Terms of Use

1. Agreement to Terms

By accessing or using Photosgraph ("the Service"), operated by Photosgraph PBC ("we," "us," or "our"), you agree to be bound by these Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy. Together, these documents form the complete agreement between you and Photosgraph PBC regarding your use of the Service. If you do not agree, do not use the Service.

2. Eligibility

You must be at least 16 years of age to use the Service. When you create an account you must affirm this explicitly, and we record that affirmation together with the date and the exact wording you were shown. We do not verify age by any other means.

If you are between 16 and 18 years of age, you represent that your parent or legal guardian has reviewed these Terms and consents to your use of the Service. We reserve the right to require verification of parental consent.

Users under 16 are strictly prohibited from creating accounts. If we learn that a user is under 16, we will terminate their account and delete their data promptly.

Photos of minors in group albums. Photos may depict minors (individuals currently under 16) within private group albums, provided the uploader reasonably believes that the parents or guardians of the depicted minors would expect the photos to be shared among the group's members. For example, a family reunion album, church event album, or school event album may include photos in which children appear.

Restrictions on photos depicting minors:

• Minors cannot be tagged, and no identity record is created for any minor on Photosgraph. Marking a minor in a photo stores the word "Minor" and nothing else — no name, no email address, no invitation. Any name entered is discarded before the record is written.
• A photo with a minor marked in it can never be made public, and no member's approval can change that. It stays inside the albums it was shared in.
• The marker carries no linkage between photos, albums or sessions. Two markers in two photos have nothing connecting them.
• Any album member who can tag may remove the marker or the photo. Because the marker holds no identity, Photosgraph cannot locate photos of a particular child on request; a parent will need to identify the album or photo.
• At least one parent or guardian of any depicted minor should be a member of the album, so they can see and manage photos their child appears in.
• Photosgraph does not collect any personal information from minors. All uploads are performed by account-holding members.

For clarity: a photo taken when a person was under 16 may be uploaded and tagged normally if that person is currently 16 or older.

3. Accounts

You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your account credentials and for all activity that occurs under your account. You must notify us promptly of any unauthorized access.

When creating your account, you must provide accurate information, including a display name that includes your real name. Impersonation of another person is prohibited.

We reserve the right to suspend or terminate accounts that violate these Terms, are fraudulent, or are inactive for an extended period, with reasonable notice where practicable.

4. How Photosgraph Works

Photosgraph is a consent-based photo sharing platform organized around albums.

Albums are private. A user creates one for a specific group or event — a family reunion, a class trip — and invites the people who were there. Every photo uploaded to an album is immediately visible to the members of that album, whether or not anyone has been tagged yet, and to no one else. When someone is tagged in an album photo, they are invited to join that album; they choose whether to accept, and are not added unless they do. Any member who appears in a photo can remove that photo from the album at any time.

There is no public layer. No photo is displayed outside the album it was shared in, to non-logged-in visitors, or to search engines. A user may also create a private album visible only to themselves.

Profiles are private. Your profile page is visible only to you. Your name and profile photo appear to the other members of albums you share — in member lists and on the photos you are tagged in — because recognising each other is what an album is for. There is no people directory, and you cannot be searched for by name unless you choose to be findable for family purposes.

The core workflow is:

1. A user creates or joins an album.
2. The user uploads photos to it. Photos are immediately visible to the album's members.
3. Members tag or name recognizable people in the photos. A tagged person is notified and invited to join the album; they are not added unless they accept. Non-members who are named receive an invitation to join. Tagging can happen at any time — it is not required before the photo is visible in the album.
Album organizers may invite anyone related to the album at any time — they do not need to tag a person first. Other album members may invite people they have tagged in photos.
4. The photo stays inside that album. It is not displayed anywhere else.
5. Any member who appears in a photo may remove it from the album, or revoke their tag entirely, which removes the photo from every album across the platform.

Photosgraph does not make publication decisions, and does not publish anything. The visibility of a photo is determined by which album it is in and who is a member of that album.

