# Scholar — Terms of Service

**TEMPLATE — review with counsel before publishing.**
**Effective: [DATE]**

These Terms govern your use of Scholar. By signing in you accept them.
If you don't accept them, don't use Scholar.

If you are accessing Scholar on behalf of a school district or other
educational institution, the **Data Processing Addendum** (`DPA-TEMPLATE.md`)
governs the data-protection relationship and overrides anything below
that conflicts with it.

---

## 1. The service

Scholar is an academic discussion forum. We provide it on an as-is basis.
Specific features (rooms, prompts, assignments, AI checker) are
documented in `TUTORIAL.md`.

We may add, change, or remove features. If a change materially reduces
functionality you depend on, we'll give 30 days' notice on the sign-in
screen and by email to school admins.

## 2. Who can use it

- You must be at least 13 years old, **or** your school must have signed
  a Data Processing Addendum that authorizes us to collect your data
  under the COPPA school-authorization exception.
- You must comply with your school's acceptable-use policy.
- You may not use Scholar for any purpose other than academic discussion
  and assessment within an enrolled class.

## 3. Acceptable use

You agree not to:

- Post content that is unlawful, harassing, defamatory, or that
  infringes someone else's rights
- Post sexually explicit or graphically violent material
- Post content that targets a real person to bully, threaten, or harass
- Attempt to reverse-engineer the AI checker, the access controls, or
  any other security mechanism
- Attempt to access another user's account, posts they shouldn't see,
  or grades that aren't yours
- Use automated tools to flood, scrape, or stress the service
- Upload malware, attempt SQL injection, or otherwise attack the service
- Resell or sublicense access to Scholar
- Misrepresent your identity or your role (student / teacher)
- Use Scholar to violate copyright (DMCA procedure: `DMCA-NOTICE.md`)
- Post or link to material that violates your school's IT policy

Violations may result in suspension, removal of content, and reporting to
your school. Severe violations may be reported to law enforcement.

## 4. Content ownership

- **You own** what you post. You always have.
- By posting, you grant your **school and Scholar** a non-exclusive,
  royalty-free license to display, store, and back up your content for
  the operational purposes described in `PRIVACY-POLICY.md`.
- **We do not train AI models on your content.** Period. Not our
  detector's calibration data, not third-party models, not anything. The
  AI checker uses fixed heuristic rules and per-class learned phrases
  from teacher-uploaded samples; it never learns from student writing.
- We will not assert any other claim of ownership over your content.

## 5. AI integrity checker — important

Scholar's AI checker reports observable factual signals (em-dash
density, sentence-length variance, vocabulary repetition, etc.). It is
**not a probability claim** that any particular post was AI-generated.

You agree:

- A teacher's interpretation of AI-checker signals is part of their
  academic judgment, not an automated decision by Scholar.
- We are not liable for academic or disciplinary outcomes based on a
  teacher's reading of AI signals.
- You may appeal any grade decision through your school's standard
  process. We will provide the underlying signals in writing on
  request.

## 6. Privacy

Use of Scholar is governed by `PRIVACY-POLICY.md`, which is incorporated
into these Terms by reference.

## 7. Termination

You may close your account at any time from the settings screen, or by
emailing privacy@[domain].

We may suspend or close your account if you violate these Terms or your
school terminates its agreement with us. We will give you 30 days'
notice before closing your account except where immediate action is
needed to prevent harm.

On termination, your data is deleted per `DATA-RETENTION.md`.

## 8. Disclaimers

Scholar is provided "as is" and "as available." To the maximum extent
permitted by law, we disclaim all warranties, express or implied,
including merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and
non-infringement.

We do not warrant that:

- The service will be uninterrupted or error-free
- Defects will be corrected on any timeline
- The service is free of viruses or harmful components

## 9. Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, our total liability for any
claim arising from your use of Scholar is limited to **the greater of
(a) the amount your school paid us in the 12 months before the claim,
or (b) US$100**.

We are not liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or
punitive damages, including lost profits or data loss, except where
prohibited by law.

Some states do not permit limitations of implied warranties or certain
damages, so portions of this section may not apply to you.

## 10. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify [Operator Legal Name] from claims arising from
your violation of these Terms or your content, except where law
prohibits indemnification or where your school's DPA assigns the duty
differently.

## 11. Section 230 / safe harbor

Scholar is an "interactive computer service" under 47 USC §230. We are
not the publisher or speaker of user content. We moderate to enforce
these Terms; moderation does not make us a publisher.

## 12. DMCA

Copyright takedowns: see `DMCA-NOTICE.md`. Repeat infringers will have
their accounts terminated.

## 13. Governing law and disputes

These Terms are governed by the laws of [Operator's State], without
regard to conflict-of-law rules. Disputes will be resolved in the state
or federal courts of [County, State], and you consent to personal
jurisdiction there.

If you are a school, this section may be superseded by the governing-law
clause of the DPA.

[**Optional arbitration clause: discuss with counsel. Some states
restrict mandatory arbitration in consumer / educational contexts.**]

## 14. Changes

We will not make material changes to these Terms without 30 days'
posted notice on the sign-in screen and email notification to school
admins. Continued use after the effective date is acceptance.

## 15. Contact

- General: hello@[domain]
- Legal: legal@[domain]
- Privacy: privacy@[domain]
- DMCA: see `DMCA-NOTICE.md`
- Security: security@[domain]