Terms of Service

Effective: May 19, 2026

These Terms of Service ("Terms") govern your use of Athene Letters (the "Service"), an email-based informational research assistant operated by Athene Letters ("we", "us", "our"). By creating an account or using the Service, you ("you", "User") agree to these Terms. If you do not agree, do not use the Service.

1. Description of the Service

Athene Letters is an account-based email research assistant. After you register an account, we issue you one unique inbound email address. Research questions sent to that address from your registered sender receive a plain-text informational reply delivered to your registered email address. The Service is intended to provide general information about publicly available federal regulations, agency procedures, and policy references — including but not limited to FOIA processes, Bureau of Prisons (BOP) Program Statements, and federal sentencing guideline references.

2. Eligibility

You must be at least 18 years old and a resident of the United States to create an account. By registering, you represent and warrant that you meet these eligibility requirements and that the information you provide at signup is accurate.

3. Not Legal Advice

The Service does not provide legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship. Every reply is general informational research only. Information provided by the Service does not substitute for advice from a licensed attorney. For case-specific or personal legal questions, you must consult a licensed attorney. We are not a law firm; we do not employ attorneys to advise users; we do not represent you in any matter.

4. LLM-Generated Content

Replies are generated with the assistance of large language model (LLM) software and are limited by product policy to plain-text informational summaries. While we make reasonable efforts to ensure accuracy and include citations to public sources where applicable, LLM-generated content can be incomplete, out of date, or incorrect. You should not rely on any reply as the sole basis for legal, medical, financial, or other professional decisions.

5. Acceptable Use

You agree NOT to:

Send case-specific personal facts, identifying information about a third party, or details that could be construed as a request for personalized legal advice.
Use the Service to send spam, marketing, unsolicited bulk email, or messages to addresses you do not control or have not been authorized to message.
Attempt to bypass, reverse-engineer, or test the Service for vulnerabilities without our prior written permission.
Use the Service in connection with any activity that violates applicable federal, state, or local law, including but not limited to harassment, fraud, or unauthorized practice of law.
Share your inbound address with any sender who is not your registered TRULINCS correspondent or attempt to register an address you do not control.

We may suspend or terminate accounts that violate these rules without prior notice.

6. Bureau of Prisons (TRULINCS) Channel Visibility

If a research question reaches the Service via the federal Bureau of Prisons TRULINCS/Corrlinks correspondence system, you acknowledge that all messages exchanged on that channel are visible to BOP staff, independent of the Service. There is no privacy or privilege on that channel. Replies that we deliver to your registered email address are not transmitted by us through TRULINCS; if you choose to forward our replies back to a TRULINCS correspondent, that forwarding will be visible to BOP staff.

7. Data Retention & Privacy

We store message bodies (both inbound and outbound), sender addresses, and operational metadata necessary to deliver the Service. Message bodies are retained in plaintext for up to ninety (90) days, after which they are anonymized by replacement with a sha256 hash. Operational metadata (timestamps, route classifications, character counts) may be retained longer for analytics and abuse prevention.

We do not sell your personal data and we do not share it with advertisers. We share data with vendors strictly to operate the Service (email delivery, hosting, error monitoring). We will comply with valid subpoenas issued by a court of competent jurisdiction.

8. Opt-Out & Suppression

You may stop using the Service at any time by sending a written request to hello@atheneletters.com or by replying with the word "STOP" to any message we send you. Upon opt-out we suppress your registered email address from further delivery and deactivate the inbound address assigned to your account. Suppressed addresses are retained on our suppression list indefinitely to honor your opt-out across future sign-up attempts.

9. Account Termination by Us

We may suspend or terminate your account at our discretion, with or without notice, if we reasonably believe you have violated these Terms, if continued service would expose us to legal or operational risk, or if the Service is discontinued. Upon termination, we will cease processing further inbound or outbound messages on your account.

10. No Warranty

The Service is provided "AS IS" and "AS AVAILABLE" without warranty of any kind, express or implied. We disclaim all warranties including, without limitation, merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, accuracy, timeliness, and non-infringement. We do not warrant that the Service will be uninterrupted, error-free, or that any reply will be correct.

11. Limitation of Liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, in no event will Athene Letters or its operators be liable for indirect, incidental, consequential, special, exemplary, or punitive damages arising out of or related to your use of the Service. Our aggregate liability to you for direct damages is limited to the greater of (a) one hundred U.S. dollars (USD $100) or (b) the amount you have paid us in the preceding twelve (12) months. The Service is currently provided free of charge during a pilot phase.

12. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless Athene Letters and its operators from any claim, loss, damage, or liability (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising out of (a) your use of the Service, (b) your violation of these Terms, or (c) your violation of any third-party right, including intellectual property or privacy rights.

13. Modifications to the Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. Material changes will be announced via email to your registered address at least fourteen (14) days before they take effect. Continued use of the Service after the effective date constitutes acceptance of the updated Terms.

14. Governing Law & Disputes

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Delaware, without regard to its conflict-of-laws principles. Any dispute arising out of or relating to these Terms or the Service will be resolved exclusively in the state or federal courts located in Delaware, and you consent to personal jurisdiction in those courts.

15. Contact

Questions about these Terms or the Service: hello@atheneletters.com.