Cryzstl - Terms of Service

1 Acceptance of Terms & Eligibility

Welcome to Cryzstl (“Platform”, “we”, “us”, or “our”). By creating an account, browsing, streaming video content, or uploading media to https://shiningashes.net, you enter into a legally binding agreement to comply with and be bound by these Terms of Service, together with our Privacy Policy and Community Guidelines.

You must be at least 13 years of age (or the applicable age of digital consent in your jurisdiction) to access or use the Platform. If you are between the ages of 13 and 18, you represent that your parent or legal guardian has reviewed and consented to these Terms on your behalf. If you do not agree to these Terms, you must immediately cease all access and use of our services.

2 Platform Description & Services

Cryzstl is a next-generation Video On Demand (VOD) and media delivery network providing high-performance video transcoding, adaptive bitrate streaming (DASH / HLS), content curation, channel profiles, public and private commenting systems, and creator media management.

We continually improve, update, and evolve the Platform. We reserve the right to modify, suspend, or discontinue any feature, pipeline, or service at any time with or without notice, subject to applicable law.

3 User Accounts & Security

To upload content, interact socially, or participate in creator features, you must register a user account. You agree to provide accurate, truthful, and complete information during registration and to keep this information up to date.

Credential Protection: You are solely responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your account password (stored using high-security Argon2id encryption) and any active Two-Factor Authentication (TOTP) credentials or recovery tokens.
Account Liability: You accept full legal responsibility for all activities, content transmissions, and communications conducted through your account.
Compromise Notification: You must immediately notify platform staff of any suspected breach of security or unauthorized use of your credentials.

4 Account Removal, Reactivation & 15-Day Grace Period

Cryzstl respects user autonomy and privacy rights, including the right to request erasure of personal data under applicable data privacy frameworks (including GDPR, CCPA, and CPRA).

User Self-Deletion & 15-Day Grace Period

When you initiate self-deletion of your account via /account/delete:

Immediate Soft-Delete: Your channel, uploaded videos, profile biography, and public comments are instantly unlisted and hidden from platform search engines and public view. All active sessions across all devices are immediately revoked.
15-Day Cancellation Window: Your account enters a 15-calendar-day reactivation grace period. If you change your mind, you may log in at any time within this 15-day window using your valid credentials to cancel deletion and restore your account to full active standing.
Irreversible Permanent Purge: Upon expiration of the 15-day grace period, our automated infrastructure permanently and irreversibly purges your account from our database systems, including user credentials, profile records, social linkages, and media ownership references. Once purged, accounts cannot be recovered.

Important Permanent deletion cannot be undone once the 15-day grace period elapses.

Administrative Instant Termination: Platform moderators and security administrators reserve the right to bypass the grace period and permanently purge accounts instantly in cases of egregious terms violations, unlawful activity, automated malicious attacks, or severe safety threats.

5 Content Ownership & Licensing

You retain full copyright and intellectual property ownership of all original videos, audio compositions, titles, artwork, and descriptions that you submit to the Platform.

By uploading media to Cryzstl, you grant us a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free, transferable license (with the right to sublicense) to host, transcode, cache, encode, store, adapt for device streaming, publicly display, distribute, and perform your content solely for the purposes of operating, maintaining, optimizing, and promoting the Platform.

This license terminates within a commercially reasonable timeframe when you delete your content from the Platform or upon the permanent expiration of your account deletion grace period, except where content has been legitimately downloaded, cached, or shared by other users prior to removal.

6 Creator Representations & Warranties

Whenever you publish or transmit media through Cryzstl, you affirm, represent, and warrant that:

You are the sole author and owner of the content or have secured all necessary copyright licenses, master sound recording rights, synchronization clearances, and trademark releases.
Your content does not violate any patent, copyright, trademark, trade secret, moral right, or privacy/publicity right of any third party.
Your content complies strictly with our Community Guidelines and all applicable local, national, and international laws.

