Terms of Use

Katha is a digital platform for preserving, organising and discovering memories connected to photographs, people, places and moments.

A contribution to Katha may include photographs, written memories, voice recordings, place information, dates, descriptions and other contextual information. We refer to these contributions collectively as a “Katha” or “Content” in these Terms.

By accessing or using Katha, you agree to these Terms. If you do not agree with them, you should not use the service.

Some parts of Katha require an account. You are responsible for maintaining the security of your account credentials and for activity carried out through your account.

Information you provide when creating or maintaining your account should be accurate and should not impersonate another person or falsely represent your identity or relationship with another person or organisation.

If you believe someone has accessed your account without permission, you should contact Katha as soon as reasonably possible.

You retain ownership of the photographs, stories, recordings and other original Content that you contribute to Katha, subject to any rights that may already belong to another person.

By contributing Content, you give Katha a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free licence to host, store, reproduce, process, display and make that Content available as necessary to operate, maintain, secure and improve the Katha service, consistent with the visibility and privacy choices available to you.

This licence does not give Katha ownership of your Content. It exists so that, for example, we can store a photograph, generate a usable display version, deliver it to authorised viewers and show a public Katha when you have chosen to make it public.

You are responsible for the Content you contribute. You should only upload, record, publish or share Content that you own or otherwise have the necessary rights, permissions or lawful basis to use.

Possessing an old photograph does not necessarily mean that you own its copyright. Similarly, appearing in a photograph does not automatically give you ownership of that photograph.

When a Katha contains identifiable people, private correspondence, personal recordings or other sensitive material, you should consider the rights, privacy, dignity and reasonable expectations of the people involved before publishing it.

Memories are often connected to real places. Katha may allow you to associate a contribution with geographic information at different levels of precision.

You should not publish another person's private residential address, telephone number, identification information, financial information or other sensitive personal information without an appropriate and lawful reason to do so.

Where Katha provides location privacy controls, you are responsible for selecting a level appropriate for the memory you are preserving.

Katha may allow contributors to preserve voice memories and sounds connected to a place or moment.

You should only upload or create recordings that you have the right to share. If other identifiable people can be heard, you are responsible for considering whether their permission or another lawful basis is required before publishing the recording.

You must not use Katha to deceptively impersonate another person or falsely present manipulated or generated audio as an authentic recording of a real person.

Katha is intended for preserving meaningful human memories. You must not use Katha to contribute or distribute unlawful or seriously harmful Content.

• Content that you do not have the right to share or that infringes copyright, trademark or other intellectual property rights.
• Content that unlawfully exposes another person's private or sensitive information.
• Child sexual abuse or exploitation material, or Content that facilitates the abuse or exploitation of children.
• Unlawful sexual content or non-consensual intimate material.
• Content intended to harass, threaten or unlawfully target another person.
• Content promoting hatred or unlawful violence against people or groups.
• Content that unlawfully encourages, facilitates or depicts serious violence or criminal activity.
• Deliberately deceptive impersonation or material presented in a manner intended to mislead people about its origin or authenticity.
• Malware, malicious code, automated abuse, attempts to compromise Katha or activity intended to interfere with the operation or security of the service.

More detailed expectations are described in our Community Guidelines.

Human memory is imperfect. A contributor may not know an exact date, location, name or historical detail. Katha therefore allows contributors to describe information as approximate, uncertain, historical or unknown where appropriate.

Contributors should make a reasonable effort not to knowingly present materially false or misleading information as fact. Historical interpretation, personal recollection and uncertainty should be presented honestly.

Katha does not independently verify every memory, photograph, date, location or statement contributed by users and does not endorse every statement appearing on the platform.

Katha may allow contributors to connect another memory to an existing Katha through features such as “Add to this story”.

A connected Katha remains independently contributed and owned by its contributor. Connecting two Kathas does not transfer ownership between contributors and does not mean that either contributor endorses everything stated by the other.

Katha may provide different visibility options. A public Katha may be discoverable through areas such as Explore, Search, Map, Place Archives or connected stories after any applicable moderation process.

Private or otherwise restricted Content is intended to be shown only according to the visibility controls provided by Katha. However, no online service can guarantee absolute security or permanent availability.

Katha may review Content for compliance with these Terms, Community Guidelines, applicable law and platform safety requirements.

We may restrict visibility, flag Content for further review, decline public distribution, remove Content or restrict an account where reasonably necessary to protect users, comply with law, enforce these Terms or protect the integrity of the archive.

Moderation does not mean that Katha has verified or endorsed Content that remains available on the service.

Katha provides reporting mechanisms so that users can bring potentially problematic Content to our attention.

Reports may concern issues including privacy, copyright, stolen Content, child safety, harassment, hate, sexual content, graphic content, misinformation or other violations.

Submitting a report does not automatically mean that Content will be removed. Katha may review the report, the relevant Content and surrounding circumstances before deciding what action is appropriate.

We respect intellectual property rights and expect contributors to do the same.

If you believe Content available through Katha infringes copyright or another intellectual property right, you may use Katha's reporting mechanisms or the process described in our Copyright Policy.

Repeated or serious infringement may result in Content removal or restrictions on an account.

The Katha name, branding, interface, software, original design elements and other materials created by Katha are protected by applicable intellectual property laws.

These Terms do not give you permission to copy Katha's software, branding or proprietary materials except where expressly permitted by us or by law.

Katha is being developed and may change over time. Features may be added, modified, temporarily unavailable or discontinued.

We work to preserve the integrity of the archive, but we cannot promise that the service will always operate without interruption, error or data loss.

You should retain original copies of photographs, recordings and other important material. Katha should not be treated as the only copy or backup of irreplaceable Content.

We may restrict or suspend access where reasonably necessary because of serious or repeated violations of these Terms, security threats, abuse of the service, legal requirements or risks to other users.

Where appropriate and legally permitted, we may provide information about the reason for an enforcement action and an opportunity to raise a concern about that decision.

Katha relies on infrastructure, mapping, hosting, storage and other technology provided by third parties. Some features may therefore depend on services outside Katha's direct control.

Links to third-party websites or services do not necessarily mean that Katha endorses those services.

Contributors are responsible for the Content they contribute and for ensuring that their use of Katha complies with applicable law and the rights of others.

To the extent permitted by applicable law, Katha is not responsible for losses arising solely from user-contributed Content, third-party services, temporary service interruptions or events reasonably outside Katha's control.

Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits any responsibility or liability that cannot lawfully be excluded or limited.

Katha will evolve, and these Terms may need to change as the service, applicable law or our practices change.

When we make material changes, we will take reasonable steps to make the updated Terms available and will update the effective date shown at the top of this page.

Where applicable law requires additional notice or consent for a change, we will provide it.

These Terms are governed by the laws of India, subject to any rights or protections that applicable law provides to you.

Any jurisdiction or dispute-resolution provision that may be required for Katha's final operating entity will be added before broad public launch and reviewed by qualified legal counsel.

Katha will maintain an appropriate contact and grievance process for concerns relating to the service, Content, privacy, intellectual property and other legal matters.

Formal contact and Grievance Officer information will be published here before Katha's broader public launch once the operating entity and official contact details are finalised.

These Terms should be read together with Katha's Community Guidelines, Privacy Policy and Copyright Policy.