Thank you for using the website of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development (EOHED). We hope that EOHED has made your dealings with your state government easier and more efficient.

  1. Users Agree to These Terms. This document contains terms of use for EOHED. By using the EOHED portal you agree to these terms and conditions. Please note that individual state agencies or other Commonwealth entities may adopt additional terms of use that apply to specific Web-based transactions with those agencies or data posted on their Web sites. In addition, you should also review the EOHED privacy policy to learn about information collected by EOHED, what that information is used for, and how it may be shared.

  2. Other Sites Have Other Policies. For your convenience, EOHED's website contains hypertext or other links to external Internet sites that are not provided or maintained by the Commonwealth. Please note that the Commonwealth cannot guarantee the accuracy, relevance, timeliness, or completeness of these external sites. In addition, the inclusion of links to non-governmental sites is not intended to endorse any views expressed, or products or services offered, on these sites, or the organizations sponsoring the sites. In particular, please note that although EOHED's weblog ("blog"), the Commonwealth Conversations: Innovation, appears to be part of this site, it is hosted by a third party provider, [insert name of provider here]. The Commonwealth Conversations: Innovations at innovation.blog.state.ma.us is intended to facilitate an ongoing dialogue between the public and the [insert name of agency or secretariat head] and members of [his/her] administration While we encourage your comments, ideas and concerns, please note that when visiting the blog, you are subject to the Terms and Conditions of Typepad including TypePad's site terms (Terms of Service, Privacy Policy, and Copyright Policy), which are available to you at http://www.typepad.com/
  3. Public Record and Copyright. All of the material posted on the Commonwealth's Websites and accessible to the public without use of an authenticating and authorizing mechanism (such as a "PIN" or password) is public record. Most of the public record posted on Commonwealth Websites can be copied and used for any purpose. For example, all judicial opinions and all laws and regulations are public record. However, some of the public record posted on the Commonwealth's Websites is also copyrighted material (for example, regulations based on technical codes developed and copyrighted by private organizations). With respect to material copyrighted by the Commonwealth, including the design, layout, and other features of EOHED's website, the Commonwealth forbids any copying or use other than "fair use" under the Copyright Act. "Fair use" includes activities such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, research, and other related activities. In addition, please be advised that EOHED makes use of materials (including, but not limited to, photographs) copyrighted by third parties, which also cannot be copied or used for use other than "fair use" without permission of the copyright owner. If you want to make use other than "fair use" of any copyrighted information on this Web site, you must seek permission directly from the copyright owner. The only part of this site to which the copyright rules stated above do not apply is Commonwealth Conversations: Innovation. Content on this Commonwealth Conversations: Innovation site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Content includes all materials posted by the Executive Department of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. In addition, visitors to Commonwealth Conversations: Innovation agree to grant a non-exclusive, irrevocable, royalty-free license to the rest of the world for their submissions to this site under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. A copy of this license is available online at http://creativecommons.org/licenses.

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts' Executive Department respects the intellectual property of others, and we ask users of our Web sites to do the same. In accordance with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and other applicable law, we have adopted a policy of terminating, in appropriate circumstances and at our sole discretion, users, subscribers, or account holders who are deemed to be repeat infringers. We may also at our sole discretion limit access to our Web site and/or terminate the accounts of any users who infringe any intellectual property rights of others, whether or not there is any repeat infringement.

Notice and Procedure for Notifying Designated Agent of Claims of Copyright Infringement

If you believe that any material on this Web site infringes upon any copyright which you own or control, or that any link on this Web site directs users to another Web site that contains material that infringes upon any copyright which you own or control, you may file a notification of such infringement with our Designated Agent as set forth below. Notifications of claimed copyright infringement must be sent to George Ramirez, Designated Agent for notice of claims of copyright infringement. Our Designated Agent may be reached as follows:

George Ramirez
One Ashburton Place, Room 2101, Boston, MA 02108
(617) 788-2345
George.Ramirez@state.ma.us

  1. No warranty, endorsement or liability. The Commonwealth makes no warranty that the materials contained within EOHED's website are free from copyright claims, or other restrictions or limitations on free use or display. The Commonwealth disclaims any liability for the improper or incorrect use of information obtained from EOHED.

With respect to Commonwealth Conversations: Innovation, any references to commercial entities, products, services, or other nongovernmental organizations or individuals that remain on the site are provided solely for the information of individuals using the blog. These references are not intended to reflect the opinion of the Governor, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts or its officers and employees concerning the significance, priority, or importance to be given the referenced entity, product, service, or organization. Such references are not an official or personal endorsement of any product, person, or service, and may not be quoted or reproduced for the purpose of stating or implying Governor Deval Patrick's or the Commonwealth of Massachusetts' endorsement or approval of any product, person, or service.

The Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development does not guarantee or warrant that any information posted by individuals on the website is correct, and disclaims any liability for any loss or damage resulting from reliance on any such information. The EOHED may not be able to verify, does not warrant or guarantee, and assumes no liability for anything posted on Commonwealth Conversations: Innovation by any other person. The views expressed on the Commonwealth Conversations: Innovation by non-state commentators do not necessarily reflect the official views of the Massachusetts Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development.

5. No waiver; Laws, Regulations and Policies Take Precedence. The content published on this website is subordinate to, and is not to be interpreted as an amendment to or waiver of the Federal and State laws, regulations and policies applicable to the matters addressed in the site's content.