Scope and acceptable use

What this site is

Sic Semper Errata publishes product information, user guides, and a public evaluation demo of Bellwether, records-request software for New Jersey municipalities. The demo runs a fictional municipality with fictional records. It is not a records-request portal, and nothing done in it is received by, filed with, or binding on any public agency.

Not legal advice

The software and these pages provide records-workflow tooling and general information about the OPRA process. They are not legal advice. Deadlines, exemption decisions, redactions, fees, and releases are the responsibility of the public agency and its records custodian; the software may recommend, but a person decides. Deadlines shown in the demo are computed for illustration from the demo’s calendar and ruleset.

Acceptance

You accept these terms through an affirmative action expressly presented as agreement, such as an unchecked agreement box or an acceptance button accompanied by a conspicuous link. A person accepting for a municipality or other organization must have authority to bind it. Publication of these terms, an unrelated button, or a link elsewhere on a page does not establish acceptance.

Reading this site is not acceptance. The public demo presents an agreement box before it opens a workspace: checking that box and continuing is the accepting act, and the demo records which version was accepted. A municipal deployment is accepted by its own written agreement, which controls where it differs from this page.

Use a feature requiring agreement only if you agree and have legal capacity to do so. Copyright, access restrictions, and applicable law operate according to their own requirements, independently of contractual acceptance.

Acceptable use

You may use the demo to evaluate the software. Do not enter real requesters, real records, or other real personal information. Do not attempt to reach another visitor’s workspace, defeat the rate, size, and session limits, upload malicious files, or otherwise interfere with the service. The demo enforces those limits and may refuse new workspaces when it is at capacity.

Availability

The site and demo are provided as they are, without warranty of availability or fitness for a purpose. Demo workspaces expire after thirty minutes and may be discarded earlier by a restart. Features may change or be withdrawn; releases and amendments are recorded in the docket.

Intellectual property

The content of this site and the Bellwether software are © the Jacobrakai Foundation, a Washington nonprofit corporation (UBI 605 728 469). No license is granted beyond viewing the site and evaluating the demo. The source repositories are private. New Jersey statutes, court rules, and other government works referenced here remain the work of their issuing bodies.

Municipal deployments

Deployment for a municipality is available only under a separate written agreement. Nothing on this site is an offer to contract or a representation that production requirements, including authentication, permissions, approved connectors, backups, and retention controls, are complete.

Warranties

The site, demo, and their content are provided as is, without warranty of any kind, including merchantability, fitness for a purpose, noninfringement, availability, or accuracy. You are responsible for evaluating suitability, maintaining backups, and obtaining appropriate advice. Duties and liabilities that law makes nonwaivable remain in effect.

Release and limits on liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, you release the Jacobrakai Foundation and its current and former directors, officers, employees, volunteers, and contractors (collectively, “Foundation Parties”) from claims arising from your use of the site or demo, except to the extent caused by their willful misconduct. In no event will the Foundation Parties’ aggregate liability for all claims arising from the site or demo exceed one hundred United States dollars (US $100). These limits do not apply to liability that law does not permit to be limited, or to amounts you have separately agreed to pay under a municipal deployment agreement.

Third-party claims

If a third party brings a claim against a Foundation Party arising from your use of the site or demo, your submission of content, or your breach of these terms, you will indemnify and hold the Foundation Party harmless, including reasonable attorneys’ fees, except to the extent the claim arises from the Foundation Party’s willful misconduct or gross negligence.

Binding individual arbitration

Any dispute arising from the site or demo will be resolved by binding, individual arbitration administered by the American Arbitration Association under its Consumer Arbitration Rules, to the extent permitted by law. You and the Foundation waive any right to a jury trial or to participate in a class, collective, or representative proceeding. You may opt out of this arbitration agreement within thirty days after first accepting these terms by emailing [email protected] with the subject “Arbitration Opt-Out” and your name, contact email, approximate acceptance date, and a clear statement that you opt out. A timely opt-out is effective without acknowledgement. If this arbitration agreement is unenforceable, disputes will be resolved in the state or federal courts serving Pierce County, Washington.

Governing law

These terms cover use of this site and the evaluation demo, and are governed by Washington substantive law, where the Jacobrakai Foundation is incorporated. Disputes arising from use of this site are resolved in the state or federal courts serving Pierce County, Washington, subject to the arbitration agreement above where it applies.

A municipal deployment is governed by its own written agreement, not by these terms. That agreement, not this page, settles the law and forum for the deployment.

Continuing provisions and contact

Sections titled Warranties, Release and limits on liability, Third-party claims, Binding individual arbitration, Governing law, and this section continue after termination for covered activities, accrued rights, and continuing obligations. Questions about these terms may be sent to [email protected].