4a. Uploader Responsibilities & Community Commitments

When you create your account, you agree to Photosgraph's Community Commitments, which govern everything you do on the platform. These include a photo certification (you will only upload photos you took or have permission to share, your photos will not violate anyone's privacy, will not be AI-generated, and photos of minors may only appear in group albums where parents would reasonably expect them to be shared), an album organizer certification (your albums will describe real groups or events and you will only invite people who genuinely belong), and a community conduct commitment (you will treat other members with respect and will not use Photosgraph to harass, stalk, or monitor anyone).

These commitments are agreed to once, by accepting these Terms when you create your account, and they apply to all activity on the platform. Reminders appear when you upload photos and create albums, but you are not asked to re-certify each time.

Any member of an album may tag or name people in its photos, subject to the same accuracy and completeness requirements, and subject to the tagging preference of the person being tagged.

By using the Service, you represent and warrant that:

— Every reasonably identifiable person depicted in photos you upload is either (a) tagged using the Photosgraph tagging system, (b) identified as a named non-member, or (c) not reasonably identifiable in the image. Tagging may happen at any time after upload — it is not required before a photo is visible in a group album — but all identifiable people should be tagged or named promptly.
— You have no reason to believe that any identifiable person depicted would object to the photo being shared in the context of the album.
— You will only share photos within groups where the people depicted — or in the case of minors, their parents or guardians — would reasonably expect the photos to be shared among the group's members.
— The photo was captured by a camera or scanning device and is not AI-generated, AI-composited, or synthetically created. Minor adjustments such as cropping, red-eye correction, exposure adjustment, and color correction are permitted. AI-assisted restoration of damaged photos is permitted, provided it does not alter who or what is depicted.
— You believe in good faith that sharing the photo does not violate anyone's rights.
— The photo does not contain content that violates Section 7 (Prohibited Content) of these Terms.

Many photos shared on Photosgraph may be historical or personal in nature, and the original photographer may be unknown. Uploaders are not required to be the copyright holder, but must believe in good faith that sharing the photo does not infringe any third party's rights. Photosgraph complies with the DMCA and will respond to valid takedown requests.

4b. What "Reasonably Identifiable" Means

A person is "reasonably identifiable" if an ordinary viewer could identify them from the photo, whether by their face, distinctive clothing, name tag, physical characteristics, context, or any combination of these factors. When in doubt, tag, name, or obscure.

4c. Photo Storage & Visibility

When you upload a photo, it goes to your personal "Unsorted Photos" area (visible only to you) unless you upload it directly into an album. From there you can add photos to any album you belong to. Photos in an album are visible to that album's members immediately upon upload.

Photos are never displayed outside the album they are in. There is no mechanism by which a photo becomes publicly visible.

Photos filed by other members. Any member of an album may add a photo from it into another album they also belong to. They may not add a photo to an album they are not a member of, and filing a photo never makes it visible to anyone who could not already see the album it is added to.

Filing does not transfer authorship. The record of who uploaded a photo does not change, and a photo is never attributed to the member who filed it. Where the uploader and the filer differ, both are identified: the uploader as the credit, and the filing member alongside. An uploader's profile picture is shown only within albums they belong to; their name is shown in all cases.

If a member files your photo into an album you do not belong to, you are notified. Permission is not sought in advance. Every right in Section 4d remains available to you, including removing the photo from that album and revoking it across the platform.

4d. Album Membership & Revocation

In an album, photos are visible to all members without individual approval. Being a member of the album is the consent. Any member who appears in a photo may:

— Remove the photo from the album at any time
— Leave the album, which removes all photos of them from it
— Revoke entirely, which removes the photo from every album across the platform

None of these actions requires the agreement of the uploader or any other member. The person in the photo has more authority over it than the person who took it.

Revocation is the strongest of the three. Any tagged person may revoke at any time, for any reason, with no obligation to explain. Revocation removes the photo from every album and cannot be undone. The photo remains in the uploader's account in an unshared state and cannot be re-shared to any album.

4e. Metadata

Tagged users may contribute metadata to approved photos, including dates, places, and annotations. By contributing metadata, you represent that the information is accurate to the best of your knowledge. Metadata contributors may edit or remove their own contributions at any time.

