§ 1) Service

§ 1.1) Description of service

YHRD.ORG is Y-Chromosomal STR knowledge base service that allows users to

  • estimate frequencies for Y-STR Haplotypes in various formats and within specified national databases and metapopulations (Estimate frequency)
  • retrieve information i.e. STR characteristics, mutation rates (Locus information)
  • validate laboratory data (Tools)
  • assess male population stratification among world-wide populations as far as reflected by Y-STR Haplotype frequency distributions (Tools)
  • calculate LR for mixtures and kinship cases (Tools)

It is not allowed to use other resources than a human controlled browser - so called “bots” (computer programs that automatically or user-intended parse results into other formats).

The service includes the website and a calculation engine. The YHRD.ORG service is hosted in Chicago, IL, United States of America and it is not restricted to registered users. We hope to keep equitable access of our resources within all users.

All results, information and other resources taken from YHRD.ORG have to be quoted human readable and must honor the license of YHRD.ORG. All copyrights of embedded resources (e.g. maps) are restricted to the corresponding owner/company. The publication of such content at YHRD.ORG is not a permission from the appropriate copyright holder.

By using the YHRD.ORG Services, you agree to be bound by this Terms, whether you are a “Visitor” (which means that you simply browse the YHRD.ORG Website) or you are a “User” (which means that you are using services provided at YHRD.ORG).

YHRD.ORG reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to reject, refuse to post or remove any posting/edits by you, or to restrict, suspend, or terminate your access to all or any part of the YHRD.ORG Services at any time, for any or no reason, with or without prior notice, and without liability. YHRD.ORG expressly reserves the right to restrict, suspend, or terminate your access to any part of YHRD.ORG Services if YHRD.ORG determines, in its sole discretion, that you pose a threat to YHRD.ORG and/or its Users.

The data stored at YHRD do not include ID numbers or other information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person. Furthermore, submitters need to confirm that they do not create or keep lists which link the transmitted data with ID numbers or other information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person.

Data submitted to and stored at YHRD needs to comply with Gusmão et al. 2006 [PubMed] [DOI], Parson and Roewer 2010 [PubMed] [DOI], Carracedo et al. 2013 [PubMed] [DOI] and D’Amato et al. 2020 [PubMed] [DOI]. Informed consent and an approval of a recognized ethical committee are required for all data beginning at February 2022. We reserve the right to verify compliance with these guidelines at any time. We consider compliance to be met when a reference to a peer-reviewed publication is provided.

§ 2) Privacy

§ 2.1) Information collection and use

YHRD.ORG does not log any personally-identifiable information (like IP address or HTTP request data). YHRD.ORG logs aggregate user data (geographical information, protocol and browser type) from users and visitors to the site. This data is used to manage the website, track usage and improve the website services. This non-personally-identifiable information may be shared with third-parties to provide more relevant services. Visitor/User IP addresses are processed only in cases of abuse detection.

Recital 26 GDPR defines anonymous information (as of Art. 4 No. 1), as “[…] information which does not relate to an identified or identifiable natural person or to personal data rendered anonymous in such a manner that the data subject is not or no longer identifiable. […]” Thus, the GDPR does not apply to anonymised data stored at YHRD even though they are based on genetic data Recital 34 GDPR.

§ 2.2) Use of Cookies

YHRD.ORG uses one cookie to prevent CSFR and related attacks and to record session information needed to ensure proper use of YHRD.ORG. We do not link the information we store in cookies to any personally identifiable information you submit while on our site. You may be able to configure your browser to accept or reject all or some cookies, or notify you when a cookie is set – each browser is different, so check the “Help” menu of your browser to learn how to change your cookie preferences – however, you may need to allow for cookies from YHRD.ORG in order to use all functions on the site.

§ 2.3) Links

YHRD.ORG contains links to sites. YHRD.ORG is not responsible for the privacy policies and/or practices on other sites. When linking to another site a user should read the privacy policy stated on that site. Our privacy policy only governs information collected on YHRD.ORG.

§ 2.4) Stored data

The data stored at YHRD do not include ID numbers or other information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person. Furthermore, submitters need to confirm that they do not create or keep lists which link the transmitted data with ID numbers or other information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person. Data needs to comply with the Gusmão et al. 2006 [PubMed] [DOI], Parson and Roewer 2010 [PubMed] [DOI], Carracedo et al. 2013 [PubMed] [DOI] and D’Amato et al. 2020 [PubMed] [DOI] in order to be submitted to and stored at YHRD. Informed consent and/or specific approval of a recognized ethical committee are required for all data beginning at February 2022. We reserve the right to verify compliance with these guidelines at any time. We consider compliance to be met when a reference to a peer-reviewed publication is provided.

Recital 26 GDPR defines anonymous information (as of Art. 4 No. 1), as “[…] information which does not relate to an identified or identifiable natural person or to personal data rendered anonymous in such a manner that the data subject is not or no longer identifiable. […]” Thus, the GDPR does not apply to anonymised data stored at YHRD even though they are based on genetic data Recital 34 GDPR.

§ 3) Copyright

YHRD.ORG by Sascha Willuweit & Lutz Roewer is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

§ 4) Licensing the use of YHRD.ORG service(s) beyond Copyright and/or License

If you wish to license the use of YHRD.ORG service(s) e.g. for commercial purposes you need to contact us beforehand. We will negotiate a suitable self-determined contribution to the Y-STR community (e.g. pay the cost of a congress journey for a student who has no or insufficient funding etc.). For further information see our License Guide.

§ 5) Changes in our terms

From time to time we may make changes to our terms If we make changes, we will post them on our site to make users aware of what the changes are so users will always be aware of what information we collect, how we use it, and when we may disclose it. A User is bound by any minor changes to the policy when she or he uses the site after those changes have been posted If, however, we are going to use users’ personally identifiable information in a manner materially different from that stated at the time of collection we will notify by posting a notice on our Web site for 30 days.

§ 6) Contact

If you have any questions about this terms, the practices of this site, or your dealings with this Web site, please contact us:

Forensic Databases
Postfach 40642
10063 Berlin
Germany
 
Email: Sascha Willuweit ()

For the purposes of the GDPR, other data protection laws applicable to Member States of the European Union and other provisions relating to the subject of data protection, the controller is stated above.

* See FAQ/Glossary (http://yhrd.org/pages/faq) for further explanations of abbreviated terms used here