Terms of Service, Privacy Policy & User Agreement

1. Introduction & Acceptance

Welcome to Phautomatic ("Platform", "Service", "we", "us", or "our"), an AI-powered multi-tenant photography portfolio SaaS platform operated by Phautomatic. By creating an account, accessing, or using the Service in any manner, you ("User", "you", or "your") agree to be bound by these Terms of Service, Privacy Policy, and User Agreement (collectively, the "Agreement").

If you do not agree with any part of this Agreement, you must not create an account or use the Service. We reserve the right to update this Agreement at any time. Continued use of the Service after changes constitutes acceptance of the revised terms. We will notify registered users of material changes via email or in-app notification at least 30 days before they take effect.

2. Eligibility

You must be at least 18 years old (or the age of legal majority in your jurisdiction) to create an account and use the Service. By registering, you represent and warrant that you meet this age requirement and have the legal capacity to enter into this Agreement.

The Service is available to individuals and entities worldwide, subject to applicable export control and sanctions laws. You may not use the Service if you are located in a country subject to a U.S. Government embargo.

3. Account Registration & Security

To use the Service, you must register for an account using a valid invitation code, provide a valid email address, choose a username, and create a password. You agree to:

• Provide accurate, current, and complete information during registration
• Maintain and promptly update your account information
• Keep your password secure and confidential — never share it with third parties
• Accept responsibility for all activity that occurs under your account
• Notify us immediately of any unauthorized use of your account
• Enable two-factor authentication (2FA) when available for enhanced security

We reserve the right to suspend or terminate accounts that provide false information, violate this Agreement, or remain inactive for an extended period (12 months or more).

4. Subscription Plans & Billing

4.1 Plans & Pricing

Phautomatic offers multiple subscription tiers (Starter, Pro, Business, Studio) with varying storage limits, upload quotas, AI analysis credits, and features. Current pricing and plan details are available on our website and within the dashboard. Prices are stated in US dollars and are subject to applicable taxes.

4.2 Payment Processing

Payments are processed securely through Stripe, a PCI-DSS Level 1 certified payment processor. We do not store your credit card numbers on our servers. By subscribing to a paid plan, you authorize us to charge your payment method on a recurring annual basis until you cancel.

4.3 Renewals & Cancellations

Subscriptions renew automatically at the end of each billing period. You may cancel at any time through your dashboard settings. Upon cancellation, your paid features will remain active until the end of the current billing period. No prorated refunds are issued for partial periods, except where required by applicable law.

4.4 Price Changes

We may change pricing with at least 30 days' advance notice. Price changes will not affect your current billing period but will apply to subsequent renewals. You may cancel before the new pricing takes effect.

4.5 Refund Policy

We offer a 14-day money-back guarantee from the date of your initial subscription purchase. After this period, refunds are generally not available except as required by applicable consumer protection laws. To request a refund, contact our support team.

5. Intellectual Property & Content Ownership

5.1 Your Content

You retain full ownership of all photographs, images, text, and other content ("User Content") that you upload to the Service. Phautomatic does not claim any ownership rights over your User Content. Your photos remain yours — always.

5.2 License Grant to Phautomatic

By uploading User Content, you grant Phautomatic a limited, non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to host, store, transmit, display, reproduce (including creating thumbnails and optimized versions), and process your User Content solely for the purpose of operating, providing, and improving the Service. This license terminates when you delete your content or close your account, except for cached or archived copies that will be removed within a commercially reasonable time.

5.3 AI-Generated Metadata

The Service uses artificial intelligence (OpenAI GPT-4 Vision) to analyze your photos and generate titles, descriptions, tags, and category suggestions ("AI Metadata"). You own the AI Metadata generated for your photos. The AI analysis is performed solely for your benefit, and we do not use your photos to train AI models.

5.4 Platform Intellectual Property

The Platform — including its design, source code, logos, trademarks, user interface, documentation, and all related intellectual property — is and remains the exclusive property of Phautomatic. You may not copy, modify, distribute, sell, or lease any part of the Platform without our prior written consent.

5.5 Copyright Infringement (DMCA)

We respect the intellectual property rights of others. If you believe that your copyrighted work has been uploaded to the Service without your authorization, you may submit a takedown notice in accordance with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) by contacting us at legal@phautomatic.com. We will investigate all legitimate notices and take appropriate action, including removing infringing content and, where warranted, terminating repeat infringers' accounts.

