Terms of Use

Welcome to the Opensats.org website and/or mobile application (individually and collectively, the "Site"). Your access and use of the Site and of features, software, products and services provided by Open Sats Initiative ("Open Sats," "OpenSats," "we," "us," or "our") through the Site, (individually and collectively, the "Service") is subject to the terms and conditions in this Terms of Use ("Terms of Use" or "Terms").

You must agree to the Terms in order to use the Site and/or the Service. If you use the Site and/or the Service, or click to accept or agree to the Terms if presented to you in a user interface for the Service, this is your acceptance of the Terms and your agreement to all of its terms and conditions. By accepting the Terms or using the Site and/or the Service, you represent and warrant that you are at least 18 years of age and have the legal capacity to enter a contract in the jurisdiction where you reside. If you do not accept the Terms, then you may not use the Site or the Service. If you are using the Site or the Service on behalf of another entity, you represent and warrant that you have full legal authority to bind such other entity to the Terms. If you do not have such authority, then you may not use the Site or the Service and you must discontinue all use of the Site and the Service immediately.

  1. Our Services. The purpose of the Service is to promote the use of open-source software to enhance blockchain technology and to promote the development of the Bitcoin infrastructure along with other free and open-source software projects. As a non-profit organization ourselves, Open Sats Initiative does accept donations on the opensats.org website.
  2. Privacy Policy. By clicking on the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy box or using the Site or the Service, you represent that you have read and consent to our Privacy Policy located at /privacy in addition to the Terms. Open Sats may revise the Privacy Policy at any time, and the new versions will be available on the Site. If at any point you do not agree to any portion of the Privacy Policy, you must immediately stop using the Site and/or Service.
  3. Terms of Use Updates. Open Sats may update the Terms at any time, and Open Sats will post the updated version of the Terms on the Site. You understand and agree that you will be deemed to have accepted the updated Terms if you use the Site or the Service after the updated Terms are posted on the Site. If at any point you do not agree to any portion of the Terms then in effect, you must immediately stop using the Site and the Service.
  4. Provision of the Services. You understand that all information, data, text, software, graphics or other materials ("Content"), whether publicly posted or privately transmitted, are the sole responsibility of the person from whom such Content originated. This means that you, and not Open Sats, is/are entirely responsible for all Content that you upload, post, email, transmit or otherwise make available via Services. Open Sats does not control the Content posted and, as such, does not guarantee the accuracy, integrity or quality of such Content. Under no circumstances will Open Sats be liable in any way for any Content, including, but not limited to, any errors or omissions in any Content, or any loss or damage of any kind incurred as a result of the use of any Content posted, emailed, transmitted or otherwise made available via the Open Sats Service.

You also agree that you will not collect or store personal data about other users in connection with any prohibited conduct and activities. You acknowledge that Open Sats may or may not pre-screen Content, but that Open Sats and its designees shall have the right (but not the obligation) in their sole discretion to pre-screen, refuse, move, or remove any Content that is available via the Services and which violates the Terms of Service. You agree that you must evaluate, and bear all risks associated with, the use of any Content, including any reliance on the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of such Content. You acknowledge, consent and agree that Open Sats may access, preserve and disclose your account information and Content if required to do so by law or in a good faith belief that such access preservation or disclosure is reasonably necessary to:

