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Version
platform-terms-2026-09-27
Effective
SHA-256
9dc519d48d589e18e3915af1a0a6612aa2dadeddb4ed7b09afb4b4807fbf6915
Status
Interim: in force now, under legal review

Interim terms, version platform-terms-2026-09-27, effective 2026-09-27. These terms are in force now and are under legal review. We will give notice of changes as set out in clause 16.

Elbereth Terms of Service

1. Who we are and what these terms cover

1.1 Elbereth is operated by [OWNER TO FILL: legal entity name] (ABN [OWNER TO FILL: ABN]) of [OWNER TO FILL: registered address], Australia ("we", "us"). These terms cover your use of the Elbereth data catalog: the web pages at https://api.elbereth.ai/catalog/, the API at https://api.elbereth.ai/v1/catalog/, /v1/signup and /v1/account, and any tool we provide for them (together, the "Service").

1.2 You agree to these terms, for the organisation you represent, when you tick the box to accept them at sign-up, when you accept them later on your account page or through the API, or when you use an API Key, list a dataset or accept a Licence. You confirm that you are authorised to bind that organisation.

1.3 The Service is for businesses. You must not use it as a consumer or for personal, domestic or household purposes.

1.4 Other documents also apply:

If these terms conflict with the Seller Listing Agreement or a Buyer Acceptance, the more specific document wins for that Listing.

1.5 Interim terms. These terms apply now. A lawyer is still reviewing them. When the review changes them we will publish a new version and give notice under clause 16.

2. Definitions

3. What the Service is, and what it is not

3.1 We are a catalog and intermediary. We help Buyers find Datasets and read their Licences, and we record their choices. For a Link Listing we do not hold, inspect or serve the data; the Seller does — unless a Buyer asks us to Load it into that Buyer's own Workspace (clause 3.10), when we fetch and hold a copy for that Buyer only.

3.2 The Licence is between the Buyer and the Seller. We are not a party to it. We don't grant rights in any Dataset, and we don't enforce Licences between you, except as clause 9 describes.

3.3 Labels describe; they do not guarantee. The Service shows Labels so that the Buyer can decide. On Link Listings the Labels are what the Seller told us. The Service does not verify:
(a) consent;
(b) RTB sourcing;
(c) collection jurisdictions;
(d) coverage;
(e) record counts;
(f) that the download address serves what the Listing describes.

We check about once a day whether a Link Listing's download address answers, and show the result as the "link health" Label. That check tells you only whether the address responded, not what it serves. A Seller can change what its address serves after you accept.

3.4 What we do enforce. Whatever the Labels say, the Service:
(a) for person and vehicle Listings, refuses listing and publishing by a Seller, and licence acceptance and access by a Buyer, unless we have recorded a current covered-person screening of that organisation (28 CFR Part 202). A screening lasts 365 days. We refuse organisations incorporated in China (including Hong Kong and Macau), Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia or Venezuela;
(b) does not host person or vehicle data for Buyers to download: a Hosted Listing is never person or vehicle data. A Buyer may Load a person or vehicle Link Listing into its own Workspace (clause 3.10); those rows are held for that Buyer only, after the controls in (a) and clause 3.10(d);
(c) processes deletion requests for data we host or have loaded into a Workspace, and keeps deleted subjects out of later deliveries and Loads;
(d) deletes hosted and loaded rows when the retention term in the Licence (or a limit we set) has passed;
(e) enforces the Seller's own Licence terms on Purpose and expiry;
(f) does not let data out of a dataset its owner has put in a "clean room" except as aggregates.

We do not check any sanctions list. These controls exist for our own compliance. They are not a representation that any Dataset is lawful for you to use.

3.5 Add-ons. A Buyer may run an Add-on on a Hosted Listing it has accepted, for a Purpose the Licence permits. An Account may also run an Add-on on a dataset in its own Workspace, for a Purpose that dataset's licence permits; for a loaded dataset, only while its acceptance of the Listing's current Licence stands.
(a) Results belong to the Account that ran them and only that Account can see them. The Seller cannot see the results.
(b) Each run is recorded in the dataset's read records. For a run on a Hosted Listing those are the Seller's, and the Seller can see them; for a run on your own Workspace dataset they are yours. The record includes your Account, the Add-on, your Purpose, the time window, area and parameters you chose, the rows read and a hash of the result.
(c) To fetch weather, the weather Add-ons send our weather provider (Open-Meteo's commercial service, or SILO from the Queensland Government) the weather-grid cells and dates to look up, never the exact positions in the data.
(d) Add-ons are free at present. Their outputs are analytical estimates. They are not professional, insurance, financial or legal advice. A run may fail, time out or stop when we restart the Service; you can start it again.

