Terms of Service
Clear terms for using Principle
Last updated: June 18, 2025 | Effective date: June 18, 2025
Educational Use & FERPA Compliance
School Official Status: When serving educational institutions, Principle acts as a School Official with a legitimate educational interest under FERPA and complies with all applicable educational privacy laws.
Educational Institution Terms
- FERPA compliance: We maintain compliance with Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act requirements
- COPPA protections: Enhanced protections for students under 13 with parental consent requirements
- Data minimization: We collect only educational data necessary for providing our service
- No advertising: Educational data is never used for advertising or commercial purposes
- Google Classroom integration: Seamless integration with existing educational workflows
- Teacher controls: Comprehensive classroom management and content filtering tools
- Data retention: Educational records deleted within 30 days of contract termination
Service Level Agreement
- Uptime guarantee: 99.5% monthly uptime for all services
- Educational support: Priority support for educational institutions during school hours
- Data backup: Automated daily backups with 90-day retention for disaster recovery
- Security monitoring: 24/7 security monitoring and incident response
- Maintenance windows: Scheduled maintenance outside educational hours when possible
- Platform development: As a new platform, we're actively building quality measurement systems based on educator feedback and student outcomes
Quality & Metrics Development
Transparency Commitment: As a new educational platform, we're building measurement systems to track our effectiveness and will publish regular reports on our content quality and educational impact.
- Content standards: We're establishing transparent criteria for topic selection and fact verification
- Educational effectiveness: Building systems to measure learning outcomes and knowledge retention
- Community feedback integration: User reports and educator input directly influence our content development
- Performance tracking: Monitoring platform performance, accessibility, and user engagement patterns
- Regular reporting: When we have sufficient data, we'll publish quarterly reports on our educational impact and content quality
Using Principle
Eligibility & Access
- You must be at least 13 years old to use the Service
- Users under 18 require parental or guardian consent
- You must provide accurate and complete registration information
- You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your account credentials
- You must notify us immediately of any unauthorized access to your account
Permitted Use
- Access educational content and take quizzes for personal learning
- Track your progress and earn achievements through our gamification system
- Participate in multiplayer quiz games and learning competitions
- Join or create learning pods for collaborative education
- Interact with our AI-powered learning assistant for educational purposes
- Subscribe to premium features for enhanced learning experiences
- Share your achievements and progress (but not other users' data)
- Use accessibility features including text-to-speech and translations
- Provide feedback to help improve our Service
Prohibited Conduct
- Violate any applicable laws or regulations
- Copy, distribute, or modify our content without written permission
- Use automated systems or software to extract data from the Service
- Create multiple accounts or share account credentials
- Circumvent any content protection or access restriction measures
- Interfere with or disrupt the Service or servers
- Attempt to gain unauthorized access to any portion of the Service
- Engage in any activity that could damage our reputation or business
- Use the Service for commercial purposes without our consent
- Reverse engineer or attempt to extract source code
Community Standards & Zero Tolerance Policy
Zero Tolerance: We maintain a zero tolerance policy for harassment, discrimination, hate speech, or any behavior that creates an unsafe or unwelcoming environment. Violations result in immediate account suspension or termination.
Prohibited Behavior
- Harassment or bullying: Intimidation, threats, stalking, or persistent unwanted contact
- Discrimination: Targeting individuals based on protected characteristics
- Hate speech: Content promoting violence or hatred against any group
- Doxxing: Sharing private information without consent
- Impersonation: Pretending to be another person or entity
- Spam: Repetitive, irrelevant, or unsolicited content
- Misinformation: Deliberately spreading false civic information
- Sexual content: Any sexually explicit or suggestive material
- Violence: Threats of violence or content glorifying violence
Enforcement & Consequences
- Immediate suspension: For severe violations pending investigation
- Content removal: Violating content removed without notice
- Account termination: Permanent ban for serious or repeated violations
- Legal action: We reserve the right to pursue legal remedies
- Law enforcement: Illegal activities will be reported to authorities
AI Features & Technology
AI Usage Guidelines
Educational Purpose: Our AI features are designed solely for civic education and must not be used for political campaigning, spreading misinformation, or any non-educational purposes.
