Welcome to hapara.fail. These Terms of Service ("Terms") govern your use of our website, tools, technical write-ups, and the public Domain Name System (DNS) service (collectively, the "Services"). Our mission is to provide information and tools for educational purposes and to advocate for student privacy. By accessing or using our Services, you agree to be bound by these Terms.

1. Description of Services

The hapara.fail project provides community-driven, open-source tools and a public DNS service designed to offer greater control over your network environment. The Services are intended to demonstrate how network-level filtering works and to provide a means for users to shield themselves from pervasive tracking and surveillance technologies, particularly in educational settings. All Services are provided free of charge and are for personal, non-commercial use.

2. Acceptable Use Policy

Your use of the Services is contingent on your adherence to this Acceptable Use Policy. Failure to comply may result in the immediate and permanent termination of your access to the Services.

2.1 Prohibited Activities

You agree not to use the Services for any illegal, harmful, or malicious activities, including but not limited to:

  • Engaging in any activity that violates any applicable local, state, national, or international law or regulation.
  • Transmitting or accessing any material that is abusive, harassing, defamatory, fraudulent, or obscene.
  • Attempting to gain unauthorized access to, interfere with, damage, or disrupt any parts of the Services, our servers, or any network connected to the Services.
  • Distributing malware, viruses, or any other computer code, files, or programs that are designed to interrupt, destroy, or limit the functionality of any computer software or hardware.

2.2 Specific Terms for the hapara.fail DNS Service

The hapara.fail DNS is a free, shared resource provided for the community. You explicitly agree not to abuse this service. We stress that the DNS service is a community resource; actions that degrade the service for others, whether intentional or not, will be treated as abuse. Abuse includes, but is not limited to:

  • Commercial Use: You may not use the DNS service for commercial purposes, resell access, or integrate it into a paid product or service without our express written permission.
  • High-Volume Queries: You may not send an excessive or unreasonable volume of DNS queries that could degrade the performance and availability of the service for other users. The service is not intended for high-traffic enterprise environments.
  • Malicious Traffic: You may not route traffic associated with denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, DNS amplification attacks, spamming, phishing, or other malicious network activities through our DNS resolvers.

We reserve the right to monitor network traffic for signs of abuse and to block any IP address or range of addresses found to be in violation of these terms, without prior notice.

3. Disclaimers and Limitation of Liability

3.1 "As-Is" Service

All Services are provided on an "as-is" and "as-available" basis without any warranties of any kind, express or implied. We do not guarantee that the Services will be uninterrupted, error-free, secure, or that any defects will be corrected.

3.2 User Responsibility

These Services are strictly intended for educational, diagnostic, and research purposes. They are provided to help users understand network filtering, DNS privacy, and surveillance technologies. We do not condone or encourage the use of our Services to violate applicable laws, regulations, or institutional policies (such as school Acceptable Use Policies). Any use of these Services to access unauthorized content or bypass network security controls without permission is strictly prohibited and is done at your own risk.

3.3 Limitation of Liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, in no event will hapara.fail, its contributors, affiliates, or licensors be liable for any damages or consequences arising from your use of the Services.

4. Changes to Terms

We reserve the right to modify these Terms at any time. We will notify users of any changes by posting the new Terms on this page and updating the "Last Updated" date. Your continued use of the Services after any such change constitutes your acceptance of the new Terms.

5. Termination

We may terminate or suspend your access to our Services, in our sole discretion, at any time and without notice to you, for any reason, including but not limited to your breach of these Terms.

6. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless hapara.fail, its maintainers, and contributors from and against any claims, liabilities, damages, losses, and expenses (including reasonable legal fees) arising out of or in any way connected with your access to or use of the Services, or your violation of these Terms.

7. Enforcement and Appeals Procedure

We reserve the right to enforce these Terms by implementing technical measures, including but not limited to blocking IP addresses or ranges we determine are sources of abuse or malicious activity.

If you believe your access to our Services has been restricted in error, you may appeal this decision. To file an appeal, please send an email to support@hapara.fail with the subject line "ToS Appeal". In the body of the email, please include your IP address, a brief description of the issue, and any information you believe is relevant to your case.

We will review your appeal in good faith. However, we are under no obligation to reverse our decision, and all determinations made by our team are final. Appeals for clear and deliberate violations (such as participation in DDoS attacks) will be disregarded.

8. Severability

If any provision of these Terms is found to be unenforceable or invalid, that provision will be limited or eliminated to the minimum extent necessary so that these Terms will otherwise remain in full force and effect and enforceable.

9. Contact Information

For any questions about these Terms of Service, please contact us at support@hapara.fail.