Terms of Service

1. Acceptance of Terms

By accessing or using CYNSUS ("the Platform," "we," "us," or "our"), you agree to be bound by these Terms of Service. If you do not agree to these terms, you may not access or use our Services.

These Terms, together with our Privacy Policy, Cookie Policy, and Acceptable Use Policy (each incorporated by reference), form the entire agreement between you and CYNSUS regarding your use of the Platform.

2. Eligibility

To use CYNSUS, you must:

• Be at least 13 years of age
• Be a legal resident of the United States
• Not be prohibited from using the Services under applicable law

CYNSUS is open to students and citizens 13 and older. If you are under 18, you may use the free features of the Platform, but you may not purchase a paid subscription. Paid subscriptions require you to be at least 18 years old (or to have a parent or legal guardian purchase and manage the subscription on your behalf), because a paid subscription is a binding, automatically renewing agreement.

We provide the Platform for use only by persons located in the United States. We make no claims that the Platform or any of its content is accessible, appropriate, or legal outside of the United States.

If you use CYNSUS on behalf of an organization, you represent that you have authority to bind that organization to these Terms.

3. User Accounts

When you create an account, you agree to:

• Provide accurate, current, and complete information
• Maintain and promptly update your account information
• Maintain the security and confidentiality of your login credentials
• Accept responsibility for all activities under your account
• Notify us immediately of any unauthorized access or security breach

You may not share your account credentials or allow others to access your account. Each user must have their own account. We cannot and will not be liable for any loss or damage arising from your failure to protect your password or account information.

4. Permitted Use

We grant you a non-exclusive, limited, non-transferable, freely revocable license to use the Platform for your personal, non-commercial use. You may use CYNSUS to:

• Track legislative activity and elected officials
• Browse civic events such as public hearings, town halls, and government meetings
• Explore your jurisdictions and legislative districts, including map-based views
• Review ballot information, including ballot measures
• Receive alerts and notifications about bills and civic activity you follow, and save searches
• Use AI-powered tools to summarize, analyze, or understand civic and legislative content
• Access and analyze publicly available legislative data for personal, non-commercial purposes

Sharing & Attribution

We want CYNSUS to be quoted. You may share brief excerpts of CYNSUS content — for example, a bill summary, a fact from an official's profile, or a screenshot of a page — for personal, educational, or journalistic purposes, provided that:

• You credit CYNSUS as the source — "Source: CYNSUS (cynsus.org)" or a link to the page the content came from;
• You do not remove or alter any attribution CYNSUS displays for its own sources;
• Your use is non-commercial and does not create a substitute for the Platform; and
• You do not use the content to train or develop any artificial-intelligence or machine-learning model.

This permission covers brief excerpts only. Bulk extraction, systematic collection, and republication of any substantial portion of the Platform remain prohibited (Section 5) without our written authorization. Underlying government facts remain in the public domain, and data licensed from third parties remains subject to its own license terms.

5. Prohibited Conduct

You agree NOT to:

• Use the Platform for any unlawful purpose
• Impersonate any person or entity, or misrepresent your affiliation
• Attempt to gain unauthorized access to any part of the Platform
• Interfere with or disrupt the Platform's operation
• "Scrape," crawl, or extract data from the Platform, whether through manual or automated means, without our written authorization
• Copy, republish, license, or sell the data or information on the Platform for any commercial purpose, including training or supplying such data or information to any artificial-intelligence or machine-learning program (including large language models and generative AI)
• Collect or harvest user information without consent
• Circumvent security features, rate limits, or access controls
• Use the Platform to distribute malware or harmful code
• Engage in any activity that could damage or overburden our infrastructure

User Profile Data — Prohibition on Systematic Collection

CYNSUS users' public profiles may contain civic and political information including policy interests, tracked legislation, jurisdictional activity, and civic engagement patterns. Because CYNSUS exists to empower individual citizens — not to create intelligence resources for interest groups — the following conduct is expressly prohibited:

• Systematic collection: Systematically collecting, recording, or aggregating profile information from other CYNSUS users, whether manually or through automated means, is prohibited regardless of whether that information is marked public
• Commercial or political intelligence: Using other users' profile data for commercial purposes, political research, lobbying, opposition research, or organizational intelligence gathering is prohibited
• Database building: Compiling databases, datasets, or lists derived from CYNSUS users' civic interests, tracked legislation, or political activity for any purpose other than your own personal civic engagement is prohibited
• Redistribution: Sharing, selling, or distributing information compiled from other users' profiles to any third party is prohibited

This prohibition applies to individual users and organization account members alike. Violations may result in immediate account termination at CYNSUS's sole discretion.

