Terms and Conditions

Last updated: September 12, 2025

Please read these terms and conditions carefully before using Our Service.

Interpretation and Definitions

Interpretation

The words of which the initial letter is capitalized have meanings defined under the following conditions. The following definitions shall have the same meaning regardless of whether they appear in singular or in plural.

Definitions

For the purposes of these Terms and Conditions:

  • Application means the software program provided by the Company downloaded or accessed by You on any electronic device, named Striae

  • Affiliate means an entity that controls, is controlled by or is under common control with a party, where "control" means ownership of 50% or more of the shares, equity interest or other securities entitled to vote for election of directors or other managing authority.

  • Account means a unique account created for You to access Our Service or parts of Our Service.

  • Country refers to: United States

  • Company (referred to as either "the Company", "We", "Us" or "Our" in this Agreement) refers to Striae, owned and operated by The Stephenson Jack Lu Living Trust, https://www.striae.org.

  • Data refers to content such as text, images, or other information that can be posted, uploaded, linked to or otherwise made available by You, regardless of the form of that content.

  • Device means any device that can access the Service such as a computer, a cellphone or a digital tablet.

  • Feedback means feedback, innovations or suggestions sent by You regarding the attributes, performance or features of Our Service.

  • Service refers to the Application.

  • Terms and Conditions (also referred as "Terms") mean these Terms and Conditions that form the entire agreement between You and the Company regarding the use of the Service.

  • You means the individual accessing or using the Service, or the company, or other legal entity on behalf of which such individual is accessing or using the Service, as applicable.

Acknowledgment

These are the Terms and Conditions governing the use of this Service and the agreement that operates between You and the Company. These Terms and Conditions set out the rights and obligations of all users regarding the use of the Service.

Your access to and use of the Service is conditioned on Your acceptance of and compliance with these Terms and Conditions. These Terms and Conditions apply to all visitors, users and others who access or use the Service.

By accessing or using the Service You agree to be bound by these Terms and Conditions. If You disagree with any part of these Terms and Conditions then You may not access the Service.

You represent that You are over the age of 18. The Company does not permit those under 18 to use the Service.

Your access to and use of the Service is also conditioned on Your acceptance of and compliance with the Privacy Policy of the Company. Our Privacy Policy describes Our policies and procedures on the collection, use and disclosure of Your personal information when You use the Application or the Website and tells You about Your privacy rights and how the law protects You. Please read Our Privacy Policy carefully before using Our Service.

Eligibility: Access to Striae is limited to individuals currently employed by a forensic laboratory, forensic-related company, or through a pre-arranged agreement. By creating an Account, You confirm that You meet this requirement and may be asked to verify Your employment.

Account Creation: In order to use the Service, You must create an account. You agree to provide accurate, current and complete information during the registration process and to update such information to keep it accurate, current and complete.

Fees: Striae is provided free of charge for all eligible users.

No Social Media Connection: Striae does not connect to, integrate with, or otherwise interact with any external social media platforms.

User Accounts

When You create an account with Us, You must provide Us information that is accurate, complete, and current at all times. Failure to do so constitutes a breach of the Terms, which may result in immediate termination of Your account on Our Service.

You are responsible for safeguarding the password that You use to access the Service and for any activities or actions under Your password.

You agree not to disclose Your password to any third party. You must notify Us immediately upon becoming aware of any breach of security or unauthorized use of Your account.

You may not use as a username the name of another person or entity or that is not lawfully available for use, a name or trademark that is subject to any rights of another person or entity other than You without appropriate authorization, or a name that is otherwise offensive, vulgar or obscene.

Data

Data Restrictions

The Company is not responsible for the content of the Service's users. You expressly understand and agree that You are solely responsible for the Data and for all activity that occurs under Your account, whether done so by You or any third person using Your account.

You may not transmit any Data that is unlawful, offensive, upsetting, intended to disgust, threatening, libelous, defamatory, obscene or otherwise objectionable. Examples of such objectionable Data include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • Unlawful or promoting unlawful activity.
  • Defamatory, discriminatory, or mean-spirited content, including references or commentary about religion, race, sexual orientation, gender, national/ethnic origin, or other targeted groups.
  • Spam, machine – or randomly – generated, constituting unauthorized or unsolicited advertising, chain letters, any other form of unauthorized solicitation, or any form of lottery or gambling.
  • Containing or installing any viruses, worms, malware, trojan horses, or other content that is designed or intended to disrupt, damage, or limit the functioning of any software, hardware or telecommunications equipment or to damage or obtain unauthorized access to any Data or other information of a third person.
  • Infringing on any proprietary rights of any party, including patent, trademark, trade secret, copyright, right of publicity or other rights.
  • Impersonating any person or entity including the Company and its employees or representatives.
  • Violating the privacy of any third person.
  • False information and features.

