All participants, judges, speakers, and attendees must treat each other with dignity and respect throughout the event.
Discrimination, harassment, bullying, or offensive behavior of any kind — based on gender, race, religion, age, disability, sexual orientation, or background — will result in immediate removal from the event.
Participants are expected to communicate professionally in all team and public channels.
Any misconduct should be reported immediately to the organizing committee for prompt action.
Data Security & Privacy
All personal data collected during registration is used solely for event coordination and communications.
Participant data will not be sold, shared, or disclosed to third parties without explicit consent.
Teams must not use real or sensitive personal data (PII) in their hackathon submissions without explicit data owner consent and appropriate anonymization.
Any data-handling practices within submissions must comply with applicable privacy laws (GDPR, CCPA, etc.).
Fair Use & Integrity
All submitted work must be original and developed during the hackathon timeframe on April 18, 2026.
Use of open-source libraries and publicly available datasets is permitted with proper attribution.
Pre-built projects, plagiarized code, or prior work presented as new will result in immediate disqualification.
Teams must honestly represent their solution's capabilities during presentations and demonstrations.
Platform Usage Restrictions
Participants may not attempt to access, interfere with, or disrupt other teams' systems or the event's technical infrastructure.
Malicious code, exploits, denial-of-service tools, or unauthorized API access is strictly prohibited.
All AI/ML model usage must comply with the respective provider's terms of service (e.g., OpenAI, Google, Hugging Face).
Cloud resource usage must remain within reasonable limits to ensure fair access for all teams.
Judging Transparency
Judges are selected through a merit-based process by the SJSU Computer Science Department faculty.
Any judge with a direct personal, financial, or professional relationship to a participating team must declare a conflict of interest and recuse themselves accordingly.
Scoring is conducted independently by each judge using a published rubric, and results are aggregated transparently.
All judging deliberations are kept confidential until official results are announced.
Compliance & Eligibility
Participation is open to individuals aged 18 and above — students, professionals, and enthusiasts alike.
Teams must consist of 1–4 members, each individually registered with a valid email address.
All participants must comply with applicable local, state, and federal laws throughout the event.
Organizers reserve the right to disqualify any entry that violates these guidelines at any point during or after the event.
Intellectual Property
All intellectual property created during EDGE Hack 2026 remains the exclusive property of the team that created it.
By participating, teams grant EDGE Hack 2026 and DAMA SF Chapter a non-exclusive, royalty-free license to feature their project for promotional, educational, and community purposes — with full attribution.
Teams are responsible for ensuring their project does not infringe on any existing patents, trademarks, or copyrights.
Liability
EDGE Hack 2026, San Jose State University, DAMA SF Chapter, and associated sponsors are not liable for any loss, damage, or injury incurred during the event.
Prize structures are subject to change if unforeseen circumstances arise; participants will be notified of any significant alterations.
The organizing committee reserves the right to modify event logistics, rules, or format at any time, with reasonable notice to registered participants.
Attendance at the event constitutes acceptance of these guidelines in full.
Questions about these guidelines? Reach out to the organizing team.