6. Intellectual Property

The CYNSUS name, logo, and all related trademarks, service marks, and trade dress are the property of CYNSUS LLC. The Platform's design, features, and functionality are protected by copyright, trademark, and other intellectual property laws.

All content on the Platform — including text, graphics, logos, data compilations, software, and the compilation and arrangement of such content — is protected by United States and international copyright laws. Where the Platform allows you to copy or download content, these Terms continue to apply to that content after you copy or download it.

You retain ownership of content you create and submit through the Platform. By submitting content, you grant CYNSUS a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to use, display, and distribute your content in connection with operating the Platform, including transmitting content you submit to the recipients you direct it to.

Feedback. If you send us suggestions or feedback, you grant CYNSUS a perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free license to use it without restriction or obligation to you.

Third-party and government data. Legislative and official data made available through the Platform originates from government and third-party sources and is subject to those sources' terms and licenses (for example, certain data is provided under CC BY 4.0). Attribution is provided where required.

7. Subscriptions and Payments

CYNSUS offers a free tier and paid subscription tiers. Payments are processed by our third-party payment processor, Stripe, and are subject to Stripe's terms; CYNSUS does not store your full payment card details. You agree to be financially responsible for all purchases and subscriptions made by you or by someone acting on your behalf through the Platform. For paid subscriptions:

• Subscription fees are billed in advance on a monthly basis. By subscribing, you authorize CYNSUS, through Stripe, to charge your payment method the applicable recurring fee.
• Subscriptions automatically renew each month until you cancel. You may cancel at any time through your account settings, or by contacting us at legal@cynsus.org; cancellation takes effect at the end of the current billing period, and you keep access until then.
• All subscription fees are non-refundable, except where a refund is required by applicable law. We do not provide refunds or credits for partial billing periods or unused portions of a subscription.
• All fees are exclusive of applicable taxes. You are responsible for any sales, use, or similar taxes, which may be calculated and collected through our payment processor.
• We may change subscription pricing. We will notify you at least 30 days before a price change takes effect; the new price applies only to renewals after that notice, and you may cancel before it takes effect.

Cynthia Credits

Certain AI-powered features consume "credits." Credits are a limited license to access those features — they are not money, have no cash value, and are not redeemable, refundable, transferable, or exchangeable for cash, except where required by applicable law.

• Credits are consumed only by actions you explicitly initiate. No credits are charged for simply viewing pages or content.
• Your paid plan includes a monthly credit allowance (part of your subscription, not a separate purchase) that resets each billing period. Unused monthly credits roll over up to a maximum of one additional month's allowance, after which they expire.
• Credits you purchase separately ("top-ups") are added to a non-expiring balance. Your monthly allowance is spent before purchased credits.
• All credit purchases are final and non-refundable, and credits have no cash value and are not redeemable for cash. Your monthly credit allowance is forfeited when your subscription ends. Purchased (top-up) credits remain available as long as your account is open; if we terminate your account for cause (such as a violation of these Terms), any remaining purchased credits are forfeited. If you close your account voluntarily, you should use any purchased credits beforehand, as they will no longer be accessible afterward.
• We may change the credit cost of a feature, or a plan's monthly credit allowance, on a prospective basis and with reasonable notice. Any such change applies only going forward; we will not remove or reduce credits already in your account. Where a change would materially increase the credit cost of a feature, we will provide notice before it takes effect.

