Terms of Service

You must be at least 13 years of age to use the Site. If you are between 13 and 18 (or the age of majority in your jurisdiction), you may use the Site only with the involvement of a parent or legal guardian.

Certain features of the Site let you provide an email address to join a waitlist, subscribe to the newsletter, or request notification when a product or membership tier becomes available. You are responsible for the accuracy of the information you provide and for keeping your contact channels secure. You may unsubscribe at any time.

At the time these Terms take effect, the Site does not process payments. In the future, the Site may sell (a) physical merchandise, fulfilled through a print-on-demand provider, (b) digital products such as templates, source code, and downloads, and (c) subscription memberships. All sales, shipping, refund, and cancellation terms applicable to those transactions will be presented at checkout and are incorporated into these Terms by reference at that time.

All content on the Site — including text, graphics, code samples, designs, artwork, audio, video, and the "Synthetic Media Investigator" and "S.M.I." brands — is owned by Synthetic Media Investigator or its licensors and is protected by copyright, trademark, and other intellectual-property laws. You may view and use the Site for personal, non-commercial purposes only, unless a specific piece of content or product explicitly grants a broader license (for example, a code product with an accompanying LICENSE file).

You may not scrape, republish, or resell content from the Site, or use it to train or fine-tune machine-learning models, without our prior written consent.

You agree not to:

• Use the Site for any unlawful purpose.
• Attempt to gain unauthorized access to any part of the Site or its systems.
• Interfere with the Site's operation, security, or availability (including denial-of-service attempts and automated scraping).
• Post or transmit any content that is unlawful, defamatory, harassing, or infringes any third-party rights.
• Misrepresent your identity or affiliation with any person or organization.

The Site may contain links to third-party websites (for example, in The Library) and use third-party services (for example, video embeds). We do not endorse or take responsibility for the content, privacy practices, or availability of any third-party site or service.

THE SITE AND ITS CONTENT ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE" WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. Content on the Site is for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute professional, legal, financial, or security advice.

TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, SYNTHETIC MEDIA INVESTIGATOR AND ITS OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES, AND CONTRACTORS WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR ANY LOSS OF PROFITS OR REVENUES, WHETHER INCURRED DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, OR ANY LOSS OF DATA, USE, GOODWILL, OR OTHER INTANGIBLE LOSSES, ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO YOUR USE OF THE SITE.

You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless Synthetic Media Investigator and its affiliates from and against any claims, liabilities, damages, losses, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising out of or related to your violation of these Terms or misuse of the Site.

We may suspend or terminate your access to the Site at any time and for any reason, including a breach of these Terms. Provisions that by their nature should survive termination will survive.

These Terms are governed by the laws of the United States of America and, where applicable, the state in which Synthetic Media Investigator principally conducts business, without regard to conflict-of-law principles. You agree that any dispute arising out of or related to these Terms or the Site will be resolved exclusively in the state or federal courts located in that jurisdiction, and you consent to personal jurisdiction there.

We may update these Terms from time to time. When we do, we will revise the "Last Updated" date above and, where appropriate, notify you by email or a prominent notice on the Site. Your continued use of the Site after changes take effect constitutes acceptance of the revised Terms.

Questions about these Terms can be sent through the contact channel published on the Site.