Terms of Service

Each section opens with a plain-language In short line. Those lines are honest summaries, but the full text is what governs.

1 · The agreement

By using projectsesha.com, its subdomains, apps, feeds, or emails (together, the “Service”), you agree to these Terms and to our [Privacy Policy]. If you do not agree, do not use the Service.

In short: using the site means accepting these rules.

2 · What Project Sesha is — and is not

Project Sesha is a news-awareness tool. Our software continuously collects publicly available news reporting and public social-media posts about the sex industry worldwide, then uses automated systems — including artificial intelligence — to summarize, translate, categorize, estimate locations, group related reports into stories, and display the result on a map.

We are an aggregator and index of other people’s reporting. We are not the original reporter, we do not have journalists in the field, and we do not independently verify the events described. The underlying reporting belongs to the publishers we link to, and the link to the original source is always the authoritative version of any item we display.

The Service is not:

• A source of verified fact. Between the original reporting and our automated processing, any item may be wrong, incomplete, out of date, or misplaced on the map.
• An emergency, safety, or crisis service. If you or someone else is in danger, contact local emergency services or a crisis line. Information here may be hours or days old and must never be your only input to an urgent decision.
• Professional advice. Nothing here is legal, medical, security, financial, or immigration advice.
• A background-check, people-search, or investigative tool. Using it as one is a violation of Section 7 and grounds for an immediate ban.

In short: we map what the news says. The news can be wrong, and our software can add mistakes of its own. The linked source always outranks our summary.

3 · Sensitive subject matter

The Service surfaces reporting on violence, exploitation, trafficking, disappearances, and death. By using it you acknowledge that you have chosen to view this material. Features that soften or filter the experience (content settings, the “Lighter Side” view, and similar) are conveniences, not guarantees that distressing material will never reach you.

In short: this is heavy material, and you’re opting in.

4 · Eligibility and accounts

You must be at least 18 years old to use the Service.

You may browse without an account. Some features (bookmarks, follows, email digests, submissions) require one. You agree to give accurate account information, keep your credentials secure, and accept responsibility for activity under your account. Tell us promptly about any unauthorized use.

We may refuse, suspend, or close any account at our discretion, particularly where we believe the account threatens the safety of the people this Service exists to serve.

In short: 18+, keep your login safe, and we can close accounts that put people at risk.

5 · Automated and AI-generated content

Summaries, translations, categories, severity labels, map placements, story groupings, story syntheses/recaps, and similar derived material are generated by automated systems without human review of each item. They can be wrong in every way text can be wrong: wrong place, wrong date, wrong person, wrong severity, wrong facts, mistranslation, or a misleading combination of individually true statements.

In particular:

• Map locations are estimates. Many pins are approximate — sometimes only country-level — and an approximate pin does not mean an event happened at that spot.
• Severity and category labels are algorithmic triage, meant to help you scan a large volume of reporting. They are not findings of fact and carry no legal meaning.
• Story grouping is probabilistic. Reports may occasionally be grouped with a story they do not belong to, or split from one they do.
• AI syntheses compress many reports into one narrative and may flatten important differences between sources.

You agree not to treat any automated output as established fact and not to republish it as such. When something matters, read the original source we link to.

In short: the AI layer makes 17,000+ reports scannable. It does not make them true.

6 · About the people who appear in reports

The reporting we index describes real people: victims, missing persons, accused persons, officials, and others.

• Much of it concerns allegations, investigations, arrests, and charges. An arrest is not a conviction. Every person is presumed innocent unless and until convicted by a court, and outcomes (dropped charges, acquittals, overturned convictions) may not be reflected in the reporting we index or in our derived material.
• We display names and details only as they appear in the underlying public reporting; we do not add identifying information of our own.
• If a report or our summary of it concerns you and is inaccurate, outdated (for example, charges were dropped or you were acquitted), or creates a genuine safety risk, contact us at [contact email] or use the in-app report function. We review such requests with priority and may correct, add context to, hide, or remove material at our discretion. We want the map to be accurate and humane, and we act on credible requests — but we cannot alter the third-party reporting itself.

We have no obligation to display any particular item and may remove or modify any content at any time.

In short: allegations aren’t verdicts, we only echo what the press published, and if coverage about you is wrong or dangerous, tell us — we listen.

7 · Acceptable use

This Service exists to make violence and exploitation visible — never to enable it. You must not use the Service, or any data from it, to:

1. identify, locate, surveil, contact, harass, threaten, stalk, dox, out, extort, or harm any person — including people who appear in reports and people you believe to be sex workers;
2. engage in vigilantism or interfere with an investigation or judicial process;
3. deny anyone housing, employment, credit, services, or any other opportunity because they appear in the Service;
4. plan, facilitate, or conceal any unlawful activity, including trafficking or exploitation;
5. scrape, harvest, mirror, bulk-download, resell, or republish the Service’s data or any substantial part of it, or use it to train machine-learning models, without our prior written permission — reasonable personal use and brief quotation with credit and a link are fine;
6. probe, overload, or disrupt the Service, evade rate limits or access controls, or access non-public areas;
7. impersonate any person, misrepresent an affiliation, or submit deliberately false reports, flags, or tips.

We may throttle, suspend, or permanently ban any user for violating this section, without notice where the violation endangers a person. Where the law allows or requires it, we may report credible threats of harm to the appropriate authorities.

In short: this map exists to protect awareness of a vulnerable community. Using it to target anyone — especially sex workers — is the one unforgivable thing here, and we will ban you for it.

8 · Content you give us

You may submit content to the Service: story tips and links, flags, feedback, corrections, and similar material (“Submissions”).