3.6 Listing Pages are public. Every published Listing has a public Listing Page that anyone can read without an account and that search engines index. It shows everything an Account could see except the Seller's download address: the title, description, coverage, schema (column names and types, never rows), price, the full Licence, every Label and the Seller's organisation name. We also publish Listings in a sitemap (/catalog/sitemap.xml), a DCAT catalog (/catalog/dcat.jsonld) and as Schema.org Dataset data on each page.

3.7 Reports and takedown. Any Account can report a published Listing through the Service. A report does not unpublish anything. The Seller sees each report on its Listings, including the reason, the text and the reporting Account's id. We may take a Listing down after a report; the Seller cannot publish it again until we reinstate it. People without an account can contact us under clause 17.3.

3.8 Saved searches and alerts. You can save a search. About every 15 minutes we check for newly published Listings that match it, record an alert you can read through the API, and, if you gave us an https webhook address, send the alert there. Webhook messages are not signed; check them against the API before you rely on them.

3.9 Limits. The Service limits how fast each API Key and each network address can make requests, how many accounts can be created from one address, how large a download, Load or Add-on result can be, and how long a Load may run. We may change these limits to protect the Service.

3.10 Loading into your Workspace. After you accept a Listing's Licence for a Purpose (and pay, where the Listing is priced), you can ask us to Load it.
(a) What we do, and for whom. On your instruction we copy the rows you choose (by time window and area) of a Hosted Listing, or fetch the file at a Link Listing's download address, into a dataset in your Workspace, and store and process it there for you. We act on your behalf and at your instruction. The dataset is yours to use under the Licence; the Seller cannot see it or your analyses of it, and we do not use it for anyone else.
(b) The Licence travels with the data. The loaded dataset records the Listing, the Seller, the Licence version with its hash and full text, your acceptance and your Purpose, and every row is stamped with that Licence. You may use the data only for that Purpose, while that Licence is current, and as clauses 5 and 6 require. If the Seller changes the Licence, the Service stops further use of the loaded dataset (Add-ons, uploads into it) until you accept the new version and Load again.
(c) Fetching a Seller's file. We fetch only the download address the Listing shows, over https, only from public network addresses, and we never send credentials. If the address needs a sign-in, or we cannot fetch or read the file, the Load fails; you may download the file yourself from the Seller and upload it into the loaded dataset, where it passes the same checks.
(d) Same controls as your own uploads. Loaded data passes every control that data you upload yourself passes. For person and vehicle data this includes covered-person screening of your organisation, a consent attestation that you register, and sensitive-location suppression: rows near sensitive places (such as health facilities) are removed before they are stored, and the Load reports how many. Deletion requests (clause 6.4) and the Licence's retention term apply to loaded rows.
(e) Import Templates. A Link Listing's file is read with the Seller's Import Template. Any licence information in a template is ignored: it is always replaced from the Listing's current Licence and your Purpose.
(f) Records. Each Load is recorded for the Seller (for a Hosted Listing, in its dataset's read records, with the rows copied and a hash of them; for a Link Listing, in the Listing's Evidence Records, with a hash of the download address fetched) and in your dataset's Evidence Records (the Listing, Licence, acceptance, rows loaded, a hash of what was copied or fetched and a hash of the Seller's download address, never the address itself).
(g) Price. Loading is free at present. A priced Listing is paid for when you accept its Licence (clause 10).

4. Accounts and API keys

4.1 Sign-up. When you sign up you give us your organisation's name, a contact email address, its country of incorporation and whether you will buy, sell or both. Keep them accurate and current. We do not verify the email address or that the organisation exists.

4.2 Screening information. To reach person or vehicle Listings you must ask us for a covered-person screening and give us:
(a) your Account id;
(b) your organisation's legal name and country of incorporation;
(c) a signed declaration of who owns or controls it (50% or more) and that it is not a Covered Person.

We may ask for documents.

4.3 API Keys. Your first API Key is shown once, at sign-up. We store only a hash of it and cannot recover it. You can rotate or revoke keys yourself on your account page or through the API; if you lose your only key, contact us. Keep keys secret. You are responsible for everything done with your keys until you revoke them or tell us a key is compromised.

4.4 Keys in your browser. Our web pages keep your key in your browser tab's session storage, which is cleared when the tab closes, or in your browser's local storage if you choose "remember". We do not use cookies. Don't use "remember" on a shared computer.