  • comply with legal process;
  • enforce the Terms of Use and the Privacy Policy;
  • respond to claims that any Content violates the rights of third parties;
  • respond to your requests for customer service; or
  • protect the rights, property or personal safety of Open Sats its users and the public.
  1. Provision of the Service Not an Exchange. Open Sats is not a bitcoin exchange or wallet service and does not receive, hold or exchange digital currencies on behalf of any other person or entity. Open Sats does not withhold funds for tax purposes or otherwise.
  2. Tax Advice. Open Sats makes no representation as to whether all or any portion of your donations to us are tax deductible or eligible for tax credits. Open Sats will have no liability for any claim by any federal, state, local or any other tax authority with respect to the characterization on any applicable tax return of any donation by you. You should consult your tax advisor as to the amount of your donation that is tax deductible or eligible for tax recognition, if any.
  3. Access Restriction. Open Sats reserves the right to deny access or service to any person or entity at Open Sats' sole and absolute discretion. You acknowledge and agree that Open Sats may stop providing the Site and/or the Service or restrict your use of the Site and/or the Service at any time, without notifying you in advance, for any reason or no reason, including, without limitation, for any violation of the Terms and/or if Open Sats suspects that you have used any aspect of the Service to conduct any fraudulent or illegal activity. If Open Sats disables your access to your account, you may be prevented from accessing the Service, your account details and/or any materials contained in your account.
  4. Accounts and Security.
  5. Account. Open Sats may require registration for an account to access the Site and the Services. There will be a registration process for the creation of accounts to complete the registration process. You may be required to provide information about yourself or your company as part of the registration process or your continued use of the Service. You agree that any registration information that you submit to Open Sats will be correct, accurate, and up to date and that you will not impersonate any person or entity, or falsely state or otherwise misrepresent your affiliation with a person or entity.
  6. Account Security. Maintaining account security is very important. You are solely responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your account password. You agree to notify Open Sats immediately if you become aware of any unauthorized use of your password or of your account.
  7. Account Sharing or Transfers. Accounts are registered to individuals or entities and may not be sold, traded, gifted or otherwise transferred at any time under any circumstances. An account may not be shared. Passwords may not be disclosed to anyone else.
  8. Cancellation by You. You have the right to cancel your account at any time. You may cancel your account by emailing us at support@opensats.org to submit a request to our support team.
  9. Termination by Open Sats. Open Sats may at any time terminate your account for any reason or no reason including, without limitation, if:
  • Open Sats determines that you are (a) in breach of or otherwise acting inconsistently with the Terms or written agreements (b) engaging in fraudulent or illegal activities or other conduct that may result in liability to Open Sats;
  • Open Sats determines it is required by law to terminate your account; or
  • Open Sats decides to stop providing the Service or critical portions of the Service in the country where you reside, access the Site or use the Service or Open Sats determines that it is no longer in its charitable business interests to continue providing the Service or portions of the Service.
  1. Content Licensing. Open Sats mission includes educating the public on free and open-source software through content such as articles, images, photographs, comments, software code, audio and video clips, and other materials (collectively, "Content"). Content is authored by Open Sats, contributors to Open Sats projects, and other sources.

Content authored by Open Sats is generally made available for public sharing and reuse through open licenses such as Creative Commons (for expressive material) or the Open Sats Public License. In most cases we ask Open Sats contributors to release Content under open licenses.

Some Content in our Site may be acquired from sources that prohibit further use of their Content without advance permission. Where possible, the Content will display a notice with the applicable license. You agree to abide by such notices. However it may occur that:

  1. Some Content expressly indicates that the author does not intend for an open license to apply. You should contact the author or author's agent for permission to use such Content. Questions on Open Sats authored content can be sent to: support@opensats.org.
  2. Some Content contains trademarks, trade dress, logos and brand assets of Open Sats and other parties ("Trademarks"). Except for a few limited circumstances, Trademarks cannot be used without advance written permission of the owner of the Trademark.
  3. Software used by our Websites is licensed under the Open Sats Public License or similarly permissive open-source licenses.
  4. Content Submissions. You may contribute Content when interacting with our Site and Services, including but not limited to commenting on an article, blogging, contributing code, or contributing graphics or written material (each a "Submission"). Unless your Submission is made under a separate agreement with Open Sats, in which case that agreement will govern, then
  • For Submissions to Open Sats' open-source Projects:

    1. You agree to license your Submission under the terms of the corresponding license of the particular open-source project to which you are contributing. For more information on the specific license, please see the applicable source.
  • For all other Submissions, you agree to the following in connection with each:

