Terms of Service
Last updated: June 2026
About these Terms
Welcome to kiyânaw. These Terms describe the agreement between you and Cloudcraft Software Inc. (the operator of the kiyânaw project, based in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada) when you use any of our applications, including kiyânaw Transcribe, kiyânaw Mentor, and the kiyânaw Language Database.
kiyânaw is operated by Cloudcraft Software Inc. as a community-directed project: the company keeps the platform running, but the direction of the work is shaped by the language communities it serves.
We’ve tried to write these in plain language. If anything is unclear, please reach out at support@kiyanaw.net.
Our Guiding Principles
kiyânaw exists to support Indigenous Language Revitalization. Our work is guided by kindness, truth, strength, and sharing, and informed by the principles of Indigenous Data Sovereignty — including the CARE Principles (Collective benefit, Authority to control, Responsibility, Ethics).
We act as stewards of this platform, not owners of what it holds. Where these Terms are ambiguous, we will interpret them in favour of the contributing individuals and communities whose languages are represented here.
Who Can Use kiyânaw
You must be at least 14 years old to create an account. If you are under the age of majority in your province, state, or country, you may only use kiyânaw with the knowledge and permission of a parent or legal guardian, who is responsible for your use of the platform.
By using kiyânaw, you confirm that you meet these requirements and that you’re able to enter into this agreement (or have a parent or guardian who is).
Your Account
You’re responsible for keeping your login credentials secure and for activity that happens under your account. Please give us accurate information when you sign up, and let us know promptly if you believe your account has been accessed without your permission.
One person, one account. Please don’t share accounts or create accounts for other people without their knowledge.
Your Content
Anything you contribute to kiyânaw — questions, responses, recordings, transcriptions, regions, translations, comments — remains yours. We do not claim ownership of your content.
To operate the platform, you grant us a limited, non-exclusive licence to store, display, process, and transmit your content only as needed to provide the features you have chosen to use (for example, transcribing your audio, showing your responses to other learners, or indexing a transcription you have marked as Discoverable). This licence ends when you delete the content or close your account, subject to the short backup window described in our Privacy Policy.
We will not use your content for any purpose beyond operating kiyânaw, and we will not sell, syndicate, or license your content to third parties as a dataset, feed, or other product separate from normal use of the platform.
Community Rights
Beyond individual ownership, we recognize that Indigenous language materials are cultural assets belonging to their communities. If a community or language group wishes to have materials removed from kiyânaw — whether contributed by one member or many — we will work with designated community representatives to do so. Contact us at support@kiyanaw.net to begin that process.
Acceptable Use
When using kiyânaw, please:
- Only contribute content you have the right to share. If a recording features another person’s voice or another community’s knowledge, make sure you have their consent.
- Respect community protocols for sacred, ceremonial, or otherwise restricted material. When in doubt, don’t post it.
- Treat other users — learners, mentors, elders — with respect.
When using kiyânaw, please do not:
- Scrape, bulk-download, mirror, or otherwise harvest content from the platform or the Language Database. Database access is actively monitored and misuse will result in an immediate ban.
- Use kiyânaw content to train, fine-tune, evaluate, or otherwise build artificial intelligence or machine-learning systems. See the AI section below.
- Resell, sublicense, or commercialize access to kiyânaw or its content (other than under a separate written agreement with Cloudcraft Software Inc. — see Institutional and Organizational Licensing below).
- Attempt to access accounts, content, or systems you have not been granted access to.
- Use the platform to harass, defame, or harm others, or to upload unlawful material.
Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning
kiyânaw content — including audio, transcriptions, translations, and database entries — may not be used to train, fine-tune, evaluate, retrieve-augment, or otherwise inform any AI or machine-learning system without the explicit, prior, written consent of both the relevant community and every contributing individual involved.
This restriction applies to commercial AI providers, academic researchers, hobbyists, automated agents, and institutional licensees alike. It applies whether the content is accessed through normal app use, the Language Database, or any other surface.
We take this position because the use of Indigenous language data in AI systems raises unresolved questions about consent, ownership, and cultural harm. Until communities themselves determine if, when, and how AI should interact with their languages, our default is no.
Free for Language Learners and Communities
kiyânaw is, and will remain, free for individual language learners, mentors, and the language communities the platform serves. You will never be charged for an individual account or for normal personal use of any kiyânaw app.
Individuals may not turn around and charge others for access to the platform or for content obtained from it.
Institutional and Organizational Licensing
Cloudcraft Software Inc. may enter into separate written agreements with organizations, institutions, employers, or government bodies who wish to provide kiyânaw access to their staff, students, or members (for example, an employer licensing seats so its staff can learn a language for work).
This is an area we are still figuring out, and we are actively seeking community guidance on its direction. Our current commitments are:
- All community content is opted out of organizational licensing by default. No content from any community will be surfaced to an institutional licensee unless that community has been consulted and has confirmed which materials they are comfortable making available.
- We will err on the side of not selling. Where there is any uncertainty about whether a community or mentor consents to their content being available to an organization, the answer is no until we have heard from them directly.
Where an agreement is in place:
- The organization pays Cloudcraft for seats; the individual users themselves are still not charged.
- The organization and its users remain bound by all of the rest of these Terms — including the prohibitions on scraping, AI/ML training, and downstream redistribution, and the community-rights provisions above.
- Institutional access does not grant any rights to bulk-export, archive, or build derivative products from kiyânaw content.
How we think about the money. Our financial interest is straightforward: we want kiyânaw to be sustainable. The primary purpose of any institutional licensing revenue is to cover the operating and development costs of keeping the platform running and improving for everyone. If we are ever fortunate enough for revenue to exceed those costs, we will seek the guidance of the community on how those funds should be directed.
If you have input on how institutional licensing should work, or on how any surplus funds should be used, we’d love for you to join our next community engagement session — this is exactly the kind of question we want to discuss together.
If your organization is interested in a licensing arrangement, contact us at support@kiyanaw.net.
Availability and Changes
kiyânaw projects are currently in public beta. We are a small, grassroots team. We do our best to keep the platform stable and available, but we cannot guarantee uninterrupted service, and features may change as we incorporate community feedback.
When we make significant changes that affect how you use the platform or how your content is handled, we will do our best to communicate them clearly.
Suspension and Termination
You may stop using kiyânaw at any time. To delete your account entirely, contact us at support@kiyanaw.net.
We may suspend or terminate accounts that violate these Terms — particularly the rules around scraping, AI training, sharing accounts, or harming other users. Where appropriate, we will reach out first and try to understand what happened before taking action.
As-Is, and the Limits of What We Can Promise
We provide kiyânaw with care, but we provide it as-is. We do not guarantee that the platform will always be available, error-free, or that it will meet every need. To the maximum extent permitted by law, Cloudcraft Software Inc. and its contributors are not liable for indirect, incidental, or consequential damages arising from your use of the platform.
This section does not limit any rights you have under applicable consumer-protection laws.
Governing Law
These Terms are governed by the laws of the Province of Alberta and the federal laws of Canada applicable therein, without regard to conflict-of-law principles. We hope any disagreement can be resolved through direct conversation first; please reach out before escalating.
Changes to These Terms
We may update these Terms from time to time. When we do, we’ll update the “Last updated” date above. For significant changes, we’ll do our best to notify active users directly.
Contact
Operator: Cloudcraft Software Inc., Edmonton, Alberta, Canada Email: support@kiyanaw.net Website: https://kiyanaw.net