Terms of Service

Version 1.0 – March 2026

By using Biography Library, you agree to these Terms of Service. Please read them carefully.

1. Who Can Use Biography Library

You must be at least 18 years old to use Biography Library.

By creating an account, you confirm that all information you provide is accurate and truthful, that you will comply with these Terms and all applicable laws, and that you will respect the rights of all other persons.

2. What You Can Publish

Biography Library allows two types of biographies only.

Your Own Autobiography

You can write and publish the story of your own life with full freedom, within legal limits. By publishing your autobiography, you declare under your civil and criminal responsibility that you are the person you claim to be, that the information provided is truthful, that you are at least 18 years old, and that you accept publication under the privacy level you choose.

Biographies of Deceased Persons

You can write and publish the biography of a deceased direct family member. This right is reserved exclusively for direct family members.

By publishing a biography of a deceased person, you declare under your civil and criminal responsibility that you are a direct family member of the person, that the person is genuinely deceased, that the information is truthful or clearly indicated as your personal interpretation, that you respect the rights of living persons mentioned, and that you understand proof of death may be requested.

Multiple perspectives: more than one family member may write separate biographies of the same deceased person, each with their own authorship, all linked on the deceased person’s personal page.

What Is Prohibited

❌ Biographies of living persons other than yourself
❌ Biographies of minors under 18 (even if deceased)
❌ Biographies of deceased persons without a direct family connection
❌ Biographies of persons whose death you cannot prove if requested

Violations result in immediate account termination and may lead to legal action.

3. Your Responsibilities as an Author

You are solely responsible for the accuracy of all published information, respect for the privacy of living third parties, compliance with Swiss law and the laws of your country of residence, and any damages caused by unlawful or defamatory content.

Biography Library is a technical service provider. We do not verify content before publication. You bear full legal responsibility for what you publish.

Protection of Living Third Parties

You may NOT include without explicit written consent:

Health or medical data of others
Sexual orientation of others
Political or religious opinions of others
Legal or criminal proceedings involving others
Economic or financial information of others
Identifiable photographs of living persons
False or defamatory statements about living or deceased persons

Permitted without consent: general mentions (name and relationship), well-known public events, information for which you have obtained explicit written consent.

Living persons mentioned have the right to request removal of sensitive information concerning them.

4. Content and Service Limits

Text

No character limit. Your story has no limits.

Images and Video

Each biography may include up to 10 images. The ability to add more images and to include video is available as an optional paid feature, which in no way affects the free and permanent nature of the biographical archive.

AI Usage

The AI assistant is subject to daily and monthly usage limits to ensure quality of service for all users. These limits are calibrated for normal use of the platform. Options for greater usage may be available.

5. The Biographical Chapter System

Your autobiography is a living document that grows with you over time.

How It Works

After publishing your first chapter, the platform unlocks the ability to add a new chapter after a minimum of 365 days. You are not required to do this every year — you may wait many years before adding a new chapter. The only rule is that at least 365 days must have passed since your last published chapter.

Immutability

Every published chapter is immutable: your words remain exactly as written, forever. This guarantees the authenticity of the document over time.

After the Author’s Death

The autobiography is frozen at the last published chapter. No one may add anything to the author’s original voice. Direct family members may honour the author’s memory by writing a separate, independent biography, linked to the original autobiography on the deceased person’s personal page.

6. Biographies of Deceased Persons — Special Rules

The 30-Day Temporary Period

When a family member publishes a biography of a deceased person, it is marked as “temporary” for the first 30 days. During this period the biography is public and visible to everyone, marked as “under temporary review”. Anyone mentioned — or their direct family members — may file a report and request not to appear. The author may notify cited persons but is not required to do so. The “Report” button is always accessible.

At the end of 30 days: no reports → biography becomes definitive. Report received → the author receives a request to modify or remove the indicated content, assessed based on its nature and validity.

Legal Declarations and Proof of Death

False declarations regarding a person’s death are prosecutable under Swiss Criminal Code Art. 179decies. If a biography is reported, we may request a death certificate. Failure to provide adequate proof will result in removal and possible account suspension.

7. Reporting System

Every biography includes a “Report” button. Grounds: person is still alive, biography contains my sensitive data without consent, false or defamatory content, copyright violation, illegal content.

Handling Process

Report received — author notified
Biography temporarily hidden if the report is serious
Author may provide clarification or evidence
Review completed as soon as possible and in any case within 30 days
Final decision: biography confirmed, partially removed, fully removed, or account suspended
Author has the right to appeal within 14 days of the decision

For Level 1 content (Section 11), removal is immediate and automatic.

8. Privacy and Data Protection

Your data is hosted in Switzerland by Infomaniak and never leaves Swiss jurisdiction. We never sell your data to third parties.