7 Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), Fair Use & Intellectual Property

Cryzstl respects the intellectual property rights of artists, creators, and copyright holders, and operates in strict compliance with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 (17 U.S.C. § 512) and the Fair Use doctrine (17 U.S.C. § 107).

7.1 The Fair Use Doctrine (17 U.S.C. § 107) & Pre-Takedown Duty

Statutory Defense

Statutory Fair Use Rights: Pursuant to 17 U.S.C. § 107, the fair use of a copyrighted work—including such use by reproduction for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, or research—is not an infringement of copyright. In assessing whether a creator's use qualifies as fair use, federal courts weigh four statutory factors:

1. Purpose and Character: Whether the use is of a commercial nature or is for non-profit educational purposes, with supreme weight given to whether the use is transformative (adds new expression, meaning, or insight).
2. Nature of Copyrighted Work: Factual and informational works receive less protection against fair use than purely imaginative or fictional creative works.
3. Amount and Substantiality: The portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole, focusing on whether only what was reasonably necessary to achieve the transformative goal was used without appropriating the “heart” of the work.
4. Market Effect: The effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work (specifically whether the video acts as an unauthorized market substitute).

Pre-Takedown Fair Use Consideration (Lenz v. Universal Music Corp.):

Under controlling federal copyright precedent (Lenz v. Universal Music Corp., 801 F.3d 1126), copyright holders and their agents must consider whether a video constitutes fair use before issuing a formal DMCA takedown notice. Submitting a DMCA notice without forming a good-faith belief regarding fair use constitutes a willful misrepresentation under 17 U.S.C. § 512(f) and may expose the complainant to liability for damages and attorneys' fees.

7.2 DMCA Notice of Claimed Infringement Requirements

Notice Procedure

If you are a copyright owner or authorized representative and believe that content hosted on Cryzstl infringes your exclusive rights without qualifying for fair use or licensing, submit a formal written notice to our designated copyright agent containing:

A physical or electronic signature of an authorized person acting on behalf of the copyright owner.
Identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed (or representative list if multiple works).
Identification of the material claimed to be infringing, including exact URLs on https://shiningashes.net.
Your legal name, mailing address, telephone number, and official email address.
A statement that you have a good faith belief that use of the material is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law (including fair use).
A statement, made under penalty of perjury, that the information in the notification is accurate and that you are authorized to act on behalf of the copyright owner.

DMCA notices must be directed to: dmca@shiningashes.net.

7.3 DMCA Counter-Notification Procedure (17 U.S.C. § 512(g))

Creator Defense

If content you uploaded has been disabled or removed as a result of a DMCA takedown notice, and you believe in good faith that your content was removed due to mistake, misidentification, or lawful Fair Use, you may file a formal DMCA Counter-Notification pursuant to 17 U.S.C. § 512(g)(3).

To be legally valid, your written counter-notification must include:

Your physical or electronic signature.
Identification of the material that has been removed or disabled, and the specific URL location where it appeared prior to removal.
A statement, made under penalty of perjury, that you have a good faith belief that the material was removed or disabled as a result of mistake or misidentification (including fair use).
Your full legal name, physical address, and telephone number.
A statement that you consent to the jurisdiction of the Federal District Court for the judicial district in which your address is located (or the designated federal jurisdiction if outside the United States), and that you will accept service of process from the person who provided the initial DMCA notification or their agent.

Content Restoration Window:

Upon receiving an effective counter-notification, Cryzstl will promptly forward a copy to the original claimant. Unless the claimant notifies us within 10 to 14 business days that they have filed an action in a court of competent jurisdiction seeking a court order against you, our automated systems will restore the disabled material to public access.

7.4 Repeat Infringer Policy:

In accordance with 17 U.S.C. § 512(i)(1)(A), Cryzstl enforces a strict repeat infringer policy. We will permanently terminate the accounts of users who are determined to be repeat copyright infringers. Terminated accounts are permanently purged and prevented from re-registering on the Platform.

