Terms of Service

1. Eligibility

You must be at least 13 years of age to use the Service. If you are under 18, you represent that a parent or guardian has reviewed and agreed to these Terms on your behalf.

2. Accounts

Some features require creating an account. You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your credentials and for all activity under your account. You agree to provide accurate information and to notify us promptly of any unauthorized use.

3. Subscription Plans & Billing

OpenGov offers free and paid tiers. Paid subscriptions are billed monthly through Stripe. You may cancel at any time; access continues through the end of your billing period. Refunds are not provided for partial months. We may change pricing with 30 days' notice.

4. AI-Generated Content

The Service uses AI (Anthropic Claude) to generate bill summaries, issue analysis, anomaly detection, and other analytical content. AI-generated content is provided for informational purposes only.

You should independently verify any AI-generated information before relying on it for professional, legal, advocacy, or journalistic purposes. We do not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or timeliness of AI-generated content.

AI queries are not stored after response generation. Usage metadata (timestamps and action types) may be retained for service improvement.

5. Congressional Data

Congressional data (bill text, vote records, member information) is derived from publicly available U.S. government sources including congress.gov and the Government Publishing Office. This underlying data is in the public domain.

Our proprietary contributions — including the presentation, organization, graph database structure, analytical scoring, AI-generated analysis, issue taxonomy, anomaly detection algorithms, and visual design — are protected by copyright and other intellectual property laws.

6. Acceptable Use

You agree not to:

• Scrape, crawl, or extract data at scale without prior written permission
• Attempt to reverse-engineer the underlying database structure, scoring algorithms, or analytical models
• Use automated scripts to submit AI queries at scale without prior written permission
• Circumvent rate limits, authentication, or access controls
• Redistribute, resell, or sublicense Service content or analysis without authorization
• Use the Service for any unlawful purpose or to harass, defame, or harm others
• Misrepresent your identity or affiliation
• Introduce malicious code or interfere with the Service's operation

7. API Access

Access to the OpenGov API is available through paid subscription tiers and is subject to rate limits and usage quotas. API keys are confidential and may not be shared or published. We reserve the right to revoke API access for violations of these Terms or excessive usage that degrades service quality.

8. Intellectual Property

The Service's design, code, graphics, user interface, scoring methodologies, issue taxonomy, graph database schema, analytical algorithms, and AI-generated analysis are owned by OpenGov and protected by applicable intellectual property laws.

You retain ownership of any content you create through the Service (e.g., custom scorecards, watchlists, notes). By creating content, you grant us a limited license to store and display it as necessary to provide the Service.

9. Disclaimer of Warranties

The Service is provided "as is" and "as available" without warranties of any kind, express or implied. We do not warrant that the Service will be uninterrupted, error-free, or that any analysis or AI-generated content will be accurate or complete.

OpenGov is not a law firm, lobbying organization, or government agency. Nothing in the Service constitutes legal, political, or professional advice.

10. Limitation of Liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, our total liability for any claim arising from or related to the Service shall not exceed the greater of (a) the amount you paid us in the 12 months preceding the claim, or (b) $100.

We are not liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, including loss of data, revenue, or business opportunities.

11. Termination

You may delete your account at any time. We may suspend or terminate your access for violation of these Terms or for any reason with reasonable notice. Upon termination, your right to use the Service ceases immediately, though provisions that by their nature should survive (IP rights, limitation of liability, dispute resolution) will continue to apply.

12. Changes to Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. Material changes will be communicated via email or a prominent notice on the Service at least 14 days before taking effect. Continued use after the effective date constitutes acceptance.

13. Governing Law

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Texas, without regard to conflict of law principles.

14. Contact

Questions about these Terms? Contact us at [email protected]