Privacy & Acceptable Use Policy

1. The Service Is an Experimental Proof of Concept

TrustGuard is a personal, experimental project offered as a novelty and proof of concept only. It is not a commercial product, not a security or anti-fraud service, and not a substitute for professional judgment, law-enforcement reporting, or independent verification. The Service may be incomplete, unstable, or unavailable; it may contain defects; and it may be modified, suspended, or discontinued at any time without notice. Nothing about the Service should be relied upon for any decision that has legal, financial, safety, or other significant consequences.

2. The Service Uses AI, Which Can Be Wrong

TrustGuard combines a deterministic rules engine with one or more artificial-intelligence models. AI systems are probabilistic and inherently fallible. They can and do produce output that is inaccurate, outdated, incomplete, biased, misleading, or entirely fabricated (commonly called “hallucinations”). The Service may:

• fail to detect a real scam, fraud, or threat (a “false negative”), giving you a low or reassuring score for content that is in fact dangerous;
• flag legitimate, harmless content as risky (a “false positive”), causing you to distrust something or someone genuine;
• misclassify the type of fraud, misstate facts, or invent explanations and citations;
• produce different results for the same input, or change behavior over time.

You must independently verify anything important through a trusted, separate channel — for example, by contacting the organization or person directly using contact details you obtain yourself. Do not treat any output as authoritative.

3. No Professional Advice; No Guarantee of Safety

The Service does not provide legal, financial, investment, security, medical, or other professional advice, and no output constitutes such advice or creates any professional or fiduciary relationship. A “low risk” result is not an assurance that content is safe, legitimate, or lawful, and a “high risk” result is not a determination that any person or organization has done anything wrong. The Service is a decision-support aid intended to inform your own judgment, never to replace it, and must never be used as the sole basis for any action.

The Service is not for emergencies. If you believe you are in danger or have been the victim of a crime, contact your local emergency services, law enforcement, bank, or a qualified professional.

4. Information We Collect

The information processed by the Service depends on how you use it:

• Content you submit. Messages, emails, text, descriptions of situations, uploaded audio or call recordings, and live microphone audio that you provide for analysis. This content may contain personal or sensitive information that you choose to include; you are responsible for what you submit.
• Account information. If you create an account, we process your name (if provided), email address, a securely hashed password, email-verification status, optional profile image, account role, and approval status.
• Saved cases. When you save an analysis, we store the associated content and results linked to your account. Saved-case content is encrypted at rest; encryption reduces but does not eliminate risk (see Security).
• Session and technical data. To operate and secure the Service, we process session identifiers, your IP address, browser/user-agent and device information, and basic server logs. Anti-abuse and rate-limiting mechanisms record limited request metadata.
• Administrative records. Where account approval is required, we keep an audit record of approval, decline, and revocation actions (including the email addresses and identifiers involved) for security and accountability.

You should not submit content containing other people’s personal, confidential, or sensitive information unless you have the lawful right and any necessary consent to do so.

5. How We Use Information

We use the information described above to:

• provide, operate, maintain, and improve the Service and generate analyses;
• create and manage accounts, authenticate you, and run the approval workflow;
• send transactional messages such as email verification and account-status notices;
• secure the Service, prevent abuse, debug problems, and enforce this Policy; and
• comply with applicable law and respond to lawful requests.

We do not sell your personal information, and we do not use it for advertising or third-party marketing. Our lawful bases (where applicable) include performing the service you request, our legitimate interest in operating and securing the Service, your consent (for example, when you submit content or audio), and compliance with legal obligations.

6. AI Processing and Third-Party Sub-Processors

The deterministic base analysis runs on the server that hosts the Service and the content is not retained for that step. To deliver other features, content and limited metadata may be transmitted to third-party providers that act as our sub-processors, each subject to its own terms and privacy practices, which we do not control:

• AI model providers. When an external AI provider is configured, the content you submit (including text and, for audio features, recordings and transcripts) is sent to that provider for evaluation, audio analysis, and/or real-time transcription. If the operator instead configures a locally hosted model, that content stays on the operator’s infrastructure. The provider in use is configurable and may change.
• Bot-protection provider. Authentication forms may use a third-party CAPTCHA/anti-abuse service, which processes request and device signals to distinguish humans from automated traffic.
• Email delivery provider. Transactional emails (such as verification and approval notices) are delivered through a third-party email service that processes the recipient address and message content.
• Hosting and infrastructure providers. The Service runs on third-party hosting that processes data on our behalf to make the Service available.

By using features that rely on these providers, you acknowledge and consent to this processing. We are not responsible for the acts, omissions, security, or data practices of any third party.