4.5 One organisation per Account. Each API Key acts for one Account only. You must not use one Account's key to act for another organisation.

4.6 Roles. An Account that signed up as a buyer cannot list, and one that signed up as a seller cannot accept Licences. To change your role, contact us.

4.7 Refusing sign-ups. We may refuse a sign-up, including when too many accounts are created from one network address or email address.

5. Acceptable use

You must not, and must not help anyone else to:

5.1 use a Dataset, a loaded dataset or an Add-on result for any Purpose other than one you accepted, or in breach of its Licence;

5.2 use the Service or any Dataset to identify, track, profile, score, price or target an individual, or to re-identify people in data presented as aggregated or de-identified;

5.3 infer or target anyone's health, religion, political opinions, sexual orientation or sex life, including from visits to places;

5.4 resell or redistribute device-level location traces, unless the Licence expressly allows it and the law permits it;

5.5 transfer, sell or give access to any Dataset about people or vehicles to a Covered Person, a Country of Concern or a Sanctioned Party (see clause 7);

5.6 use a geofence around a health-care facility to identify or track people, collect health data, or send them messages (see Washington RCW 19.373.080), or otherwise use any Dataset in breach of a law that applies to you;

5.7 use farm, property or vessel data to incite or carry out trespass, theft, damage or harassment;

5.8 bulk-harvest the catalog other than as our robots.txt, sitemap and DCAT catalog allow, get around rate limits, sign-up limits or access controls, or probe the Service for weaknesses without our written permission;

5.9 upload or link to malware, or to data you have no right to list;

5.10 give us false information, including false Labels, screening answers, Purposes or reports;

5.11 give a webhook address that you do not control, or use saved searches to send traffic to someone else.

6. Buyers

6.1 Before you access or Load data, you must read the Listing, its Labels, its Licence and the Buyer Acceptance, and accept the Licence for a stated Purpose. You make your own decision about whether the Dataset is suitable and lawful for you. We do not make that decision for you.

6.2 Use only for the accepted Purpose. You may use a Dataset only for the Purpose you accepted, only while the Licence you accepted is current, and only as the Licence and the law allow. If the Seller changes the Licence, you must accept the new version before you access the Dataset through the Service again. For a priced Listing, accepting the new version needs a new payment (clause 10.3).

6.3 Your own compliance. You are responsible for your own legal obligations in using a Dataset, including under:
(a) privacy, data-broker and consumer protection laws;
(b) sanctions and export laws;
(c) laws on insurance, financial services and discrimination.

6.4 Deletions. If we or the Seller tell you that a data subject has asked for deletion, you must delete that subject's data from your copies within 30 days, or the shorter period the law requires, and confirm when asked.

6.5 Onward transfer. For person or vehicle Datasets, you must not engage in any later data brokerage of the same data with a Country of Concern or a Covered Person.

6.6 Changes by the Seller. A Seller can edit a Listing's description, price, coverage and, for a Link Listing, its download address without changing the Licence. After you accept a Licence you can read the Listing's full edit history, and the Service tells you when the download address changed after your acceptance.

7. Covered-person and sanctions representations

7.1 Each Account represents, when it signs up, when it lists or accepts a Licence, and at each access, that:
(a) it is not a Covered Person;
(b) it is not organised under the laws of a Country of Concern, does not have its principal place of business in one, and is not 50% or more owned by one or by Covered Persons;
(c) it is not a Sanctioned Party, is not owned or controlled by one, and is not acting for one;
(d) no individual using its API Keys is primarily resident in a Country of Concern.

7.2 You must tell us within 2 business days if any of this stops being true. We will suspend access to person and vehicle Listings until your screening is renewed.

7.3 We record a screening of your organisation by hand, from the information you give us, and it lasts 365 days. We may renew or withdraw it at any time and may ask for documents. We rely on your representations: we do not check sanctions lists.

8. Sellers

8.1 Sellers must accept the Seller Listing Agreement in the Service before they create, publish or change a Listing or set up payouts. In summary, Sellers warrant that:
(a) they have the right to license the Dataset;
(b) the Dataset was lawfully collected;
(c) their Labels are accurate;
(d) their download address serves what the Listing describes.