The Company reserves the right, but not the obligation, to, in its sole discretion, determine whether or not any Data is appropriate and complies with these Terms, refuse or remove this Data. The Company can also limit or revoke the use of the Service if You submit such objectionable Data.

Data Integrity

The Company will not edit, alter, or modify Your Data in any shape or form. The role of Striae is to store, display, and make Your Data accessible to You, but the content remains entirely under Your control.

Data Backups

The Company does not perform backups. The Company does not guarantee there will be no loss or corruption of existing Data.

Corrupt or invalid Data uploads may be caused by, without limitation, Data that is corrupted prior to being uploaded or that changes during the time an upload is performed.

The Company will provide support and attempt to troubleshoot any known or discovered issues that may affect Data. But You acknowledge that the Company has no liability related to the integrity of Data or the failure to successfully restore Data to a usable state.

You agree to maintain a complete and accurate copy of any Data in a location independent of the Service.

Copyright Policy

Intellectual Property Infringement

We respect the intellectual property rights of others. It is Our policy to respond to any claim that Data posted on the Service infringes a copyright or other intellectual property infringement of any person.

If You are a copyright owner, or authorized on behalf of one, and You believe that the copyrighted work has been copied in a way that constitutes copyright infringement that is taking place through the Service, You must submit Your notice in writing to the attention of Our copyright agent via email at info@striae.org and include in Your notice a detailed description of the alleged infringement.

You may be held accountable for damages (including costs and attorneys' fees) for misrepresenting that any Data is infringing Your copyright.

DMCA Notice and DMCA Procedure for Copyright Infringement Claims

You may submit a notification pursuant to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) by providing Our Copyright Agent with the following information in writing (see 17 U.S.C 512(c)(3) for further detail):

  • An electronic or physical signature of the person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the copyright's interest.
  • A description of the copyrighted work that You claim has been infringed, including the URL (i.e., web page address) of the location where the copyrighted work exists or a copy of the copyrighted work.
  • Identification of the URL or other specific location on the Service where the material that You claim is infringing is located.
  • Your address, telephone number, and email address.
  • A statement by You that You have a good faith belief that the disputed use is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law.
  • A statement by You, made under penalty of perjury, that the above information in Your notice is accurate and that You are the copyright owner or authorized to act on the copyright owner's behalf.

You can contact Our copyright agent via email at info@striae.org. Upon receipt of a notification, the Company will take whatever action, in its sole discretion, it deems appropriate, including removal of the challenged content from the Service.

Intellectual Property

The Service and its original content (excluding Data provided by You or other users), features and functionality are and will remain the exclusive property of the Company and its licensors.

The Service is protected by copyright, trademark, and other laws of both the Country and foreign countries.

Our trademarks and trade dress may not be used in connection with any product or service without the prior written consent of the Company.

Your Feedback to Us

You assign all rights, title and interest in any Feedback You provide the Company. If for any reason such assignment is ineffective, You agree to grant the Company a non-exclusive, perpetual, irrevocable, royalty free, worldwide right and license to use, reproduce, disclose, sub-license, distribute, modify and exploit such Feedback without restriction.

Termination

We may terminate or suspend Your Account immediately, without prior notice or liability, for any reason whatsoever, including without limitation if You breach these Terms and Conditions.

Upon termination, Your right to use the Service will cease immediately. If You wish to terminate Your Account, You may simply discontinue using the Service.

Limitation of Liability

Notwithstanding any damages that You might incur, the entire liability of the Company and any of its suppliers under any provision of this Terms and Your exclusive remedy for all of the foregoing shall be limited to the amount actually paid by You through the Service or 100 USD if You haven't purchased anything through the Service.

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, in no event shall the Company or its suppliers be liable for any special, incidental, indirect, or consequential damages whatsoever (including, but not limited to, damages for loss of profits, loss of Data or other information, for business interruption, for personal injury, loss of privacy arising out of or in any way related to the use of or inability to use the Service, third-party software and/or third-party hardware used with the Service, or otherwise in connection with any provision of this Terms), even if the Company or any supplier has been advised of the possibility of such damages and even if the remedy fails of its essential purpose.

