Acceptable Use Policy
The short version: Use Chordalia Systems software on content you have the legal right to process, on machines you control or are authorized to use. Don't use it for anything illegal, don't use it to attack other people's systems, and don't try to circumvent its license enforcement. We don't see your data, so we won't catch most violations ourselves — but if a violation is reported to us we will act on it.
1. Scope
This Acceptable Use Policy (“AUP”) applies to all Chordalia Systems software products — Arion today, and Chordium and Cadenzium when they ship — whether you use the free Personal edition or a paid Family or Archive license. It supplements the End User License Agreement and governs the kinds of content you may process with the software and the manner in which you may operate it.
Because Chordalia Systems software runs entirely on infrastructure you control, we have no technical visibility into how you use it. This AUP defines the contractual limits on that use; enforcement is reactive (we act on credible reports) rather than proactive (we don't monitor your activity, ever).
2. Content you may process
You may use Chordalia Systems software to index, search, and analyze:
- Documents, media, and other content that you own the copyright to, or for which you hold a license sufficient to copy and process the content.
- Content that is in the public domain.
- Content for which you have explicit, lawful access in your role — for example, internal documents within an organization where you have an employment or contractual relationship that grants you access.
- Content that you process under any other lawful basis recognized in your jurisdiction (e.g. data subject access requests, legal-hold or e-discovery contexts in which a court order or statute grants you access).
3. Content you may NOT process
You may not use Chordalia Systems software to index, search, analyze, or otherwise process:
- Content you have no legal right to access or copy — for example, files obtained by unauthorized access to someone else's machine or account, or by circumventing access controls on a third-party system.
- Content that infringes third-party intellectual property — pirated software, ripped commercial media without a personal-use right, or stolen trade secrets.
- Content protected by digital rights management (DRM) where you have circumvented that DRM — even if the underlying content is otherwise lawful for you to possess. Indexing the cleartext is fine; using Arion to help you defeat DRM is not.
- Material depicting child sexual abuse, content produced through human trafficking, or other content whose possession is criminal in your jurisdiction. If you ever encounter such material in a corpus you are processing for legitimate reasons (e.g. a moderation or law-enforcement role), follow the reporting requirements that apply to your role; this AUP does not override any such legal duty.
- Personal data of others without a lawful basis under applicable privacy law (GDPR, CCPA, PIPEDA, or equivalents). Family-edition use on personal household records is fine. Building a dossier on someone without their knowledge or a lawful basis is not.
4. How you may operate the software
You may not:
- Circumvent, disable, or tamper with the license enforcement in the software (the signed license check, edition feature gates, document-cap enforcement, or any equivalent mechanism in future versions). Sharing your license file with anyone outside your licensed scope (your household for Family, the named organization for Archive) also counts.
- Use the software to attack, scan, or probe systems or networks you do not own or have explicit permission to test. Arion's connector framework is for accessing cloud storage you have rightful credentials for, not for unauthorized reconnaissance.
- Use the software in a way that knowingly damages Chordalia Systems' reputation — for example, publicly attributing to us features the software does not have, or representing yourself as Chordalia Systems support when you are not.
- Resell, sublicense, or rebundle the software except as expressly permitted in the EULA.
- Use the software to provide a service to third parties in a way that exceeds your licensed scope. Running an Archive installation as a tool for the named organization's employees: fine. Running it as a paid search-as-a-service for the public: requires a separate commercial agreement.
5. Reports of suspected abuse
If you become aware of someone using Chordalia Systems software in violation of this AUP — for example, a leaked license file being redistributed, or our software being used to process illegal content — please report it to abuse@chordalia.com. Include enough detail for us to investigate; we treat reports confidentially.
We will investigate credible reports and may take any action we judge appropriate, including (where the violator is an identifiable customer) terminating the offending license under Section 10 of the EULA, refusing future sales to the same customer, or cooperating with law-enforcement requests consistent with applicable law.
6. Updates to this policy
We may update this AUP from time to time as patterns of misuse evolve or as we learn from operating experience. The current version is always available at www.chordalia.com/aup.html. Material changes will be reflected in the “Last updated” date at the top of this page. Continued use of Chordalia Systems software after an update constitutes acceptance of the revised AUP.
Contact
Questions about whether a particular use case is acceptable? We'd rather you ask up front than discover later that you shouldn't have. Real human, real answer:
Chordalia Systems LLC
hello@chordalia.com
Abuse reports: abuse@chordalia.com