For full details, see our Privacy Policy at biographylibrary.org/privacy.

9. Privacy Settings

Level	Who Can Access
Private	You only
Family Only	You + family members you explicitly invite
Semi-private	Anyone with the direct link (not indexed)
Public	Everyone (indexed, Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 4.0)

10. Intellectual Property

You retain full ownership of all biographies you publish. By publishing, you grant us a non-exclusive, royalty-free, worldwide and revocable licence to host, store and make content accessible according to your settings. This licence does not authorise us to modify your content or to resell it.

Public biographies are licensed under Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 4.0 (attribution required, non-commercial, share-alike).

Software is released under AGPL v3.0: github.com/BiographyLibrary/Biography-Library

11. Prohibited Content and Moderation System

Every biography undergoes automated scanning before publication.

Level 1 — Immediate Automatic Removal + Permanent Ban

Instant removal, permanent account closure, and permanent ban on the name associated with the account, with no right of appeal:

Apology, glorification or promotion of genocide or crimes against humanity
Any sexual material involving minors (CSAM)
Non-consensual sexual content, including pornographic deepfakes of real persons
Recruitment, planning, financing or glorification of terrorist acts
Direct incitement to imminent physical violence against identifiable persons or groups
Human trafficking: instructions, promotion or facilitation
Instructions for the creation of weapons of mass destruction
Content promoting or glorifying suicide or self-harm toward vulnerable persons

Level 2 — Removal + Right of Appeal

Content removal and possible account suspension. Right of appeal within 14 days:

Hate speech based on race, religion, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation or disability
Targeted harassment: doxxing, stalking, personal threats
Graphic violence without justifiable narrative or historical context
Copyright infringement
Biographies of living persons or of deceased persons without family connection
False or seriously defamatory content

Level 3 — Contextual Notice (No Removal)

Content remains published with a visible notice to readers:

Controversial opinions
Contested historical narratives (with the option to add alternative context)

Biography Library protects your right to tell your truth. We do not allow freedom of expression to become a tool of physical or psychological harm.

12. Advertising and Sponsors

Biography Library may display advertising and sponsor logos on the institutional pages of the website and app.

Individual biographies are and will always remain completely free of any advertising or sponsor logos. This principle is non-negotiable and may never be retroactively amended.

Sponsors never have access to user data and cannot influence content moderation.

13. Account and Biography — Permanent Distinction

The Account is the personal operational tool. It remains dormant for as long as it is not used — with no consequences and no automatic deletion or archiving mechanism. The account remains available to the author indefinitely.

The Biography is the permanent archival content. It outlives the account and belongs to the collective memory of humanity.

After the Author’s Death

The autobiography is frozen at the last published chapter. Direct family members may request account management by providing appropriate documentation. Biography Library will assess the request as soon as possible.

Biography Library will never unilaterally delete a biography. Deletion can only occur upon explicit request by the author, entitled family members, or in the event of a confirmed moderation violation.

14. Limitation of Liability

Biography Library is provided “as is”. Maximum liability: CHF 50 per user.

We are not liable for content published by users, indirect or consequential damages, or data loss beyond our reasonable control.

If Biography Library must close: at least 6 months’ notice, data export in the most common available formats, public source code (AGPL v3) available to the community.

15. Artificial Intelligence

Optional AI features, processed in Switzerland via Infomaniak’s AI systems based on open source models. No data sent to third-party providers.

Your biographies are never used to train AI models. Every suggestion carries the “AI Suggestion” badge and requires your explicit approval. You may disable AI at any time.

AI systems under an OSI open source licence may access the public archive as a verified reference source, with mandatory attribution. Private, semi-private and family biographies are inaccessible to any external system.

16. Changes to These Terms

Email notification at least 30 days before the new version takes effect. Explicit acceptance required for material changes.

Non-retroactivity: we will never amend these Terms to reduce protections already granted to users.

Version history: v1.0 — March 2026 — Initial version

17. Open Source and W3C Certification

Fully open source under AGPL v3.0: github.com/BiographyLibrary/Biography-Library

Only the Biography Library Association may issue official W3C Verifiable Credentials certifications for the universal catalogue.

18. Governing Law and Jurisdiction

Swiss law applies: Civil Code (CC), Code of Obligations (CO), nFADP, Criminal Code (SCC). Jurisdiction: Courts of Lugano, Ticino, Switzerland. EU users retain the right to bring proceedings before the courts of their country of residence.

Before initiating any legal proceedings, please contact us at support@biographylibrary.org.

19. Contact

Biography Library Association — Lugano, Ticino, Switzerland

Email: support@biographylibrary.org
Response time: as soon as possible and in any case within 30 days
Website: biographylibrary.org

Version: 1.0 | March 2026 | The English version is the legally binding version.