Some states do not allow the exclusion of implied warranties or limitation of liability for incidental or consequential damages, which means that some of the above limitations may not apply. In these states, each party's liability will be limited to the greatest extent permitted by law.

"AS IS" and "AS AVAILABLE" Disclaimer

The Service is provided to You "AS IS" and "AS AVAILABLE" and with all faults and defects without warranty of any kind. To the maximum extent permitted under applicable law, the Company, on its own behalf and on behalf of its Affiliates and its and their respective licensors and service providers, expressly disclaims all warranties, whether express, implied, statutory or otherwise, with respect to the Service, including all implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title and non-infringement, and warranties that may arise out of course of dealing, course of performance, usage or trade practice. Without limitation to the foregoing, the Company provides no warranty or undertaking, and makes no representation of any kind that the Service will meet Your requirements, achieve any intended results, be compatible or work with any other software, applications, systems or services, operate without interruption, meet any performance or reliability standards or be error free or that any errors or defects can or will be corrected.

Without limiting the foregoing, neither the Company nor any of the company's provider makes any representation or warranty of any kind, express or implied: (i) as to the operation or availability of the Service, or the information, content, and materials or products included thereon; (ii) that the Service will be uninterrupted or error-free; (iii) as to the accuracy, reliability, or currency of any information or content provided through the Service; or (iv) that the Service, its servers, the content, or e-mails sent from or on behalf of the Company are free of viruses, scripts, trojan horses, worms, malware, timebombs or other harmful components.

Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion of certain types of warranties or limitations on applicable statutory rights of a consumer, so some or all of the above exclusions and limitations may not apply to You. But in such a case the exclusions and limitations set forth in this section shall be applied to the greatest extent enforceable under applicable law.

Governing Law

The laws of the Country, excluding its conflicts of law rules, shall govern this Terms and Your use of the Service. Your use of the Application may also be subject to other local, state, national, or international laws.

Disputes Resolution

If You have any concern or dispute about the Service, You agree to first try to resolve the dispute informally by contacting the Company.

For European Union (EU) Users

If You are a European Union consumer, You will benefit from any mandatory provisions of the law of the country in which You are resident.

United States Federal Government End Use Provisions

If You are a U.S. federal government end user, Our Service is a "Commercial Item" as that term is defined at 48 C.F.R. §2.101.

United States Legal Compliance

You represent and warrant that (i) You are not located in a country that is subject to the United States government embargo, or that has been designated by the United States government as a "terrorist supporting" country, and (ii) You are not listed on any United States government list of prohibited or restricted parties.

Severability and Waiver

Severability

If any provision of these Terms is held to be unenforceable or invalid, such provision will be changed and interpreted to accomplish the objectives of such provision to the greatest extent possible under applicable law and the remaining provisions will continue in full force and effect.

Waiver

Except as provided herein, the failure to exercise a right or to require performance of an obligation under these Terms shall not affect a party's ability to exercise such right or require such performance at any time thereafter nor shall the waiver of a breach constitute a waiver of any subsequent breach.

Translation Interpretation

These Terms and Conditions may have been translated if We have made them available to You on Our Service. You agree that the original English text shall prevail in the case of a dispute.

Changes to These Terms and Conditions

We reserve the right, at Our sole discretion, to modify or replace these Terms at any time. If a revision is material We will make reasonable efforts to provide at least 30 days' notice prior to any new terms taking effect. What constitutes a material change will be determined at Our sole discretion.

By continuing to access or use Our Service after those revisions become effective, You agree to be bound by the revised terms. If You do not agree to the new terms, in whole or in part, please stop using the website and the Service.

Data Storage Addendum

At Striae, We take Your privacy and Data security seriously. We understand the sensitive nature of the Data that You may store with Us. This Data Storage Addendum outlines how We handle and store Your Data within the app.

  • Authentication and Password Security

    Striae relies on Firebase Authentication, a highly secure and trusted platform, developed by Google, to handle user authentication. Key features of Firebase Authentication include:

    • Hashed Authentication Data

      Firebase secures passwords and authentication details using industry-standard hashing algorithms. This ensures that Your credentials are stored in a secure, unreadable format.

    • Advanced Threat Detection

      Firebase employs machine learning models to detect and mitigate suspicious activity, such as brute-force attacks or unauthorized login attempts.

    • Multi-Factor Authentication

      Firebase supports multi-factor authentication (MFA), providing an additional layer of security for Your account.

