Terms of Service

In these Terms: "Content" means any information, text, images, data or other material; "User Content" means Content you or other users submit to the Service; and "ACL" means the Australian Consumer Law set out in Schedule 2 to the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth).

You must be at least 16 years of age and have the legal capacity to enter into a binding contract. If you use the Service on behalf of another person or entity, you warrant that you are authorised to bind them to these Terms.

The Service is a hobbyist aid for metal detectorists and prospectors. It maps where detecting may be permitted, presents geological information, allows you to log finds and record private walk tracks, and provides a community feed and messaging. The Service is provided for general information and enjoyment only.

Permission to detect depends on land ownership and laws that vary by location and change over time. The permission zones, verdicts, geology and rule summaries in the Service are best-effort summaries only, may be incomplete, inaccurate or out of date, and do not constitute legal advice. You are solely responsible for confirming that you may lawfully detect and dig at any location, and for holding any permit (such as a Miner's Right) required by law, before doing so.

Metal detecting and prospecting involve physical activity, excavation, travel and access to land, and carry inherent risks. You participate entirely at your own risk. To the maximum extent permitted by law, we are not liable for any personal injury, death, property damage, fine, prosecution, or loss arising from your detecting activities or your reliance on any information in the Service.

You agree to: (a) comply with all applicable laws and land-manager conditions; (b) obtain written permission where it is required; (c) backfill excavations and remove rubbish; (d) report finds of possible archaeological or heritage value to the relevant authority; and (e) not use the Service to trespass, damage heritage or the environment, or commit any unlawful act.

You must provide accurate registration details, keep your credentials secure, and promptly notify us of any unauthorised use. You are responsible for all activity under your account.

You retain ownership of your User Content. You grant us a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, sub-licensable licence to host, store, reproduce, adapt, publish and display your User Content for the purposes of operating, promoting and improving the Service. You warrant that you own or are licensed to submit your User Content, and that it does not infringe any third-party right or breach any law or these Terms. You must not submit Content that is unlawful, infringing, defamatory, harassing, or that reveals a sensitive, protected or heritage site.

The Service enables User Content and interactions between users. User Content is created by users, not by us; we do not author, endorse, verify or guarantee it, and it may be inaccurate, offensive or unlawful. To the maximum extent permitted by law, we are not responsible or liable for any User Content, or for any interaction, communication, dealing, trade, meeting or dispute between users, whether online or in person. You deal with other users at your own risk and are responsible for your own precautions. We are not obliged to monitor Content, but we may review, moderate, remove or restrict Content, and suspend or terminate accounts, at our discretion.

This clause applies to all User Content you upload, post, share or send, and to every comment, message, reaction and other interaction you have with other users. You are solely responsible for everything you submit. You must not upload, post, share, send, link to or display any Content, and must not behave towards any user, in a way that: breaches the laws of the State of Victoria or the Commonwealth of Australia, or encourages or facilitates any criminal offence; contains profanity, obscene or sexually explicit material, or nudity; depicts, glorifies, incites or threatens violence, cruelty or self-harm; is hateful, harassing, bullying, discriminatory or defamatory; sexualises, endangers or inappropriately depicts a child; promotes illegal drugs, weapons, fraud or other unlawful activity; or discloses a protected, sensitive or heritage site, or another person's personal information without their consent. We apply ordinary community-moderation standards consistent with Australian law, and we operate a strict zero-tolerance policy: Content that breaches these standards may be removed without notice, and any account involved may be suspended or permanently terminated at our sole discretion, including on a first breach. We may use automated and human moderation to review Content and conduct, and may refer unlawful Content or conduct to the police or other relevant authorities.

You must not: breach any law; infringe intellectual property or privacy rights; harass, threaten, defame or impersonate any person; disclose protected or sensitive sites; transmit malware; send spam or operate bots; scrape or harvest data; interfere with, probe or overload the Service; or access any account or data without authorisation.

The Service relies on third-party services and open data (including mapping, geology, weather, artificial-intelligence, email and infrastructure providers described in our Privacy Policy). Those services and data are provided "as is", and we are not responsible for third-party Content, services, availability or accuracy.

As between you and us, we (and our licensors) own all intellectual property rights in the Service, other than your User Content. Except as permitted by law, you must not copy, modify, distribute or create derivative works from the Service.

The Service is provided free of charge and not in trade or commerce, so the ACL may not apply to it. To the extent the ACL (or any other law) does apply and confers guarantees, rights or remedies that cannot lawfully be excluded, nothing in these Terms excludes, restricts or modifies them.

Subject to clause 14, the Service is provided "as is" and "as available" without warranties of any kind, express or implied, including as to accuracy, fitness for a particular purpose, or uninterrupted or error-free operation. We do not warrant that any permission, location, geology or rule information is correct or current.

Subject to clause 14, and to the maximum extent permitted by law: (a) we exclude all liability for indirect, incidental, special, consequential or punitive loss, and for loss of profits, data, goodwill, or for fines, injury or property damage, arising from or in connection with the Service, other users' Content, or interactions between users; and (b) our total aggregate liability for all claims is limited, at our option, to re-supplying the relevant service or paying the cost of having it re-supplied, or to AUD 100, whichever is greater. Where liability for a consumer guarantee cannot be excluded but may be limited, our liability is limited as permitted by section 64A of the ACL.

To the maximum extent permitted by law, you indemnify us and our officers, employees and agents against all claims, losses, liabilities, costs and expenses (including reasonable legal costs) arising from your use of the Service, your User Content, your interactions with other users, or your breach of these Terms or any law.

We may suspend or terminate your access to the Service, or remove Content, if you breach these Terms or misuse the Service. You may stop using the Service and delete your account at any time. Clauses which by their nature should survive termination (including 8-17, 20 and 21) survive.

We may amend these Terms from time to time. We will update the "last updated" date and, for material changes, ask you to accept the amended Terms. Your continued use of the Service after an amendment takes effect constitutes acceptance.

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Victoria and the Commonwealth of Australia. You and we submit to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of Victoria and the courts competent to hear appeals from them.

If any provision of these Terms is held invalid or unenforceable, it is severed and the remaining provisions continue in force. Our failure to enforce a provision is not a waiver of it. You must not assign your rights under these Terms without our consent; we may assign ours. These Terms are the entire agreement between you and us regarding the Service.

Questions about these Terms: please use the contact form at https://detectortrails.com/contact.