6. Acceptable Use Policy

You agree not to use the Service to:

• Upload, store, or distribute content that is illegal, harmful, threatening, abusive, defamatory, obscene, or otherwise objectionable
• Upload content that infringes on any third party's intellectual property, privacy, or publicity rights
• Upload content depicting child sexual abuse material (CSAM) — we report all instances to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) and law enforcement
• Distribute malware, viruses, or any software intended to damage or disrupt systems
• Attempt to gain unauthorized access to the Service, other accounts, or our infrastructure
• Use the Service for spamming, phishing, or any deceptive purposes
• Scrape, crawl, or harvest data from the Service or other users' portfolios without consent
• Circumvent or disable any security, rate-limiting, or access control features
• Use automated tools (bots, scripts) to access or interact with the Service without authorization
• Resell, sublicense, or commercially exploit the Service without our written permission
• Impersonate any person or entity, or misrepresent your affiliation with a person or entity

We reserve the right to investigate violations and take appropriate action, including content removal, account suspension, or termination, with or without prior notice.

7. Privacy Policy

7.1 Information We Collect

We collect the following categories of information:

• Account Information: Email address, display name (username), hashed password, preferred language
• Photo Data: Uploaded images and their EXIF metadata (camera model, lens, ISO, aperture, shutter speed, GPS coordinates if present, date taken)
• AI-Generated Data: Titles, descriptions, tags, and categories generated by AI analysis of your photos
• Usage Data: Upload counts, storage usage, API calls, AI analysis usage per billing period
• Technical Data: IP address, browser type, device information, operating system, access timestamps
• Payment Data: Billing information is processed and stored by Stripe; we only store your subscription status, plan tier, and billing period dates

7.2 How We Use Your Information

• To provide, operate, and maintain the Service
• To process your photos with AI for generating metadata (titles, descriptions, tags)
• To manage your account and subscription
• To communicate service updates, security alerts, and billing notifications
• To enforce our terms and prevent abuse
• To improve the Service through aggregated, anonymized analytics

7.3 Third-Party Services

We share data with the following third-party service providers, solely for operating the Service:

• OpenAI: Photo images are sent to OpenAI's API for AI analysis. OpenAI's data usage policies apply. Images are processed in real-time and are not retained by OpenAI for model training (per OpenAI's API data usage policy).
• Amazon Web Services (AWS S3): Photo storage and delivery
• Cloudflare R2: Alternative photo storage (when configured)
• Stripe: Payment processing
• Railway: Application hosting infrastructure

7.4 Data Retention

We retain your account data and uploaded content for as long as your account is active. Upon account deletion, we will delete your User Content from our storage systems within 30 days. Backup copies may persist for up to 90 days before being permanently purged. We retain anonymized, aggregated usage data for analytics purposes indefinitely.

7.5 EXIF & GPS Data

Photographs often contain EXIF metadata, including GPS coordinates that may reveal the location where a photo was taken. The Service extracts and displays EXIF data to you as part of your photo details. You are responsible for stripping sensitive location data from photos before uploading if you do not wish it to be stored. The Service provides tools to view this metadata but does not publicly expose GPS coordinates by default.

7.6 Your Privacy Rights

Depending on your jurisdiction, you may have the right to:

• Access the personal data we hold about you
• Request correction of inaccurate data
• Request deletion of your personal data and account
• Export your photos and data in a portable format
• Object to processing of your data for certain purposes
• Withdraw consent to data processing (where consent is the legal basis)

To exercise these rights, contact us at privacy@phautomatic.com. We will respond within 30 days. For EU/EEA residents, our lawful basis for processing personal data is the performance of our contract with you (this Agreement) and our legitimate interests in providing and improving the Service.

7.7 Cookies & Local Storage

We use essential cookies for authentication (session management) and user preferences (language, theme). We do not use third-party advertising or tracking cookies. No data is sold to advertisers or data brokers — ever.

7.8 Children's Privacy

The Service is not directed at individuals under 18. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If we become aware that a child under 18 has provided us with personal information, we will take steps to delete such information promptly.

8. Security

We implement industry-standard security measures to protect your data, including:

• Encryption in transit (HTTPS/TLS) for all communications
• Encryption at rest for stored data
• Bcrypt password hashing with appropriate cost factors
• Two-factor authentication (TOTP-based 2FA) support
• Secure session management with HTTP-only, Secure, SameSite cookies
• Rate limiting and brute-force protection
• Regular security reviews and dependency updates

While we strive to protect your data, no method of electronic transmission or storage is 100% secure. We cannot guarantee absolute security. In the event of a data breach affecting your personal information, we will notify affected users and relevant authorities as required by applicable law, typically within 72 hours of discovery.

9. Service Availability & Warranties

9.1 Availability

We strive to maintain high availability but do not guarantee uninterrupted access. The Service may be temporarily unavailable due to maintenance, updates, or circumstances beyond our control (including but not limited to internet outages, hosting provider issues, or force majeure events).

