Terms of Service

Last updated: 2026-09-30 (version 2026-09-30)

Binder is a study tool for university students, run by one person. You must be an adult (at least 18, or 19 in some provinces). You keep what you write and upload, and you are responsible for having the right to upload it. Gemini's answers can be wrong. The service is offered as it is, and I limit what I can be held to. Ontario law governs, or Québec law if you live in Québec. This box is a convenience; the numbered sections below are the terms.

1. Who I am and what these terms are

Binder AI ("Binder") is run by Owen Homick, an individual carrying on business in Ontario, Canada ("I", "me"). You can reach me at owen@homick.com.

These terms are the agreement between you and me for your use of Binder at binderai.ca, binderai.web.app and in any Binder app. They include the Privacy Policy, the Acceptable Use Policy and the Copyright and Takedown Policy. If you do not agree, do not use Binder.

Binder is a personal tool that you choose to use. It is not an institutional service, and it is not run by, sold by, or endorsed by any university, instructor or publisher.

2. Who can use Binder

Age. You must be an adult where you live. That means at least 18 years old, or at least 19 if you live in British Columbia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, the Northwest Territories, Nunavut or Yukon, where 19 is the age of majority. When you first sign in, you confirm this with a tick. If I learn that someone who is not an adult has an account, I will close it and delete its content.

Where. Binder is built for university students in Canada, and it is offered in every province and territory, including Québec. It is not offered outside Canada, and you should not sign up from elsewhere.

One person, one account. An account is for one person. Do not share your password, your sign-in or an access code.

Access codes. Some access to Binder may need an access code that I send you. A code is for the person it was sent to. Do not post it, sell it or pass it on. I can cancel a code or an account that breaks this rule.

Accurate details. Give a real email address that you control, so I can reach you about your account.

3. Your content

What it is. Your content is everything you put into Binder: PDFs and photos you upload, your handwriting, notebook pages, recordings, typed text, questions you ask, and the notes, quizzes and other things Binder makes for you from those.

It stays yours. I do not own your content. These terms do not transfer any ownership of it to me.

What you promise about it. You promise that you have the right to put it in Binder and to have it copied, stored and processed the way these terms and the Privacy Policy describe.

Binder is for the material you already have from your instructors, and for your own work: lessons, homework, answer keys your instructor gave you, and your own notes. It is where you keep your own copy. It is not a place to get material you do not have.

Textbooks are not a supported use. Do not upload textbooks, or large parts of them. Also do not upload:

a file you got by removing copy protection or digital rights management, for example from an e-textbook;
a publisher's or instructor's solutions manual or answer key that was not given to you, or anything marked as for instructors only;
a course pack or other licensed material whose licence does not let you copy it into a third-party service, or lecture slides, problem sets or other instructor material that your instructor has told you not to put into AI tools;
tests or exams that you are not allowed to have or keep.

Instructors usually own their lecture slides, problem sets and exams, and publishers own their textbooks. Your university may have rules about copying and sharing them. See the Copyright and Takedown Policy.

The permission you give me. To run Binder for you, you give me a limited, non-exclusive, royalty-free permission to store, copy, display, back up and process your content, including by sending the parts you choose to a third-party AI service (today, Google Gemini), for the sole purpose of running Binder for you, keeping it secure and meeting legal duties. I do not use your content to train AI models, to advertise, or to build anything other than your own binder. Nothing you put in Binder is shown to other users. The permission ends when you delete the content or your account, apart from backups that expire on their own schedule (see the Privacy Policy).

Looking at your content. Because I run the system, I can technically open stored content. I do it only to help with a problem you raised, to look into a security problem or a complaint under the Copyright and Takedown Policy, or where the law requires it.

Keep your own copy. Binder is a young product. Use Settings, Data, Download a backup for anything important, and do not rely on Binder as the only copy of work you cannot afford to lose.

4. Acceptable use

You must follow the Acceptable Use Policy. In short: nothing illegal, nothing you have no right to upload, no attacks on the service or other people's accounts, no scraping, and no using Binder to cheat where your university or instructor forbids it.

5. Gemini and other AI features

Binder uses Google's Gemini to read pages and handwriting, write notes and quizzes, check answers and answer your questions. When you use these features, the pages, images, text and questions you choose to send go to Google to be processed.

It can be wrong. AI output can be inaccurate, incomplete, out of date or badly explained, and it can sound sure when it is not. Binder is a study aid. It is not a teacher, a tutor, a textbook or a source you can cite. Check important answers against your course material and your instructor.

Your coursework is yours to answer for. Your university and your instructor decide what help you may use, and many courses forbid AI help on graded work unless the instructor says otherwise. Binder cannot know what your course allows. You are solely responsible for reading your syllabus and following your university's academic integrity and student conduct rules, and for what you hand in under your name. Binder can explain a worked solution or draft an answer for you to study from, and that is exactly the kind of output that can be misconduct if you submit it, or rely on it in a test, where it is not allowed.

