Acceptable use policy

1. Why this exists

Every issue you approve is printed by a commercial provider and handed to the United States Postal Service under that provider's mailing permit. Their rules, USPS regulations and federal law all apply to the piece, and a problem with one publisher's mailing can affect every publisher who uses the same provider. This policy exists to keep that from happening. It is part of the Terms of service.

2. You must have the right to publish it

• Publish only content you wrote, own, or have a licence to reproduce in print. Quoting with attribution within fair use is fine; reprinting someone else's article, photograph or illustration without permission is not.
• Do not use another person's or organization's name, logo or likeness in a way that suggests they publish or endorse your newsletter when they do not.
• If you use fonts, stock images or templates from third parties, make sure your licence covers commercial print.

3. Content we will not print or mail

We will refuse, and may suspend an account for, content that:

• Is unlawful to publish or to send through the US mail, including anything USPS classifies as nonmailable matter.
• Is sexually explicit, or depicts or sexualizes minors in any way.
• Incites or threatens violence, or harasses, defames or doxxes a specific person.
• Promotes hatred against people on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability or age.
• Is fraudulent or deceptive: fake invoices, sweepstakes that do not exist, impersonation of a government agency or financial institution, or anything designed to look like an official notice when it is not.
• Sells or promotes controlled substances, weapons, or products that cannot lawfully be advertised by mail.
• Contains malware links, phishing or instructions for unlawful activity.

Editorial content with a point of view — political, religious, controversial, critical — is welcome. We judge content by the list above, not by whether we agree with it.

4. Subscribers must have asked for it

• A copy may be mailed only to someone who holds an active paid, gift or complimentary subscription, or who has otherwise clearly asked to receive the publication.
• Do not import or upload mailing lists of people who have not subscribed. Rented, purchased or scraped address lists are prohibited. The platform is not a tool for unsolicited bulk mail.
• Subscriber addresses may be used only to fulfil their subscription and to communicate with them about your publication. Selling, renting, sharing or exporting them for another use is prohibited.
• Honor cancellations and address changes promptly; the platform does this automatically and you must not circumvent it.
• Your storefront must describe accurately what the subscriber will receive, how often, at what price, and how to cancel.

5. Mailability and format rules

• Your issue must meet the file requirements for the format you chose (see printing & mailing). Repeatedly approving files that providers reject may lead us to require a proof before approval.
• The return address on a piece must be a real address where returned mail can reach you.
• Do not design a piece to imitate official government, court, tax or bank correspondence. USPS and federal law prohibit it regardless of intent.
• Pieces may not include items the provider cannot insert or USPS cannot carry: no enclosures, samples, magnets, seeds or cards unless the format explicitly supports them.

6. Use of the platform itself

• Do not attempt to access another organization's data, probe or overload the service, or reverse engineer it.
• Do not use the service to evade payment, to launder money, or to process payments for anything other than subscriptions to your own publication.
• Do not create multiple accounts to circumvent a suspension or a limit.

7. Reports and enforcement

Anyone can report content or conduct they believe breaches this policy by writing to support@editioncove.com. We will review reports promptly and, where we find a breach, may take any of the following, in proportion to the seriousness of the problem:

• Ask you to change an issue before it can be approved.
• Hold a mailing run that has not yet been sent to the provider, and tell you why.
• Suspend new mailing runs while we investigate.
• Terminate the account for serious or repeated breaches.

We will tell you what was reported and why we acted, unless the law prevents it, and you can respond. A hold on a run that has not been accepted by a provider is not charged. We cannot recall a run the provider has already accepted.

8. Changes

We will update this policy as laws, USPS rules and our providers' requirements change, and give publishers notice of material changes before they take effect.