Terms and responsibilities

Draft for the owner to review before anyone is invited. This isn't legal advice.

Podio Reader is a private prototype, run by one person (the "operator") for themselves and a small group of invited friends. By using it, you agree to these terms. If you don't agree, don't use it.

Your account

• You can only join through an invite from the operator.
• Keep your password to yourself. You're responsible for anything done with your account.
• The operator can disable any account at any time, for example if these terms are broken.

Your library and your content

• You get a personal library that only you can see through the app. You also get read access to the shared library.
• You're responsible for everything you upload. Only upload files you have the right to store and read: things you own, things in the public domain, openly licensed material, and your own work.
• Don't upload anything that's illegal where you or the server are, anything that infringes someone else's copyright, or anything that contains other people's personal data without their permission.
• Don't use the reader to share files with other people. Personal libraries aren't for distribution, and the prototype has no features for sharing between users.
• You keep whatever rights you have in your files. You give the operator only the permission needed to store them, index them and show them back to you.

The shared library

• The operator chooses what goes in the shared library. The seed collection is public domain or openly licensed.
• For shared files that aren't openly licensed, you'll see details, contents pages and short snippets, but not the file itself.

How your files are processed

• Files are stored on the operator's server, with the text extracted so you can search it.
• To find the people, places and ideas in a document, its text is sent to Anthropic's API (the company that makes Claude). Anthropic processes it under its commercial terms. If you don't want a document's text to leave the server, don't upload it.
• The metadata of your uploads (such as ISBNs and DOIs) is looked up on Open Library and Crossref.
• The operator has technical access to the server, so personal libraries are private within the app but not hidden from whoever runs the server. The operator won't browse your library, except to deal with a complaint about content or when legally required.
• The app keeps a log of sign-ins and uploads for security.

Limits

• Each user has a storage limit and a monthly limit on AI processing. When you reach the AI limit, new uploads are still stored and searchable, but their concepts aren't generated until the next month.

Complaints and removal

• If you think something in the reader infringes your rights, contact the operator. The operator can remove any content, from any library, that appears to break these terms or the law.

No guarantees

• This is a prototype. It may change, break, lose data or shut down. Keep your own copies of anything you upload; the reader isn't a backup.
• The service is provided as is, without any warranty.

Changes to these terms

• If these terms change, you'll be asked to accept the new version before you carry on using the reader.