Acceptable use policy

The short version

Not allowed

Scams, malware, and anything illegal or harmful to the people who scan.

Checks

Every web address before it goes live, and every day after that.

If we act

We tell you why, and you can ask for a review.

Report a code

kifuna.com/report

Why it matters

Kifuna codes are printed on things people trust: menus, signs, business cards and packaging. Every one redirects through kifu.to, so a single scam code can harm the people who scan it and get kifu.to flagged by browsers and mail filters, which would break every customer's printed codes. This policy is part of our terms of service.

What codes may not open, contain or host

• Phishing and scams: pages that trick people into giving passwords, payment or personal details, or into paying for something that isn't real.
• Malware or unwanted software, or pages that download it.
• Sexual content involving a child, ever.
• Sexual images of someone shared without their consent.
• Material that infringes someone's copyright, trademark or other rights.
• Anything illegal where it's offered, including illegal goods and services.
• Threats, harassment, or content that promotes violence or hatred against people for who they are.
• Someone else's private information, published without their permission.
• Pretending to be another person, business or organization to mislead people.
• Showing our checks something different from what people who scan see, or changing a page after it's checked to get around them.

And don't use Kifuna in bulk or by automated means beyond the fair-use policy, try to get around its limits or checks, get into accounts that aren't yours, or attack or probe Kifuna or kifu.to. If you find a security problem, tell us at [email protected].

How we check codes

• Before a web address goes live, we follow its redirects and ask Google Web Risk whether any page on the way is a known danger. We check it again every day while it's live. A contact card's website and the links in a PDF are checked the same way.
• A PDF can't contain scripts or attached files, and every PDF is scanned for malware before anyone can open it.
• If a new address doesn't pass, we hold the change: the code keeps going to its last approved address.
• If a live address stops passing, we block the code: people who scan it see “This link was blocked for safety.”

Reporting a code

Anyone can report a code; the pages people see when they scan a blocked or inactive code link to the form. A report gets the code checked again at once, and again later for a scam or malware. Reports alone don't block a code its owner has been using for a while, so nobody can take down a printed code just by reporting it, but several reports from different networks can hold a new one. We never tell the owner who reported a code, and we don't email reporters, except to reply to legal requests.

If we block a code or hold a change

• We email the owner with the reason, and the code's page in Your codes says it too.
• The owner can ask for a review from that page: check the address again, use a different address or PDF, or explain why the block is wrong. A fresh check decides most reviews in moments.
• If an owner explains why a block from reports is wrong and nobody has decided within 72 hours, the code turns back on by itself, as long as a fresh check passes, no new reports have come in, and it wasn't held the same way in the last 90 days.
• A block stays until a review lifts it: paying or changing plans doesn't. It doesn't end the plan or the account's other codes.
• For serious or repeated breaches of this policy, we may suspend or close the account, as the terms of service say. A blocked code's short link is never given to anyone else.

Child sexual abuse material

We never allow it. A single report about a PDF we host holds the code at once while a person reviews it, and we keep the evidence. We report apparent child sexual abuse material to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, as US law requires, and may close the account.

Copyright

If a code opens or hosts something that infringes your copyright, report it and choose “It uses my copyright or trademark”, or write to [email protected]. Tell us the code, by its kifu.to link or ID, the work you say it infringes, and your email address. A person reads every one, and we reply.

If we decide the code infringes, we block it and tell its owner why, and the owner can ask for a review, as above.

Trademarks and other legal requests

For a trademark complaint, a court order or another legal request about a code, use the report form and choose the closest reason; a person reads every one, and we reply. Law enforcement can write to [email protected]. We give out information about an account only with valid legal process, or in an emergency involving danger of death or serious injury, and we tell the account's owner first unless the law or the request forbids it.