Plain terms.
These are the terms for using SigWave, in plain words. A mark is your own sign, like a signature. It is made on your own phone or computer, and nobody else can sign with it. When you make a mark, point your phone at someone else's, ask a question, answer one, or sign a paper with SigWave, you agree to these terms.
Who we are
SigWave is made by Synaping Inc., a company in Pasadena, California. In these terms, "SigWave" and "we" mean Synaping Inc. "You" means the person or organization using SigWave.
What SigWave is
SigWave is three things. A mark, which is made on your own device and which nobody else can sign with. The SigWave app, the program on your iPhone or Mac that asks questions, answers them, and signs papers. The iPhone app is still in testing, and so is an Apple Watch app. And the directory at sigwave.id, which holds your mark, the phones and computers allowed to speak for it, the questions and answers you chose to send, receipts of what was asked and answered, and any signed record you chose to publish. Everything the directory holds is listed on the privacy page. A mark can also be made on a web page, at sigwave.id/me.
We do not hold your documents, unless you choose to publish a signed one. Then we keep its words so that anyone holding the page can check it, and you can take it down. Only the answer leaves your phone, and only when you send it. What it is based on stays with you. Today most answers are your own word. The directory has no column for a birth date, an address or a document. We hold three things only because you chose it: a fact you sent in an answer, kept as that answer; a signed paper you chose to publish; and details you set aside for an official check, kept sealed for the one who does the check and never shown to the asker. Official checks are still in testing. Today the only one doing them is a test service we run ourselves, on test data. (An asker is anyone who points a phone at your mark and asks.)
Your mark is yours
You own your mark and the secret behind it. Your mark's secret is made on your own device, never on our computers. On the app, it is made inside the part of the device built to keep secrets and never leaves it. A mark made on a web page is weaker, and the page says so. Nobody else can sign with it, and we never see it.
You are responsible for the phones and computers on your list. Each one can speak for your mark. Each one asks for Face ID, Touch ID or your Mac's password before anything is signed. If one is lost or given away, take it off the list as soon as you can. Off the list, it can no longer speak for you.
You are also responsible for your recovery kit: a file and seven words, made on your phone. Keep it safe and away from your phone. Getting a mark back from the kit is in development and does not work yet. Today, if you lose every phone and computer on your list, your mark is gone. We cannot get it back for you, because the mark is built so that only the phones and computers on your list can speak for it, and we never hold the secret.
What you may not do
You may not:
- Use a mark to pass as a person or an organization you are not.
- Ask for facts, such as a name or a birth date, that you do not really need. If a yes or no will do, ask for a yes or no.
- Gather up other people's marks, or copy the directory, by hand or by machine. Look up the one mark in front of you and nothing more.
- Try to break in, poke at the locks, or flood SigWave with traffic so it stops working. If you find a weakness, tell us at security@sigwave.id and give us a fair chance to fix it before you tell anyone else.
- Use SigWave where the law forbids it, or to do something the law forbids.
What an answer is
Most answers on SigWave are the person's own word, tied to their mark. When someone answers yes to "over 18," that is their answer, and their mark stands behind it. It is a record of who said what, not proof from anyone else.
An answer counts as "verified" only when someone who would know, such as the board that gave a license, a school or an employer, has said it is true. The place for such bodies to join SigWave is built, and none has joined yet, so today no answer on SigWave counts as verified.
We are not part of what is asked or answered. We do not check whether an answer is true, and we do not settle disputes between the person asking and the person answering. If someone lies to you with their mark, the record shows who said it, and any claim you have is against them, not us.
Receipts and records
Every question asked and every answer given makes a receipt. You get one on your mark, and the asker gets one on theirs when the asker has a mark. Publishing a signed paper, taking it down, or answering a check on it makes a receipt too. Only the holder of a mark can read that mark's receipts.
Changes and ending service
SigWave is new. We may add, change or stop features. When we change these terms, we post the new date at the top of this page. Using SigWave after that date means you accept them.
Blocking a mark works on our service, and the button for it arrives in the next test build of the app. A blocked mark's questions are kept quiet, and the asker is never told. We may refuse service, or end it, for a mark that breaks these terms or abuses the service. Receipts already made stay with the marks they were made for.
No warranty and limits
SigWave comes "as is," with no promise that it will always work. We do not promise that the service is never interrupted, that every question arrives, or that a check finds every forgery. When a phone is held over a signed page, it reads the mark and every line on the page and says whether they match what was signed. Nothing off the page is checked.
If SigWave ever costs you something, the most we owe you is what you paid us for it, as far as the law allows. Making and using a mark costs a person nothing today.
Governing law
California law rules these terms, and no other state's rules change that. If you and we ever go to court over SigWave, it will be a state or federal court in Los Angeles County, California, and we both agree to that.
Contact
Questions about these terms go to legal@sigwave.id. Questions about the app go to support@sigwave.id. What we hold about you is on the privacy page.