7. Audio, Call Recordings, and Live Monitoring

Some features let you upload recorded audio or stream live microphone audio for analysis and transcription. Recording and analyzing conversations is subject to laws that vary by jurisdiction, including “one-party” and “all-party” (two-party) consent requirements. You are solely responsible for ensuring you have the legal right and all required consents to record, upload, and process any audio you submit, including the consent of every participant where the law requires it. Do not submit audio you are not lawfully entitled to share. We disclaim all liability arising from your recording or submission of audio in violation of any law or any person’s rights.

8. Cookies and Similar Technologies

The Service uses strictly necessary cookies and similar technologies to keep you signed in, maintain your session, and protect against abuse. We do not use advertising or cross-site tracking cookies, and we do not run third-party analytics for behavioral profiling. Bot-protection and other essential third-party features may set their own cookies or local storage as part of their operation. You can block or delete cookies in your browser, but the Service (including sign-in) may not function correctly without them.

9. Data Retention

We retain information for as long as needed to provide the Service and for legitimate operational, security, and legal purposes. Saved cases persist until you or we delete them or your account is removed; account, session, and audit records are retained for the life of the account and a reasonable period afterward. Because the Service is an experimental proof of concept, we make no commitment to retain, back up, or preserve any data, and data may be lost, reset, or deleted at any time without notice.

10. Security

We apply reasonable technical measures, such as transport encryption, hashed passwords, and encryption of saved-case content at rest. However, no method of transmission or storage is completely secure, and we cannot and do not guarantee the security, confidentiality, or integrity of any information. You use the Service, and submit information to it, at your own risk, and you should not submit anything you cannot afford to have lost or exposed.

11. Your Choices and Rights

Depending on your location, you may have rights to access, correct, delete, export, or restrict the processing of your personal information, or to withdraw consent. You can delete saved cases within the Service, and you may request account deletion or exercise other rights by contacting us at support@trustguard.tech. We will make reasonable efforts to honor valid requests as required by applicable law, but, given the experimental nature of the Service, we cannot guarantee any particular outcome or time frame.

12. Children

The Service is not directed to, and is not intended for use by, children. You must be at least 18 years old (or the age of majority in your jurisdiction) to use the Service. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child has provided us information, contact us so we can remove it.

13. International Users and Data Transfers

The Service and its providers may store and process information in countries other than your own, including the United States, where data-protection laws may differ from those in your jurisdiction. By using the Service, you consent to the transfer, storage, and processing of your information in those locations. You are responsible for complying with any local laws that apply to your use of the Service.

14. Eligibility

By using the Service you represent and warrant that you are at least 18 years old, have the legal capacity to enter into this Policy, are not barred from using the Service under any applicable law, and will use the Service only for lawful purposes and in accordance with this Policy. If you use the Service on behalf of an organization, you represent that you are authorized to bind that organization to this Policy.

15. Acceptable Use

The Service is provided for your personal, non-commercial evaluation and informational use. You may use it to assess content you are lawfully entitled to assess, while keeping in mind its experimental nature and limitations described throughout this Policy.

16. Prohibited Conduct

You agree that you will not, and will not attempt to, and will not permit anyone to:

• use the Service for any unlawful, fraudulent, harmful, deceptive, or abusive purpose, or in violation of any applicable law or regulation;
• submit audio, recordings, or other content that you do not have the lawful right and any required consent to provide, or that infringes any intellectual-property, privacy, or other right;
• submit other people’s personal, sensitive, confidential, or special-category data without a lawful basis and authorization to do so;
• rely on the Service, or use its output, to make or support consequential decisions about any person — including decisions related to credit, employment, housing, insurance, education, immigration, law enforcement, or the denial of any right or benefit;
• use the Service or its output to harass, defame, discriminate against, surveil, stalk, threaten, accuse, or harm any person or organization;
• represent the Service’s output as professional advice, as a definitive determination of fraud or safety, or as the product of anyone other than an automated, fallible system;
• reverse engineer, decompile, scrape, harvest, or build a competing or derivative product from the Service, except to the extent this restriction is prohibited by law;
• interfere with, disrupt, overload, or impair the Service or its infrastructure; probe, scan, or test its security without our prior written authorization; or circumvent any authentication, rate limit, access control, or usage restriction;
• transmit malware, conduct injection or prompt-injection attacks, or attempt to access data, accounts, systems, or model behavior you are not authorized to access; or
• use the Service in any way that creates risk or legal exposure for us or for others.

17. Suspension and Termination

We may, at our sole discretion and without notice or liability, suspend, restrict, or terminate your access to the Service; remove or refuse any content; and delete your account or data, for any reason or no reason, including suspected violation of this Policy. The provisions of this Policy that by their nature should survive termination — including the disclaimers, limitations of liability, indemnification, and general terms — will survive.

