Terms of Service

By creating an account or using Annotated — including the public web application and the Chrome side-panel extension — you agree to these Terms. If you do not agree, do not use the service.

If you use Annotated on behalf of an organization, you represent that you are authorized to bind that organization to these Terms.

Annotated lets you create attributed annotations of selected article passages or selected audio or video ranges, and add your own commentary. The service consists of a public web application and a Chrome side-panel extension, and it includes social features such as public profiles, comments, follows, and votes.

Annotated is currently offered worldwide as a free beta. There are no purchases, paid subscriptions, payment processing, refunds, or recurring charges at this time.

Annotated is a beta. Features may change, be added, be limited, or be removed, and the service may be interrupted or discontinued. Beta software can contain defects, and processing may fail or produce imperfect results.

We will use reasonable efforts to give notice of significant changes where practical, but we do not guarantee continued availability of any feature or of the service as a whole.

You must be at least 18 years old to use Annotated. By using the service you represent that you are 18 or older and that you are not barred from using it under applicable law.

Accounts are created through an identity provider. Authentication currently uses Google. X authentication is currently disabled and unconfigured, and is not available. Additional identity providers may be offered later, with appropriate notice.

You are responsible for activity that occurs under your account and for maintaining the security of the identity-provider account you use to sign in. Do not share access to your account. Notify us at matt@cbandcoop.com if you believe your account has been compromised.

"User content" means anything you submit: annotations, selected article text, source URLs, source titles, publisher information, selected media ranges, written commentary, optional recorded audio commentary, comments, profile information, and messages you send us.

You retain ownership of the content you create. We do not claim ownership of your user content.

You are responsible for your content, including having the necessary rights and permissions to submit it, and for its accuracy and lawfulness.

You grant Annotated and its operator a nonexclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to host, store, reproduce, process, transcode, transcribe, display, distribute, and moderate the content you submit, only as reasonably necessary to operate, secure, improve, and present the service and your submitted public annotation.

This license may be sublicensed only to service providers that help operate the service, and may be transferred only together with the service or business.

The license generally ends when you delete your content, except with respect to:

• content already shared or copied by others;
• retention required by law;
• security and abuse-prevention records;
• dispute preservation; and
• routine backup overwrite.

Annotated does not use user content to train models.

Annotated is a public annotation service. Public profiles, published annotations, attributed excerpts, source links, commentary, comments, and aggregate social information may be publicly visible. Public content may be indexed, copied, quoted, linked, or reshared by third parties beyond our control.

Annotated preserves source attribution and original-source links. Do not remove, falsify, or misrepresent attribution, and do not present another person's work as your own.

Annotations reference material that belongs to others. You are responsible for ensuring that your selection, excerpt, and commentary are lawful and permitted.

• Selected hosted media ranges are between 1 and 90 seconds.
• Only the excerpt you selected is used as media-processing and transcription input.
• Raw captured source media is private, is not offered as a download, and must be deleted before an annotation is successfully published.
• A hosted-media annotation remains a private draft until processing is complete, the excerpt transcript is ready, and raw-media deletion is confirmed.
• Annotated does not provide a source-media download feature.

Annotated does not authorize DRM circumvention, paywall bypass, access-control bypass, or copyright infringement, and excerpt features may not be used as a substitute for obtaining source media.

You may not use Annotated for or in connection with:

• illegal or infringing activity;
• content you lack permission to submit;
• harassment, threats, stalking, or hateful abuse;
• sexual exploitation or sexual content involving minors;
• violations of privacy, publicity, confidentiality, or data-protection rights;
• impersonation, fraud, or materially deceptive conduct;
• malware, harmful code, spam, or phishing;
• unauthorized access to the service or interference with another user's account;
• disruption of the service;
• burdensome automated scraping or requests;
• circumvention of security or technical restrictions;
• DRM, paywall, or access-control circumvention;
• reverse engineering, where that restriction is permitted by law; or
• misuse of excerpts as unauthorized source downloads.

We respect the rights of copyright owners. If you believe material on Annotated infringes your copyright, send a written complaint to matt@cbandcoop.com or to the postal address in section 23, including:

• identification of the copyrighted work;
• identification and location of the allegedly infringing material;
• your name and contact information;
• a good-faith statement that the use is not authorized;
• a statement that the information you submitted is accurate and that you are authorized to act on behalf of the rights owner; and
• your physical or electronic signature.

