Terms of Service

By using DSCO you agree to these terms. If you don't agree, don't use the app. Two sections deserve your attention before you sign up: Meeting other people, which explains that we don't screen anyone and that meeting strangers carries real risk, and Disputes, which requires most disagreements to go to individual arbitration instead of court and gives up your right to a jury and to class actions. You have 30 days to opt out of arbitration.

The service

DSCO is a location-based social app for discovering people, places, and events nearby. We may change, suspend, or discontinue features at any time. The app is currently in beta; expect rough edges.

Eligibility

You must be at least 18 years old to use DSCO. By creating an account you represent that you are 18 or older. You're responsible for keeping your account secure and for everything that happens under it.

Zero tolerance for abuse and objectionable content

There is zero tolerance for objectionable content and abusive behaviour on DSCO. Content that is illegal, harassing, hateful, sexually explicit, threatening, or that targets or endangers another person will be removed, and the account that posted it will be banned. We aim to act on reports of objectionable content within 24 hours by removing the content and removing the user who posted it.

Your content

You own the photos, videos, messages, pins, notes, and other content you create. We don't claim ownership of any of it.

To run the app we need permission to handle your content. You grant DSCO a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free, transferable, sublicensable licence to host, store, cache, reproduce, modify, adapt, reformat, and create derivative works from your content, and to display, distribute, and transmit it. That covers ordinary things the product does: storing your photo on our servers and caching it on a content network, generating thumbnails, compressing and converting media, and deriving your map avatar and puck sprite from the avatar you chose.

This licence exists solely to operate, provide, and improve DSCO. We do not use your content for advertising. We do not use it to train machine learning or AI models. We do not licence it to anyone outside the service providers listed in our privacy policy.

Because your map avatar depicts you, you also give us permission to use your likeness in that way, and only in that way, within the app.

The licence ends when you delete your content or your account, with three exceptions: copies already shared with other users stay with those users (though when you delete your account, your one-on-one conversations are removed for both people), backups and logs age out on their normal cycle, and aggregated or de-identified data that no longer identifies you is not covered.

Acceptable use

Don't harass people, spam, scrape the service, reverse-engineer it, impersonate anyone, or use DSCO to stalk, threaten, surveil, or track anyone. Don't use it to arrange anything illegal. Don't post content you don't have the rights to. Don't use another person's location against their wishes.

We may suspend or ban accounts that break these rules or our community guidelines. Blocking and reporting tools exist in the app — use them.

Reporting and moderation

Every profile, message, pin, and piece of content has a report control. You can also block any user at any time; blocking is bidirectional and immediate.

We review reports and act on them, and we aim to act on objectionable-content reports within 24 hours. We have the right, but not the obligation, to monitor, review, remove, or edit content, or to investigate any user. Our decisions about content and accounts are ours to make. Nothing here creates a duty to monitor content or to protect any user from another user.

Meeting other people

This is the part that matters most. Read it.

We do not conduct criminal background checks, sex offender registry checks, or identity verification on anyone who uses DSCO. We do not confirm that people are who they say they are. We do not screen users before they appear on your map.

We make no representations about the identity, age, intentions, conduct, honesty, health, or safety of any DSCO user. Anyone can create an account and say anything about themselves. Some people lie.

You are solely responsible for your interactions with other users, online and in person. You assume all risk arising from those interactions, including the risk of personal injury, illness, emotional distress, property damage, and death.

To the fullest extent permitted by law, you release DSCO from any claims, demands, damages, and causes of action of every kind — including for personal injury and death — arising directly or indirectly out of your interactions with, or the conduct of, other DSCO users, whether online or offline.

We are not responsible for the conduct of any user, on or off the service. We do not vouch for anyone. We are not a party to whatever you arrange with another person, and we have no control over what happens when you meet.

Use ordinary judgment. Meet in public. Tell someone where you're going. Don't share your address, financial details, or identifying documents with someone you don't know. If someone makes you uncomfortable, block and report them. If you are in danger, contact your local emergency services — not us.

We may choose to remove a user or investigate a report, and we sometimes will, but reserving that right is not a promise to do it, and doing it once does not create an obligation to do it again or to do it for you.

Location

DSCO is a location app, and location access is required to use it. Your location places you on the map and powers nearby discovery; without it the app doesn't function. You still control your discoverability — everyone, friends only, or hidden — so you decide who, if anyone, can see you. You can revoke location access at any time in iOS Settings, but DSCO won't work again until you grant it.

Understand what sharing your location means: when your discoverability is set to everyone, people you have never met can see approximately where you are. That is the product working as designed. You are responsible for choosing a setting you're comfortable with. See the privacy policy for what we collect and how long we keep it.

Copyright

If you believe content on DSCO infringes your copyright, email jacob@dsco.dev with: your contact details; identification of the work you say is infringed; identification of the content you want removed and where to find it in the app; a statement that you have a good faith belief the use isn't authorised; a statement, under penalty of perjury, that your notice is accurate and that you're the owner or authorised to act for them; and your signature (electronic is fine).

