Terms of Service
These Terms govern your use of The Quiet Ledger. Use the contents below to jump to any section.
1. Acceptance of these terms #
These Terms of Service (“Terms”) are a contract between you and The Quiet Ledger (“TQL”, “we”, “us”) governing your use of https://thequietledger.org. By creating an account or using TQL, you agree to these Terms and to our Privacy Policy. If you do not agree, do not use TQL.
2. Eligibility #
You must be at least 13 years old and old enough to form a binding contract in your jurisdiction to use TQL, and older where a paid plan or applicable law requires it. TQL is not directed to children under 13.
3. Accounts #
Much of TQL’s public research is available without an account. A signed-in account (created through a supported identity provider) lets you save research and manage a subscription. You agree to provide accurate information and are responsible for activity under your account.
4. Authentication and security #
You are responsible for the security of your sign-in method and any two-factor authentication you enable. Notify us of unauthorized use. We may suspend access to protect the service or your account.
5. Free and paid services #
TQL offers free research and, where enabled, paid plans that unlock additional capabilities. The features included in each plan are described in the product. We may change the features of a plan on a prospective basis.
6. Subscription terms #
Paid billing is built but may not be enabled at any given time. When paid plans are offered, the price, billing period, and included features are those presented to you at the point of purchase, and your subscription is governed by the terms displayed there together with these Terms.
7. Billing #
When paid plans are enabled, payments are processed by a third-party payment processor (Stripe). You authorize the applicable charges for the plan you select. TQL does not store your full payment-card number.
8. Launch and legacy pricing #
We may offer promotional or launch pricing for a limited time. The prices, eligibility, and any continuity terms that apply to your subscription are those displayed at purchase. We do not restate specific prices here so that the displayed purchase terms remain the source of truth.
9. Renewals #
Where subscriptions renew, they renew on the cycle shown at purchase until cancelled. We will apply the renewal terms presented to you when you subscribed.
10. Cancellation #
You may cancel a paid subscription at any time; cancellation stops future renewals. Unless the displayed terms or applicable law provide otherwise, access continues through the end of the paid period.
11. Refund policy #
Any refund terms applicable to a paid plan will be those presented at purchase and as required by applicable law. A specific refund policy is being finalized; until it is published, refund requests are handled case by case — contact support@thequietledger.org.
12. Complimentary accounts #
We may grant complimentary access to certain accounts. Complimentary access is a product entitlement only: it creates no ownership interest in TQL, no administrative or platform authority, and no obligation of payment. It is governed by the specific entitlement granted and may be modified or ended consistent with these Terms.
13. Permitted use #
You may use TQL to research public legislation and public officials for lawful purposes, within the limits of your plan.
14. Prohibited conduct #
You agree not to: access accounts or data you are not authorized to access; interfere with or disrupt the service; circumvent access, rate, or security controls; misuse credentials; or use TQL for unlawful purposes. Automated access and data extraction are permitted only as described below.
15. Automated and API access #
Programmatic access is permitted only through interfaces we expressly provide (such as our API), using your own credentials, and within any documented limits. You may not share or resell credentials, exceed rate limits, or use automation to degrade the service.
16. Exports #
Where your plan permits data export, exports are for your own lawful research use. You remain responsible for how you use exported data, including any onward sharing.
17. Legislative analysis #
TQL provides research and informational analysis of public legislation and public officials. It is a research tool, not legal, investment, tax, or other professional advice, and not an official record.
18. Bill grades #
Bill grades and summaries are analytical outputs produced under TQL’s methodology. They are not government determinations, official records, or statements of objective, infallible fact. Reasonable people may disagree with an assessment. Grades are informational; consult the underlying public legislative record for consequential decisions.
19. Methodology #
Grades are produced by an automated pipeline that applies a fixed methodology (including algorithmic scoring and language-model assistance) to public legislative text. The methodology is TQL’s and may evolve over time on a prospective basis; it is not personalized to individual users, and it is applied to public records, not to your personal information.
20. Public-record data #
Underlying legislative and campaign-finance data come from public government sources. That data is public information about public officials and government activity.
