Acceptable Use Policy

Rules governing acceptable and prohibited uses of the Cognistase platform. Designed to protect children, parents, and the integrity of the Service.

Effective Date: April 10, 2026 Version: 1.0 Last Modified: April 10, 2026

This Acceptable Use Policy ("AUP") sets out the rules governing your use of the Cognistase platform and related services (the "Service"). This AUP is part of, and incorporated into, our Terms of Service. Capitalized terms not defined here have the meanings given in the Terms of Service.

By using the Service, you agree to comply with this AUP. We may update this AUP from time to time, and the updated version will be effective upon posting to this page. Continued use of the Service after changes are posted constitutes acceptance of the updated AUP.

1. Intended Purpose

The Service is designed exclusively for:

Monitoring and understanding the developmental needs of gifted and twice-exceptional (2e) children.
Generating education plan documents and advocacy materials.
Supporting executive functioning through AI-assisted task planning.
Connecting children with similar interests through structured, moderated peer matching.
Empowering parents, guardians, educators, and professionals to advocate for children's educational and developmental needs.

You may use the Service only for these intended purposes and in accordance with all applicable laws and regulations.

2. Prohibited Conduct

2.1 General Prohibitions

You may not use the Service to:

Engage in any activity that is illegal, harmful, fraudulent, deceptive, or discriminatory.
Violate the rights of any person, including intellectual property rights, privacy rights, and rights of publicity.
Harass, threaten, bully, intimidate, stalk, or otherwise harm any person.
Distribute spam, unsolicited communications, or chain letters.
Engage in phishing or attempt to obtain personal information from other users through deceptive means.

2.2 Child Safety Prohibitions

The safety of children is our absolute priority. You may not:

Use the Service in any manner that could harm, exploit, endanger, or expose a child to inappropriate content or interactions.
Submit, upload, or share any content depicting child sexual abuse or exploitation (CSAM). Discovery of such content will result in immediate account termination and reporting to law enforcement authorities.
Attempt to contact or communicate with children outside of the structured, moderated features of the Service.
Use the Service to facilitate grooming, exploitation, or any form of abuse of children.
Circumvent, disable, or interfere with child safety features, content filters, or parental controls.
Upload images containing recognizable faces or identifiable photographs of children in peer matching features.
Share a child's real name, address, school name, or other identifying information in community or peer matching features.

2.3 Data and Security Prohibitions

You may not:

Access or attempt to access another user's account, data, or child profiles without authorization.
Circumvent, disable, or interfere with security features of the Service.
Probe, scan, or test the vulnerability of the Service or any connected network or system, except through our authorized vulnerability disclosure program.
Use automated tools, bots, scrapers, crawlers, or other automated means to access, interact with, or extract data from the Service without our prior written consent.
Reverse-engineer, decompile, disassemble, or otherwise attempt to discover the source code, algorithms, or data structures of the Service, except to the extent expressly permitted by applicable law.
Introduce malware, viruses, worms, Trojan horses, or any other malicious code or software into the Service.
Attempt to overwhelm the Service with excessive requests (denial-of-service attacks or similar activities).
Interfere with or disrupt the integrity, performance, or availability of the Service.

2.4 Content Prohibitions

You may not submit, upload, or share Content that:

Is false, fraudulent, misleading, or deceptive, particularly with respect to clinical data, assessment results, or professional qualifications.
Is defamatory, libelous, threatening, obscene, pornographic, or otherwise objectionable.
Infringes the intellectual property rights, privacy rights, or any other rights of a third party.
Contains personal data of third parties without their consent.
Promotes violence, hatred, discrimination, or harm against any individual or group.
Constitutes unauthorized medical, legal, or professional advice.
Contains advertising, promotional materials, or commercial solicitations.

2.5 Platform Integrity Prohibitions

You may not:

Create multiple accounts for the purpose of circumventing restrictions, suspensions, or enforcement actions.
Impersonate any person, entity, or professional credential.
Falsely represent your affiliation with any person, entity, or organization.
Use the Service to compile databases of personal data of other users.
Resell, sublicense, redistribute, or commercially exploit any part of the Service or data obtained from the Service without our prior written consent.
Use the Service to develop or operate a competing product or service.
Remove, alter, or obscure any proprietary notices, labels, or markings on the Service.