• You promise your Submissions are lawful, that you have the right to share them, and that they do not knowingly endanger any person.
• You grant us a worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive, sublicensable license to use, reproduce, adapt, and display Submissions in order to operate, moderate, improve, and promote the Service.
• We may edit, decline, or remove any Submission, and we owe no compensation or credit for them.
• Do not include personal information about third parties in a Submission beyond what the linked public reporting already contains.

In short: tips and flags help everyone; by sending them you let us use them, and we decide what runs.

9 · Our content and your license to use it

The Service — including its software, design, branding, the selection, arrangement, and enrichment of its data, and its AI-generated material — is owned by us or our licensors and protected by intellectual-property law. Headlines, excerpts, and images from news publishers remain the property of those publishers; we display them with links to the source in the manner of a news index.

We grant you a personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable license to use the Service for personal, journalistic, academic, and internal research purposes. Brief quotations with credit to “Project Sesha” and a link are welcome. Any bulk or commercial reuse of the data requires our prior written permission (Section 7.5).

In short: use it, cite it, link it. Don’t clone it.

10 · Third-party content and links

The Service links to and excerpts external websites and public social posts. We do not control them, do not endorse them, and are not responsible for their content, accuracy, availability, or practices. Your use of a third-party site is between you and that site.

11 · Copyright and removal complaints

If you believe content on the Service infringes your copyright or other rights, send a notice to [contact email] including: (a) the URL(s) on our Service; (b) identification of the work or right concerned; (c) your contact details; and (d) a good-faith statement that the use is unauthorized and that your notice is accurate. We respond promptly and remove or disable material where appropriate. We may forward notices to the affected user or publisher where applicable.

12 · Paid features

Parts of the Service may be offered for a fee now or in the future. For any paid feature: the price, billing period, and renewal and cancellation terms will be shown before you pay; subscriptions renew automatically until cancelled and can be cancelled any time, effective at the end of the paid period; fees are non-refundable except as stated at purchase or required by law; and we may change prices or paid features prospectively with reasonable notice. Taxes may apply.

In short: no surprises — every paid thing shows its price and cancel terms up front.

13 · Email and notifications

Digests and alerts are opt-in, and every such email contains an unsubscribe link; you can also manage them in settings. We may still send you non-promotional messages about your account, security, or these Terms.

14 · Safety features

Features such as the quick-exit button and discreet presentation modes are provided as best-effort conveniences. They cannot defeat browser history, network monitoring, device surveillance, or someone watching your screen. Assess your own situation and use tools appropriate to it (private browsing, trusted devices, trusted networks).

In short: the quick-exit button helps; it is not an invisibility cloak.

15 · Availability and changes to the Service

The Service is provided as-available. We may add, change, pause, or discontinue any part of it at any time, and we do not promise that stored data (bookmarks, follows, preferences) will be retained indefinitely. We are a small team running critical infrastructure carefully, but we offer no service-level guarantee.

16 · Disclaimers

TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, THE SERVICE AND ALL ITS CONTENT ARE PROVIDED “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE”, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WARRANTIES OF ACCURACY, COMPLETENESS, TIMELINESS, MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, OR UNINTERRUPTED OR SECURE OPERATION. NO ADVICE OR INFORMATION OBTAINED FROM THE SERVICE CREATES ANY WARRANTY.

Nothing in these Terms excludes rights that mandatory local law gives you and does not allow to be excluded.

17 · Limitation of liability

TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW: (a) WE ARE NOT LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR FOR LOST PROFITS, DATA, GOODWILL, OR OPPORTUNITY, ARISING FROM OR RELATING TO THE SERVICE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY; AND (b) OUR TOTAL AGGREGATE LIABILITY FOR ALL CLAIMS RELATING TO THE SERVICE IS LIMITED TO THE GREATER OF CAD $50 AND THE AMOUNTS YOU PAID US IN THE TWELVE MONTHS BEFORE THE EVENT GIVING RISE TO THE CLAIM.

These limits do not apply to liability that cannot be limited by law, including liability arising from our own fraud or willful misconduct.

In short: use of a free news-awareness map is at your own risk, and our exposure is capped at what you paid us.

18 · Indemnity

You will defend and hold us harmless from claims, damages, and reasonable legal costs arising from your Submissions, your use of the Service in violation of these Terms, or your violation of any law or third-party right.

19 · Termination

You may stop using the Service, and delete your account, at any time. We may suspend or terminate your access immediately for violation of these Terms or where we reasonably believe continued access creates risk to any person or to the Service. Sections that by their nature should survive (5–9, 11, 16–18, 20–21) survive termination.

20 · Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms. For material changes we will give notice — on the Service or by email — with a new effective date, at least [14] days before the change takes effect where practicable. Continued use after the effective date is acceptance. If you do not agree, stop using the Service before the change takes effect.

21 · Governing law, disputes, and general terms

• Talk to us first. Before starting any formal proceeding, email [contact email] with a description of the dispute; we will try in good faith to resolve it within 30 days.
• These Terms are governed by the laws of the Province of [Ontario] and the federal laws of Canada applicable there, and disputes are subject to the courts of [Ontario], except where mandatory consumer law gives you the right to proceed in your local forum.
• These Terms and the Privacy Policy are the entire agreement between us regarding the Service. If any provision is held unenforceable, the rest remains in effect. Our not enforcing a provision is not a waiver. You may not assign these Terms; we may assign them in connection with a reorganization or transfer of the Service, with notice.
• We are not liable for delay or failure caused by events beyond our reasonable control.

22 · Contact

Questions, corrections, safety concerns, rights requests: [[email protected]] or the in-app feedback and report tools.