21. Data accuracy and timeliness #
We work to present accurate, current information, but public data can contain errors, gaps, or delays, and automated analysis can be imperfect. We do not warrant that any information or grade is accurate, complete, or up to date.
22. Corrections #
If you believe information is inaccurate, contact support@thequietledger.org. We review reports against the underlying public record and correct genuine errors where appropriate.
23. No investment, legal, or tax advice #
Nothing on TQL is investment, legal, tax, or other professional advice, and no professional or advisory relationship is created by your use. TQL does not guarantee any legislative, electoral, financial, or other outcome.
24. No guarantee of legislative outcomes #
TQL describes and analyzes legislation; it does not predict or guarantee whether any bill will pass, how any vote will occur, or what any official will do.
25. Intellectual property #
TQL, its software, design, brand, and the “The Quiet Ledger” name and marks are owned by us or our licensors. Except for public government records and your own content, you may not copy, modify, distribute, or create derivative works from the service without permission.
26. TQL methodology and analysis #
TQL’s methodology, scoring, summaries, and compiled analysis are our intellectual property. You may use them for your own research consistent with your plan, but you may not resell, redistribute in bulk, or create a competing derived dataset from them except as expressly permitted.
27. User content #
Research you save and content you submit remain yours. You grant us a limited license to host, store, and process it solely to provide the features you use. You are responsible for your content and its lawful use.
28. Feedback #
If you send suggestions or feedback, you grant us a perpetual, royalty-free license to use it to improve TQL, without obligation to you.
29. Third-party sources and services #
TQL relies on third-party providers (such as sign-in, hosting, and, when enabled, payment processing) and on public data sources. We are not responsible for third-party services or the accuracy of third-party source data, which are governed by their own terms.
30. API and data licensing #
Any bulk or commercial use of TQL data or analysis beyond your plan requires a separate written license. Contact support@thequietledger.org to discuss licensing.
31. Abuse, scraping, and reverse engineering #
You may not scrape, harvest, or bulk-extract content except through interfaces we expressly provide; probe or bypass security or access controls; or reverse engineer the service except to the limited extent applicable law permits notwithstanding this restriction.
32. Account suspension #
We may suspend or limit access for violations of these Terms, abuse, security risk, or legal reasons, and we may modify or discontinue features. Where practical we will provide notice.
33. Termination #
You may stop using TQL and request account deletion at any time (see the Privacy Policy). We may terminate access as described above. On termination, licenses you granted for operating the service end, subject to limited retention described in the Privacy Policy.
34. Privacy #
Your use of TQL is subject to our Privacy Policy.
35. Disclaimers #
TQL is provided “as is” and “as available,” without warranties of any kind, express, implied, or statutory, including implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement. We do not warrant that the service will be uninterrupted, error-free, or secure, or that any information or grade is accurate, complete, or current.
36. Limitation of liability #
To the maximum extent permitted by law, TQL and its operators will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, or for lost profits, data, or goodwill. To the maximum extent permitted by law, our total liability for any claim relating to the service will not exceed the greater of the amount you paid us in the twelve months before the claim or one hundred U.S. dollars (US$100). Some jurisdictions do not allow certain limitations, so some may not apply to you.
37. Indemnification #
To the extent permitted by law, you agree to indemnify and hold harmless TQL and its operators from claims, losses, and expenses arising from your content, your use of the service, or your violation of these Terms or of the law.
38. Governing law #
These Terms are governed by the laws of the United States and the state in which the operator is established, without regard to conflict-of-laws principles. The specific governing state and venue will be identified here as our corporate details are finalized.
39. Dispute resolution #
Please contact us first at support@thequietledger.org so we can try to resolve any dispute informally. These Terms do not currently impose mandatory arbitration or a class-action waiver. If we adopt such provisions in the future, we will present them clearly and give notice before they take effect.
40. Changes to these terms #
We may update these Terms. For material changes we will update the “Last updated” date and provide notice where appropriate. Continued use after an update means you accept the revised Terms.
41. Contact #
Questions about these Terms: support@thequietledger.org. Privacy questions: privacy@thequietledger.org.