Terms of Use & Disclaimer

Last updated: February 2026 · Effective immediately

These Terms of Use ("Terms") govern your access to and use of Tooms Intelligence Platform at fupcso.org, articles.fupcso.org, and the TIP newsletter. By using TIP you agree to these Terms. If you do not agree, please do not use the site.

1. What TIP publishes

TIP publishes analysis and summaries of U.S. public records: bills and resolutions from Congress.gov, opinions and orders from CourtListener (U.S. Supreme Court), rules and notices from FederalRegister.gov, and campaign-finance filings from the Federal Election Commission (FEC).

Every article on TIP is derived from these public records. The underlying documents are, and remain, works of the U.S. federal government and are in the public domain. Our editorial commentary, layout, code, and design are ours.

2. Analysis vs. sourced fact

TIP articles combine two things, and we label them accordingly:

Sourced facts — statements taken directly from a primary source, with a link to that source. Anything TIP presents as fact is meant to be verifiable against a specific document.
Analysis — TIP's characterization, framing, or interpretation of a document. Analysis is opinion. It is our best-faith reading, but it is not fact.

Where analysis appears alongside sourced fact, we make the distinction clear in the text.

3. Not legal, financial, medical, or professional advice

Nothing on TIP is legal advice, financial advice, tax advice, medical advice, or any other form of professional advice. TIP is journalism about public records. If you need advice about how a law, rule, court decision, or filing applies to your situation, consult a licensed professional in the relevant field and jurisdiction.

4. Accuracy and completeness

We strive for accuracy, but TIP is provided "as is" and "as available", without warranty of any kind. Government data feeds occasionally contain errors, delays, or omissions; LLM-assisted summarization can misread; humans miss things. Do not rely on TIP as the sole basis for any legally or financially significant decision. Always verify against the linked primary source.

5. Correction policy

If you believe an article contains a factual error:

Email corrections@fupcso.org with the article URL, the specific claim you believe is wrong, and (if available) the primary source that supports your correction.
We will review promptly. If a correction is warranted, we will update the article and publish a dated correction note at the bottom of the article describing what changed and why.
Corrections that materially change an article's conclusion are also flagged at the top of the article.

We do not silently edit articles. Substantive changes always come with a visible note.

6. Permitted use

You may read, share links to, and quote reasonable excerpts of TIP articles for personal, journalistic, academic, or civic purposes, with attribution.
You may not scrape TIP at industrial volume, republish articles in full without permission, or use TIP content to train machine-learning models without prior written consent.
Automated access must respect our robots.txt and reasonable rate limits.

7. Third-party links

TIP links extensively to third-party primary sources (Congress.gov, CourtListener, FederalRegister.gov, FEC.gov, and others). We are not responsible for the content, accuracy, or availability of third-party sites, and inclusion of a link does not imply endorsement.

8. Advertising

TIP displays advertising served by Google AdSense (publisher ID ca-pub-5384339760444918). Ads are not endorsements; TIP has no editorial control over specific ad content. See our Privacy Policy for how ad cookies are handled and how you can opt out of personalized advertising.

9. User submissions

When you email TIP, submit a tip, or subscribe to the newsletter, you grant us permission to read and act on what you send. We treat correspondence as confidential unless you clearly indicate otherwise. Story tips and corrections may inform future coverage; we will not identify you as a source without your explicit consent.

10. Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, TIP, Tooms Company, and Christopher Smoot are not liable for any indirect, incidental, consequential, special, or punitive damages arising from your use of, or inability to use, the site — including but not limited to reliance on any information published here.

11. Governing law

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Florida, United States, without regard to its conflict-of-laws principles. Any dispute arising from these Terms or your use of TIP will be resolved in the state or federal courts located in Florida, and you consent to their jurisdiction.

12. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. When we do, we will update the "Last updated" date at the top. Continued use of TIP after a change constitutes acceptance of the revised Terms.

13. Contact

Questions about these Terms: legal@fupcso.org. All other contact addresses are on the contact page.

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