8. Termination

We may suspend or terminate your account at any time for:

• Violation of these Terms of Service
• Fraudulent, abusive, or illegal activity
• Non-payment of subscription fees
• Extended periods of inactivity
• Any reason at our sole discretion with notice

You may terminate your account at any time by contacting support or through your account settings. Upon termination, your right to use the Platform ceases immediately, and we may deactivate your account and delete or retain your data in accordance with our Privacy Policy and applicable legal-retention obligations. The sections identified in Section 13 (Survival) continue to apply after termination.

9. Disclaimers

YOUR USE OF THE PLATFORM IS AT YOUR SOLE RISK. THE PLATFORM AND ALL MATERIALS, INFORMATION, CONTENT, AND SERVICES AVAILABLE THROUGH IT ARE PROVIDED ON AN "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE" BASIS. WE CANNOT AND DO NOT WARRANT:

• THE ACCURACY, COMPLETENESS, CURRENTNESS, OR RELIABILITY OF ANY MATERIALS, INFORMATION, CONTENT, OR DATA AVAILABLE THROUGH THE PLATFORM
• THAT THE RESULTS THAT MAY BE OBTAINED FROM USE OF THE PLATFORM WILL BE ACCURATE OR RELIABLE
• MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, OR NON-INFRINGEMENT
• UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR-FREE SERVICE, OR THAT ANY ERRORS WILL BE CORRECTED
• SECURITY OF YOUR DATA OR COMMUNICATIONS

General information only; no reliance. The information presented on or through the Platform is made available solely for general civic-education and information purposes. Content on the Platform is aggregated from government and other third-party sources, and we are not responsible for such content. The Platform may include information that is out-of-date or jurisdiction-specific and may not apply to your situation. Any reliance you place on information from the Platform is strictly at your own risk, and we are not liable for any errors or omissions in such content or for any loss you might suffer in connection with it. Decisions you make in reliance on the Platform or your interpretation of its content are your own, for which you take full responsibility and assume all risk.

Your responsibility as a citizen. It is ultimately your own responsibility, as a citizen, to obtain and abide by all applicable laws, eligibility requirements, deadlines, and regulations. For election-related information, including ballot measures and election dates, your state and local election officials are the authoritative source, and you should verify with them before acting.

No professional advice. CYNSUS, including all content and any output generated by our AI features (for example, "Cynthia"), is provided for general civic-education and informational purposes only and does not constitute legal, tax, financial, electoral, or other professional advice. No attorney-client, fiduciary, or professional relationship is created. AI-generated content may be inaccurate, incomplete, or out of date; you should not rely on factual assertions in AI-generated content without independently verifying them against primary government sources. No advice or information, whether oral or written, obtained from CYNSUS or through the Platform creates any warranty not expressly stated in these Terms.

No government affiliation. CYNSUS is not a government website. CYNSUS is an independent platform and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or acting on behalf of any government agency, official, or candidate.

10. Limitation of Liability

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, CYNSUS AND ITS OFFICERS, DIRECTORS, EMPLOYEES, AND AGENTS SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE, OR EXEMPLARY DAMAGES, INCLUDING LOSS OF PROFITS, DATA, USE, OR GOODWILL, ARISING OUT OF OR IN ANY WAY RELATED TO (A) THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THE PLATFORM, (B) ANY INFORMATION OBTAINED THROUGH THE PLATFORM, OR ANY ERRORS OR OMISSIONS THEREIN, HOWEVER CAUSED, OR (C) THE INABILITY TO USE THE PLATFORM — WHETHER BASED IN TORT, CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE, STRICT LIABILITY, OR OTHERWISE, AND EVEN IF WE HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. OUR TOTAL LIABILITY SHALL NOT EXCEED THE GREATER OF (A) THE AMOUNT YOU PAID US IN THE TWELVE MONTHS PRECEDING THE CLAIM OR (B) ONE HUNDRED U.S. DOLLARS ($100).

IF YOU ARE DISSATISFIED WITH THE PLATFORM OR ANY OF ITS CONTENT, YOUR SOLE AND EXCLUSIVE REMEDY IS TO DISCONTINUE USING THE PLATFORM.

