Terms of Service

Introduction

These Terms of Service (“Terms”) govern your use of The Convergence Lens website, community platform, and related services (collectively, the “Services”) operated by The Convergence Lens, LLC, a Maryland limited liability company organized as a multi-stakeholder worker-consumer cooperative (“TCL,” “we,” “us,” or “our”).

By accessing or using our Services, you agree to be bound by these Terms and our Privacy Policy. If you do not agree to these Terms, please do not use our Services.

About The Convergence Lens

The Convergence Lens is an independent digital media publication and community-focused cooperative. We are not affiliated with any corporation, political organization, or institutional investor. We are owned and democratically governed by our Worker-Members and Reader-Members in accordance with our Operating Agreement and cooperative principles.

Use of Our Services

Eligibility

You must be at least 13 years old to access our public content and at least 18 years old to access certain community features designated as 18+. By using our Services, you represent that you meet these age requirements.

Your Account

When you create an account with us, you agree to provide accurate and complete information. You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your account credentials and for all activity under your account. You agree to notify us immediately of any unauthorized use of your account.

Acceptable Use

You agree to use our Services only for lawful purposes and in accordance with these Terms and our Community Guidelines. You agree not to:

•  Use our Services in any way that violates applicable law or regulation.

•  Post or transmit content that is harassing, abusive, defamatory, hateful, or that violates our Community Guidelines.

•  Use our Services to distribute spam or unsolicited commercial communications.

•  Attempt to gain unauthorized access to any part of our Services.

•  Use our Services to scrape, harvest, or collect data about other users without consent.

•  Use our content for AI training, automated republishing, or bulk syndication.

Membership and Subscriptions

Content Subscriptions

Subscription plans (Observer, Critic, and Insider) provide access to content and community features as described on our Membership page. Subscriptions are billed on a recurring basis at the rate and frequency selected at signup. You may cancel your subscription at any time; access continues until the end of your current billing period.

Reader-Member Ownership

Reader-Member status is a separate offering from content subscriptions. By becoming a Reader-Member, you:

•  Acquire a Class B membership stake in The Convergence Lens, LLC, in accordance with our Operating Agreement.

•  Pay an annual Reader-Member ownership fee of $45/year, which is separate from your content subscription fee.

•  Agree to the terms of the Reader-Member Agreement, which you must sign separately.

•  Acquire the governance rights described in the Reader-Member Agreement, including the right to vote on cooperative governance decisions and elect Board representatives.

Reader-Member ownership fees are non-refundable. Reader-Member status requires maintaining an active subscription at any tier. If you cancel your subscription, your Reader-Member voting rights are suspended at your next annual renewal.

No Tax Deductibility

The Convergence Lens is a cooperative LLC, not a nonprofit organization. Subscriptions, Reader-Member ownership fees, and donations to TCL are not tax-deductible charitable contributions.

Payment

Payment for subscriptions and Reader-Member ownership fees is processed by our third-party payment processor (Stripe). We do not store full payment card information. By providing payment information, you authorize us to charge your payment method for the applicable fees.

Changes to Fees

We may change subscription rates or Reader-Member ownership fees upon reasonable notice. Changes to the Reader-Member ownership fee require a two-thirds vote of all member classes in accordance with our Operating Agreement.

Intellectual Property

Our Content

Unless otherwise noted, all original content published by The Convergence Lens is owned by The Convergence Lens, LLC and its contributing authors. Most of our articles are available for republication under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0), subject to the conditions described in our Editorial Policies. Content not published under Creative Commons will be marked as such.

Your Content

By submitting content to us (including article pitches, community posts, and comments), you grant The Convergence Lens a non-exclusive, royalty-free license to publish, distribute, and display such content on our platforms. You retain ownership of your content and may revoke this license by removing your content where our platform allows, subject to any legal obligations to retain records.

Trademarks

“The Convergence Lens” and associated logos are trademarks of The Convergence Lens, LLC. You may not use our name, logo, or branding without our written permission, except as permitted by applicable fair use principles.

Community Platform

Access to our community platform is a membership benefit, available to all subscribers. Access to certain community spaces may be limited to paid subscribers or Reader-Members. Our Community Guidelines govern all conduct on our community platform and are incorporated into these Terms by reference. Violations of our Community Guidelines may result in suspension or termination of your account.

Disclaimer of Warranties

Our Services are provided “as is” and “as available,” without warranty of any kind, express or implied. We do not warrant that our Services will be uninterrupted, error-free, or free of harmful components. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we disclaim all warranties, express, implied, or statutory.

Limitation of Liability

To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, The Convergence Lens, LLC shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages arising out of or related to your use of our Services, even if advised of the possibility of such damages. Our total liability to you for any claims arising under these Terms shall not exceed the greater of (a) the amount you paid us in the twelve months preceding the claim or (b) $100.

Governing Law

These Terms are governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of Maryland, without regard to its conflict of law principles. Any legal action arising under these Terms shall be brought in the state or federal courts located in Montgomery County, Maryland.

Changes to These Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. We will notify you of material changes by posting the updated Terms on our website and, for members, by email notice. Your continued use of our Services after the effective date of any changes constitutes your acceptance of the revised Terms. Changes to provisions governing Reader-Member governance rights require compliance with our Operating Agreement’s amendment procedures.

Contact Us

If you have questions about these Terms, please contact us:

•  Email: [email protected]

•  Mailing address: 12345 Parklawn Dr., Suite 200 #1046, Rockville, MD 20852