Acceptable use policy

This policy forms part of our terms of use. It sets out what Observe IQ may be used for, and the behaviour we expect when the platform retrieves content from websites.

Permitted use

You may use Observe IQ to review:

• Websites you own or operate.
• Websites you are engaged to review, where the owner has authorised the review.
• Documents you own, or are authorised to review, including policy wordings, IPIDs and terms of business.

Consultancies and agencies may scan client websites where the client has authorised it. We may ask you to confirm that authorisation.

Prohibited use

You must not use Observe IQ to:

• Scan websites you have no right to scan, including competitor websites, for competitive analysis or any other purpose.
• Attempt to bypass authentication, paywalls, rate limits or access controls on any website.
• Retrieve content from areas of a website that are excluded by its robots file or terms, except where you control that website.
• Upload documents containing personal data that you have no lawful basis to process.
• Reverse engineer, copy or resell the rulesets, findings or platform, or use them to build a competing product.
• Submit content that is unlawful, or that infringes another person's rights.
• Present Observe IQ output as legal advice, regulatory approval or a guarantee of compliance, to clients or to regulators.
• Interfere with the platform's operation, including by automated access outside documented interfaces, or by attempting to exceed plan allowances.

Crawl behaviour

Scans are rate-limited and identify themselves with a recognisable user agent. Where you control a website, you may raise the rate limit for it in your workspace settings. We honour robots directives for websites that are not verified as belonging to your workspace.

If you operate a website and want to block Observe IQ, disallow our user agent in your robots file or contact support@observeiq.com.

Reporting misuse

If you believe Observe IQ is being used in breach of this policy, email support@observeiq.com with the detail you have. We investigate all reports.

Consequences

We may suspend scans, restrict features or terminate access where this policy is breached. Where the breach is serious, or involves unlawful activity, we may report it to the relevant authorities.