Terms

Full terms and use cases

1) Scope (what this covers)

Use case: You are requesting or using restricted access to Aspen Alpine Arc materials, dashboards, and outputs.

Argument: These terms govern all access to the site and any related services, including any content we provide and any content you submit. If your organization needs negotiated terms (procurement, DPA, security addendum), access should be provisioned under a written order form or agreement that controls over these website terms.

Key guardrails: Access is invitation-only; you must be authorized to act for your institution; you must follow the Security Policy and any access model or verification rules.

2) No advice (non-reliance)

Use case: You use outputs for situational awareness, planning, prioritization, and internal review.

Argument: Outputs are informational decision aids and may be incomplete, delayed, or inaccurate. They are not legal, financial, investment, compliance, operational, or procurement advice. You must independently verify facts and consult appropriate professionals where needed. You are responsible for decisions and actions taken based on outputs.

3) No warranties (“as is” / “as available”)

Use case: You expect the platform to operate continuously or to be error-free.

Argument: We provide the service without warranties of any kind, including implied warranties (merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement) and any warranties that outputs will be accurate, complete, timely, or suitable for a particular decision. Availability may vary; features may change.

4) Limitation of liability (risk allocation)

Use case: A user claims losses due to reliance on outputs, downtime, delays, or third-party disputes.

Argument: To the maximum extent allowed by law, total liability is limited to fees paid for the Services in the 12 months preceding the event giving rise to the claim (or US$100 if none). We are not liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, punitive, exemplary, or lost-profit damages, even if advised of the possibility.

Operational meaning: This is designed to the platform from being treated as an insurer of business outcomes, capital losses, missed opportunities, or third-party performance.

5) Confidentiality and restricted materials

Use case: You view or download materials that are non-public, client-deliverable, or restricted by contract/statute.

Argument: You must treat restricted materials as confidential, limit access to authorized personnel, and use them only for your internal business purpose. No sharing, resale, redistribution, republication, or rehosting of non-public materials or client deliverables without written permission. You must maintain safeguards appropriate to the sensitivity of the materials.

6) Acceptable use (platform protection)

Use case: Automated extraction, scraping, credential sharing, or attempts to bypass verification.

Argument: You may not (i) abuse or interfere with the service, (ii) probe or scan beyond good-faith testing rules in the Security Policy, (iii) use bots/scrapers/automated extraction without written permission, (iv) share credentials, (v) attempt to access other users’ data, or (vi) use outputs to violate law or third-party rights.

Enforcement: We may throttle, suspend, or terminate access for violations or security risk.

7) IP and license (ownership boundaries)

Use case: You want to reuse the platform’s methods, content, or outputs in products or external distribution.

Argument: Aspen Alpine Arc retains all rights in the platform, software, and methods. You retain rights in content you submit. You grant us a limited license to process submitted content solely to operate, secure, and deliver the Services. Platform outputs and deliverables are licensed for your internal use only unless otherwise agreed in writing.

8) Public records / Sunshine materials (FOIA + personal data)

Use case: You submit or store Sunshine/FOIA responses that may contain personal identifiers, exempt attachments, or restricted data.

Argument: You are responsible for lawful collection, redaction decisions, and compliance with any statutory restrictions, exemptions, protective orders, or confidentiality duties. We are not a public-records custodian and do not provide legal advice. Do not submit unnecessary personal data. Unless agreed in writing, you must not submit Social Security numbers, financial account numbers, payment-card data, health/medical data, private credentials, data about minors, sealed/expunged records, or law-enforcement restricted data.

Downstream sharing: You are solely responsible for publication and re-disclosure decisions and for honoring any restrictions that attach to the records or derived outputs.

9) Security, logs, and investigations

Use case: You need clarity on monitoring and what happens during incidents.

Argument: We use access controls and maintain security logs to protect the service. No system is perfectly secure; you accept residual risk. We may investigate suspected misuse and cooperate with lawful requests. We will provide notice of compelled disclosure where legally allowed.

10) Suspension/termination

Use case: Violations, suspected compromise, or changes in verification status.

Argument: Access may be suspended or terminated for security risk, policy violations, or failure to maintain verification. Reinstatement is discretionary and may require re-verification.

11) Governing law / venue

Use case: Dispute about access, fees, confidentiality, or data handling.

Argument: Governing law is Missouri (excluding conflict rules). Exclusive venue is state or federal courts located in St. Louis, and you consent to personal jurisdiction there.

12) Contact

Use case: Legal notices, privacy requests, or security reports.

Argument: Use the contact address listed on this page for notices and coordination. Security reporting procedures are described in the Security Policy.