NDEVR Terms of Service

These terms are the agreement between you and NDEVR, LLC for our software and for the OWL service at ndevr.org. We've written them to be readable, because you're actually agreeing to them. The short version: your stuff stays yours, our software stays ours, be reasonable, keep your own backups, and understand that CSD data is unrecoverable when only you hold its keys.

Effective date: 1 July 2026 · Last updated: 3 August 2026
NDEVR, LLC ("NDEVR", "we", "us"). Questions: legal@ndevr.org.

The short version. You get a license to use our software and the OWL service; you keep ownership of everything you create and store. You are responsible for your password and independent backups — with recovery disabled, lost CSD keys and passwords can mean permanently lost data, and we are not liable for loss of data. SSD and optional recovery deliberately trust the provider as described in the Privacy Policy. Don't use the service to host illegal or infringing content. Paid products bill through Stripe/PayPal. Disputes are resolved by individual arbitration under Indiana law, and you can opt out within 30 days.

Contents

  1. Who we are & what these terms cover
  2. Acceptance & eligibility
  3. Your account & security
  4. Software license
  5. Paid products, subscriptions & billing
  6. Your content
  7. Sharing & published content
  8. Acceptable use
  9. Data loss, backups & service availability
  10. Copyright complaints (DMCA)
  11. AI features
  12. Third-party services
  13. Intellectual property & feedback
  14. Beta & experimental features
  15. Termination & suspension
  16. Disclaimer of warranties
  17. Limitation of liability
  18. Indemnification
  19. Dispute resolution — binding arbitration & class-action waiver
  20. Governing law & venue
  21. Export & sanctions
  22. Changes to these terms
  23. General
  24. Contact

1. Who we are & what these terms cover

These Terms of Service (the "Terms") are a legal agreement between you and NDEVR, LLC, and they govern:

  • The Software — NDEVR's installable applications and tools, including the NDEVR desktop applications, mobile apps, command-line tools, and any modules, updates, and documentation we supply with them.
  • The Service — the OWL File-Server service at ndevr.org and the clients that connect to it: encrypted file storage and sharing, OWL chat, published sites and pages, the product catalog, licensing and activation, and account features.

These Terms incorporate our Privacy Policy, which explains what data we handle and what our zero-knowledge design means. If you purchase a license or subscription, any order terms we present at purchase also apply. These Terms replace any earlier end-user license agreement shipped with our installers.

If you have a separately signed written agreement with NDEVR (for example an enterprise license), that agreement controls where it conflicts with these Terms.

2. Acceptance & eligibility

You accept these Terms by creating an OWL account, clicking "accept" where they are presented (for example in an installer or account-creation dialog), or by installing or using the Software or the Service. If you do not agree, do not use them.

  • You must be at least 16 years old to use the Service, and old enough to form a binding contract where you live (or have a parent or legal guardian agree to these Terms for you).
  • If you are accepting on behalf of a company or other organization, you represent that you have authority to bind it, and "you" means that organization.

3. Your account & security

  • Provide accurate account information (a working email address matters — it is how verification, password resets, and important notices reach you).
  • You are responsible for everything that happens under your account, and for keeping your password and any recovery codes confidential. Tell us promptly at security@ndevr.org if you believe your account has been compromised.
  • One person or organization per account, unless a feature (such as shared folders) explicitly provides for multiple users.
Recovery-disabled CSD makes your password genuinely load-bearing. As described in the Privacy Policy, if you disable password recovery and later lose your password, no one — including NDEVR — can restore access to content protected only by that account key. Enabling recovery gives the operator a recovery path to the account private key and related wrapped content keys.

4. Software license

Subject to these Terms (and, for paid products, payment of the applicable fees), NDEVR grants you a personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable license to install and use the Software on devices under your control, for your own personal or internal business purposes, in accordance with the license type you obtained (for example trial, subscription, or perpetual seat, and any seat or activation limits stated at purchase).

You may not (except to the extent a restriction is prohibited by applicable law):

  • copy (other than reasonable backup copies), redistribute, sell, rent, lease, sublicense, or provide the Software to third parties as a service bureau or hosted offering;
  • modify, adapt, translate, or create derivative works of the Software, or combine it with other software except through interfaces we document;
  • decompile, disassemble, or otherwise reverse engineer the Software, or attempt to derive its source code;
  • remove or alter proprietary notices, or circumvent or attempt to circumvent license enforcement, activation, or usage limits;
  • use the Software or Service to develop a directly competing product, or for benchmarking published without our consent;
  • use the Software or Service in violation of applicable law, or in safety-critical systems where failure could lead to death, personal injury, or severe damage (the Software is not designed or certified for such use).

