Coulthart on contractor scientists (2022)

These terms are an agreement between you and ufos.dev (“we”, “us”), who runs ufos.dev (the “site”). By using the site you agree to them. If you don’t agree, please don’t use the site.

1. You must be 18 or older

The site is for adults only. You may not use the site, create an account or post anything unless you are at least 18 years old. By using the site you confirm that you are. We will close any account we believe belongs to someone under 18.

2. Your account

Keep your password safe — you are responsible for everything done with your account. Give accurate information when you sign up, and tell us if you think someone else has used your account.

3. You are responsible for what you post

Sightings, comments, statuses, profile posts, board posts, articles, messages, pictures, links and anything else you post (“your content”) are yours, and you alone are responsible for them. We are a platform that hosts content provided by members; we do not create, check or endorse it, and it does not reflect our views. We are not responsible or liable for any content posted by members or for anything that happens because of it.

When you post, you confirm that you have the right to share it (you took the picture or video yourself, have the owner’s permission, or are linking to where it was published), and that it doesn’t break the law or anyone’s rights.

You give us a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to host, store, copy, display, translate and share your content on the site and in connection with running and promoting it (for example in newsletters and social media posts about the site). Sighting reports and articles become part of the site’s public record: if you delete your account they stay on the site under your username. This licence ends when your content is removed, except for copies kept in backups or already shared by others.

4. Pictures and videos

Pictures and videos on the site are posted by members as links to the third-party websites that host them (such as YouTube, Reddit, X or news sites). To keep sighting pages working when an original disappears, the site may also keep a thumbnail or archival copy. We remove any picture, video or copy promptly when its copyright holder asks — see Copyright & takedowns.

5. What you may not post

• Anything illegal, or anything that infringes someone’s copyright, trademark, privacy or other rights.
• Sexual content, content involving minors in any sexual or harmful way, or graphic violence.
• Harassment, threats, hate speech, or personal information about someone else (doxxing).
• Spam, advertising, scams, malware, or links posted to promote something.
• Content you know is fake but present as real (hoaxes are welcome only when clearly labelled).

6. Moderation

Admins and volunteer moderators may remove any content and suspend, ban or close any account at any time, for any reason, with or without notice — including automatically (for example by our spam, AI and bad-word filters).

7. Sightings and other information on the site

Sighting reports are claims made by members and are not verified by us, unless a sighting is marked “Verified witness” (which only means we checked the member recorded it — not what it shows). Sky conditions, flight data, AI summaries, AI photo checks and similar features come from automated tools and outside services and can be wrong or incomplete. Everything on the site is provided for entertainment and general information only.

8. Artificial intelligence (AI)

The site uses AI services to help run it. AI may be used for:

• Writing short summaries of long sighting reports, board topics and articles
• Suggesting labels for sightings (shape, colours, movement, place, date and tags)
• Looking at pictures and video stills to describe what they show, likely explanations, and signs of editing or AI-made fakes
• Matching sightings by meaning, for search, “Similar sightings” and spotting duplicates
• Answering questions in “Ask the archive” and helping members fill in the submit form
• Writing overviews at the top of place, year and shape pages, and summaries of case files
• Checking new comments, posts and submissions for spam, abuse and bad language
• Explaining what’s in the night sky on Tonight’s Sky and answering questions about it (using sky data only, never your location)
• Drafting “Skeptic’s corner” notes, comparing view counts with what’s reported online, and finding copies of videos
• Detecting whether a person’s face appears in sighting pictures and video stills (Google Cloud Vision — it detects faces, it never identifies anyone), so close-ups of people can be hidden

AI output is generated automatically, may be inaccurate, and is not our opinion or a statement of fact. Public content (like a sighting and its pictures) may be sent to an outside AI service to do this — see the Privacy page. You can hide AI summaries on your Account page.

9. Advertising

The site may show advertising, including ads from Google and its partners. We are not responsible for the products, services or websites advertised. See the Privacy page for how ads use cookies and how to opt out of personalised ads.

10. No warranties

The site is provided “as is” and “as available”, without warranties of any kind, express or implied, including warranties of accuracy, merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose and non-infringement. We don’t promise the site will be available, secure or error-free.

11. Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent allowed by law, ufos.dev will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential or punitive damages, or for any loss of data, profits or reputation, arising from your use of the site or from any content posted by members or third parties. Our total liability for any claim relating to the site is limited to US $50.

12. Your promise to cover us (indemnity)

You agree to defend and hold harmless ufos.dev from any claims, damages, losses and costs (including reasonable lawyers’ fees) arising from your content, your use of the site, or your breaking these terms or the law.

13. Ending your account

You can delete your account at any time on your Account page. Sighting reports and articles you posted stay on the site under your username; your profile, statuses, messages and other personal data are removed, and comments and board posts no longer show your name. We may suspend or close accounts that break these terms.

14. Governing law

These terms are governed by the laws of the United States and of the state where the site’s owner lives, without regard to conflict-of-law rules. Any dispute will be handled by the courts that have jurisdiction under those laws.

15. Changes

We may update these terms. When we do, we’ll change the date at the top; continuing to use the site means you accept the new terms.

16. Contact

Questions about these terms: no-reply@ufos.dev. Copyright complaints: see Copyright & takedowns.

✓ That’s everything — thanks for reading.