8.2 We may decline, unpublish or take down any Listing at any time. We will usually give reasons.

9. Evidence Records and audit

9.1 What we record. The Service records, in tamper-evident, append-only form:
(a) listings, and each edit to a listing (old and new values);
(b) licence versions, with their SHA-256 hashes;
(c) each licence acceptance: the Buyer Account, the API Key used, the Purpose, the licence version and hash, the version and hash of the Buyer Acceptance and of these terms, and the time;
(d) each release of a Seller's download address;
(e) each Hosted download: the Buyer, the filters, the row count and a hash of the file served;
(f) each Add-on run: the Account, the Add-on, the Purpose, the parameters, the rows read and a hash of the result;
(f1) each Load (clause 3.10(f)) and each Import Template version, with its hash;
(g) reports (a hash of the text; the text is kept with the report), takedowns and reinstatements;
(h) payments;
(i) each acceptance of these terms and the Seller Listing Agreement, with the version and hash;
(j) deletion requests: counts and the request hash, never raw identifiers.

9.2 Who sees them.
(a) The Seller of a Listing can see who accepted its Licence, for what Purpose and when; for a Hosted Listing, each download, Load and Add-on run on its data; and for a Link Listing, each Load we fetched for a Buyer.
(b) A Buyer can see its own acceptances, its Loads and its Workspace datasets' Evidence Records, and, after accepting, the Listing's edit history.
(c) The Seller can check its Listing's hash chain through the API. We will check any chain on request.

9.3 Why we keep them, and how we use them. We keep Evidence Records as proof of what was accepted and delivered. We may use them:
(a) to enforce these terms;
(b) to answer regulators;
(c) to respond to lawful legal process;
(d) in disputes between Buyer and Seller.

Records cannot be edited. See the Privacy Policy for how long we keep them.

9.4 Audit. On reasonable notice, we may ask you to show that your use of a Dataset matches your accepted Purpose and Licence, or that you have processed deletions. You must cooperate.

10. Fees and payments

10.1 Prices. Sellers set Listing prices. A Listing with a price above zero is a priced Listing. Accepting its Licence needs a payment through Stripe Checkout; the acceptance is recorded only when Stripe confirms the payment. Until we switch payments on, a priced Listing says "payments unavailable" and cannot be accepted.

10.2 How payment works. We charge the Buyer through Stripe and Stripe transfers the price, less our fee, to the Seller's Stripe account. Your card or bank statement will show us, not the Seller.

10.3 What a payment buys. One payment buys one acceptance: one Licence version, for one Purpose, for as long as that Licence's own terms allow. A price stated "per year" or similar describes the Seller's pricing; the Service does not bill on a schedule or renew anything. If the Seller changes the Licence, keeping access through the Service needs a new acceptance and so a new payment.

10.4 Our fee. We keep a platform fee from each payment on a priced Listing, as a percentage of the price. The rates are set out in the Fee Schedule and may depend on the size of the sale. We may agree a different rate with a Seller, for a period or for a particular Listing. The rate that applies to a Listing is shown to the Seller before it lists and on the Listing, and to the Buyer on the Listing and at checkout, before the Buyer pays. The rate for a payment is fixed when its checkout opens; a later change to the Fee Schedule or to an agreed rate does not change it. The fee comes out of the Seller's proceeds: the Buyer pays the listed price. We pay Stripe's processing fees out of our fee. Free Listings and Add-ons carry no fee. A change to the Fee Schedule is a change to these terms, and clause 16 applies to it.

10.5 Taxes. Prices are as the Seller states them. The Service does not calculate, add or collect GST or any other tax. Each party is responsible for its own taxes, except where the law makes us responsible for collecting them.

10.6 Refunds and disputes. The Service does not refund automatically. Ask us (clause 17.2) and we will decide case by case; we will refund a payment taken for an acceptance you could not use because the Listing was withdrawn or taken down before the payment completed, or because you were charged twice for the same terms. A refund does not by itself cancel the acceptance record; if we refund because the Licence is cancelled, you must stop using the Dataset and delete it. How refunds and chargebacks are shared between us and the Seller is set out in the Seller Listing Agreement.

10.7 Stripe's terms. You must also comply with Stripe's terms for your role.

11. Suspension and termination

11.1 When we may suspend or cut off access. We may disable an Account, revoke an API Key, take down a Listing or stop access to a Dataset immediately if:
(a) we reasonably believe you have breached these terms;
(b) your covered-person screening lapses or fails;
(c) a data subject, regulator or rights-holder complains, while we investigate;
(d) we must do so by law or regulator request;
(e) continuing would expose us or others to legal risk.

We will tell you why unless the law prevents it.

11.2 Closing your Account. You can revoke your API Keys yourself at any time. To close your Account, ask us (clause 17.2) and we will disable it. A disabled Account's Listings leave search, Listing Pages and download.