Trial and free-tier licenses are provided for evaluation and personal use, may be feature- or time-limited, and may be changed or withdrawn at any time. Updates we provide become part of the Software and are governed by these Terms unless accompanied by their own terms. The Software may include third-party and open-source components; those components are governed by their own licenses, which we list in the product documentation.

5. Paid products, subscriptions & billing

  • Prices, license types, and storage plans are shown in the product catalog at purchase. Taxes may be added where required.
  • Payments are processed by third-party processors (currently Stripe and/or PayPal); your card details go to them, not to us. Their terms apply to the payment itself.
  • Subscriptions renew automatically at the end of each billing period until you cancel. You can cancel at any time, effective at the end of the current period; we do not give partial-period refunds unless the law where you live requires them.
  • Except where required by law (or expressly stated in an offer), fees are non-refundable. If something is broken, contact us first — we would rather fix it.
  • If a payment fails or a charge is reversed, we may suspend the associated license, plan, or features after notice.
  • We may change prices for future periods with reasonable advance notice; continuing past the change means you accept the new price.

6. Your content

"Your Content" is everything you store, send, or publish through the Service — files, models, messages, published pages, and their metadata.

  • You own Your Content. These Terms give us no ownership of it.
  • You grant NDEVR the limited license necessary to run the Service: to store, transmit, back up, cache, and display Your Content (in its encrypted form where the zero-knowledge design applies), and to process the metadata needed to provide sharing, sync, search, previews, and the other features you use. For content you deliberately make public (shared links, published sites), this includes hosting and displaying it to the audience you chose. This license is only for operating, securing, and improving the Service, and it ends when you delete the content or your account, except for residual backup copies purged on the normal cycle and content you shared with others that they retain.
  • You are responsible for Your Content — for having the rights to store and share it, and for its legality. We do not inspect CSD private payloads as part of ordinary service operation. SSD, recovery, public content, and optional integrations have the processing boundaries described in the Privacy Policy; responsibility for your content remains with you.

7. Sharing & published content

The Service lets you share encrypted content with other users, create share links (optionally with passwords and expiry), and publish public pages and sites. When you share or publish:

  • You choose the audience, and you are responsible for that choice. Anyone with a share link (and its password, if set) can access what it points to; treat links to sensitive content accordingly.
  • Published Sites/pages are plaintext web content visible to anyone. Public share links may use CSD or SSD, but anyone who receives plaintext or a usable key can retain it. All public content must comply with these Terms, and we may remove or disable access when we reasonably believe it violates these Terms or the law.
  • Recipients' use of what you share with them is between you and them; sharing does not transfer your rights or ours.

8. Acceptable use

Don't use the Software or the Service to:

  • store, share, or publish content that is illegal — including child sexual abuse material (which we report and terminate for immediately), content that infringes others' intellectual property, or content you are otherwise not permitted to possess or distribute;
  • harass, threaten, defraud, or impersonate others, or send spam or unsolicited bulk messages;
  • distribute malware, or interfere with the Service or other users — including probing or attacking the Service, attempting to access other users' accounts or decrypt content not intended for you, evading rate limits, quotas, or suspensions, or placing unreasonable load on the infrastructure;
  • resell or white-label the Service itself without a written agreement with us;
  • violate export, sanctions, or other applicable laws.

Good-faith security research under our coordinated disclosure policy is welcome and is not a violation of this section. We may investigate violations and may suspend or terminate accounts involved (§15). Storage quotas and rate limits published for your plan are part of these Terms.

9. Data loss, backups & service availability

This section matters. Read it.

  • Keep independent backups. The Service is not a backup product and no storage service is infallible. You are solely responsible for maintaining your own independent copies of any content you cannot afford to lose. To the maximum extent permitted by law, NDEVR is not liable for any loss, corruption, or unavailability of data, whatever the cause — including hardware failure, software error, synchronization conflicts, account compromise resulting from your credentials, service interruption, suspension or termination, or your loss of passwords or keys.
  • Encryption cuts both ways. As described in §3, if you lose the credentials that protect your keys with recovery disabled, CSD data protected only by those keys is permanently unrecoverable. We cannot bypass that encryption. SSD and recovery-enabled accounts have the different trust boundaries in the Privacy Policy.
  • The Service is provided without an uptime guarantee. We work hard to keep it available, but it may be interrupted for maintenance, updates, failures, or events beyond our control. We may change, add, or discontinue features; if we discontinue the Service or a material part of it, we will give you reasonable notice and an opportunity to export Your Content where practicable.
  • Deleting content, closing your account, or termination removes data as described in the Privacy Policy's retention section. Export anything you need first.