    1. You represent and warrant that your Submission will comply with these Terms and any additional terms that may govern your Submission.
    2. You hereby grant us a nonexclusive, royalty-free, worldwide, sublicensable (to those we work with) license to use your Submission in connection with the Content, Site, and Services and online and offline promotion of Open Sats' mission, products and services.
    3. You acknowledge that your Submissions may be accessible by other registered users of the applicable service or the public.
    4. If your Submission contains expressive material or software code, you agree to license it in a manner that is compatible with the particular website you are making a Submission to.
    5. You represent and warrant that you have the rights necessary to grant the rights granted herein, and further, that the uses contemplated under these Terms will not infringe the proprietary or intellectual property rights of any third party.
    6. You understand and agree that Open Sats reserves the right, at its discretion, to review, modify, or remove any Submission that it deems is objectionable or in violation of these Terms.
  1. Effect of Account Termination or Cancellation. If you voluntarily terminate your account or allow your account to lapse, you will be able to reactivate that account at any time through the account interface on the Site. Accounts terminated by Open Sats for any type of abuse including, without limitation, a violation of the Terms, may not be reactivated for any reason. If you are blocked by us from accessing the Site or Service (including by blocking your IP address), you agree not to implement any measures to circumvent such blocking (e.g., by masking your IP address or using a proxy IP address).

  2. Restrictions and Conditions of Use.

  3. Use of the Site. Open Sats permits users to view and use the Site solely for personal or nonprofit use. You agree not to license, create derivative works from, transfer, sell or re-sell any information, content, materials, data or services obtained from the Site or through the Service unless specifically allowed by an Open-Source license or express permission.

  4. Accessing the Service. You agree not to access, or attempt to access, the Service by any means other than through the user interface provided through the Site or any mobile application provided by Open Sats. You specifically agree not to access, or attempt to access, the Service through any automated means (including, without limitation, through the use of scripts, bots, spiders or web crawlers) and you agree to comply with the instructions contained in any robots.txt file present on the Site or the Service.

  5. No Violation of Laws. You agree that you will not, in connection with your use of the Site or the Service, violate any applicable law, ordinance, rule, regulation or treaty. Without limiting the foregoing, you agree that you will not make available through the Site and/or the Service any material or information that infringes any copyright, trademark, patent, trade secret, or other right of any party (including rights of privacy or publicity).

  6. Use Restrictions. You may not connect to or use the Site or the Service in any way that is not expressly permitted by the Terms.

  7. You may not: (a) remove any proprietary notices from the Service; (b) cause, permit or authorize the modification, creation of derivative works, translation, reverse engineering, decompiling, disassembling or hacking of the Site or the Service; (c) sell, assign, rent, lease, act as a service bureau, or grant rights in the Service, including, without limitation, through sublicense, to any other person or entity without the prior written consent of Open Sats; or (d) make any false, misleading or deceptive statement or representation regarding Open Sats and/or the Site or the Service.

  8. Without limiting the foregoing, you agree that you will not: (i) institute, assist, or become involved in any type of attack including, without limitation, denial of service attacks, upon the Site and/or the Service (or any servers, systems, or networks connected to the Site or the Service) or otherwise attempt to obstruct, disrupt, or interfere with the operation of the Site and/or the Service or any other person's or entity's use of the Site and/or the Service (or any servers, systems or networks connected to the Site or the Service); (ii) attempt to gain unauthorized access to the Site, the Service, accounts registered to other users, or any servers, systems or networks connected to the Site and/or the Service; (iii) use the Site or the Service for any commercial purpose or the benefit of any third party, or charge any person or entity, or receive any compensation for, the use of the Site or the Service, unless you are specifically authorized to do so in a separate written agreement with Open Sats; (iv) use the Site or the Service to (y) develop, generate, transmit or store information that is defamatory, harmful, abusive, obscene or hateful; or (z) perform any unsolicited commercial communication; or (v) engage in any activity that (A) constitutes harassment or a violation of privacy or threatens other people or groups of people; (B) is harmful to children in any manner; (C) constitutes phishing, pharming, or impersonates any other person or entity, or steals or assumes any person's identity (whether a real identity or online nickname or alias); (D) violates any applicable law, ordinance, rule, regulation or treaty or (E) in Open Sats' sole judgment, is objectionable or that restricts or inhibits any other person from using or enjoying our Site or Service, or which may expose us or our users to any harm or liability of any type.

