
   • Any private data collected must be purged within 15 days.
   • Wikimedia project user credentials must not be stored.
   • If usernames/passwords are required for a service, the credentials must be hashed with a strong hashing algorithm and salted.
8. If you have access to personal information, IP addresses, or other private data through Labs, you may not share this information or use this information other than within Labs.
9. The account creation text and the agreement to disclosure of personally identifiable information must be displayed to end users of any publicly viewable products.
10. Use of Wikimedia logos is prohibited inside of Labs projects.

Any actions deemed abuse can result in loss of privileges. This is at the sole discretion of the Labs staff and community. Exceptions can be made to these policies at the discretion of the Labs staff. Please see the exception policy for more information.