Last updated: July 25, 2025

This Fair Use Policy explains the acceptable use of the data donation software service ("the Service") provided via the Next platform. It’s designed to ensure a high-quality experience for all users, protect participant privacy, and support sustainable, respectful use of shared infrastructure.

1. Purpose of the Service

The Service is designed to support researchers in collecting digital trace data in an ethical and secure manner. It helps enable informed consent, data minimization, and responsible research practices.

2. Who Can Use the Service

The Service is intended for professional researchers and organisations using it for research, educational, or public-interest purposes.

Use by commercial organisations is permitted for internal research purposes—such as improving their own products or services—or for research, educational, or public-interest goals. However, it is not permitted to commercially exploit any data collected through the Service, whether directly or indirectly.

In other words: you may use the Service to better understand your own users or systems, but not to collect data for resale, marketing, advertising, or other commercial distribution.

If you're unsure whether your intended use qualifies, feel free to contact [email protected].

3. Fair Use Guidelines

To ensure fair use across the research community, we ask users to:

• Ensure participant clarity in consent flows and manuals. We may ask for revisions if we receive complaints or confusion from participants.
• Respect technical limits which may be enforced to maintain platform stability.

4. Inappropriate Use

Examples of what we consider unfair or inappropriate use include:

• Using the service for phishing or deception.
• Collecting more data than is necessary for the stated research purpose.
• Misrepresenting the nature of the study or institution.
• Circumventing consent flows or data protection safeguards.

5. Monitoring and Enforcement