1. Purpose
TraceTrellis is an OSINT aggregation tool designed to help individuals and organisations research publicly available information for legitimate purposes. This policy defines what constitutes acceptable and unacceptable use of the Service.
2. Permitted Uses
You may use TraceTrellis for:
- Security research — assessing your own or a client's digital footprint with appropriate authorisation.
- Journalism & public-interest investigation — researching public figures or organisations where there is a genuine public interest.
- Due diligence — background checks on potential business partners or counterparties, within applicable legal limits.
- Self-research — understanding what information about you is publicly accessible.
- Academic research — studying publicly available information as part of a recognised research programme.
3. Prohibited Uses
You may not use TraceTrellis to:
- Target individuals for harassment, stalking, intimidation, or threats.
- Doxx individuals — aggregate and publish private or semi-private information with intent to harm, embarrass, or expose someone.
- Compile profiles used to facilitate discrimination based on race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability, or any other protected characteristic.
- Conduct automated or bulk scraping of investigation results.
- Resell, redistribute, or sublicense results to third parties without prior written permission from TraceTrellis.
- Circumvent the credit system — including sharing accounts, using automated scripts, or any other means of bypassing per-account limits.
- Use results to impersonate another person or to create fraudulent identities.
- Perform any activity that is illegal in your jurisdiction or that violates applicable laws, including but not limited to privacy laws, data protection regulations, and computer misuse statutes.
4. Your Responsibility
TraceTrellis is a tool. You are solely responsible for how you use the information returned by the Service. The fact that information is publicly accessible does not automatically make every use of that information lawful or ethical. You must comply with all applicable laws and obtain any necessary consents before acting on information retrieved through the Service.
5. Enforcement
Violations of this policy may result in immediate account termination without refund of any remaining credits. We reserve the right to report illegal activity to relevant authorities and to cooperate with law enforcement investigations.
6. Reporting Abuse
If you become aware of any use of TraceTrellis that violates this policy, please contact us with details. We take abuse reports seriously and will investigate promptly.