18. Disclaimer of Warranties (“As Is”)

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, THE SERVICE AND ALL CONTENT AND OUTPUT ARE PROVIDED “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE,” WITH ALL FAULTS AND WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS, IMPLIED, STATUTORY, OR OTHERWISE. WE EXPRESSLY DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, INCLUDING ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT, AND ANY WARRANTIES ARISING FROM COURSE OF DEALING OR USAGE OF TRADE.

WITHOUT LIMITING THE FOREGOING, WE DO NOT WARRANT THAT THE SERVICE WILL BE ACCURATE, RELIABLE, COMPLETE, CURRENT, SECURE, UNINTERRUPTED, ERROR-FREE, OR FREE OF HARMFUL COMPONENTS, OR THAT IT WILL DETECT OR CORRECTLY ASSESS ANY SCAM, FRAUD, THREAT, OR RISK. ANY RELIANCE ON THE SERVICE OR ITS OUTPUT IS SOLELY AT YOUR OWN RISK. Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion of certain warranties, so some of the above exclusions may not apply to you.

19. Assumption of Risk

You acknowledge that the Service is an experimental, AI-based proof of concept that makes mistakes, and that you knowingly and voluntarily assume all risks associated with your use of it and your reliance on any output. You are solely responsible for evaluating, and for any decision or action you take or do not take based on, the Service or its output.

20. Limitation of Liability

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, IN NO EVENT WILL TRUSTGUARD OR ITS OPERATOR, CONTRIBUTORS, OR SUPPLIERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR FOR ANY LOSS OF PROFITS, REVENUE, DATA, GOODWILL, OR OTHER INTANGIBLE LOSSES, OR FOR ANY FINANCIAL LOSS, FRAUD, OR HARM THAT THE SERVICE FAILED TO PREVENT, DETECT, OR CORRECTLY ASSESS, ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THE SERVICE OR THIS POLICY, WHETHER BASED ON WARRANTY, CONTRACT, TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE), STRICT LIABILITY, OR ANY OTHER LEGAL THEORY, AND WHETHER OR NOT WE HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, OUR TOTAL AGGREGATE LIABILITY FOR ALL CLAIMS ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THE SERVICE OR THIS POLICY WILL NOT EXCEED THE GREATER OF (A) THE TOTAL AMOUNT YOU PAID US TO USE THE SERVICE IN THE TWELVE MONTHS BEFORE THE EVENT GIVING RISE TO THE CLAIM (WHICH, FOR A FREE SERVICE, IS ZERO) OR (B) ONE HUNDRED U.S. DOLLARS (US $100). Some jurisdictions do not allow certain limitations of liability, so some of the above may not apply to you; in that case our liability is limited to the smallest amount permitted by law.

21. Indemnification

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, you agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless TrustGuard and its operator, contributors, and suppliers from and against any and all claims, liabilities, damages, losses, and expenses (including reasonable legal fees) arising out of or related to your use or misuse of the Service, your content or audio submissions, your violation of this Policy or any law, or your violation of any right of any third party.

22. Availability and Changes to the Service

The Service is provided without any commitment to availability, support, maintenance, updates, or continuity. We may add, change, suspend, limit, or discontinue the Service or any feature, and may impose limits or restrict access, at any time and for any reason, without notice or liability to you.

23. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Policy from time to time. When we do, we will revise the “Last updated” date above. Changes are effective when posted. Your continued use of the Service after a change takes effect constitutes your acceptance of the revised Policy. If you do not agree to a change, stop using the Service.

24. Governing Law and Disputes

This Policy and any dispute arising out of or relating to it or the Service are governed by the laws of the United States and, as applicable, the state in which the operator resides (the specific state and exclusive venue to be designated by the operator), without regard to conflict-of-laws principles and excluding the U.N. Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods. You agree to first attempt to resolve any dispute informally by contacting us. To the extent permitted by law, you and we waive any right to a jury trial and agree that any dispute will be brought only in an individual capacity and not as a plaintiff or class member in any class or representative proceeding. Any claim must be brought within one (1) year after it arises, or it is permanently barred.

25. General Terms

This Policy is the entire agreement between you and us regarding the Service and supersedes any prior understanding on its subject matter. If any provision is held unenforceable, it will be modified to the minimum extent necessary or severed, and the remaining provisions will stay in full force. Our failure to enforce any provision is not a waiver. You may not assign or transfer this Policy; we may assign it freely. Headings are for convenience only. The Service is not directed to any person in any jurisdiction where its availability or use would be contrary to law.

26. Contact

Questions about this Policy, privacy requests, or reports of abuse can be sent to support@trustguard.tech. Because the Service is a non-commercial proof of concept, we cannot guarantee a response or any particular level of support.

See also our About page for how TrustGuard works and its intended, limited role.