  9. No Data Mining or Harmful Code. You agree that you will not (a) obtain or attempt to obtain any information from the Site or Services including, without limitation, any personal information of other account holders or other software data; (b) intercept, examine or otherwise observe any proprietary communications protocol used by the Site or the Service, whether through the use of a network analyzer, packet sniffer, or other device; or (c) use any type of bot, spider, virus, clock, timer, counter, worm, software lock, drop dead device, Trojan horse routing, trap door, time bomb or any other codes, instructions or third party software that is designed to provide a means of surreptitious or unauthorized access to, or distort, delete, damage or disassemble, the Site or the Service.

  10. Violation of the Terms. You acknowledge and agree that you are solely responsible, and Open Sats has no responsibility or liability to you or any other person or entity, for any breach by you of the Terms or for the consequences of any such breach.

  11. Links.

  12. Links from the Site. The Site may contain links to websites operated by other parties. Open Sats provides these links to other websites as a convenience and use of these websites is at your own risk. The linked websites are not under the control of Open Sats and Open Sats is not responsible for the content available on the other websites. Such links do not imply Open Sats' endorsement of information or material on any other website and Open Sats disclaims all liability with regard to your access to and use of such linked websites.

  13. Links to the Site. Unless otherwise set forth in a written agreement between you and Open Sats, you must adhere to Open Sats' linking policy as follows: (i) the appearance, position, and other aspects of the link may not be such as to damage or dilute the goodwill associated with Open Sats' and/or its licensors' names and trademarks; (ii) the appearance, position and other attributes of the link may not create the false appearance that your organization or entity is sponsored by, affiliated with, or associated with Open Sats; and (iii) when selected by a user, the link must display the Site on full-screen and not within a "frame" on the linking Site. Open Sats reserves the right to revoke its consent to the link at any time and in its sole discretion.

  14. Intellectual Property.

  15. Trademarks. The Open Sats marks are trademarks of Open Sats. Unless permitted in a separate written agreement with Open Sats, you do not have the right to use any of Open Sats' trademarks, service marks, or logos; and your unauthorized use of any of these may be a violation of federal and state trademark laws.

  16. Ownership. You acknowledge and agree that Open Sats, or its licensors, owns all right, title and interest in and to the Site and the Service, including all intellectual property, industrial property and proprietary rights recognized anywhere in the world at any time and that the Site and the Service are protected by U.S. and international copyright laws. Further, you acknowledge that the Service may contain information that Open Sats has designated as confidential and you agree not to disclose such information without Open Sats' prior written consent.

  17. Location. The Site and the Service are operated by Open Sats in the United States. If you choose to access the Site and/or the Service from a location outside of the United States, you do so on your own initiative and you are responsible for compliance with applicable local laws.

  18. Children. The Site and the Service are not directed toward children under 13 years of age nor does Open Sats knowingly collect information from children under 13 or allow them to create an account or access account features. If you are under 13, please do not submit any personal information about yourself to Open Sats.

  19. Term/Termination. These Terms will continue to apply until ended by either you or Open Sats. You can choose to end them at any time for any reason by discontinuing your use of our Site and Services and, if applicable, deleting your account. We may suspend or terminate your access to our Site and Services at any time for any reason, including, but not limited to, if we reasonably believe: (i) you have violated these Terms, our Privacy Policy, or other relevant policy; (ii) you create risk or possible legal exposure for us; or (iii) our provision of the Site and Services to you is no longer commercially viable. In all such cases, these Terms shall terminate, except that the following sections shall continue to apply: Indemnification, Disclaimer; Limitation of Liability, Modification, and Miscellaneous.