8 Prohibited Conduct & Zero-Tolerance Policies

To protect our users, infrastructure, and the broader community, Cryzstl strictly prohibits the behaviors outlined below. Engaging in any of these prohibited actions may result in immediate content removal, instantaneous account termination, and referral to criminal authorities.

8.1 Absolute Zero Tolerance: Sexual Content & Adult Link Aggregators

Strict Prohibition

Cryzstl is a non-adult, general-audience streaming platform. We maintain an absolute zero-tolerance standard against pornography, sexually explicit media, erotic depictions, nudity, and adult entertainment across all areas of the Platform.

This zero-tolerance prohibition applies strictly to:

Uploaded video streams, live transmissions, audio tracks, and clip segments.
Video thumbnails, previews, titles, descriptions, and tag metadata.
Channel avatars, header banners, custom profile layouts, and biography sections.
User comments, live chat feeds, playlist collections, and direct messages.

Prohibition on Off-Site Adult Funneling & Link Aggregator Services:

You are strictly forbidden from posting, embedding, or directing users to third-party commercial adult platforms, adult subscription portals, webcam networks, or explicit paywalls (including, but not limited to, OnlyFans, Fansly, LoyalFans, ManyVids, Chaturbate, Pornhub, or similar adult services).

Multi-Link / Bio-Link Aggregator Aggression: This ban explicitly encompasses all multi-link bio redirect tools, link trees, and URL shorteners (including, but not limited to, Linktree (linktr.ee), Beacons (beacons.ai), Bio.link, Carrd, Campsite, AllMyLinks, or equivalent routing mechanisms). Hosting, embedding, or linking to an aggregator that contains, promotes, or links out to sexually explicit or adult subscription destinations is treated identically to uploading adult content directly to the Platform. Any violation results in instant permanent termination without access to the 15-day grace period.

8.2 Absolute Zero Tolerance: Animal Abuse & Mandatory Criminal Prosecution

Zero Tolerance • Law Enforcement Referral

Cryzstl strictly condemns and prohibits any form of animal abuse, cruelty, torture, intentional injury, or animal exploitation. We do not tolerate the depiction, glorification, promotion, or facilitation of suffering inflicted on any living animal or creature.

Prohibited animal-related content includes, without limitation:

Staged animal fights, blood sports, or baiting (including dogfighting, cockfighting, or animal gladiatorial contests).
Physical torture, beating, burning, mutilation, poison administration, or malicious bodily harm.
Animal crush media, fetishized injury, or bestiality in any form.
Depriving domestic or captive animals of food, water, medical treatment, or shelter, or filming distress for viewer engagement.
Trapping, poaching, or malicious harassment of protected wildlife.

MANDATORY LAW ENFORCEMENT & PROSECUTORIAL REPORTING:

Any user who uploads, shares, distributes, or promotes animal cruelty or abuse content will be subjected to instant, permanent account termination with no grace period. Furthermore, Cryzstl will immediately preserve all digital records—including raw video assets, upload telemetry, user registration credentials, IP addresses, and device fingerprints—and proactively refer the incident to municipal animal control agencies, local law enforcement departments, state/federal prosecutors, and international wildlife crime organizations for criminal prosecution under applicable felony statutes (including the federal Preventing Animal Cruelty and Torture (PACT) Act, 18 U.S.C. § 48).

8.3 Platform Security, Anti-Abuse & Cyber Hygiene

Platform Defense

Security Tampering: Attempting to probe, scan, or test the vulnerability of platform systems or circumvent authentication, rate-limiting, or transcoding protections.
Automated Scraping: Using automated scripts, scrapers, crawlers, or bots to harvest content or user data without express prior written authorization.
Disruption & Attacks: Launching denial-of-service (DoS) attacks, flood requests, or interfering with any user, host, or network connection.
Fraud & Manipulation: Artificial inflation of video views, likes, follower counts, or ad metrics through bot farms or deceptive techniques.

9 Disclaimer of Warranties & Limitation of Liability

THE PLATFORM AND ALL MEDIA, SOFTWARE, CONTENT, AND STREAMING FEEDS ARE PROVIDED ON AN “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE” BASIS WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT.