- Accuracy disclaimer: AI responses may contain errors; verify important information
- No professional advice: AI guidance is educational only, not legal or professional advice
- Content generation: AI-generated content remains our intellectual property
- Privacy: AI interactions are processed with data anonymization
- Prohibited uses: Do not attempt to extract training data or manipulate AI systems
- Feedback: Report any concerning AI behavior immediately
Your Account
- Account security: You are solely responsible for maintaining account security
- Accurate information: Provide and maintain accurate account information
- Age requirements: Users under 18 must have parental consent on file
- Account transfer: Accounts are non-transferable and non-assignable
- Termination: We may terminate accounts that violate these Terms
- Data retention: Account data is retained per our Privacy Policy
Content & Intellectual Property
Our Intellectual Property
All content on the Service, including text, graphics, logos, images, audio, video, data compilations, and software, is owned by us or our licensors and protected by intellectual property laws.
- Quiz questions, answers, and explanations
- Learning algorithms and gamification systems
- User interface design and experience
- AI models and generated content
- All trademarks and service marks
Limited License
We grant you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable license to access and use the Service for personal, non-commercial educational purposes only. This license does not include rights to: copy, modify, distribute, sell, or lease any part of our Service or content.
User Content
By submitting content to the Service, you grant us a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to use, reproduce, modify, and distribute your content for the purpose of operating and improving the Service.
Privacy & Data
Your use of the Service is also governed by our Privacy Policy, which is incorporated into these Terms by reference.
- We collect and process data as described in our Privacy Policy
- You consent to such collection and processing by using the Service
- We implement reasonable security measures to protect your data
- You can request data deletion per our Privacy Policy
- We comply with applicable data protection laws
Important Disclaimers
Educational Purpose Only: The Service provides civic education and should not be considered legal, financial, or professional advice. Always consult qualified professionals for specific situations.
- "AS IS" BASIS: The Service is provided without warranties of any kind
- Accuracy: We strive for accuracy but cannot guarantee error-free content
- New platform development: As a new platform, features and content quality measurement systems are actively being developed and improved
- Availability: We don't guarantee uninterrupted access to the Service
- Third-party content: We're not responsible for third-party content or links
- User content: We don't endorse or verify user-generated content
- Results: We don't guarantee specific learning outcomes, though we're building systems to measure and improve educational effectiveness
- Metrics development: Performance data and quality metrics are being established as we gather sufficient usage information
Limitation of Liability
TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, IN NO EVENT SHALL CIVICSENSE, ITS OFFICERS, DIRECTORS, EMPLOYEES, OR AGENTS BE LIABLE FOR:
- Any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages
- Loss of profits, data, use, goodwill, or other intangible losses
- Individual users: Damages exceeding $100 or the amount paid to us in the past 12 months
- Educational institutions: Damages exceeding the annual license fee paid to us
- Any matter beyond our reasonable control
This limitation applies regardless of the legal theory on which the claim is based. For educational institutions, liability is specifically capped at the annual license fee as defined in your executed contract.
Indemnification
You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless Principle and its officers, directors, employees, and agents from any claims, liabilities, damages, losses, and expenses (including reasonable attorney fees) arising from: (i) your use of the Service; (ii) your violation of these Terms; (iii) your violation of any third-party rights; or (iv) any content you submit to the Service.
Dispute Resolution
Informal Resolution
Before filing a formal dispute, you agree to try to resolve the dispute informally by contacting us at legal@principlecivics.com. We'll try to resolve the dispute informally for 60 days.
Binding Arbitration
If informal resolution fails, disputes will be resolved through binding arbitration under the American Arbitration Association rules, except you may assert claims in small claims court.
Class Action Waiver: You agree to resolve disputes individually and waive any right to participate in class actions, class arbitrations, or representative actions.
Governing Law
These Terms are governed by the laws of Delaware, USA (our state of incorporation), without regard to conflict of law principles. For educational institutions, any applicable state educational data privacy laws will also apply and will not be superseded by Delaware law where such state laws provide greater protection.
Changes to These Terms
We may modify these Terms at any time. When we do:
- We'll notify you via email and/or prominent notice on the Service
- Changes become effective 30 days after posting unless urgent
- Your continued use constitutes acceptance of the new Terms
- If you disagree, you must stop using the Service and may close your account
- We'll maintain an archive of previous versions upon request
Contact Us
For questions about these Terms or the Service:
- Legal matters: legal@principlecivics.com
- General support: support@principlecivics.com
- Educational institutions: support@principlecivics.com
- Privacy concerns: privacy@principlecivics.com
- Security issues: legal@principlecivics.com
- Company: Principle Labs Inc.
- Response time: Legal matters within 2-3 business days, educational institutions within 1 business day
Thank you for using Principle! As a new platform, we're committed to building a safe, effective, and enjoyable civic education experience through transparent standards and community feedback. By following these Terms and sharing your input, you help us create a positive learning community and improve civic education for everyone.