Terms

The service

Handed Down lets families record their stories, keep them together and print them as books. It is free for every family. Support is voluntary and buys nothing extra. Printing is paid.

Your account

• You must be 13 or older to have an account, or 14 or older in Spain.
• You sign in with a link sent to your email, so your email account is the key to your Handed Down account. Keep it secure.
• One account per person. Don't sign in as somebody else, or make an account in somebody else's name.

What you add stays yours

You own what you write, record and upload. You allow us to store it, copy it, transcribe it, lay it out, print it, and show it to the people you and your family choose, only so that we can run Handed Down for you. That permission ends when you delete it, except for:

• books already built or printed, and archives already downloaded, which keep what they held;
• what you shared with relatives that is already in a book they built;
• backups, until they expire (see the privacy page).

We don't claim ownership of your content, sell it, or use it to advertise.

What you may add

• Photographs and recordings you made, own, have permission to use, or that are free to use. Many old family photographs were taken by studios. You can keep them in your archive, but you take responsibility for having the right to print them.
• Recordings of other people only with their agreement. Some places, including California, require everyone being recorded to agree.
• A voice capsule only of your own voice, or of somebody who agrees to it being kept for the reason a capsule exists: so that their voice could one day be reproduced reading the family's stories.

Don't use Handed Down to:

• harass, threaten or shame anyone, or expose private information to harm them;
• write what you know to be false about a living person;
• upload anything illegal. Sexual material involving a minor is reported to the authorities;
• break, overload or get around the service's security, or read what you aren't allowed to read.

Writing about other people

Family stories are mostly about other people. Write about them fairly. People with an account can ask to read a story about them before it is shared, can dispute it, and can take it down, and a refusal lasts after their death. Anyone else can ask us to correct or remove what is written about them (see "Reporting a problem").

A record of someone's death takes effect only when a second family admin agrees or 30 days pass without challenge, and the person can stop it simply by signing in. Recording a death that hasn't happened, to take away someone's veto, is a serious breach of these terms.

Families and books

• The author of a story decides who reads it. A family's owners and admins manage who belongs to it.
• You can name who takes on your family as owner when you die.
• A book is built once, from the material as it stood that day, and a reprint prints the same file again.

Support

• Support is voluntary, renews until you stop it, and buys nothing extra. Prices are on the support page.
• You can stop at any time. Stopping ends future charges. The current period runs to its end and isn't refunded.
• If you live in the EU or the UK, you can cancel within 14 days of starting support for a full refund.
• Nothing is removed or locked when support stops or a payment fails.
• Tax is added where the law requires it.

Printed books

• The price, shipping and any tax are shown before you order. You pay when you order. Lulu prints the book and ships it to the address you give.
• Check the proof before you order. We print what the proof shows, and the spelling, photographs and layout are yours to approve.
• If a book arrives damaged or wrongly printed, tell us within 30 days, with a photograph, and we will reprint it or refund it.
• A book is made to your order, so the EU and UK 14-day right to cancel a purchase doesn't apply to it.
• Delivery times are estimates.

Reporting a problem, and copyright

• To report content that is false, harmful, or yours and used without permission, write to legal@handed-down.org and say where it is and why. We look at every report, and may take content down while we do.
• If you own the copyright in something on Handed Down and didn't allow its use, send legal@handed-down.org your contact details; the work; where it appears; a statement that you believe in good faith the use isn't authorised; a statement, under penalty of perjury, that your notice is accurate and that you own the copyright or act for its owner; and your signature.
• If your content was removed by mistake, you can send a counter-notice to the same address. We close the accounts of people who repeatedly infringe copyright.

When things end

• You can stop using Handed Down at any time. To delete your account, write to privacy@handed-down.org. Download your archive first; it is free.
• We may suspend or close an account that breaks these terms, after a warning unless the problem is serious or illegal. Unless the law prevents it, we will give you the chance to download your archive.
• If Handed Down ever closes, we will give at least 90 days' notice so that every family can download its archive.

Our responsibility

We work to keep Handed Down running and your archive safe, but we provide it as it is, without a promise that it will always be available or free of mistakes. Keep your own copy: the archive download and the printed book exist for that.

As far as the law allows, BWA Tech LLC is not liable for indirect or consequential losses, and our total liability to you for any claim is limited to the greater of what you paid us in the 12 months before the claim and US$100.

As far as the law allows, if someone makes a claim against us because of content you added or a law you broke, you agree to cover our reasonable costs.

Nothing in these terms limits a liability the law doesn't allow to be limited, or takes away rights you have as a consumer where you live.

Law and disputes

Before going to court, write to us: most problems can be sorted out by email.

These terms are governed by the laws of Oregon, USA, and disputes are heard by the state or federal courts in Oregon. You can always use a small-claims court instead. If you live in the EU or the UK, you keep the protection of your own country's consumer law and can bring a claim in your own courts.

Changes

We will email everyone with an account at least 30 days before a change that matters takes effect. If you keep using Handed Down after that, the new terms apply. If you don't accept them, you can leave and take your archive with you.

BWA Tech LLC, Oregon, USA · legal@handed-down.org