Terms of Service

1. Acceptance

These Terms govern your use of realhandles.com, the RealHandles Android app, the browser extension, and the rest of the RealHandles service, operated by David V. Kimball LLC. By using any of them you agree to these Terms and to our Privacy Policy. If you do not agree, do not use the service.

2. What RealHandles is

RealHandles is a tool that lets you generate a cryptographic key, prove control of your online accounts and domains, and publish a portable signed proof linking them to one person. Your key is the root of trust; our login and any domain are conveniences, not the identity.

The same model is available on the web, in a browser extension, and in an Android app. The Android app is in closed testing on Google Play today; a public listing will use the same Play Store URL when it opens. If you are a tester, these Terms apply to your use of that build the same as to the website.

3. Acceptable use

• You may only verify or claim accounts, domains, organizations, and servers that you actually control or are authorized to represent.
• No impersonation. Do not claim to be another person or organization, and do not add accounts that are not yours in a way designed to mislead.
• Do not use the service unlawfully, infringe others' rights, or attempt to abuse, overload, or circumvent the verification, handle-reservation, or anti-squatting mechanisms.
• Do not use the service to harass, defraud, or endanger others.
• No adult, sexual, or graphic content on profiles. Display names, avatars, notes, claimed or verified account listings, profile links, and anything else you publish through RealHandles must not include pornography, sexual content involving minors (which we report and remove), graphic violence, gore, or targeted harassment. Linking out to a site that is primarily adult or graphic material counts the same as posting it here. You are responsible for what a linked page shows.

If you see a profile that breaks these rules, report it and choose "Abusive or inappropriate content". A person reads the queue.

4. Verification is best-effort

A "Verified" status means an automated first-party check (such as OAuth, an author-bound post, a platform lookup, or domain control) passed at a point in time. A "Claimed" status is self-asserted and not verified by us. We do not warrant that any account genuinely belongs to any person, that verifications remain accurate over time, or that the service will be available or error-free. Do your own diligence; use the independent verifier to check any proof yourself.

5. Your key and your content

• You are solely responsible for your signing key and its Identity Backup. Because we never hold your private key, we cannot recover or reset it. If you lose it and your backup, you lose the ability to update your proof.
• You retain ownership of your content. You grant us the permission needed to store and publicly display your profile data and signed manifest as part of operating the service.
• You are solely responsible for what you publish, including avatar URLs and links to other sites. We do not pre-screen every profile. We may hide, delist, rename, suspend, or remove access when content violates these Terms, when required by law, or when needed to protect others, without editing your signed history (we cannot forge your key).

Hiding your own profile

You can hide your whole profile from your account at any time, and publish it again whenever you want. Hiding is a change to your signed manifest, so it takes your key and not merely your login, for the same reason a login cannot rename or delete you. Your handle stays yours while hidden, and nobody else can claim it.

While your profile is hidden we stop serving your public page, your entry in the directory and its API, your link preview image, and your current signed proof at /<handle>/realhandles.json. Anyone who opens your page is told the profile is hidden. We do not tell them it is unclaimed, because it is not.

Hiding is us stopping publishing. It is not erasure, and we will not describe it as one. Your signed history stays available at /<handle>/realhandles-chain.json. Withholding verification data because someone asked would make us the judge of who can be verified, which is the role this service exists to refuse, and it is not a promise we could keep in any case: each version's hash is committed to the Bitcoin blockchain through OpenTimestamps, and any copy already downloaded stays valid wherever it went. If you want our copy gone rather than unpublished, delete your identity (see the Privacy Policy). That removes what we hold, and still cannot reach copies other people have.

6. Handles and names

A handle is the name in our directory that points at your key. The key is the identity. That is why this policy can be fair instead of frightening: taking a handle back does not take an identity. If we reassign a handle, the key, every verified account, and the whole signed history are untouched. Old links keep working, because the previous handle is left behind as a redirect to the new one. To be exact about the one thing that does change: the handle is written inside the signed manifest, so the version signed under the old name keeps saying the old name, and the new one is only reflected once you re-sign. Nothing is rewritten, and no past version stops verifying.

Handles are subject to our reservation rules, where a short or protected name requires a matching verified proof. Holding a handle is permission to use a name on this service. It is not a trademark and not a property right.

When a handle may be reassigned

• Trademark. A rights holder shows a mark, and the handle is that mark.
• A well-known name. A notable person or organization asks for a handle the public would reasonably read as belonging to that person or organization.
• Impersonation. The handle is being used to pass as someone else.
• Safety or fraud. The handle is part of a scam, harassment, or something dangerous to other people.
• Squatting. The handle was taken mainly to block, resell, or trade on a name, with nothing real behind it.
• Our mistake. We protected or reserved a name that should have been claimable, or let one go that should have been protected.

A handle claimed in good faith and actually used by the person who claimed it does not get handed to whoever has the larger legal budget. A verified proof that matches the handle counts heavily in favor of the current holder.

How to ask for a handle

Same door as an impersonation report: report the profile and pick "Trademark or name claim". Include the handle, who you are or represent, the mark or name at issue, the registration number or the verified accounts and domain that establish it, and an address where you can be reached. There is no separate legal channel to find. A person reads it.

What happens to the person who loses a handle

We tell you before the change wherever we can reach you, say why, and allow a chance to respond, unless the profile is an active safety or fraud problem, in which case we act first and explain after. We do not store an email address, so the only way we have to reach you is through the accounts you verified, which is one more reason to verify at least one. The identity survives intact: same key, same verified accounts, same signed history, a new handle, and the old handle redirects to it.

What we cannot do

Renaming a handle the normal way requires a signature from the identity's own key, so we cannot perform that rename on anyone's behalf. An operator reclaim is a directory action: we change what a name points to in our records, nothing more. We do not and cannot edit a signed manifest, forge a signature, or rewrite anyone's history. Anyone verifying the proof independently still sees the same key, under a new name.

7. Suspension and termination

We may suspend or terminate access for violation of these Terms (including the profile-content rules in section 3), impersonation or abuse, or where required by law. You may stop using the service and request deletion at any time (see the Privacy Policy). Your independently hosted signed proofs are unaffected by termination.

If you want to step back without ending anything, hide your profile instead (section 5). That keeps your handle, your key, and your history, and stops us publishing you until you say otherwise.

8. Disclaimers

The service is provided "as is" and "as available", without warranties of any kind, express or implied, including merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement. We do not guarantee uninterrupted or error-free operation.

9. Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, David V. Kimball LLC will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, or for lost profits, data, or goodwill, arising from your use of or inability to use the service. Our total liability for any claim relating to the service is limited to the amount you paid us for it, which for a free service is zero.

10. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless David V. Kimball LLC from claims arising out of your misuse of the service or violation of these Terms or the rights of others.

11. Changes

We may update these Terms. Material changes are reflected by the date above, and continued use after an update means you accept the revised Terms.

12. Governing law and contact

These Terms are governed by the laws of Texas, USA, without regard to conflict-of-laws rules. Questions: davidvkimball.com/contact.