Acceptable Use Policy

This policy is part of the Terms of Service. It sets out what is not allowed when you use Porchlight, so the service stays safe and reliable for every business on it. It applies to you, your staff and your clients when they use Porchlight through your account.

You may not use Porchlight to:

• break any law or regulation, or to help someone else do so;
• harm, neglect or mistreat animals or people, or to hide such conduct;
• store or share content that is unlawful, defamatory, harassing, hateful, or sexually explicit, or that infringes someone's rights;
• collect information about people without the notice and consent the law requires;
• misrepresent who you are, your business, your licenses or insurance; or
• process payments for goods or services that are not your own pet care services, or that Stripe prohibits.

Text messages, emails and push notifications sent through Porchlight are for service communications to people who have asked to receive them. You may not use Porchlight to:

• send spam, chain messages, or unsolicited marketing or promotions by text message;
• text anyone who has not agreed to receive texts from your company, or keep texting after they opt out;
• buy, sell or rent contact lists, or send to numbers you do not have a relationship with;
• hide the identity of the sender, or send messages that are deceptive or phishing; or
• send content related to cannabis, firearms, gambling, adult content, or other content wireless carriers do not permit.

See the SMS Terms. Text messaging is subject to a fair-use limit on monthly volume.

You may not:

• try to get into accounts, data or systems you are not authorized to access, or test our security without written permission;
• interfere with or overload Porchlight, or bypass rate limits, plan limits or access controls;
• upload malware, or content designed to harm devices or services;
• scrape or copy the service in bulk, or use automated tools that are not our documented API;
• reverse engineer the service, or build a competing product from it; or
• share your login with people outside your business or sell access to your account.

Home access codes, alarm codes, pet medical details and location data are sensitive. Use them only for the pet care visit they are meant for, share them only with staff who need them, and do not use client information for your own unrelated marketing or give it to others without permission.

Do not store payment card numbers, bank account details, Social Security numbers or similar in notes or custom fields. Use Stripe for payments.

Use the API and webhooks only for your own business. Webhook addresses must point to systems you control or are authorized to use. Do not point webhooks at private networks or internal addresses, and do not use them to attack another service. We may limit or disable endpoints that fail repeatedly or cause load.

If we believe this policy has been broken, we may remove content, limit features, suspend or end an account, and report unlawful activity to authorities. Where we reasonably can, we will tell you first and give you a chance to fix the problem. We may act immediately if there is a risk to people, animals, the service or other customers.

To report abuse or a security problem, email hello@porchlight.pet.