These Terms of Service ("Terms") form a binding agreement between you and Roots of Truth Initiative, a Colorado nonprofit organization ("Roots of Truth," "we," "us," "our"), governing your use of IDENTIphi, our software for investigative genetic genealogy ("IGG") research (the "Service"). By creating an account, clicking "I agree," or otherwise using the Service, you accept these Terms.
If you are using the Service on behalf of an organization, you represent that you are authorized to bind that organization, and "you" refers to both you individually and that organization.
1. Eligibility
You must be at least 18 years old and have the legal capacity to enter into a binding agreement to use the Service. The Service is intended for adults conducting IGG research; it is not directed at children. If we learn that an account belongs to a person under 18, we will close it.
2. The Service
IDENTIphi is software for organizing, analyzing, and reporting on investigative genetic genealogy research. It supports case management, pedigree construction, DNA-match clustering, triangulation analysis, and report generation.
The Service is currently offered in a beta phase and is provided "as is". Features may change, be added, or be removed; uptime is not guaranteed; data formats and APIs may evolve. We will give reasonable notice of breaking changes when feasible.
We may update these Terms from time to time. Material changes will require you to accept the updated Terms before continuing to use the Service.
3. Eligible users and acceptable use
The Service is available to anyone conducting IGG research in good faith, including:
- law enforcement investigators and contractors operating under lawful authority;
- licensed private investigators;
- accredited genealogists and forensic genealogists;
- unlicensed family historians and hobbyist researchers conducting personal genealogical work.
You agree to use the Service only for lawful purposes and to comply with all laws and regulations applicable to your work, including but not limited to those governing DNA data, privacy, identification of living individuals, and any chain-of-custody requirements that apply to evidentiary or law-enforcement use.
You agree not to use the Service to:
- identify, locate, contact, or target any living individual for harassment, stalking, intimidation, doxxing, blackmail, or any other unlawful or tortious purpose;
- re-identify any individual whose data has been anonymized or de-identified except where you have a lawful basis to do so;
- violate the terms of service of any third-party genetic-genealogy database, DNA-testing service, or records provider whose data you import or reference;
- upload, import, or process DNA, kit, or match data that you do not have a lawful right to use;
- misrepresent your identity, authority, or the source of data you upload;
- attempt to access cases, organizations, or data that have not been explicitly shared with you;
- probe, scan, test the vulnerability of, or attempt to bypass any authentication, authorization, or rate-limiting mechanism of the Service (security researchers acting in good faith should contact us before testing);
- reverse engineer, decompile, or extract the source code of the Service except to the extent permitted by applicable law;
- use the Service to build a competing product or to train any machine-learning model on case data;
- introduce malware, viruses, or any code intended to disrupt the Service or other users.
We may suspend or terminate your account if we reasonably believe you have violated these restrictions.
4. Your responsibility for subjects of research
IGG research routinely involves the personal information and DNA data of living people who are not users of the Service ("Subjects"). Subjects do not consent to your research by virtue of you using IDENTIphi.
You are solely responsible for:
- having a lawful basis to collect, process, and store data about Subjects;
- complying with all applicable laws regarding privacy, DNA data, and the identification of living individuals in your jurisdiction (including, where applicable, the GDPR, state genetic-privacy laws, the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act, and law-enforcement-use frameworks such as the U.S. DOJ Interim Policy on Forensic Genetic Genealogical DNA Analysis and Searching);
- abiding by the terms of service of any third-party genetic database from which match or kit data is sourced;
- determining whether and how to contact Subjects or their relatives.
Roots of Truth does not perform the research, does not select Subjects, and does not contact Subjects on your behalf. The Service is a tool; you remain the researcher of record.
5. Chain of custody and evidentiary use
IDENTIphi maintains internal audit logs of user actions for operational integrity and security purposes. These logs are not a forensic chain of custody and are not designed, tested, or warranted for evidentiary use in any judicial, administrative, or quasi-judicial proceeding.
If your work requires court-admissible chain of custody, you must maintain that custody yourself through your own procedures, documentation, and qualified personnel. Reports generated by the Service are research products, not sworn statements. We do not warrant that any report, export, or output of the Service will be admissible in any proceeding.
6. Your data, your cases
Data you upload to the Service — including case records, pedigrees, persons, DNA matches, notes, photographs, and supporting documents (collectively, "Your Data") — remains yours. Your organization, if any, owns Your Data; otherwise you own it personally.
You grant Roots of Truth a limited, non-exclusive, worldwide license to host, store, transmit, process, and display Your Data solely as necessary to provide the Service to you. We do not sell Your Data. We do not use Your Data to train machine-learning models, and we do not share Your Data with third parties except as expressly described in our Privacy Policy or as required by law.
You can export Your Data at any time through the Service's export feature. If you close your account, we will delete Your Data on the schedule described in our Privacy Policy.
7. Cross-organization isolation
Data is segregated by organization. Members of one organization cannot view, search, or otherwise reach data belonging to a different organization unless that data is explicitly shared with them through the Service's share/invite mechanisms. We commit to maintaining this isolation as a core security property of the Service.