  20. Indemnification . You agree to defend, indemnify and hold harmless Open Sats, its contractors, contributors, licensors, and partners; and the respective directors, officers, employees and agents of the foregoing ("Indemnified Parties") from and against any and all third party claims and expenses, including attorneys' fees, arising out of or related to your use of our Site and Services (including, but not limited to, from your Submissions or from your violation of any these Terms).

  21. Disclaimer; Limitation of Liability. THE SITE AND SERVICES ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" WITH ALL FAULTS. TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, OPEN SATS AND THE INDEMNIFIED PARTIES HEREBY DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION WARRANTIES THAT THE CONTENT, SITE, AND SERVICES (AS APPLICABLE) ARE FREE OF DEFECTS, MERCHANTABLE, FIT FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NON-INFRINGING. YOU BEAR THE ENTIRE RISK AS TO USING THE SITE AND SERVICES FOR YOUR PURPOSES AND AS TO THE QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE OF THE SITE AND SERVICES, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION THE RISK THAT YOUR HARDWARE, SOFTWARE, OR CONTENT IS DELETED OR CORRUPTED, THAT SOMEONE ELSE GAINS UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS TO YOUR INFORMATION, OR THAT ANOTHER USER MISUSES OR MISAPPROPRIATES YOUR SUBMISSION. THIS LIMITATION WILL APPLY NOTWITHSTANDING THE FAILURE OF ESSENTIAL PURPOSE OF ANY REMEDY. SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF IMPLIED WARRANTIES, SO THIS DISCLAIMER MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU. EXCEPT AS REQUIRED BY LAW, OPEN SATS AND THE INDEMNIFIED PARTIES WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR EXEMPLARY DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF OR IN ANY WAY RELATING TO THESE TERMS OR THE USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE THE CONTENT, SITE, AND SERVICES, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION DIRECT AND INDIRECT DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF GOODWILL, WORK STOPPAGE, LOST PROFITS, LOSS OF DATA, AND COMPUTER FAILURE OR MALFUNCTION, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES AND REGARDLESS OF THE THEORY (CONTRACT, TORT, OR OTHERWISE) UPON WHICH SUCH CLAIM IS BASED. THE COLLECTIVE LIABILITY OF OPEN SATS AND THE INDEMNIFIED PARTIES UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT EXCEED $500 (FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS). SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR SPECIAL DAMAGES, SO THIS EXCLUSION AND LIMITATION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.

  22. Modifications to these Terms . We may update these Terms from time to time to address a new feature of the Site and Services or to clarify a provision. The updated Terms will be posted online. If the changes are substantive, we will announce the update through our usual channels for such announcements such as blog posts, banners, emails, or forums. Your continued use of our Site and Services after the effective date of such changes constitutes your acceptance of such changes. To make your review more convenient, we will post an effective date at the top of this page.

  23. Miscellaneous. These Terms constitute the entire agreement between you and Open Sats concerning our Site and Services and supersede any prior versions of these Terms. The Site and Services and these Terms are governed by the laws of the state of North Carolina, U.S.A., excluding its conflict of law provisions. All claims and disputes arising out of the Site and Services or these Terms shall be brought exclusively in the courts of Wake County, North Carolina, and you consent to personal jurisdiction in those courts. If any portion of these Terms is held to be invalid or unenforceable, the remaining portions will remain in full force and effect. In the event of a conflict between a translated version of these Terms and the English language version, the English language version shall control. In the event of a conflict between these Terms and relevant additional terms, the additional terms shall control.

  24. Contact Open Sats:

    Open Sats Initiative, Inc.
    12436 FM 1960 Rd West PMB #1003
    Houston, TX 77065

    support@opensats.org


Last updated: June 7, 2023