This policy forms part of our Terms of Use. It applies to everyone who uses The Defense Brief — visitors, members, organization users, contributors and editors — and to everything you send us or do on the Service: questions to our tools, uploads, watchlists, screening searches, contributor drafts, reports and messages.
1. Research, Journalism and Analysis Are Welcome
The Defense Brief exists to cover war, terrorism, extremism, weapons, sanctions, espionage and other difficult subjects. Researching, analysing, reporting on and discussing them — including asking our tools about extremist groups, weapons systems or sanctioned entities — is legitimate and is not a breach of this policy. What this policy prohibits is using the Service to do harm, not to understand it.
2. Unlawful Use
Do not use the Service in breach of any law that applies to you or to us, including sanctions and export-control laws, and do not use it to plan, facilitate or promote a crime.
3. Security and Access
- Do not attempt to gain unauthorised access to the Service, other accounts, or our systems or data, or to probe, scan or test them for vulnerabilities, except under our responsible-disclosure process (see our security contact).
- Do not upload or transmit malware, or anything designed to disrupt, damage or gain access to systems.
- Do not circumvent access controls, rate limits or membership restrictions, and do not scrape or bulk-extract content except as a signed agreement allows.
- Do not share your account, sell access, create accounts to evade a suspension, or impersonate another person or organization.
4. Harm to People
- Do not harass, threaten, intimidate or incite violence against anyone.
- Do not use the Service to find, compile or expose a private person’s home address, personal contact details, family details or other private information (“doxxing”), or to track or surveil a private individual.
- Do not submit defamatory material, or allegations of wrongdoing about identifiable people or organizations that you know or suspect to be false.
5. Prohibited Material
Do not upload, submit, share or request the creation of:
- child sexual exploitation or abuse material of any kind — we remove it, preserve the report and refer it to the authorities;
- terrorist or violent extremist propaganda, recruitment or instructional material, or material that promotes, praises or incites terrorist acts (reporting on such material, with context, is different — see section 1);
- instructions for making weapons capable of mass casualties, or other material whose main purpose is to enable serious violence;
- gratuitously graphic images of violence, or real depictions of death or injury shared for shock rather than for news or research;
- material that infringes someone else’s copyright or other intellectual-property rights.
6. Classified, Export-Controlled and Confidential Information
Do not upload, paste or send us:
- information classified by any government (for example material marked TOP SECRET, SECRET, CONFIDENTIAL, PROTECTED, NOFORN or AUSTEO), whether or not it has already leaked;
- export-controlled technical data, software or technology — for example items on Australia’s Defence and Strategic Goods List, Canada’s Export Control List or Controlled Goods List, or information subject to the U.S. ITAR or EAR — unless you are authorised to share it and have told us in writing first;
- controlled or restricted defense information, or information you hold under a security clearance, contract, non-disclosure agreement or other duty of confidence that does not allow you to share it with us.
Material carrying classification or export-control markings is flagged automatically, held from publication and escalated. That screening is a safeguard, not a guarantee: you remain responsible for what you send. We may delete such material, and we may be required to report it.
7. Our Tools and AI
- Do not use our tools to generate content for disinformation campaigns, to impersonate real people or organizations, or to create material prohibited by this policy.
- Do not try to make our AI tools ignore their instructions, reveal other users’ information, or produce personalised investment recommendations.
8. What We Do About Breaches
We may remove material, restrict features, suspend or close accounts, and report matters to the authorities where the law requires or where there is a risk to someone’s safety. Where it is practical and lawful, we will tell you what we did and why, and give you a chance to respond, as described in our Terms of Use.
9. Reporting a Problem
To report content or behaviour that breaks this policy, use the report form or write to info@defensebrief.ca. Reports about child safety, terrorism, threats or doxxing are treated as urgent.