10. Copyright complaints (DMCA)

We respond to copyright notices for content that is publicly accessible through the Service (published sites, public share links). If you believe such content infringes your copyright, send a notice compliant with 17 U.S.C. § 512(c)(3) to legal@ndevr.org (subject "DMCA") including: identification of the work and of the infringing material (URL), your contact information, the required good-faith and accuracy statements, and your physical or electronic signature. We will remove or disable access to material in response to valid notices, notify the user where we can, accept counter-notices under § 512(g), and terminate repeat infringers' accounts. For CSD private content without recovery we ordinarily hold ciphertext rather than plaintext, and a takedown is generally limited to disabling the identified resource or public access point.

11. AI features

The Software and Service include optional AI-assisted features (for example the QUAIL assistant and AI-assisted modeling). What is sent to an AI model and how it is handled is described in the Privacy Policy. In addition:

  • AI output can be wrong. It is generated automatically, is not reviewed by us, and is not professional advice (engineering, surveying, legal, or otherwise). You are responsible for verifying AI output before relying on it, and for what you do with it.
  • Don't use AI features to generate content that violates §8, or to attempt to extract other users' data or our systems' secrets.
  • AI features may be metered, rate-limited, changed, or withdrawn at any time.

12. Third-party services

The Software and Service can connect to third-party services you choose (for example Dropbox, Microsoft OneDrive, Google Drive, or a payment processor). Those services are governed by their own terms and privacy policies; we are not responsible for them. Connecting them is optional, and you can disconnect them at any time.

13. Intellectual property & feedback

The Software and the Service — including all code, designs, trademarks, and documentation, and all intellectual-property rights in them — are and remain the property of NDEVR, LLC and its licensors. These Terms grant you only the licenses expressly stated; all other rights are reserved.

If you send us feedback, suggestions, or ideas, you grant us a perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free license to use them without obligation to you. (Your Content is not "feedback".)

14. Beta & experimental features

We sometimes ship features marked beta, preview, or experimental. They are provided strictly as-is, may be less reliable than the rest of the Service (the data-loss warnings in §9 apply doubly), may change or disappear without notice, and may be subject to additional terms presented when you enable them.

15. Termination & suspension

  • You can stop using the Software at any time and can close your account whenever you like from account settings (export Your Content first — see §9).
  • We may suspend or terminate your access (in whole or in part) if you materially or repeatedly violate these Terms, if required by law, if your conduct creates risk or legal exposure for us or other users, or for non-payment of paid features. Where reasonable, we will notify you and give you a chance to fix the problem first; for serious violations (such as illegal content or attacks on the Service) we may act immediately.
  • We may close free accounts that have been entirely inactive for an extended period, with advance notice to your registered email.
  • On termination, your licenses end and your data is handled per the Privacy Policy's retention section. Sections that by their nature survive (including §9, §16, §17, §18, §19, §20) survive termination.

16. Disclaimer of warranties

Except as expressly stated in these Terms, the Software and the Service are provided "as is" and "as available", with all faults and without warranty of any kind. To the maximum extent permitted by law, NDEVR and its licensors disclaim all warranties, express, implied, statutory, or otherwise — including the implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title, non-infringement, and any warranties arising from course of dealing or usage of trade — and any warranty that the Software or Service will be uninterrupted, error-free, secure, or that data will not be lost.

Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion of certain warranties, so parts of this section may not apply to you; in that case any implied warranties are limited to the shortest period and smallest scope the law allows. Nothing in these Terms excludes rights that consumer-protection law does not allow to be excluded.

17. Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law:

  • NDEVR will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages, or for any loss of profits, revenue, goodwill, business, or data (including the cost of recreating lost data), even if we have been advised of the possibility, and regardless of the theory of liability (contract, tort, negligence, strict liability, or otherwise).
  • NDEVR's total aggregate liability arising out of or relating to these Terms, the Software, or the Service is limited to the greater of (a) the amounts you paid NDEVR in the twelve (12) months before the event giving rise to the claim, and (b) fifty US dollars (US $50).
  • These limits apply together with §9: loss of data is expressly among the risks you accept.