4e-2. Tagging Preference

Each member chooses who may tag them. People who are in an album with you may always tag you in that album's photos; this is not optional and is what being in an album means. Beyond that, you may allow people you share an album with to tag you in their other albums (the default), restrict tagging to albums you are both in, or allow any member to tag you. The preference is enforced when a tag is created, not merely hidden in the interface. Whatever you choose, every tag remains yours to remove.

4e-3. Family Relationships

A member may record how they are related to another member. This is a one-sided label: the other person is notified and may remove it at any time, and once removed it cannot be reinstated by the person who created it. Recording a relationship does not give either person access to the other's photos. Members who are related to each other through recorded family links can see one another in a family tree; this follows from the relationships themselves and is not a setting. Beyond that, each member separately controls how far their family links carry — whether people with no such relationship may see their family tree, and whether they may be found by name — and the narrower setting is the default.

Who may record a relationship with you. By default, members you share an active album with, and members already in your family. You may widen this to any member. You can always record your own relationships whatever you have chosen, and any relationship recorded about you remains yours to remove. This choice is enforced when a relationship is created, not merely hidden in the interface.

4f. Untagged Persons

If you appear in a photo on Photosgraph and were not tagged, you may contact us to request tagging (so that you can exercise approval/revocation rights) or removal of the photo. We will acknowledge such requests within 48 hours and resolve them within 10 business days. Where the request concerns a photo of you, we will remove it from the album within 48 hours pending resolution.

4g. Deceased Persons

Photosgraph's consent model rests on each depicted person deciding for themselves. Someone who has died cannot, so a named person stands in for them. That person is called their steward.

Recording someone who has died: When naming a non-member who has died, you must mark them as such and confirm, in good faith, that you believe they or their family would not object to the photo being shared. If nobody has recorded that person before, you become their steward. If a record already exists, your tag is added to it and its existing steward continues in that role.

What a steward decides: A steward holds, for that person, the same choices a living member holds for themselves:

— Their name, their date of death, and the picture shown for them.
— Who may tag them: only within albums they already appear in; anyone who shares an album they appear in (the default); or any member.
— Whether their family tree may be explored by people connected to them through family links.
— Who may record family relationships involving them.

A steward may remove them from any individual photo, or delete their record entirely — which removes their tags, their entries in photos, and their family links. These choices are enforced when a tag or a family link is created, not merely hidden in the interface.

One steward, and how it is assigned: Each recorded person has exactly one steward: whoever recorded them first. Stewardship is not currently transferable between members, and the Service does not presently verify a steward's relationship to the person they look after. If you believe the wrong person holds this role, contact privacy@photosgraph.com.

Tags of a deceased person: Because there is nobody to give approval, a tag naming a deceased person takes effect when it is created rather than waiting. It remains removable by their steward at any time, and by the routes in "Family rights" below.

Members who die: Photosgraph does not currently offer legacy contacts or account memorialization. If a member dies, their account and its settings remain as they left them until a family member or representative contacts us under "Family rights" below. We may introduce a legacy contact facility in future; if we do, we will describe it here before it takes effect.

Family rights: Any person with a legitimate familial relationship to a deceased person depicted on Photosgraph may request review, changes to, or removal of photos depicting their family member, or a change of steward, by contacting privacy@photosgraph.com. Photosgraph reserves the right to request documentation of the familial relationship before acting on such requests. This route does not depend on holding an account, and it overrides a steward's choices.

Our reservations: Photosgraph reserves the right to restrict changes to photos and records of deceased persons to verified family members, and to reassign or revoke stewardship where it is being misused.

4h. AI-Generated and Synthetic Content

Photosgraph prohibits the upload of AI-generated, AI-composited, or synthetically created images. Photos must depict real moments captured by a physical camera or digitized from physical prints or negatives.

Permitted: Minor adjustments such as cropping, red-eye correction, exposure adjustment, and color correction. AI-assisted restoration of damaged photos — such as filling scratches, repairing water damage, or correcting fading — is permitted provided the restoration does not alter who or what is depicted.

