Acceptable Use Policy

1. Purpose and Scope

This Acceptable Use Policy ("AUP") governs your use of Harbor SEO ("Harbor," "the Service," "our platform"). This policy is designed to protect Harbor, our users, and the broader internet community from unethical, irresponsible, and illegal activities.

By using Harbor, you agree to comply with this AUP. Violation of this policy may result in temporary or permanent suspension of your account, deletion of your content, and termination of services without refund.

This AUP supplements our Terms of Service and should be read in conjunction with it. If there is any conflict between this AUP and the Terms of Service, the Terms of Service shall prevail.

2. General Principles

When using Harbor, you must:

• Comply with all applicable local, state, national, and international laws and regulations
• Respect the rights and dignity of others
• Use the Service only for lawful purposes
• Not interfere with or disrupt the Service or servers or networks connected to the Service
• Not impersonate any person or entity or falsely state or misrepresent your affiliation with a person or entity
• Take responsibility for all content generated under your account
• Use computational resources responsibly and not abuse rate limits
• Respect intellectual property rights of others

3. Prohibited Content

You may not use Harbor to create, store, distribute, or promote content that:

3.1 Illegal Content

• Violates any applicable law or regulation
• Promotes or facilitates illegal activities
• Infringes on intellectual property rights (copyright, trademark, trade secret, etc.)
• Violates privacy rights or data protection laws
• Contains stolen credentials, personal information, or confidential data

3.2 Harmful Content

• Contains or promotes child sexual abuse material (CSAM)
• Promotes or incites violence, terrorism, or extremist content
• Contains malware, viruses, ransomware, or other malicious code
• Promotes self-harm, suicide, or eating disorders
• Exploits or harms minors in any way
• Depicts or promotes animal cruelty

3.3 Fraudulent or Deceptive Content

• Phishing, scamming, or fraudulent schemes
• Pyramid schemes or multi-level marketing scams
• Misleading or false information designed to deceive
• Fake news or deliberately misleading content
• Impersonation of individuals, organizations, or brands
• Academic dishonesty or plagiarism

3.4 Abusive Content

• Harassment, bullying, or threatening behavior
• Hate speech or content that promotes discrimination based on race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability, or age
• Doxxing or sharing of private information without consent
• Spam or unsolicited commercial messages
• Sexually explicit or pornographic content (except where explicitly permitted)

3.5 Manipulative Content

• Content designed to manipulate search engine rankings through black-hat SEO techniques
• Deceptive advertising or clickbait
• Artificially generated engagement or fake reviews
• Coordinated inauthentic behavior
• Content farms or low-quality content generated solely for ad revenue

4. Prohibited Activities

4.1 System Abuse

You may not:

• Attempt to gain unauthorized access to Harbor's systems, other users' accounts, or computer systems
• Probe, scan, or test the vulnerability of the Service or any network connected to it
• Breach or circumvent any security or authentication measures
• Access or search the Service by any means other than our publicly supported interfaces
• Scrape or crawl the Service using automated means without permission
• Forge headers, manipulate identifiers, or otherwise disguise the origin of content
• Interfere with or disrupt the Service, servers, or networks
• Introduce viruses, trojans, worms, logic bombs, or other malicious code

4.2 Resource Abuse

You may not:

• Exceed rate limits or usage quotas for your subscription tier
• Use excessive bandwidth or computational resources that negatively impact other users
• Run benchmarks or load tests without prior written approval
• Use the Service for cryptocurrency mining or similar resource-intensive operations
• Create multiple accounts to circumvent usage limits (except as permitted for team/organization use)
• Share account credentials or API keys with unauthorized parties

4.3 Commercial Misuse

You may not:

• Resell, sublicense, or redistribute the Service without explicit written permission
• Use a single account to provide services to multiple clients (use team/organization accounts instead)
• Use the Service to compete directly with Harbor
• Reverse engineer, decompile, or disassemble the Service
• Create derivative products that replicate Harbor's core functionality

4.4 AI-Specific Misuse

You may not:

• Attempt to extract or reverse-engineer the AI models used by Harbor
• Use outputs to train competing AI models without proper licensing
• Generate content that deliberately misleads readers about its AI-generated nature when transparency is legally or ethically required
• Use the Service to generate content at scale for spam or manipulation purposes
• Attempt to jailbreak or manipulate the AI to produce prohibited content

5. API Usage Guidelines

If you use Harbor's API, you must additionally comply with these guidelines:

5.1 Rate Limits and Quotas

• Respect all rate limits specified for your subscription tier
• Implement appropriate retry logic with exponential backoff
• Cache responses when appropriate to reduce unnecessary API calls
• Monitor your usage to stay within allocated quotas

5.2 API Keys and Security

• Keep your API keys secure and confidential
• Never share API keys in public repositories, client-side code, or insecure channels
• Rotate API keys regularly and immediately if compromised
• Use environment variables or secure key management systems
• Report suspected security vulnerabilities responsibly

5.3 Attribution and Transparency

• Properly attribute AI-generated content where required by law or ethical standards
• Do not misrepresent AI-generated content as human-written when transparency is important
• Comply with all disclosure requirements in your jurisdiction

6. Fair Use and Resource Allocation

6.1 Subscription Limits

Each subscription tier includes specific limits on:

• Number of articles generated per month
• API request rates and quotas
• Storage capacity for generated content
• Number of concurrent operations

Consistently exceeding your plan's limits may result in throttling, additional charges, or a requirement to upgrade to a higher tier.