11.3 What happens on closure. Closing an Account or withdrawing a Listing does not delete Evidence Records. Clauses 5, 6.2–6.5, 7, 9, 12–15 survive, as do any Licences already accepted, on their own terms.

12. No warranty on third-party data

12.1 Data is provided "as is". To the extent the law allows, Datasets and Labels are provided by Sellers "as is". We give no warranty that any Dataset:
(a) is accurate, complete, current or fit for purpose;
(b) was lawfully collected;
(c) can lawfully be used by you.

12.2 The Service itself. We provide the Service with due care and skill. We don't promise it will be uninterrupted or error-free.

12.3 Consumer guarantees. Nothing in these terms excludes rights you have under the Australian Consumer Law that cannot be excluded. Where the law lets us limit our liability for breach of a consumer guarantee, our liability is limited to supplying the services again or paying for them to be supplied again.

13. Limitation of liability

13.1 To the extent the law allows, neither party is liable for indirect or consequential loss, loss of profit, revenue or data, or regulatory fines imposed on the other party.

13.2 To the extent the law allows, our total liability under or in connection with these terms in any 12 months is capped at the greater of:
(a) the fees you paid us in that period; and
(b) AUD 1,000.

13.3 These limits don't apply to:
(a) liability that cannot be limited by law;
(b) fraud;
(c) your indemnities in clause 14;
(d) your breach of clauses 5 or 7.

14. Indemnities

14.1 You indemnify us against loss, including reasonable legal costs and regulatory penalties to the extent the law allows, arising from:
(a) your breach of clauses 5, 6 or 7;
(b) your use of a Dataset or an Add-on result;
(c) for Sellers, any Listing, Label or Dataset you provide.

14.2 We will:
(a) tell you promptly about any claim;
(b) let you control its defence where appropriate;
(c) not settle it in a way that admits fault on your behalf without your consent.

15. Governing law and disputes

15.1 These terms are governed by the laws of [OWNER TO FILL: state or territory], Australia.

15.2 Resolving disputes.
(a) Negotiation first: before starting proceedings, a party must give written notice of the dispute, and senior representatives must try in good faith to resolve it within 20 business days.
(b) Mediation next: if that fails, the parties will try mediation under the rules of [OWNER TO FILL: mediation body, e.g. the Resolution Institute].
(c) Urgent relief: either party may still seek urgent injunctive relief at any time.

15.3 The parties submit to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of the state or territory named in clause 15.1 and the Federal Court of Australia.

16. Changes to these terms

16.1 Notice. We may change these terms. At least 30 days before a change takes effect we will:
(a) publish the new version, with its version name, effective date and SHA-256 hash, at /catalog/legal/terms;
(b) show a notice on the catalog pages and on your account page;
(c) email the contact address on your Account. The Service does not send email automatically; we send these notices ourselves.

Changes needed to comply with law, or for security, may take effect sooner.

16.2 Accepting a new version. A new version applies to new sign-ups from its effective date. Existing Accounts are asked to accept it on their account page and at their next relevant step: a Seller before its next listing change or payout set-up, and a Buyer through the Buyer Acceptance at its next licence acceptance, which records the version of these terms in force.

16.3 If you don't agree. You may close your Account before a change takes effect. Licences you have already accepted are not affected: each acceptance stays tied to the versions of the Licence, the Buyer Acceptance and these terms that were in force when you accepted.

17. Notices

17.1 Notices from us. We give notices on the Service (the legal pages and your account page) and by email to the contact address on your Account.

17.2 Notices from you. Send notices, account closure requests and refund requests to [OWNER TO FILL: legal notices email address], or by post to the address in clause 1.1.

17.3 Takedown and complaints. Account holders can report a Listing on its page or through POST /v1/catalog/listings/<id>/reports. Data subjects, rights-holders and regulators without an account can reach us at [OWNER TO FILL: complaints and takedown email address]. We aim to acknowledge within [OWNER TO FILL: acknowledgement time, e.g. 2 business days].

18. General

18.1 Assignment. You may not assign these terms without our consent. We may assign them to a successor of the Service.

18.2 Severability. If a clause is unenforceable, the rest still applies.

18.3 No waiver. A failure to enforce a clause is not a waiver of it.

18.4 Entire agreement. These terms, the Seller Listing Agreement, each Buyer Acceptance and the Privacy Policy are the whole agreement between you and us on their subject. Each Licence is between the Buyer and the Seller.

The SHA-256 is of this document's source file as published; every acceptance records it. Other documents: Seller Listing Agreement · Buyer Acceptance · Privacy Policy.