$OpenBook
Draft — not final. This is a working draft and will be finalized before public launch. It is not legal advice.

OpenBook — Terms of Service (DRAFT)

This is a working draft for attorney review. It is not legal advice and is not yet in force. Effective date: [TODO: EFFECTIVE DATE]

1. Acceptance & Eligibility

By accessing or using OpenBook (the "Service"), you agree to these Terms of Service ("Terms"). If you do not agree, do not use the Service.

You must be at least [TODO: MIN AGE] years old to use the Service. By using the Service you represent that you meet this minimum age and that you have the legal capacity to enter into these Terms.

2. What the Service Is

OpenBook is an experimental, beta anonymous public message board. It is provided for early testing and may change, break, or be discontinued at any time.

When you submit a post, the Service records it on the BSV blockchain as an OP_RETURN output. The post content, your public key/address, your cryptographic signature, and a timestamp are written to a public, distributed ledger. The Service also stores a copy in its own database to render the app feed.

The Service does not require an email address, phone number, real name, or account signup. Your identity is a cryptographic keypair generated in your browser (see Section 4).

3. PERMANENCE & PUBLICATION — READ THIS CAREFULLY

This is the most important section of these Terms.

  • Every post you make is permanent and public. When you post, your content is broadcast to the BSV blockchain and becomes part of a public, distributed, append-only ledger.
  • Your posts are readable by anyone, forever. Anyone in the world — not just OpenBook users — can read on-chain data using public block explorers and other tools.
  • The operator cannot delete, edit, or recall your posts from the blockchain. Once a post is broadcast, it is out of the operator's control. No one — not the operator, not you — can remove it from the chain.
  • Third parties replicate and index the chain. Independent nodes, explorers, archives, and indexers copy and re-publish on-chain data. Even if OpenBook stops showing a post in its own feed, those third parties may continue to display it.
  • Do not post personal data or anything you may later want removed. Do not post your real name, address, contact details, anyone else's personal data, secrets, or anything sensitive. Treat everything you post as a permanent public broadcast.

4. Identity, Keys & NO RECOVERY

  • Your identity is a BSV keypair generated in your browser and stored on your device. The operator does not hold your private key and never has custody of it.
  • If you lose your recovery file or forget your passphrase, your identity is permanently lost — along with any value (funds) associated with it.
  • The operator cannot restore, reset, or recover your key, your identity, or your funds. There is no "forgot password," no support reset, no backup held by the operator.
  • You are solely responsible for backing up and securing your recovery file and passphrase.

5. Your Responsibility for Content

You are the publisher of everything you post. You — not the operator — author the content and cause it to be broadcast.

By posting, you represent that you have the right to publish the content and that doing so does not violate any law or any third party's rights. You assume the full risk of permanent, public, irreversible publication.

6. Prohibited Content

You must not post, attempt to post, or use the Service to facilitate:

  • Illegal content of any kind under applicable law.
  • Child sexual abuse material (CSAM) or any child sexual exploitation content. This is absolutely prohibited. Do not create, share, link to, or solicit it in any form.
  • Intellectual-property infringement — content that infringes copyright, trademark, or other IP rights.
  • Doxxing or others' personal data — publishing another person's private or identifying information.
  • Threats, harassment, or incitement — threats of violence, targeted harassment, or incitement to harm.
  • Malware — malicious code, links, or payloads.
  • Fraud or scams — deceptive, fraudulent, or manipulative schemes.

Prohibited content may be screened by an automated filter before publication and the operator may decline to broadcast or display any content at its discretion. See Section 7 for what this filtering can and cannot do.

7. Moderation — What Exists and What Does Not

The operator's moderation is limited and best-effort. Specifically:

  • Pre-publication filter (best-effort). Before a post is broadcast, the Service runs an automated, best-effort screen for clearly illegal content. This filter is not comprehensive and will miss things. It is not a guarantee, and it does not constitute review of every post.
  • Declining to display / hiding from the feed. The operator may decline to broadcast a post, or may hide a post from the OpenBook app feed so that it is no longer shown within the app.

What moderation CANNOT do: Hiding a post from the OpenBook feed does not remove it from the blockchain. On-chain data is permanent. A hidden post is simply no longer shown in the OpenBook app — it remains on-chain and may still be visible through other explorers and tools. The operator cannot delete, erase, or take down on-chain content.

8. Payments & Boosts — NO CUSTODY

The Service supports peer-to-peer micro-payments ("boosts" or "boots").

  • The transaction is the payment. A boost is a BSV blockchain transaction built and broadcast client-side, in your browser. Value moves directly between participants on-chain.
  • The operator never holds, controls, or has custody of your funds. The operator does not act as an intermediary, escrow, or wallet provider for boost funds.
  • No refunds. On-chain transactions are irreversible. Once broadcast, a boost cannot be reversed, cancelled, or refunded by anyone.
  • Boosts are not investments. A boost is a payment, not a security, share, or investment. There is no expectation of profit, return, dividend, or appreciation, and none is offered or implied.

9. No Warranty — Service Provided "AS IS"

The Service is provided "AS IS" and "AS AVAILABLE," without warranties of any kind, express or implied, including (without limitation) merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement, availability, accuracy, or uninterrupted or error-free operation.

10. Assumption of Risk & Limitation of Liability

You acknowledge that the Service involves experimental software, irreversible on-chain publication, irreversible payments, and self-custodied keys, and you assume all risk of using it.

To the maximum extent permitted by law, the operator and its affiliates will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages, or for any loss of data, identity, funds, or value, arising out of or relating to the Service. To the maximum extent permitted by law, the operator's total aggregate liability is limited to [TODO: LIABILITY CAP AMOUNT].

11. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless the operator and its affiliates from and against any claims, losses, liabilities, and expenses (including reasonable legal fees) arising out of or related to your content, your use of the Service, or your breach of these Terms.

12. Changes & Termination

  • The operator may modify or discontinue the Service, and may update these Terms, at any time. Continued use after changes take effect constitutes acceptance.
  • The operator may terminate or restrict your access to the OpenBook app at any time.
  • The operator CANNOT terminate your on-chain presence. Posts already broadcast to the blockchain remain on-chain permanently, regardless of any termination of app access. Termination removes access to the app — it does not remove anything from the chain.

13. Governing Law, Disputes & Severability

These Terms are governed by the laws of [TODO: JURISDICTION / GOVERNING LAW], without regard to conflict-of-laws principles. Any disputes will be resolved in the courts (or other forum) of that jurisdiction.

If any provision of these Terms is found unenforceable, the remaining provisions remain in full force and effect.

14. Contact

Questions about these Terms: [TODO: CONTACT EMAIL].

Operator: [TODO: OPERATOR LEGAL NAME].