The limitations of damages set forth above are fundamental elements of the basis of the bargain between CYNSUS and you; absent these limitations, the economic terms of the Platform would be substantially different. Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion or limitation of certain damages; in those jurisdictions our liability is limited to the maximum extent permitted by law, and the above limitations do not apply to residents of New Jersey to the extent prohibited by New Jersey law. Nothing in these Terms limits liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, for fraud, or for any other liability that cannot be limited by law.

11. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless CYNSUS and its officers, directors, employees, agents, and affiliates from any claims, damages, losses, liabilities, and expenses (including attorneys' fees) arising from your use of the Platform, your violation of these Terms, or your violation of any rights of another.

If you use the Platform on behalf of an organization or entity, that organization or entity agrees to hold harmless and indemnify CYNSUS and its officers, directors, employees, agents, and affiliates from any claim, suit, or action arising from or related to the use of the Platform by the organization or its members, or their violation of these Terms.

12. Governing Law and Dispute Resolution

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Georgia and the Federal Arbitration Act, without regard to conflict-of-law principles. Nothing in these Terms deprives you of the protection of any consumer-protection provision of the law of your state of residence that cannot be waived by contract.

• Informal resolution first. Before starting arbitration, you agree to contact us at legal@cynsus.org and give us 30 days to resolve the dispute informally.
• Binding arbitration. Except for the carve-outs below, any dispute will be resolved by binding individual arbitration administered by the American Arbitration Association (AAA) under its Consumer Arbitration Rules. Arbitration will take place in Atlanta, Georgia, or, at your election, by phone or video or in the county where you reside.
• Carve-outs. Either party may (a) bring an individual claim in small-claims court, and (b) seek injunctive or equitable relief in court for intellectual-property infringement or unauthorized access to the Platform.
• Class-action & jury waiver. Disputes will be resolved only on an individual basis. You and CYNSUS waive any right to a jury trial and to participate in a class, collective, or representative action.
• 30-day opt-out. You may opt out of this arbitration provision within 30 days of first accepting these Terms by emailing legal@cynsus.org with your name and account email. Opting out does not affect any other part of these Terms.

13. Miscellaneous

• Survival: Sections 6 (Intellectual Property), 7 (to the extent of accrued payment obligations), 9 (Disclaimers), 10 (Limitation of Liability), 11 (Indemnification), 12 (Governing Law and Dispute Resolution), and this Section 13 survive any termination or expiration of these Terms.
• Changes to These Terms: We may update these Terms from time to time. We will post the updated Terms with a revised "Last Updated" date and, for material changes, provide reasonable notice (such as by email or in-app notice). Your continued use after the changes take effect constitutes acceptance; where required by law, material changes to subscription or automatic-renewal terms will require your affirmative consent.
• Claims Deadline: Except where prohibited by applicable law, any claim or cause of action arising out of or related to your use of the Platform or these Terms must be filed within one (1) year after the claim or cause of action arose, or it is permanently barred.
• Electronic Communications: You consent to receive communications from us electronically — including these Terms, disclosures, receipts, and notices — and you agree that electronic communications satisfy any legal requirement that such communications be in writing.
• Entire Agreement: These Terms constitute the entire agreement between you and CYNSUS regarding your use of the Platform.
• Severability: If any provision is found unenforceable, the remaining provisions will continue in effect.
• Waiver: Our failure to enforce any provision does not constitute a waiver of that provision.
• Assignment: You may not assign these Terms without our consent. We may assign these Terms, in whole or in part, in connection with a merger, acquisition, financing, or sale of assets, or otherwise.
• Notices: We may provide notices to you by email, by posting within the Platform, or to the address on file. You may send notices to legal@cynsus.org.
• No Third-Party Beneficiaries: These Terms do not create any third-party beneficiary rights.
• Headings: Section headings are for convenience only and do not affect interpretation.

14. Contact Us

If you have questions about these Terms of Service, please contact us at:

Email: legal@cynsus.org
Address: CYNSUS LLC, 1075 Peachtree St. NE, Ste 6 #570068, Atlanta, GA 30309, United States