Google Summer of Code™ Terms of Service
Summary of the Google Summer of Code Program
Google Summer of Code (the "Program") is a program that offers student developers stipends to write code for various open source projects. Google will be working with a several open source, free software and technology-related groups to identify and fund several projects over a three month-period. Historically, the Program has brought together over 1000 students with over 100 open source projects to create hundreds of thousands of lines of code. The Program, which kicked off in 2005, is now in its fourth year, following on from a very successful 2006 and 2007.
Google will provide a stipend of 5000 USD per developer, of which 4500 USD goes to the student and 500 USD to the Mentor Organization upon successful completion of a project. Students will be paid 500 USD upon start of coding work provided they are in good standing with their Mentor Organization, 2000 USD mid-Program provided sufficient progress has been made on their project, and 2000 USD at the close of the Program provided their project has been completed. Mentor Organizations will receive their payment regardless of a student's successful completion of the project as long as the Organization has made a good faith effort to work with the student. Additional details regarding the mechanics of the Google Summer of Code Program appear later in these Terms of Service and in our Program FAQs.
Program Goals
The Program has several goals:
- get more open source code created and released for the benefit of all;
- inspire young developers to begin participating in open source development;
- help open source projects identify and bring in new contributors and committers;
- provide students in Computer Science and related fields the opportunity to do work related to their academic pursuits (think "flip bits, not burgers");
- give students more exposure to real-world software development scenarios (e.g., distributed development, software licensing questions, mailing list etiquette).
Eligibility to Participate
Mentor Organizations:
"Mentor Organizations" are defined as individuals, groups, organizations and/or businesses engaged in the development and distribution of free and/or open source software. By submitting an application to participate in the Google Summer of Code Program for 2008, the Mentor Organization agrees to the following if chosen to participate:
- To provide a publicly published list of project ideas that participating students will choose a project from to work on for the duration of the Program.
- To make available a person or persons to take in student suggestions for projects should those students not find something that appeals to them on the published list and either approve or reject those suggestions.
- To make available a person or persons to review the incoming student applications targeted to the Organization and to decide which applications should be accepted.
- To make available a person or persons responsible for helping students integrate with the project's community.
- To make available a person or persons to monitor the progress of the students and mentor them as the project proceeds (hereafter "Mentor(s)").
- To make available alternate mentor or mentors ready to take over for the aforementioned Mentor(s) in the event s/he is unable to continue providing guidance to the accepted student applicant.
- To provide a written evaluation of each student developer, including but not limited to how s/he worked with the group, if s/he should be invited back should we do another Google Summer of Code, etc. The Mentor Organization agrees that Google may use the results of this evaluation for recruiting purposes. The results of this evaluation will not be made available to the general public or the student participant, except in those cases where the Mentor Organization provides consent for Google to share the evaluation results with the student. However, Google reserves the right to share the Mentor Organization's evaluation with the student participant or others, with or without consent, in extreme cases such as where the Mentor Organization's feedback may be vital to arbitration with the student regarding payment or non-payment of stipend.
- That Google may publicize the Mentor Organization's participation in the Program, the names of participating Mentors from the Organization and the results of the Program for the purposes of executing on program logistics, including but not limited to announcements made regarding calls for student applications.
- To provide all necessary tax forms or other tax related documentation required to provide payment to the Organization.
- To all stipulations recorded in the "Additional" section, below.
Organizations based in Iran, Syria, Cuba, Sudan, North Korea and Myanmar (Burma), and other persons and entities restricted by U.S. export controls and sanctions programs are not eligible to participate. Mentoring Organizations that are taking part in Google Summer of Code 2008 may add additional controls on which students may participate in the Program under their auspices.
Student Participants:
In order to participate in Google Summer of Code, the student applicant must be enrolled in or accepted into an accredited institution including, but not limited to, a college, university, masters program, PhD program or undergraduate program. Students who are not currently enrolled in, but have been accepted into, one of the aforementioned programs by April 14, 2008, are eligible to participate. Upon request, students must provide Google with an official transcript, letter confirming acceptance or enrollment, or other documentation approved by Google from their accredited institution in a timely manner. Students must be 18 years of age or older by April 14, 2008, to be eligible to participate in Google Summer of Code 2008. Students must be eligible to work in their country of residence throughout the duration of the Program. By submitting an application to participate in the Google Summer of Code Program in 2008, the applicant agrees to the following:
- To provide a substantive proposal of work to be done to create/maintain/augment an existing or new open source or free software project.
- To complete and submit a written evaluation of her/his Mentor, including but not limited to how the Mentor worked with the student, the quantity and quality of guidance provided, if the Mentor should be invited back should we do another Google Summer of Code, etc. The results of this evaluation will be made available to the Mentor Organization's administrator(s), but not to the general public nor to the Mentor except in the case where the Mentor Organization is solely constituted of the Mentor her/himself or in extreme cases such as where the student's feedback may be vital to arbitration with the Mentor or Mentor Organization regarding payment or non-payment.
- To allow Google to use the results of the Program, including the Mentor's evaluation of the participant, for recruiting purposes.
- That Google may publicize the student's participation in the Program and the results of the Program for the purposes of executing on program logistics, including but not limited to announcements of accepted student proposals, the text of the accepted student proposal and the resulting code from work on any project. Additional details solicited by Google as part of the application process, including URLs for personal blogs, may be shared with the public with the student's permission.
- To provide Google with a copy of the finished project code which may be publicly hosted by Google.
- To provide all necessary tax forms or other tax related documentation required to provide payment to the student.
- All stipulations recorded in the "Additional" section, below.
Google employees, interns, contractors, and family members are not eligible to participate. Residents and nationals of Iran, Syria, Cuba, Sudan, North Korea and Myanmar (Burma), and other persons and entities restricted by U.S. export controls and sanctions programs are not eligible to participate. Mentor Organizations that are taking part in Google Summer of Code 2008 may add additional controls on which students may participate in the Program under their auspices.
Additional
All code created by student participants must be released under an Open Source Initiative approved license. Additionally, all code must be published in a publicly accessible location. The participant may mirror development on her/his personal infrastructure at her/his option. Use of project hosting on Google Code service for Google Summer of Code projects is subject to the Google Code Terms of Service.
Use of Google Groups lists for the purposes of communicating with and between Program participants and administrators is subject to the Google Groups Terms of Service, and is governed by the Google Privacy Policy and the following regulation: no use of the lists other than as a vehicle for communication between Program participants, including but not limited to, Mentor Organizations, Mentors, students, Google employees and other Program administrators, is permitted without the express written consent of all parties subscribed to the group.
In addition, all Program participants agree to cooperate with Google's publicity efforts, without further compensation. This includes the agreement to use their name, address (city and state or country only), likeness and project deliverables for publicity purposes, where legal, for this or similar future programs, and to use the statements made by, or attributed to, the participants relating to Google and any and all rights to said use, without further compensation.
Google reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to revoke any and all privileges associated with participating in this Program, and to take any other action it deems appropriate, for no reason or any reason whatsoever. Google reserves the right to cancel, terminate or modify the Program if it is not capable of completion as planned for any reason.
Student participants, Mentors, and Mentor Organizations are free to use the results, including code, of the Google Summer of Code Program in any way they choose provided it is not in conflict with these Terms of Service or the license under which the code was developed.
No purchase necessary to apply or be accepted for the Program. The Program is void where prohibited or restricted by law.