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awareNet Copyright Policy

awareNet is a peer-to-peer social networking system to which users may add or upload content which they have created or which it is lawful for them to reproduce. By default, all such content supplied by users is made available under a Creative Commons Attribution/Non-Commercial license (CC BY-NC) so that it may be made available to others for consumption, re-use, adaptation, translation and other purposes consistent with the awareNet's mission of education and personal empowerment.

If you cannot, or do not wish to make your contributions available under these terms you may choose from a range of different copyleft licenses including Academic Free License, the GNU Free Documentation License, additional Creative Commons licenses, etc. If you do not wish to grant others any use of your work beyond that consistent with South African copyright then by uploading or adding content to the network you grant the operators of awareNet a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, sublicenseable and transferable license to use, reproduce, distribute, prepare derivative works of, display, and perform your content in connection with the Village Scribe Association's services and projects.


Procedure for reporting copyright infringement

If you believe material or content available on the awareNet network or an individual node infringes a copyright or the terms of the license under which it is made available, please send a notice of copyright infringement.  Correspondence should be sent (in English) to:

The Village Scribe Association
9 Florence Street
Grahamstown 6139
South Africa

The notice of infringement should include:

  • A physical or electronic signature of a person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the copyright that has allegedly been infringed;
  • Identification of works or materials being infringed;
  • Identification of the material that is claimed to be infringing including information regarding the location of the infringing materials that the copyright owner seeks to have removed, with sufficient detail so that we are capable of finding and verifying its existence;
  • Contact information about the notifier including address, telephone number and, if available, e-mail address;
  • A statement that the notifier has a good faith belief that the material is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law; and
  • A statement made under penalty of perjury that the information provided is accurate and the notifying party is authorized to make the complaint on behalf of the copyright owner.

It is our policy to investigate the claims made in such a notice, and to remove content we reasonably believe to be infringing within 10 business days.

Please note that such claims must relate to infringement under South African law, specifically the Copyright Act of 1978 and its amendments.   Note also that awareNet's primary purpose is in education, and that the Act makes a "Fair Dealing" exception to copyright in Section 12(4) for copyrighted works used in the context of education:

12(4) The copyright in a literary or musical work shall not be infringed by using such work, to the extent justified by the purpose, by way of illustration in any publication, broadcast or sound or visual record for teaching: Provided that such use shall be compatible with fair practice and that the source shall be mentioned, as well as the name of the author if it appears on the work.

The complete text of this Act can be downloaded in Adobe PDF format from www.gpa.co.za


CC BY-NC 3.0 is the default license for content posted on awareNet. This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon your work non-commercially, and although their new works must also acknowledge you and be non-commercial, they don’t have to license their derivative works on the same terms.

You are free

  • To share to copy, distribute and transmit the work.
  • To remix to adapt the work.

Under the following conditions

  • Attribution: You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work).
  • Noncommercial: You may not use this work for commercial purposes.

With the understanding that

  • Waiver - Any of the above conditions can be waived if you get permission from the copyright holder.
  • Public Domain - Where the work or any of its elements is in the public domain under applicable law, that status is in no way affected by the license.
  • Other Rights - In no way are any of the following rights affected by the license:
    • Your fair dealing or fair use rights, or other applicable copyright exceptions and limitations;
    • The author's moral rights;
    • Rights other persons may have either in the work itself or in how the work is used, such as publicity or privacy rights.
  • Notice - For any reuse or distribution, you must make clear to others the license terms of this work. The best way to do this is with a link to this web page.
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