Effective — 22 May 2026

Terms of Service

These terms set out the basic agreement between you and 19 Protocol. They're written in plain language because we'd rather you actually read them than have a wall of legalese you skip past.

1. About 19 Protocol

19 Protocol ("we", "us", "the service") is a discussion platform built on top of the publicly available Cryptography Mailing List archive (1992 to present) and extended with member-contributed threads in adjacent disciplines — code, math, engineering, law, philosophy, economics, ecology, biotech, sociology, and geopolitics.

The service is operated as an independent project by Mehdi Karacagün, based in Leuven, Belgium. By creating an account or using the platform you agree to these terms; if you do not agree, please don't use the service.

2. Eligibility

You may create an account if all of the following are true:

• You are at least 18 years old and have full legal capacity to enter into a contract under the law of your country of residence.
• You are a student, researcher, faculty member, or otherwise an interested adult — 19 Protocol is built for serious discussion, not entertainment scrolling.
• You provide a valid email address that you control.

During early launch we may limit registration to specific institutional email domains or restrict invitations. This is a temporary product decision, not a permanent policy.

3. Your account

• One human, one account. Running multiple accounts to inflate participation, manipulate moderation, or evade a ban is not allowed.
• You're responsible for your credentials. Keep your password confidential. If you suspect your account has been compromised, change the password and contact us.
• Stable identifier. Impersonating other real or fictional people, organizations, or 19 Protocol staff is prohibited.

4. Acceptable use

You agree not to use 19 Protocol to:

• Publish anything illegal under Belgian or EU law — including hate speech, incitement to violence, threats, doxxing, defamation, or child sexual abuse material;
• Harass, intimidate, or coordinate targeted abuse against any person;
• Post spam, repetitive promotional content, affiliate spam, or low-value SEO content;
• Scrape, crawl, mirror, or systematically copy site content without prior written permission;
• Bypass rate limits, security measures, moderation actions, or paywalled features;
• Upload malware, exploit code intended for non-research use, or other harmful payloads;
• Knowingly misrepresent the provenance of content — for example, presenting AI-generated text as your own original argument in a context where it materially matters (debate, citation, claimed personal experience).

We may publish supplementary community guidelines that elaborate on these. Violations may result in content removal, warnings, suspension, or permanent ban — at our discretion. Severity matters; one clumsy post is not the same as a coordinated campaign.

5. Your content

• You retain ownership of everything you post. Posting on 19 Protocol does not transfer copyright.
• You grant us a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to host, display, copy, transmit, translate, and create derivative excerpts of your content for the sole purpose of operating the platform — including showing it to other users, indexing it for search, and including it in shareable read-only snapshots that you yourself generate.
• You represent that you have the right to post any content you submit and that it does not infringe on anyone else's rights (copyright, trademark, privacy, etc.).

6. Archive content

Threads imported from the original Cryptography Mailing List archive (1992 onward) are reproduced from publicly available list archives. Each original author is attributed. If you are an author of archived content and want your contribution removed, anonymized, or corrected, contact us — reasonable requests will be honored.

7. Moderation

We may remove, hide, or edit any content; suspend or terminate any account; rate-limit usage; or refuse service — at our discretion, with or without prior notice. We aim to apply the rules consistently and to explain decisions when asked, but no formal appeal process is guaranteed at this stage. If a moderation decision feels wrong to you, write to us and we will look at it.

8. Termination

• By you: you can delete your account at any time from the settings page. See the Privacy Policy for what happens to your data afterwards.
• By us: we may suspend or terminate your account for violations of these terms, for legal compulsion, or — with reasonable notice — for any other reason. We may terminate immediately for serious violations (illegal content, abuse, security threats).
• Sections that by their nature should survive termination — content license already granted for already-posted content, disclaimers, limitation of liability, governing law — survive.

9. Disclaimers

The service is provided "as is" and "as available", without warranties of any kind — express or implied — to the maximum extent permitted by law. We do not guarantee uptime, the accuracy or completeness of archive content, or that the platform will be free from defects, security vulnerabilities, or data loss.

Discussions on 19 Protocol are user-contributed. Statements made by users are their own and do not represent the views of the operator.

10. Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, neither 19 Protocol nor its operator(s) will be liable for any indirect, incidental, consequential, special, exemplary, or punitive damages arising out of or related to your use of the service — including but not limited to loss of data, loss of reputation, or business interruption.

Nothing in these terms excludes or limits liability that cannot lawfully be excluded under applicable Belgian or EU consumer protection law (including liability for gross negligence, wilful misconduct, or death or personal injury caused by negligence).

11. Indemnity

If your use of the service or your content causes a third-party claim against us, you agree to indemnify and hold the operator harmless against reasonable costs (legal fees, settlement amounts) arising from that claim, except where the claim is caused by our own breach of these terms or applicable law.

12. Changes to these terms

We may update these terms. Material changes will be announced inside the platform and the "Effective" date at the top will change. Continued use after the change means you accept the updated terms. If you don't, your remedy is to stop using the service and, if you wish, delete your account.

13. Governing law and disputes

These terms are governed by the laws of Belgium, excluding its conflict-of-law rules. Any dispute that cannot be resolved through informal contact with us will be brought before the competent courts of Leuven, Belgium, except where applicable consumer-protection law gives you the right to bring the claim in the courts of your country of residence within the EU.

14. Severability

If any provision of these terms is found invalid or unenforceable, the rest of the terms remain in effect; the invalid provision will be interpreted to come as close as possible to its original intent.

15. Contact

For questions about these terms, write to 19protocol@proton.me. 19 Protocol is operated by Mehdi Karacagün.