If you discover a cross-organization data leak, please report it to security@identiphi.me; we treat such reports as security incidents.
8. Accounts and security
You must provide accurate registration information and keep your account credentials confidential. You are responsible for activity that occurs under your account. Notify us immediately at support@identiphi.me if you suspect your account has been compromised.
You may use Google sign-in or email-and-password authentication. You may add or change your password at any time, subject to the Service's re-authentication challenges.
9. Fees, billing, and beta period
During the beta period the Service is offered free of charge, except where you have separately agreed to a paid plan. We will give at least 30 days' notice before requiring payment from a previously free user. Fees, refund terms, and cancellation procedures for paid plans will be set out in a separate billing agreement at that time.
10. Intellectual property of the Service
The Service, including its software, interfaces, designs, documentation, and the IDENTIphi name and marks, is owned by Roots of Truth or its licensors and is protected by intellectual-property laws. We grant you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable license to use the Service in accordance with these Terms. No other rights are granted.
You may not copy, modify, distribute, sell, lease, or sublicense any part of the Service, or use any automated means (scraping, robots) to extract material from the Service.
11. Third-party data and services
The Service may integrate with or reference third-party services, including but not limited to FamilySearch, GEDmatch, and third-party DNA-data providers. Your use of those services is governed by their own terms. Roots of Truth is not responsible for third-party services and makes no warranties regarding them.
12. Disclaimers
THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE," WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, ACCURACY, OR THAT THE SERVICE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, SECURE, OR ERROR-FREE.
WE MAKE NO WARRANTY THAT REPORTS, ANALYSES, OR OUTPUTS OF THE SERVICE ARE COMPLETE, CORRECT, OR FIT FOR ANY INVESTIGATIVE, EVIDENTIARY, OR DECISIONAL PURPOSE. IGG IS A PROBABILISTIC RESEARCH METHOD; YOU ASSUME THE RISK OF RELYING ON ITS OUTPUTS.
13. Limitation of liability
TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, ROOTS OF TRUTH AND ITS DIRECTORS, OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES, AND CONTRACTORS WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR FOR LOST PROFITS, LOST DATA, OR LOSS OF GOODWILL, ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO YOUR USE OF THE SERVICE, EVEN IF WE HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.
OUR AGGREGATE LIABILITY FOR ALL CLAIMS ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THE SERVICE WILL NOT EXCEED THE GREATER OF (A) THE AMOUNT YOU PAID US FOR THE SERVICE IN THE TWELVE MONTHS PRECEDING THE CLAIM OR (B) ONE HUNDRED U.S. DOLLARS ($100).
Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion or limitation of certain damages; in those jurisdictions our liability is limited to the fullest extent permitted by law.
14. Indemnification
You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless Roots of Truth and its directors, officers, employees, and contractors from and against any third-party claims, damages, liabilities, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising out of or relating to:
- Your Data or your use of the Service;
- your violation of these Terms;
- your violation of any law or the rights of any third party, including any Subject of your research;
- any IGG report, identification, or contact you make based on use of the Service.
15. Suspension and termination
We may suspend or terminate your access to the Service at any time, with or without notice, if we reasonably believe you have violated these Terms, if continued provision of the Service to you poses a security or legal risk, or if we discontinue the Service.
You may close your account at any time by contacting support@identiphi.me or using any in-product close-account function. Sections 4, 5, 6, 10, 12, 13, 14, 16, and 17 survive termination.
16. Governing law and disputes
These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Colorado, without regard to its conflict-of-laws rules. Any dispute arising out of or relating to these Terms or the Service will be brought exclusively in the state or federal courts located in the State of Colorado, and you consent to the personal jurisdiction of those courts.
You and Roots of Truth each waive any right to a jury trial. You agree that any claim must be brought in your individual capacity, and not as a plaintiff or class member in any purported class, collective, or representative action.
17. Miscellaneous
- Entire agreement. These Terms and the Privacy Policy are the entire agreement between you and Roots of Truth regarding the Service, and supersede any prior agreement on the subject.
- Severability. If any provision is held unenforceable, the remaining provisions will remain in effect, and the unenforceable provision will be modified to the minimum extent necessary to make it enforceable.
- No waiver. Our failure to enforce any provision is not a waiver of our right to do so later.
- Assignment. You may not assign these Terms without our prior written consent. We may assign these Terms in connection with a merger, acquisition, reorganization, or sale of assets.
- Notices. Notices to you will be sent to the email address associated with your account. Notices to us should be sent to legal@identiphi.me.
- No agency. Nothing in these Terms creates a partnership, joint venture, agency, or employment relationship between you and Roots of Truth.
- Force majeure. Neither party is liable for delays or failures caused by events outside its reasonable control.
18. Contact
Roots of Truth Initiative
Email: legal@identiphi.me
General support: support@identiphi.me
Security reports: security@identiphi.me