Prohibited: AI-based enhancement, face swapping, scene generation, deepfake creation, or any manipulation that alters the identity of depicted persons or fabricates scenes that did not occur.

Violation may result in removal of content and suspension or termination of the uploading account. Users may report suspected AI-generated content through the flag mechanism on any photo page or through our standalone reporting page.

5. Your Content

You retain full ownership of any photos and content you upload to photosgraph. We claim no ownership interest in your content.

By uploading content, you grant Photosgraph PBC a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable license to store, process, and display the content solely as necessary to operate the Service — specifically:

— To store photos and display them to the members of the album they are in
— To generate thumbnails and optimized versions for display purposes
— To maintain backups for a reasonable period for data integrity purposes

Scope of display. This licence extends to display within any album the photo is placed in under Section 4c, including an album it is added to by another member. It does not extend to display outside those albums, to members of albums the photo is not in, or to any purpose beyond operating the Service.

This license terminates when:

— You delete the content, or
— All tags are revoked, causing the content to be removed from every album, or
— Your account is deleted

Upon license termination, we will delete the content from our active systems within 30 days. Backup copies will be purged within 90 days.

Attribution. The record of who uploaded a photo is permanent. It is not editable by any member, and no action taken by another member — including adding your photo to an album of theirs under Section 4c — alters that record or causes the photo to be credited to them. Where the Service displays who filed a photo into a particular album, it does so in addition to the uploader's credit, never in place of it.

We will never use your content to train machine learning models, sell to third parties, or for any purpose beyond operating the Service as described here.

6. Prohibited Conduct

You agree not to:

— Upload content you do not believe in good faith you have the right to share
— Deliberately fail to tag or name identifiable people in photos
— Tag someone incorrectly or maliciously (e.g., tagging the wrong person to harass them)
— Circumvent the approval mechanism by any means
— Create fake accounts or impersonate others
— Use the Service to stalk, harass, or intimidate any person
— Use automated tools to scrape, download, or bulk-access content or user data
— Attempt to re-identify or de-anonymize any person in photos
— Interfere with the security or operation of the Service
— Use the Service for any illegal purpose

7. Prohibited Content

You may not upload, share, or transmit content that:

— Depicts minors in any context outside a private album whose members would be expected to see it
— Is AI-generated, AI-composited, synthetically created, or materially AI-altered (see Section 4h for permitted adjustments)
— Contains nudity or sexually explicit material
— Contains any sexual content depicting minors (which we will report to NCMEC and law enforcement)
— Threatens, harasses, or intimidates any person
— Contains hate speech targeting any individual or group based on race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability, or national origin
— Infringes on any third party's intellectual property rights
— Contains malware or malicious code
— Was taken in a setting where subjects had a reasonable expectation of privacy and did not consent to being photographed (e.g., private medical settings, restrooms, locker rooms)
— Depicts a person in a state of undress, intoxication, or distress where sharing could reasonably cause humiliation or harm, regardless of where the photo was taken
— Violates any applicable law

We reserve the right to remove content that violates these terms and to suspend or terminate accounts of repeat violators. We are not obligated to monitor content proactively, but we will act on reports.

8. Reporting and Enforcement

Any person — whether or not they have a Photosgraph account — may report content they believe violates these Terms, applicable law, or their personal rights. Reports may be submitted through the flag mechanism on any photo page or through our standalone reporting page. Reports may also be submitted by emailing privacy@photosgraph.com.

Reportable concerns include:

— "I am identifiable in a photo and was not tagged or asked for consent"
— "This photo depicts a minor outside a private group album"
— "This photo was taken without the subject's knowledge in a private setting"
— "This photo appears to be AI-generated or AI-manipulated"
— "I am a family member of a deceased person depicted in this photo and I want to request changes or removal"
— "This photo violates the prohibited content policy"
— "I previously approved a tag but want to revoke approval"
— "This photo is in an album where it does not belong"

Photos reported as depicting minors or depicting individuals without consent are removed from the album immediately pending review. Photosgraph will respond to all reports within 48 hours and resolve them within 10 business days. For reports involving minors or non-consensual intimate imagery, we will act within 24 hours.

If a report is substantiated, the photo will be removed and the uploader will be notified. Abuse of the reporting system to harass other members or fraudulently remove content may result in account suspension.

9. DMCA and Intellectual Property

The Photosgraph name, logo, design, and underlying software are owned by Photosgraph PBC. You may not copy, modify, or distribute any part of the Service without our written permission.

We respect intellectual property rights. If you believe content on Photosgraph infringes your copyright, you may submit a takedown notice under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act to:

DMCA Agent
Photosgraph PBC
155 Woodland Avenue, Lexington, KY 40502
dmca@photosgraph.com

Your notice must include:

1. Identification of the copyrighted work
2. Identification of the infringing material and its location on the Service
3. Your contact information
4. A statement of good faith belief that use is not authorized
5. A statement under penalty of perjury that the information is accurate and you are the rights holder or authorized to act on their behalf
6. Your physical or electronic signature

We will respond to valid DMCA notices within 10 business days. We will notify the uploader, who may file a counter-notice. Repeat infringers will have their accounts terminated.

10. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless Photosgraph PBC and its officers, directors, employees, and agents from any claims, damages, losses, or expenses (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising from:

— Your violation of these Terms
— Content you upload or metadata you contribute
— Your violation of any law or the rights of any third party
— Your misrepresentation regarding the identifiability, consent, or age of individuals depicted in photos you upload

11. Disclaimer of Warranties

The Service is provided "as is" and "as available" without warranties of any kind, whether express or implied, including but not limited to implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, or non-infringement.

We do not warrant that:

— The Service will be uninterrupted, error-free, or secure
— Any content on the Service is accurate or reliable
— The approval mechanism will prevent all unauthorized disclosure (though we design it to do so)

12. Limitation of Liability

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, Photosgraph PBC and its officers, directors, employees, and agents shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, or any loss of data, revenue, or profits, arising from:

— Your use of or inability to use the Service
— Any unauthorized access to your account or data
— Any content uploaded by third parties
— Any action taken by us under these Terms, including account suspension or content removal

Our total aggregate liability for any claims arising from these Terms or the Service shall not exceed the greater of (a) the amount you paid us in the 12 months preceding the claim, or (b) $100 USD.

Nothing in this section limits liability for fraud, gross negligence, willful misconduct, or any liability that cannot be excluded by law.

13. Termination

We may suspend or terminate your account at our discretion if you violate these Terms, with or without notice depending on severity. You may delete your account at any time.

Upon account deletion: your profile will be removed, all photos you uploaded will be deleted, all your tags will be revoked (removing you from the photos you appear in), and albums you organized will be transferred to the next member. Personal data will be deleted within 30 days. Backup copies will be purged within 90 days.

14. Changes to Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. For material changes, we will notify users via email at least 30 days before the changes take effect. For non-material changes, we will post updated Terms on the Service with a revised "Effective date."

Continued use of the Service after the effective date of updated Terms constitutes acceptance. If you do not agree to the updated Terms, you may delete your account before they take effect.

15. Governing Law & Dispute Resolution

These Terms are governed by the laws of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, United States, without regard to its conflict of law principles.

Any disputes arising from these Terms or your use of the Service shall be resolved in the state or federal courts located in Kentucky. You consent to the personal jurisdiction of those courts.

Notwithstanding the foregoing, nothing in this section limits the rights of users located in the European Economic Area, United Kingdom, or California to bring claims under mandatory local consumer protection or data protection laws in their local jurisdiction.

16. Contact

Questions about these Terms may be directed to:

Photosgraph PBC
155 Woodland Avenue, Lexington, KY 40502
legal@photosgraph.com

For privacy-related inquiries or takedown requests: privacy@photosgraph.com

17. Platform Role

Photosgraph provides tools for users to upload, organize, and share photos privately. We do not create, select, endorse, curate or publish user-uploaded content. Photos are visible only to the members of the album into which a user placed them.

We reserve the right to moderate, remove, or restrict any content at our sole discretion, and the exercise of that right does not make us the publisher or speaker of any user content.