Terms of Service

1. What DISPATCH is

DISPATCH is a platform for documentary photography. It allows contributors to submit geolocated images of newsworthy events, and allows the public to view those images on an interactive world map. DISPATCH is operated by Real News Alliance.

DISPATCH is not a news wire service. We do not represent that any content published on the platform has been independently verified by our staff. We review submissions for compliance with these terms and our editorial standards, but we are not responsible for the factual accuracy of captions, descriptions, or other metadata provided by contributors.

2. Who can use DISPATCH

You must be at least 13 years old to create an account or submit content. By using DISPATCH you represent that you meet this requirement.

You may browse the public map and view images without creating an account.

3. Submitting images — your responsibilities

By submitting an image to DISPATCH, you represent and warrant that:

• You took the photograph yourself, or you have explicit permission from the person who took it to submit it here
• You have the right to grant the license described in Section 4
• The image does not infringe any copyright, trademark, right of publicity, or other intellectual property right of any third party
• The image does not contain child sexual abuse material or any depiction of minors in a sexual context
• The caption, description, and metadata you provide are accurate to the best of your knowledge
• Submitting the image does not violate any law applicable to you

4. Copyright and license

You retain copyright. Submitting an image to DISPATCH does not transfer ownership of your copyright. You own your photographs.

What you grant us: By submitting an image you grant Real News Alliance a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to store, display, reproduce, and distribute the image and its associated metadata on the DISPATCH platform and in materials promoting DISPATCH (such as social media posts or press coverage about the platform). This license continues for as long as your image remains on the platform.

What you grant viewers: Unless you specify otherwise at the time of submission, images are made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International license. This means anyone may use your image for non-commercial purposes as long as they credit you. You may specify a different Creative Commons license or reserve all rights at the time of submission.

Commercial use: Organizations wishing to use images for commercial purposes must contact the contributor directly and negotiate a separate license. DISPATCH is not a party to those agreements.

5. Editorial review

All submitted images are reviewed by a human editor before they appear publicly on the platform. We reserve the right to reject any submission for any reason, including but not limited to:

• Graphic violence or gore without clear documentary justification
• Nudity or sexually explicit content
• Content that appears to be fabricated, manipulated, or misleading
• Images that could endanger the safety of identifiable individuals
• Content that violates applicable law
• Duplicate or off-topic submissions

Rejection does not imply any wrongdoing on the part of the contributor. We will not provide detailed explanations for every rejection, but contributors may request feedback by contacting us.

6. Removing your content

If you submitted an image with an account, you may delete it at any time from your Contributions panel. Deletion removes the image from public view immediately and permanently deletes the file from our servers.

If you submitted anonymously and need an image removed, contact us at dispatch.realnewsalliance@gmail.com. We will process removal requests within 7 days.

Once an image has been approved and published, the license granted to viewers under Section 4 continues to apply to any copies they have already made in accordance with that license. We cannot recall copies already made by third parties.

7. Takedown requests

If you believe content on DISPATCH infringes your copyright, please send a notice to dispatch.realnewsalliance@gmail.com containing:

• A description of the copyrighted work you claim has been infringed
• The URL of the allegedly infringing content on DISPATCH
• Your contact information
• A statement that you have a good faith belief the use is not authorized
• A statement that the information in your notice is accurate and, under penalty of perjury, that you are the copyright owner or authorized to act on their behalf

We will review and respond to valid takedown requests within 14 days.

8. Subject rights and privacy of depicted individuals

If you are identifiable in an image published on DISPATCH and you believe its publication endangers your safety or violates your rights, contact us at dispatch.realnewsalliance@gmail.com. We take these requests seriously and will review them on a case-by-case basis, weighing the individual's safety against the public interest value of the image.

9. Account conduct

You are responsible for all activity under your account. You agree not to:

• Share your account credentials with others
• Use automated tools to scrape, bulk-download, or systematically copy content from DISPATCH without written permission
• Attempt to gain unauthorized access to other accounts, the server, or any part of the platform's infrastructure
• Use DISPATCH to distribute spam, malware, or disinformation
• Impersonate another person or organization
• Harass, threaten, or dox other users or contributors

We reserve the right to suspend or terminate any account that violates these terms, with or without notice.

10. Disclaimers and limitation of liability

DISPATCH is provided "as is" without warranty of any kind. We do not warrant that the platform will be available at all times, error-free, or free from harmful components.

We are not responsible for the accuracy of any image caption, description, or location data provided by contributors. Images on DISPATCH represent the perspective of the individual contributor and do not represent the views of Real News Alliance.

To the maximum extent permitted by law, Real News Alliance shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages arising from your use of DISPATCH or any content submitted to it.

11. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless Real News Alliance, its operators, editors, and agents from any claim, damage, loss, or expense (including reasonable legal fees) arising from your use of DISPATCH, your submitted content, or your violation of these terms.

12. Governing law

These terms are governed by the laws of the State of California, United States, without regard to its conflict of law provisions. Any disputes arising under these terms shall be resolved in the courts of California.

13. Changes to these terms

We may update these terms from time to time. We will post changes on this page with an updated effective date. Continued use of DISPATCH after changes are posted constitutes acceptance of the revised terms. For material changes, we will notify registered users by email.

14. Contact

Questions about these terms: dispatch.realnewsalliance@gmail.com