Terms of Service

Effective Date: September 19, 2026 | Version 1.1

1. Acceptance of Terms

By accessing or using the TownSphere website (townsphere.org) or mobile applications, you agree to be bound by these Terms of Service and our Privacy Policy. If you do not agree, you may not access or use our services.

2. Eligibility & Age Requirement

You must be at least 16 years of age (or the legal age of majority in your jurisdiction) to use TownSphere. By registering or casting votes, you represent and warrant that you meet this age requirement.

3. Voting Integrity & Fair Conduct

TownSphere is dedicated to capturing authentic, tamper-proof public sentiment. To maintain platform integrity, you agree NOT to:

• Use automated scripts, bots, spiders, or headless browsers to register accounts, cast votes, or scrape data.
• Attempt to bypass voting cooldown timers or manipulate tally aggregations.
• Create multiple accounts to manipulate or artificially inflate vote counts on any poll.
• Engage in denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, brute-force requests, or any action that disrupts server infrastructure.

4. Opinion Changes & Cooldown Timers

TownSphere allows users to evolve their opinions as new real-world information surfaces. To prevent volatile ballot manipulation, opinion changes are subject to configurable cooldown periods (typically 60 minutes) enforced by our backend API.

5. User Accounts, Security & Voting Dissociation

You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your authentication credentials. TownSphere utilizes passwordless One-Time Passcodes (OTP) and OAuth providers. Notify us immediately at townsphere.org@gmail.com if you suspect unauthorized access to your account.

Strict Voting Dissociation: We collect and store your account login data (email address or OAuth identifier) strictly to authenticate you and maintain your active session. However, your voting activity, poll choices, and opinion shifts are absolutely dissociated and mathematically decoupled from your login credentials. We derive an anonymous, one-way cryptographic voter token (HMAC-SHA256) with zero foreign keys or relational database links. TownSphere cannot associate, inspect, or link your voting history with your personal login identity.

6. Account Termination & Deletion

You may terminate your account and delete your session and profile at any time directly through the in-app Settings menu or by contacting townsphere.org@gmail.com. TownSphere reserves the right to suspend or terminate accounts that violate platform integrity or engagement rules.

7. Intellectual Property & Wordmark Notice

The "TownSphere" name is claimed as a proprietary wordmark for our application and public opinion platform. The original software codebase, user interfaces, documentation, visual design systems, and sentiment aggregation algorithms are protected by copyright and intellectual property laws. Factual news summaries and headlines curated on the platform reference public events and reporting under fair-use commentary principles; all third-party trademarks and publisher brand names remain the property of their respective owners.

8. Disclaimer of Warranties

TownSphere services are provided on an "AS IS" and "AS AVAILABLE" basis. While we employ rigorous aggregation algorithms, we do not warrant that opinion poll tallies are representative of complete demographic populations or free from sample variance.

9. Limitation of Liability

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, TownSphere shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages resulting from your use of the platform.

10. Contact Information

For inquiries regarding these Terms of Service, please contact:

TownSphere Legal & Compliance
Email: townsphere.org@gmail.com
Website: https://townsphere.org