9.2 Disclaimer of Warranties

THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE" WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS, IMPLIED, OR STATUTORY. WE DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, AND ACCURACY. WE DO NOT WARRANT THAT THE SERVICE WILL BE ERROR-FREE, SECURE, OR UNINTERRUPTED, OR THAT AI-GENERATED METADATA WILL BE ACCURATE OR COMPLETE.

9.3 AI Accuracy

AI-generated titles, descriptions, tags, and categories are provided for convenience and may not always be accurate, appropriate, or complete. You are responsible for reviewing and editing AI-generated content before publishing. Phautomatic is not liable for any inaccuracies in AI-generated metadata.

10. Limitation of Liability

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, IN NO EVENT SHALL PHAUTOMATIC, ITS DIRECTORS, OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES, AGENTS, OR AFFILIATES BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION:

• Loss of profits, revenue, or data
• Loss of use or goodwill
• Cost of procurement of substitute services
• Any damages resulting from unauthorized access to or alteration of your transmissions or content

OUR TOTAL AGGREGATE LIABILITY FOR ALL CLAIMS ARISING UNDER OR RELATING TO THIS AGREEMENT SHALL NOT EXCEED THE AMOUNTS YOU HAVE PAID TO PHAUTOMATIC IN THE TWELVE (12) MONTHS PRECEDING THE CLAIM, OR ONE HUNDRED US DOLLARS ($100), WHICHEVER IS GREATER.

Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion or limitation of certain damages. In such jurisdictions, our liability shall be limited to the greatest extent permitted by applicable law.

11. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless Phautomatic and its officers, directors, employees, agents, and affiliates from and against any and all claims, damages, losses, liabilities, costs, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising from or relating to:

• Your use of the Service
• Your User Content, including any claims of intellectual property infringement
• Your violation of this Agreement
• Your violation of any applicable law or third-party right

12. Termination

12.1 By You

You may close your account at any time through your dashboard settings or by contacting support. Upon account closure, your subscription (if any) will be canceled and your data will be deleted in accordance with our data retention policy (Section 7.4).

12.2 By Us

We may suspend or terminate your account immediately, without prior notice, if you:

• Violate this Agreement or our Acceptable Use Policy
• Engage in fraudulent or illegal activity
• Fail to pay applicable subscription fees
• Create multiple accounts to circumvent limits or abuse the Service

12.3 Effect of Termination

Upon termination, your right to access the Service ceases immediately. We will provide a reasonable opportunity (at least 30 days' notice for non-violation terminations) to download your User Content before deletion. Sections 5, 10, 11, 13, and 14 survive termination of this Agreement.

13. Dispute Resolution & Governing Law

13.1 Governing Law

This Agreement shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of Delaware, United States, without regard to its conflict of law provisions.

13.2 Informal Resolution

Before filing any formal dispute, you agree to first contact us at support@phautomatic.com and attempt to resolve the dispute informally for at least 30 days.

13.3 Arbitration

Any dispute, claim, or controversy arising out of or relating to this Agreement that cannot be resolved informally shall be resolved by binding arbitration, except that either party may seek injunctive or other equitable relief in court for intellectual property disputes. You agree to resolve disputes on an individual basis — class actions and class arbitrations are not permitted.

14. General Provisions

• Entire Agreement: This Agreement constitutes the entire agreement between you and Phautomatic regarding the Service and supersedes all prior agreements and understandings.
• Severability: If any provision of this Agreement is found to be unenforceable, the remaining provisions shall remain in full force and effect.
• Waiver: Our failure to enforce any right or provision of this Agreement shall not constitute a waiver of such right or provision.
• Assignment: You may not assign or transfer this Agreement without our prior written consent. We may assign this Agreement in connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets.
• Force Majeure: Neither party shall be liable for any failure to perform due to causes beyond its reasonable control, including natural disasters, war, terrorism, epidemics, government orders, internet outages, or infrastructure failures.
• Notices: We may send notices to the email address associated with your account. You are responsible for keeping your email address current.
• No Third-Party Beneficiaries: This Agreement does not create any rights for third parties.

15. International Data Transfers & Compliance

15.1 GDPR (EU/EEA Users)

If you are located in the European Economic Area (EEA), we process your personal data in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Our lawful bases for processing are contractual necessity and legitimate interest. Personal data may be transferred to the United States where our servers are located; such transfers are conducted under appropriate safeguards (Standard Contractual Clauses).

15.2 CCPA (California Users)

If you are a California resident, you have additional rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), including the right to know what personal information we collect, the right to request deletion, and the right to opt out of the "sale" of personal information. We do not sell your personal information.

15.3 Other Jurisdictions

We comply with applicable data protection laws in all jurisdictions where we operate, including but not limited to PIPEDA (Canada), LGPD (Brazil), and APPI (Japan). Users in these jurisdictions may exercise their rights as provided by applicable local law.

16. Contact Information

If you have questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Agreement, please contact us: