Terms of Service

1. The service

freesea provides a web search and page-fetching API for software agents, operated by Steelworks Software LLC. By creating an API key or calling the API you agree to these Terms and to the Acceptable Use Policy, which forms part of them.

The service is free. We may change, limit or discontinue it at any time. There is no service-level commitment, and nothing here should be read as one.

2. Your account and keys

• You are responsible for everything done with your API keys. Treat them as secrets; revoke any key you believe is exposed.
• One account per person or organisation. Creating multiple accounts to exceed the free limits is a breach of these Terms.
• You may not resell, sublicense or repackage the service as your own search API.

3. Limits

The service enforces per-key rate limits and an overall usage budget. These exist so a free service stays available to everyone, and we may adjust them without notice. Attempting to evade them — through multiple accounts, distributed keys, or otherwise — may result in suspension.

4. Sponsored results

freesea is funded by sponsored results, and the arrangement is visible in the response rather than hidden in a ranking model:

• A sponsored entry always carries "type": "sponsored" and a human-readable disclosure.
• Organic results are never reordered for sponsors. A sponsored entry is an addition, never a promotion.
• A sponsored result appears only where the query genuinely matches it, and your domain filters apply to sponsored entries too.

Paid links. We may earn a commission when someone acts on a result we return. This applies to sponsored entries and can also apply to ordinary organic results, where the link we return is routed through an affiliate network. Treat any link returned by freesea as potentially a paid link, and disclose that to the people you show results to.

5. Your queries, and what we derive from them

You keep every right you have in the queries and URLs you submit. We claim no ownership of them.

Licence. You grant Steelworks Software LLC a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, sublicensable licence to process the queries, URLs and requests you submit, for the purpose of operating, securing, analysing and improving the service.

Derived data. You further grant us the right to create, use, publish and commercialise aggregated and de-identified data derived from use of the service — for example, counts of how often a category of query occurs, or how often agents read a particular class of page.

What that right does not include. These limits are binding on us, not aspirations:

• We publicly commit not to attempt to re-identify any individual from de-identified or aggregated data, and not to link it against another dataset for that purpose.
• We contractually require every recipient of such data to make the same commitment, including a prohibition on linkage, and we reserve the right to audit compliance.
• We do not sell raw queries, raw result URLs, or any row-level record of your activity, in any form.
• We will not apply a new use to data already collected under an earlier version of these Terms without asking you first.

The Privacy Policy describes exactly what is collected and for how long.

6. Third-party destinations

Search results and fetched pages come from sites we do not control. We do not endorse them, verify them, or take responsibility for their content, their accuracy, or what happens when you visit them. Result links are routed through freesea so we can measure and attribute them; following one takes you to a third party on their terms.

7. No warranty

The service is provided "as is" and "as available", without warranties of any kind, express or implied, including merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, accuracy, and non-infringement. Search results may be wrong, stale, incomplete or missing. Do not rely on this service where being wrong is costly.

8. Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, Steelworks Software LLC is not liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential or punitive damages, or for lost profits, revenue or data, arising from your use of the service. Our total aggregate liability arising out of these Terms will not exceed one hundred US dollars (US$100), which reflects that the service is provided free of charge.

9. Suspension and termination

You may stop using the service and delete your account at any time.

We may suspend or terminate any account, and revoke any key, at any time, for any reason or for no reason, at our sole discretion, without notice and without liability to you. The service is provided free of charge and access to it is a permission, not an entitlement.

We are not obliged to explain a decision, but so you know what we actually watch for, these are the things most likely to end an account:

• Reselling, redistributing or repackaging results — including fronting freesea behind your own search product or API.
• Systematically stripping, suppressing or obscuring the sponsored label, the disclosure text, or the incentive attached to a sponsored result before showing it onward.
• Routing around the links we return — rewriting, unwrapping or replacing them so that the traffic we fund cannot be attributed.
• Usage whose pattern indicates the service is being consumed as a bulk data source rather than to answer a user's question.
• Any use outside the purpose the service exists for, or any breach of the Acceptable Use Policy.

We would rather tell you than surprise you: this is an advertising- funded service, and it only continues to exist if the results it returns can reach the people asking for them.

10. Changes

We may update these Terms. Material changes will be posted here with a new date before they take effect, and continued use after that date is acceptance. If you do not agree, stop using the service and delete your keys.

11. Copyright complaints

freesea is an information location tool: it returns links and short extracts from pages published by third parties. If you own rights in material that appears through the service and believe it is being made available unlawfully, send a notice under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act to our designated agent at alon@steelworks.software, including the elements required by 17 U.S.C. § 512(c)(3).

We will remove or disable access to material as appropriate, and we terminate the accounts of repeat infringers.

12. Your indemnity

You will indemnify and hold harmless Steelworks Software LLC and its members, managers, officers, employees and agents from any claim, loss, liability or expense (including reasonable legal fees) arising out of your use of the service, your breach of these Terms or the Acceptable Use Policy, or your violation of anyone else's rights.

13. No personal liability

The service is provided by Steelworks Software LLC, a Delaware limited liability company. Your agreement is with the company alone.

No member, manager, officer, employee, contractor or agent of Steelworks Software LLC has any personal liability to you in connection with the service or these Terms, and you agree to bring any claim arising out of the service solely against the company and not against any individual associated with it.

14. Disputes, arbitration and class-action waiver

Any dispute arising out of these Terms or the service will be resolved by binding individual arbitration administered in the State of Delaware under the rules of a recognised arbitration provider, rather than in court, except that either party may bring an individual claim in small-claims court.

You and Steelworks Software LLC each waive the right to a jury trial and the right to participate in a class, collective or representative action. An arbitrator may award relief only to the individual party seeking it.

You may opt out of this section by writing to alon@steelworks.software within 30 days of first accepting these Terms. Opting out does not affect any other part of these Terms.

15. Export and sanctions

You may not use the service if you are located in, or ordinarily resident in, a country or region subject to comprehensive US sanctions, or if you appear on any US government restricted-party list. You are responsible for complying with export control and sanctions laws that apply to you.

16. General

• Severability. If any provision is held unenforceable, the rest stays in force and the unenforceable part is limited to the minimum extent necessary.
• Entire agreement. These Terms, the Acceptable Use Policy and the Privacy Policy are the whole agreement between us about the service.
• No waiver. Not enforcing a provision once does not waive it.
• Assignment. You may not assign these Terms without our consent. We may assign them to an affiliate or in connection with a merger, acquisition or sale of assets.
• Force majeure. Neither party is liable for a failure caused by something outside its reasonable control.
• Notices. We may reach you at the address on your account; reach us at alon@steelworks.software.
• No agency. These Terms create no partnership, employment or agency relationship.

17. Governing law

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Delaware, without regard to its conflict-of-laws rules, and the state and federal courts located there have exclusive jurisdiction over any dispute.

Questions: alon@steelworks.software.