  • Data Storage: Secure and Private

    Your Data is secured in off-site storage, using industry-standard security protocols to ensure it is protected from unauthorized access and physical theft. We prioritize Your privacy and make sure Your information is kept private and confidential. A few of the measures in place include:

    • No Exposed Plain Text

      User profile information and all Data stored by Striae are encrypted and never stored in exposed plain text. Instead, all sensitive information is stored securely behind undecipherable unique identifiers, further isolating Your Data from potential breaches.

    • Data Segregation/Isolation

      Striae utilizes separate and distinct systems to store Your Data. This segregation enhances security by limiting access points and isolating sensitive information from unrelated systems.

    • AES-256 Encryption

      Striae uses AES-256 encryption with GCM (Galois/Counter Mode) to safeguard Your Data at rest through Cloudflare's R2 and KV storage systems¹. This encryption standard is one of the most secure methods available, ensuring that even if Data storage is breached, the information remains unreadable and protected.

    • What is AES-256?

      • Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) is a symmetric encryption algorithm that has been extensively tested and proven to provide a high level of security.

      • 256-bit Encryption refers to the length of the encryption key. The longer the key, the more secure the encryption, as it increases the complexity of potential decryption attempts exponentially.

      • Used by the U.S. Government: AES-256 has been adopted as the encryption standard by the U.S. government for securing classified information. Specifically, it is approved by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and used to protect sensitive information².

    • Why AES-256 is Secure

      • Key Size: A 256-bit key length means there are 2^256 possible key combinations³, making it virtually impossible to break using current computing capabilities.

      • Resistance to Brute Force: Even with advanced computational power, it would take billions of years to attempt all possible key combinations⁴.

      • Global Trust: AES-256 is trusted worldwide by governments, financial institutions, and security-focused organizations for its unparalleled ability to secure data⁵.

    • Transport Layer Security

      All Data transfers are encrypted using TLS, ensuring protection from interception or tampering while in transit.

    • Signed URLs

      Using HMAC-SHA-256, temporary signed URLs provide authenticated, tamper-evident, time-limited access to Your images and files.

    • Logging and Monitoring

      Access requests and Data transfers are logged in detail, allowing Us to audit activities and identify any unauthorized access attempts.

    • Cross-Origin Resource Sharing (CORS) Support

      To prevent unauthorized access, Striae restricts Data requests to its domain exclusively.

    • Security Policy

      The open security policy encourages users and researchers to safely and responsibly report vulnerabilities. This collaborative approach ensures the security measures remain robust and up-to-date. Please refer to Our Security Policy for more information.

  • Access to Data

    Your Data is strictly accessible only by You, the user, and by Striae as necessary. Striae may access Your Data only for troubleshooting, maintenance, or support purposes, and only to the extent required to resolve issues or provide assistance. No unauthorized third party has access to Your Data.

  • No Sharing of Sensitive Information

    Striae does not collect or share sensitive information, such as images, case numbers, item numbers, or any other personally identifiable information with third parties. Additionally, Your Data is not subject to analysis, scraping, or processing by third-party analytics tools, AI systems, or any other automated processes outside the scope of the app’s intended use. The integrity and confidentiality of Your Data are paramount to Us.

  • Data Control

    Striae will never edit or modify the contents of Your Data without Your explicit input. The only edits made to Your Data will be for the purpose of resizing and compression for optimal display, storage, and performance. When You delete Data it is permanently removed from our systems.

  • Account Deletion

    If You choose to delete Your account, all associated Data and information will be permanently and completely removed from Striae. Once deleted, Your Data cannot be recovered by You or any third party.

Striae’s security measures are designed to keep Your Data secure, private, and under Your control. Should You have any questions, concerns, or feedback about these security protocols, We encourage You to reach out to Us.

Contact Us

If You have any questions about these Terms and Conditions, You can contact Us:

  • By email: info@striae.org

  • Legal Entity: The Stephenson Jack Lu Living Trust

References

¹ Cloudflare automatically encrypts all data at rest using AES-256 with GCM mode across their R2 and KV storage platforms.

² NIST has approved AES-256 for protecting classified information and is widely adopted by the U.S. government.

³ The mathematical calculation: 2^256 = approximately 1.16 × 10^77 possible key combinations, making brute force attacks computationally infeasible.

⁴ Based on cryptographic analysis, even with advanced quantum computing developments, AES-256 would require astronomical amounts of time to break through brute force.

⁵ AES-256 is the encryption standard of choice for major banks, healthcare systems, government agencies, and technology companies worldwide.