Binder does not report your use to your university or instructors, does not detect or certify AI use, and does not promise that any use is permitted. I may add notices to AI output, or limit features, to remind you of this.

Limits. I may limit, change or turn off AI features at any time, for example because of cost, misuse or a change in what Google allows.

6. Your account and keeping it safe

You are responsible for what happens under your account, and for keeping your password and devices safe. Tell me quickly at owen@homick.com if you think someone else has got into your account.

7. Free beta, and paid plans later

Binder is free while it is in beta. If I add paid plans, I will show you the price, how and when it renews, and how to cancel, before you pay, and I will add any extra terms that apply. A change to paid plans will not take away your right to get your content out.

8. Third-party services

Binder relies on Google for sign-in, storage, hosting and AI, and on other services described in the Privacy Policy. Your use of Google sign-in is also subject to Google's own terms. I am not responsible for a third-party service that fails, changes or is withdrawn, although I will try to keep things working and tell you if something important changes.

9. Availability and no warranty

I work hard to keep Binder running and your work safe, but it is offered "as is" and "as available". I do not promise that it will always be available, error-free, or free of data loss, or that it will meet your needs. To the fullest extent the law allows, I give no warranties or conditions beyond those that cannot be excluded by law.

10. Limit on what I can be held responsible for

To the fullest extent the law allows:

I am not liable for indirect or consequential losses, or for lost marks, missed deadlines, lost opportunities, or lost or corrupted content, even if I was told such loss was possible.
My total liability to you for anything connected to Binder is limited to the greater of CA$100 and the amount you paid me for Binder in the 12 months before the claim.

Nothing in these terms excludes or limits liability that the law does not allow to be excluded or limited, such as liability for my own fraud, intentional or gross fault, or for bodily or moral injury, and nothing takes away rights you have under consumer protection law.

11. If you cause me a claim

To the extent the law allows, you agree to cover reasonable losses and costs I suffer because of a claim by someone else that arises from your content or from your breaking these terms or the Acceptable Use Policy. This section does not apply if you live in Québec.

12. Suspension and ending

You can leave at any time. Download a backup, then use Settings, Data, Delete everything in my account to remove your content. To have your sign-in record deleted as well, email me (see the Privacy Policy).

I can suspend or end access if you break these terms or the Acceptable Use Policy, if I am required to by law or by a complaint handled under the Copyright and Takedown Policy, if your use puts the service or other people at risk, or if I stop running Binder. Except where it would be unsafe or unlawful, I will tell you why and give you a chance to download your content first. If I decide to stop running Binder, I will give you at least 60 days' written notice and a way to export your content.

What survives. The parts of these terms that by their nature should continue (including sections 3, 9, 10, 11 and 14) continue after your account ends.

13. Changes

I may change these terms. I will give you at least 30 days' written notice, in Binder or by email, that shows the old wording and the new wording, and I may ask you to accept the new version. You can cancel your account free of charge at any time before the change takes effect, and take your content with you. A change that the law requires me to make sooner, or that is needed to stop abuse, can take effect sooner, and I will tell you why. Each version is dated at the top. If you keep using Binder after a change takes effect, you accept it.

14. Law and courts

If you live in Québec, Québec law governs these terms and the courts of Québec have jurisdiction, and nothing in these terms limits the rights that Québec law gives you as a consumer or as the adhering party to a contract of adhesion. The rest of this section does not apply to you.

Everywhere else, Ontario law and the federal law of Canada that applies in Ontario govern these terms, without regard to conflict-of-laws rules, and disputes go to the courts of Ontario. There is no arbitration clause, and nothing here stops you from joining a class proceeding where the law gives you that right. If you are a consumer, nothing here takes away protections that the law of the province where you live gives you.

15. The rest

Whole agreement. These terms, with the policies they refer to, are the whole agreement between us about Binder.
If part is unenforceable. If a court finds part of these terms unenforceable, the rest still applies.
Not giving up rights. If I do not enforce a term, that does not mean I have given it up.
Transfer. I may transfer these terms and Binder to a company I set up to run it, or to someone who takes Binder over. I will tell you first. You may not transfer your account.
Language. These terms and the policies they refer to are available in English and in French, and you choose the language when you first sign in. If you live in Québec, you confirm that the French version was offered to you first. If the English and French versions differ, you may rely on whichever is more favourable to you. A term that is unclear is read in your favour. The French versions are at /fr/terms, /fr/privacy, /fr/acceptable-use and /fr/copyright.

16. Contact

Owen Homick, Ontario, Canada. Email owen@homick.com. [TODO for Owen: add a mailing address (a PO box is fine) and a telephone number here. Québec's Consumer Protection Act may require both if it applies to a free service, and the US copyright registration needs a postal address.] Copyright complaints follow the Copyright and Takedown Policy. Privacy requests follow the Privacy Policy.