6.2 Reasonable Use

Even within your subscription limits, you must use resources reasonably:

• Do not generate excessive amounts of low-quality content
• Avoid unnecessary or redundant API calls
• Use batch operations efficiently
• Clean up unused or outdated content periodically

7. Content Ownership and Responsibility

7.1 User Responsibility

You are solely responsible for:

• All content generated using your account
• Reviewing and editing AI-generated content before publication
• Ensuring content accuracy and appropriateness
• Verifying that content does not infringe on third-party rights
• Complying with all applicable laws regarding content publication
• Properly attributing sources and respecting copyright

7.2 Content Ownership

You retain ownership of content generated using Harbor. However:

• You grant Harbor a license to process and store your content as necessary to provide the Service
• Harbor may use aggregated, anonymized usage data to improve the Service
• You are responsible for maintaining backups of important content
• Harbor may delete content that violates this AUP without notice

8. Reporting Violations

If you become aware of any violation of this AUP, please report it to us immediately at:

Email: hamish@harborseo.ai
Subject: AUP Violation Report

When reporting violations, please include:

• Detailed description of the violation
• URLs or identifiers of violating content
• Date and time of the violation
• Any relevant screenshots or evidence
• Your contact information for follow-up

We take all reports seriously and will investigate promptly. We may request additional information during our investigation.

8.1 Copyright Infringement

To report copyright infringement, please send a DMCA notice to:

Email: hamish@harborseo.ai
Subject: DMCA Takedown Notice

Your notice should include all information required by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).

9. Enforcement and Consequences

9.1 Investigation

Harbor reserves the right to investigate suspected violations of this AUP. During investigations, we may:

• Review account activity and generated content
• Contact you for clarification or additional information
• Temporarily suspend access to prevent ongoing harm
• Cooperate with law enforcement as required by law

9.2 Penalties for Violations

Violations of this AUP may result in any or all of the following actions:

• Warning: First-time or minor violations may receive a written warning
• Content Removal: Deletion of violating content without notice
• Temporary Suspension: Temporary restriction of account access (7-30 days)
• Rate Limiting: Throttling of API access or feature usage
• Account Termination: Permanent closure of your account without refund
• Legal Action: Pursuit of civil or criminal penalties where appropriate
• Reporting to Authorities: Notification of law enforcement for illegal activities

The severity of the penalty depends on:

• Nature and severity of the violation
• Whether the violation was intentional or negligent
• History of prior violations
• Harm caused to Harbor, other users, or third parties
• Your cooperation during the investigation

9.3 Appeals

If you believe enforcement action was taken in error, you may appeal by contacting hamish@harborseo.ai within 14 days of the action. Include:

• Your account information
• Description of the enforcement action
• Explanation of why you believe the action was in error
• Any supporting evidence

We will review your appeal and respond within 7 business days. Our decision on appeals is final.

10. Specific Use Cases

10.1 Educational Use

Educational institutions and students may use Harbor for legitimate educational purposes, but must:

• Comply with their institution's academic integrity policies
• Not use the Service to complete assignments that require original work
• Properly cite AI-generated content when permitted
• Use the Service as a research and learning tool, not as a replacement for learning

10.2 Commercial Publishing

Publishers and content creators using Harbor must:

• Review and edit all AI-generated content before publication
• Ensure content accuracy and quality
• Comply with advertising and disclosure regulations
• Not engage in deceptive practices or misinformation
• Respect copyright and fair use principles

10.3 Agency and White-Label Use

Agencies using Harbor on behalf of clients must:

• Use appropriate team/organization accounts (not individual accounts for client work)
• Have proper authorization from clients
• Maintain confidentiality of client information
• Not claim Harbor's technology as their own
• Obtain proper licensing for white-label use

11. Changes to This Policy

Harbor may modify this AUP at any time. When we make changes:

• We will update the "Last updated" date
• Significant changes will be communicated via email or Service notification
• Continued use of the Service after changes constitutes acceptance
• You are responsible for reviewing this policy periodically

If you do not agree with the modified AUP, you must stop using the Service and may cancel your subscription.

12. Contact Information

For questions about this Acceptable Use Policy:

General inquiries, abuse reports, DMCA notices and appeals all reach us at hamish@harborseo.ai. Please state which of these your message is about in the subject line.