Nothing in this section limits liability that cannot be limited by law, including liability for fraud, or for death or personal injury caused by negligence where such limits are not permitted.

18. Indemnification

If you are using the Software or Service for a business, you will defend and indemnify NDEVR against third-party claims, and resulting damages and reasonable costs, to the extent arising from Your Content, your violation of these Terms, or your violation of law or third-party rights. We will notify you promptly of any such claim and may participate in the defense with our own counsel.

19. Dispute resolution — binding arbitration & class-action waiver

Please read this section carefully. It affects your rights, including your right to file a lawsuit in court and to have a jury trial.

  • Talk to us first. Before filing a claim, email legal@ndevr.org with a description of the dispute; we will try to resolve it informally within 60 days. Most issues get fixed this way.
  • Binding arbitration. If we cannot resolve it informally, any dispute arising out of or relating to these Terms, the Software, or the Service will be resolved by binding individual arbitration administered by the American Arbitration Association (AAA) under its Consumer Arbitration Rules (or Commercial Rules for business users), rather than in court. The Federal Arbitration Act governs this section. The arbitration will be conducted by videoconference or, if an in-person hearing is required, in the county where you reside (or another mutually agreed location), by a single arbitrator, who may award the same individual relief a court could. AAA fees are allocated per the applicable AAA rules; if the rules make filing cost-prohibitive for a consumer claim, we will discuss covering a reasonable share.
  • Exceptions. Either party may (a) bring an individual claim in small-claims court, and (b) seek injunctive or other equitable relief in court for infringement or misuse of intellectual-property rights or unauthorized access to the Service.
  • Class-action and jury waiver. Disputes will be resolved only on an individual basis. Neither party may participate in a class, collective, consolidated, or representative action, and claims may not be consolidated across users. Both parties waive the right to a jury trial. If the class-action waiver is found unenforceable as to a particular claim, that claim (and only that claim) shall proceed in court, and the rest of this section remains in effect.
  • 30-day opt-out. You may opt out of this arbitration agreement entirely by emailing legal@ndevr.org with subject "Arbitration opt-out" (including your account username) within 30 days of first accepting these Terms. Opting out does not affect any other part of these Terms.

20. Governing law & venue

These Terms, and any dispute arising out of or relating to them, are governed by the laws of the State of Indiana, USA, without regard to its conflict-of-laws rules, and excluding the U.N. Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods. For matters not subject to arbitration under §19, the state and federal courts located in Indiana have exclusive jurisdiction, and both parties consent to personal jurisdiction there. If you are a consumer in a jurisdiction whose law gives you mandatory rights or a mandatory home venue, nothing in this section takes those away.

21. Export & sanctions

The Software includes encryption and may be subject to export-control laws, including the U.S. Export Administration Regulations. You represent that you are not located in an embargoed jurisdiction or on a restricted-party list, and you agree not to export, re-export, or provide the Software or Service contrary to applicable export and sanctions laws.

22. Changes to these terms

We may update these Terms as the Software and Service evolve. We will update the "Last updated" date above, and for material changes we will give you reasonable advance notice (for example by email or an in-product notice). Changes apply going forward; continued use after the effective date of a change means you accept it. If you do not agree, stop using the Service and close your account before the change takes effect.

23. General

  • Entire agreement. These Terms (with the Privacy Policy and any order or feature terms presented to you) are the entire agreement between you and NDEVR about the Software and Service, superseding prior agreements on that subject, including previous installer EULAs.
  • Severability. If a provision is found unenforceable, it will be enforced to the maximum extent permissible and the rest remains in effect.
  • No waiver. Our not enforcing a provision is not a waiver of it.
  • Assignment. You may not assign these Terms without our consent; we may assign them in connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets, with notice to you.
  • Force majeure. Neither party is liable for delay or failure caused by events beyond its reasonable control.
  • Notices. We may notify you via the email on your account or in-product; legal notices to us go to legal@ndevr.org or the postal address below.

24. Contact

NDEVR, LLC
21816 SE 280th St, Maple Valley, WA 98038
Email: legal@ndevr.org

This document describes the terms of the NDEVR Software and OWL Service as implemented. It is a starting point and should be reviewed by legal counsel before being relied upon as a binding agreement.