We may remove or restrict material while we review a complaint, and we may contact the submitting user when appropriate. Please do not submit complaints in bad faith.

The operator may preserve, restrict, hide, remove, or disclose content when reasonably necessary to:

• comply with law;
• protect rights and safety;
• investigate abuse;
• address copyright or privacy complaints;
• maintain security; and
• protect service integrity.

If you believe a moderation decision was a mistake, email matt@cbandcoop.com and we will review it.

You may stop using Annotated and request account deletion at any time by emailing matt@cbandcoop.com. We may suspend or terminate access, with or without notice, if you materially violate these Terms, if required by law, or if necessary to protect users, third parties, or the service.

Sections that by their nature should survive termination — including user content license limitations, disclaimers, limitation of liability, indemnification, and governing law — survive.

Annotated works alongside source websites, media platforms, browser software, and identity providers that we do not control. Their content, availability, and terms are their own, and your use of them is governed by their agreements. A link or excerpt is not an endorsement.

Our Privacy Policy explains what information we collect and how we use it, and it forms part of your agreement with us.

If you send suggestions, ideas, or feedback about Annotated, we may use them without restriction or obligation to you. Please do not send confidential information as feedback.

The service is provided "as is" and "as available." It is a beta and may change, fail, or be discontinued. We do not guarantee continuous, secure, or error-free availability, and we do not guarantee that processing or transcription will be accurate or complete.

Annotated does not endorse or verify every user statement or source. Source websites and third-party content remain controlled by their owners. Annotated does not make a legal determination that your excerpt is fair use, licensed, or otherwise lawful; you are responsible for your content, permissions, accuracy, and use.

To the maximum extent permitted by law, we disclaim implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement. Nothing in these Terms limits warranties or rights that cannot legally be disclaimed, and some jurisdictions do not allow certain disclaimers, so parts of this section may not apply to you.

To the maximum extent permitted by law, Annotated and its operator will not be liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages, or for lost profits, lost data, or loss of goodwill, arising out of or relating to the service.

To the maximum extent permitted by law, total liability for all claims relating to the service is limited to the greater of (a) US $100 or (b) the amount you paid for the service during the 12 months preceding the event giving rise to the claim. The service is currently free, so that amount is generally zero.

These limits do not apply to liability that cannot legally be excluded or limited, do not waive non-waivable consumer rights, and do not remove mandatory remedies available to you under applicable local law.

To the extent permitted by law, you agree to indemnify and hold harmless Annotated and its operator from third-party claims, damages, and reasonable costs arising out of:

• content you submit;
• your violation of another person's rights;
• your unlawful conduct; or
• your material violation of these Terms.

This obligation does not apply to the extent a claim results from our own conduct, and it does not limit mandatory consumer protections available to you.

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of South Carolina, excluding its conflict-of-law rules. The state and federal courts serving York County, South Carolina have exclusive jurisdiction and venue over disputes relating to these Terms or the service, and you and we consent to that jurisdiction.

If mandatory consumer law in your place of residence gives you the right to a different governing law, forum, or remedy, that right applies and this section does not take it away. These Terms contain no arbitration clause and no class-action waiver.

We may update these Terms as the service evolves. When we do, we will change the "Last updated" date above and provide additional notice where required or appropriate. Continued use of Annotated after an update means the updated Terms apply to you. If you do not agree, stop using the service and request account deletion.

• Entire agreement. These Terms and the Privacy Policy are the entire agreement between you and us regarding the service.
• Severability. If a provision is unenforceable, the rest remains in effect and the provision is limited to the minimum extent necessary.
• No waiver. Not enforcing a provision is not a waiver of it.
• Assignment. You may not assign these Terms without our consent. We may assign them together with the service or business.
• No third-party beneficiaries. These Terms do not create rights for anyone other than you and us.
• Force majeure. Neither party is responsible for delays or failures caused by events beyond its reasonable control.
• Notices. We may send notices to the email address associated with your account or post them within the service. Send notices to us at matt@cbandcoop.com or the postal address below.

Annotated is operated by Matt Mahood through The CB & Cooper Limited Liability Company, a South Carolina limited liability company.