We remove infringing content and terminate the accounts of users who repeatedly infringe. If your content was removed and you think that was a mistake, send a counter-notice to the same address and we'll follow the process in section 512 of the DMCA.

Disclaimers

DSCO is provided "as is" and "as available", without warranties of any kind, express or implied, including any implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title, and non-infringement. We don't warrant that the service will be uninterrupted, secure, accurate, or error-free, that defects will be fixed, or that your location will display correctly. Location data can be wrong, delayed, or missing, and you should not rely on DSCO for anything where accuracy matters.

Some jurisdictions don't allow the exclusion of implied warranties, so some of this may not apply to you.

Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, DSCO will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages, or for lost profits, lost data, loss of use, or loss of goodwill, however caused and on any theory of liability, even if we've been advised of the possibility.

To the fullest extent permitted by law, our total aggregate liability for all claims relating to DSCO will not exceed the greater of (a) one hundred US dollars ($100) or (b) the amount you paid us in the twelve months before the event giving rise to the claim. These limits apply even if a remedy in these terms fails of its essential purpose.

These limits do not apply to fraud, willful injury, gross negligence, or violation of law, and they do not apply where the law does not permit them. Some jurisdictions don't allow these limitations — including California, which does not permit anyone to contract out of liability for their own fraud, willful injury, or violation of law — so some or all of this section may not apply to you.

Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and hold DSCO harmless from any claims, damages, losses, and costs (including reasonable legal fees) arising out of your use of the app, your content, your conduct toward other people, your breach of these terms, or your violation of any law or anyone else's rights. This doesn't apply to claims arising from our own fraud, willful misconduct, or gross negligence.

Disputes

This section affects your legal rights. It requires individual arbitration instead of court for most disputes, and waives your right to a jury trial and to participate in a class action. You can opt out within 30 days and nothing else changes.

Talk to us first

Before starting arbitration or filing in court, email jacob@dsco.dev describing the dispute and what you want. We'll do the same if we have a dispute with you. Both of us agree to spend 60 days trying to work it out in good faith, including a phone or video call if either of us asks for one. This is a required first step, and the clock on any deadline pauses while it runs.

Arbitration

If we can't resolve it in 60 days, you and DSCO agree that any dispute arising out of or relating to DSCO or these terms will be resolved by binding individual arbitration administered by the American Arbitration Association under its Consumer Arbitration Rules, rather than in court. The arbitrator decides the dispute, and judgment on the award can be entered in any court with jurisdiction. The Federal Arbitration Act governs this section.

What arbitration does not cover

• Sexual assault and sexual harassment. If your dispute relates to a sexual assault or sexual harassment claim, you may choose to bring it in court instead of arbitration, and the class action waiver below does not apply to it. That choice is entirely yours, under the federal Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act.
• Small claims. Either of us can bring an individual claim in small claims court instead.
• Emergency relief. Either of us can ask a court for an injunction to stop infringement or misuse of intellectual property.

No class actions

You and DSCO agree to bring claims only individually, and not as a plaintiff or class member in any class, collective, consolidated, or representative action. The arbitrator may not consolidate claims or preside over any class proceeding. This does not apply to disputes you're allowed to take to court under the section above. If this paragraph is found unenforceable for a particular claim, that claim proceeds in court, not in arbitration.

Opting out

You can opt out of arbitration and the class action waiver by emailing jacob@dsco.dev with the subject line "Arbitration opt-out" within 30 days of first accepting these terms. Include your username. That's it — one email, no form, and opting out costs you nothing and changes nothing else about your account. If you opt out, disputes go to the courts named below.

Governing law and venue

These terms are governed by the laws of the State of Utah, without regard to its conflict of laws rules. For any dispute not subject to arbitration, you and DSCO agree to the exclusive jurisdiction of the state and federal courts located in Salt Lake County, Utah. If you're a consumer, this doesn't take away the protection of any mandatory consumer laws of the place you live.

Termination

You can stop using DSCO and delete your account at any time from Settings. We can suspend or terminate your account if you break these terms, if we're required to, or if we discontinue the service. Sections that by their nature should survive termination do survive it, including Your content (as to the exceptions listed there), Meeting other people, Disclaimers, Limitation of liability, Indemnification, and Disputes.

Changes to these terms

We may update these terms. Each version has a version number and date at the top, and we keep the old ones. If we make a material change we'll tell you in the app and ask you to accept the new version before you keep using DSCO. Changes don't apply retroactively to a dispute that already exists.

Severability and the rest

If any part of these terms is unenforceable, that part is limited or removed to the minimum extent necessary and the rest stays in force. Our not enforcing something isn't a waiver of it. You can't assign these terms; we can, in connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets. These terms, the privacy policy, and the community guidelines are the entire agreement between you and DSCO about the app.

Contact

Questions: jacob@dsco.dev