3. Professional User Obligations

If you use the Service in a professional capacity (e.g., as an educator, clinician, psychologist, or therapist), you additionally agree to:

Use the Service only in accordance with applicable professional codes of conduct, ethical standards, and scope of practice.
Access child data only to the extent authorized by the relevant parent or guardian and only for the purposes for which access was granted.
Not disclose, copy, or share any child data obtained through the Service except as authorized by the parent or guardian and as permitted by applicable law.
Maintain the confidentiality and security of any data you access through the Service.
Comply with all applicable data protection laws, including the GDPR and any applicable professional secrecy obligations.
Promptly report any suspected data breach, misuse, or child safety concern to Cognistase.

4. Content Standards

4.1 Accuracy

You are responsible for the accuracy of the Content you submit to the Service. While the Service is designed to help you organize and present developmental information, you should ensure that assessment results, clinical observations, and other factual content you enter are accurate and truthful to the best of your knowledge.

4.2 Ownership

You must have all necessary rights, licenses, and permissions to submit any Content to the Service. You may not upload copyrighted materials owned by third parties unless you have obtained appropriate permission.

4.3 Appropriateness

All Content must be appropriate for a platform used by and for children. Content submitted in peer matching and community features must be suitable for all age groups represented on the platform.

5. Monitoring and Enforcement

5.1 Our Rights

We reserve the right, but are not obligated, to:

Monitor use of the Service for compliance with this AUP.
Investigate any suspected violation of this AUP.
Remove or disable access to any Content that violates this AUP.
Suspend or terminate accounts that violate this AUP.

5.2 Enforcement Actions

Violations of this AUP may result in one or more of the following actions, at our sole discretion:

A warning notice specifying the violation and requesting remediation.
Temporary suspension of your account.
Permanent termination of your account.
Removal of offending Content.
Reporting to law enforcement authorities where required by law or where we determine in good faith that a report is necessary to protect children or public safety.

5.3 Severity-Based Response

Minor violations (e.g., inadvertently sharing identifying information in a community feature): Warning and request for correction.
Serious violations (e.g., submitting fraudulent professional credentials, repeatedly violating Content standards): Account suspension with an opportunity to appeal.
Critical violations (e.g., any child safety violation, attempted data theft, distribution of CSAM): Immediate and permanent account termination, law enforcement notification, and data preservation for investigative purposes.

5.4 No Obligation

Our decision not to enforce this AUP in any particular instance does not constitute a waiver of our right to enforce it in other instances.

6. Reporting Violations

If you become aware of any violation of this AUP, please report it to us immediately:

Child safety concerns: safety@cognistase.com (response within 4 hours)
Security concerns: security@cognistase.com
General AUP violations: abuse@cognistase.com

We treat all reports confidentially and will investigate promptly. We do not retaliate against users who report violations in good faith.

7. Vulnerability Disclosure

If you discover a security vulnerability in the Service, we encourage responsible disclosure:

Report the vulnerability to security@cognistase.com.
Provide sufficient technical detail for us to reproduce and address the vulnerability.
Allow us reasonable time to address the vulnerability before any public disclosure.
Do not exploit the vulnerability beyond what is necessary to demonstrate it.

We commit to:

Acknowledging your report within 48 hours.
Not pursuing legal action against good-faith security researchers who comply with this policy.
Keeping you informed of our progress in addressing the vulnerability.
Recognizing your contribution (if you wish) once the vulnerability is resolved.

8. Contact

If you have questions about this Acceptable Use Policy, please contact us:

Legal Inquiries Email: legal@cognistase.com

Child Safety Concerns Email: safety@cognistase.com

Security Concerns Email: security@cognistase.com

Abuse Reports Email: abuse@cognistase.com

This Acceptable Use Policy was last updated on April 10, 2026.