IN NO EVENT SHALL CRYZSTL, ITS DIRECTORS, EMPLOYEES, OR AGENTS BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH YOUR USE OF THE PLATFORM, LOSS OF DATA, DELETION OF MEDIA, OR SERVICE INTERRUPTIONS.

10 Mandatory Binding Individual Arbitration & Class Action Waiver

PLEASE READ THIS SECTION CAREFULLY. IT GOVERNS HOW DISPUTES ARE RESOLVED AND SIGNIFICANTLY AFFECTS YOUR LEGAL RIGHTS, INCLUDING YOUR RIGHT TO INITIATE A COURT ACTION, DEMAND A JURY TRIAL, AND PARTICIPATE IN A CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT.

10.1 Agreement to Mandatory Binding Individual Arbitration

You and Cryzstl mutually agree that any and all disputes, claims, demands, or controversies arising out of, relating to, or in connection with these Terms of Service, your use of the Platform, video streaming, account termination, privacy practices, or the breach, termination, enforcement, interpretation, or validity of these Terms (collectively, “Disputes”) shall be resolved exclusively by final, binding individual arbitration, rather than in a court of general jurisdiction.

Small Claims Exception: As the sole exception to mandatory arbitration, either party retains the right to bring an individual claim in a small claims court of competent jurisdiction, provided that the action remains within the monetary jurisdictional limits of that court and proceeds solely on an individual, non-class, non-representative basis.

10.2 CLASS ACTION & REPRESENTATIVE PROCEEDING WAIVER

Mandatory Waiver

NO CLASS, COLLECTIVE, OR REPRESENTATIVE ACTIONS:

YOU AND CRYZSTL MUTUALLY AGREE THAT EACH PARTY MAY BRING CLAIMS AND DISPUTES AGAINST THE OTHER ONLY IN AN INDIVIDUAL CAPACITY, AND NOT AS A PLAINTIFF, CLASS REPRESENTATIVE, OR CLASS MEMBER IN ANY PURPORTED CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT, COLLECTIVE ARBITRATION, PRIVATE ATTORNEY GENERAL ACTION, OR ANY OTHER CONSOLIDATED OR REPRESENTATIVE PROCEEDING.

Unless both you and Cryzstl expressly agree otherwise in writing, no arbitrator or court may consolidate more than one individual person's claims, nor preside over any form of a representative or class proceeding. The arbitrator may award declaratory or injunctive relief only in favor of the individual party seeking relief and only to the extent necessary to provide relief warranted by that party's individual claim.

10.3 Arbitration Procedures & Administration

Arbitration shall be governed by the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) and administered by the American Arbitration Association (AAA) in accordance with its Consumer Arbitration Rules (or Commercial Arbitration Rules, if applicable), as modified by these Terms. If the AAA is unavailable or unwilling to arbitrate, the parties shall mutually select an alternative established arbitration provider. Any judgment on the award rendered by the arbitrator may be entered in any court having competent jurisdiction.

10.4 Express Waiver of Jury Trial

TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, YOU AND CRYZSTL KNOWINGLY, VOLUNTARILY, AND INTENTIONALLY WAIVE ANY CONSTITUTIONAL AND STATUTORY RIGHTS TO SUE IN COURT AND TO HAVE A TRIAL IN FRONT OF A JUDGE OR A JURY. You and Cryzstl are instead choosing to have claims and disputes resolved by an impartial arbitrator.

10.5 Severability of Arbitration Clauses

If any part of this Section 10 is found by a court of competent jurisdiction to be illegal or unenforceable, that specific clause shall be severed and the remainder of Section 10 will remain in full force and effect. However, if the Class Action Waiver in Section 10.2 is found to be illegal or unenforceable as to all or any part of a dispute, then the entire arbitration agreement in this Section 10 shall be null and void with respect to that specific dispute, and the claim must be litigated exclusively in the state or federal courts located in the designated governing jurisdiction.

Terms of Service