The Innocence Protocol

Terms of Use and Reader Access Agreement

Version: IP-READER-TERMS-20261003-v1
Effective: 2026-10-03T08:18:07+00:00
Operator: Robert Wescott, individually.
Contact: rob@thesagedad.com

Reader summary

Reading here is free. This agreement provides personal access, not permission to republish, sell, repackage, or make substitute editions of the stories, or to collect them for an AI dataset. Links, honest reviews, discussion, lawful quotation, and accessibility uses are welcome within the permissions below. Optional reader emails and analytics are separate choices. The complete terms, not this summary alone, define the agreement.

1. The parties, the website, and acceptance

This agreement is between Robert Wescott, operator of theinnocenceprotocol.com (the “Operator,” “I,” or “me”), and the person who expressly accepts it (“you”). It concerns access to The Innocence Protocol website and the materials the Operator makes available through its controlled reader services (the “Services”). The materials may include Sovereign Mercy, The Human Variable, other novels and short stories, illustrations, extras, and development or provenance material you are separately authorized to view (the “Content”). A title’s inclusion is not a promise that its manuscript has been completed or released.

You enter this agreement by taking the expressly labelled acceptance action presented with a conspicuous link to these terms before controlled Content is delivered. You must have an opportunity to open, retain, and review the terms and to decline. Merely viewing a freely accessible announcement, receiving an unsolicited link, or seeing a footer notice does not, by itself, constitute your acceptance of this agreement.

In exchange for your promises in this agreement, the Operator grants the access and limited permissions described below when the Services authorize your access. There is currently no reader-access charge. Payment is not a condition of this offered exchange, and no charge will be introduced under this agreement without a separate affirmative purchase decision. The agreement does not retroactively attach new promises to material you obtained before accepting it.

2. Eligibility and reader accounts

The reader service is for persons who are at least 18 years old and have reached the age of legal majority where they live. You must be legally able to enter this agreement. Do not misrepresent your identity, age, authority, or right to use an email address. A parent’s informal permission does not automatically create a verified guardian agreement; a different minor-access process would require separate terms and implementation.

Where an account is required, use an email address you control and complete its verification. Verification establishes control of that address at that time; it is not government identity verification. Keep login links and access credentials private, do not sell or share account access, and notify the Operator of suspected unauthorized access. You are responsible for your own conduct and conduct you knowingly authorize, not automatically for every action of an unknown person who compromises an account without your fault.

Acceptance for an organization is effective on its behalf only when the person accepting has authority to bind it. Ordinary reader access does not authorize corporate data collection or commercial exploitation. Publishers, agents, licensees, and researchers seeking additional rights should obtain written permission or a separate agreement.

3. Personal reading permission

Subject to this agreement and any separately disclosed release or access conditions, the Operator provides a non-exclusive, non-transferable permission to access released Content through the ordinary reader interface for your own reading. The Operator grants licenses to intellectual-property rights only to the extent the Operator owns or is authorized to license them. No ownership transfers to you.

You may use ordinary browser caching and reader-view tools, keep reasonable private notes, and make a private copy or printout of an individual chapter for your own reading or accessibility. Keep applicable attribution and notices with an expressly permitted copy. An ordinary browser cache is not an unauthorized publication. These permissions do not authorize a redistributed book, collection, feed, mirror, database, or paid or free substitute for this site.

You may use assistive technologies, including a screen reader, magnification, or private text-to-speech, for your own reading. These terms do not require disabling accessibility features. An accessibility use does not include publishing an audiobook, distributing the text to others, or knowingly contributing it to a model-training corpus. Contact the Operator for an accommodation when the access process prevents effective use.

You may share public links to the site and its book pages. A separately labelled press kit or authorized download may supply additional permissions; any such permission applies only to the identified material and use.

4. Uses requiring express written permission

Except as expressly permitted by sections 3 and 6, you agree not to use Content obtained through the Services to do the following without the Operator’s prior express written permission:

(a) reproduce or distribute a chapter, story, book, substantial extract, or collection to other people, whether for a fee or free of charge;

(b) republish, mirror, syndicate, repackage, sell, rent, sublicense, or offer the Content through another website, app, publication, marketplace, repository, or service;

(c) create or distribute a translation, audiobook, dramatization, adaptation, abridgment, or rewritten edition that reproduces or adapts protected expression or serves as a substitute presentation of the accessed Content;

(d) compile the Content into an ebook, print edition, subscription feed, dataset, story database, or other substitute product or collection;

(e) present the Content as your own work, misstate its origin, or falsely imply that an edition, adaptation, product, or service is authorized, endorsed, or published by Robert Wescott or The Innocence Protocol; or

(f) knowingly provide access credentials, copies, or technical assistance for another person to carry out a use that would violate these access promises.

These restrictions concern use of the Content and Services, not a prohibition on independently writing fiction about artificial intelligence, medicine, law, government, or similar subjects. General ideas, themes, facts, literary genres, styles, and independently created expression are not made exclusive to the Operator by this agreement.

5. Automated collection and AI uses

Subject to section 6 and any separate written authorization, you agree not to use bots, scripts, bulk-download tools, or coordinated manual collection to harvest controlled Content; bypass an acceptance screen, login, access restriction, or rate limit; or provide a copy of controlled Content to a third-party corpus or data service.

You also agree not to use controlled Content obtained under this agreement to train or fine-tune a machine-learning model, assemble a training or evaluation dataset, populate a third-party retrieval service that exposes or substitutes for the Content, or operate an automated rewriting or narration service that republishes it. Calling an activity “noncommercial,” retaining attribution, or making cosmetic changes does not itself provide permission.

Ordinary browsing, permitted private reading aids, and the uses preserved in section 6 are not prohibited automated collection. A search service may index public promotional pages only within an express indexing permission granted by the Operator and applicable access rules; that permission does not extend to full controlled manuscripts, private dossiers, training corpora, or bypass of a gate. Technical directives such as robots.txt communicate access preferences and are not a substitute for proof of a contract.

These are promises governing access and specified uses, enforceable only to the extent applicable law permits. Their presence is not a declaration that every AI-training activity is legally infringing or that federal copyright limitations can be displaced by a website notice.

6. Reviews, quotation, independent rights, and lawful exceptions

Nothing in this agreement prohibits an honest review, criticism, commentary, scholarship, lawful reporting, discussion of the work or its AI-assisted development, or a link identifying the site. You may include limited quotations reasonably appropriate to those purposes, with attribution where practicable. There is no invented universal word-count rule for fair use.

The Operator will not treat as a breach a use that is permitted by applicable fair use or fair dealing, a non-waivable legal exception, protected consumer-review rights, legally protected whistleblowing, or a lawful demand from a court or regulator. These permissions are not an invitation to disguise republication of a chapter or book as a review.

Nothing here grants the Operator ownership of facts, public-domain material, independently created expression, another person’s property, or material that the law does not protect. This agreement does not restrict public-domain material lawfully obtained independently of the controlled Services. Whether a particular contractual restriction concerning material accessed through the Services is enforceable remains subject to applicable law, including federal preemption.

7. Authorship, AI assistance, and reserved rights

The site identifies Robert Wescott as the author and creative decision-maker for the project. AI tools are used substantially in development, including generated scene and character proposals, outlines, manuscript prose and dialogue, and revisions, as well as assistance with research organization, artwork, and technical publishing. The project’s disclosure and provenance material describe those contributions more fully. They must not be read as a claim that every sentence or image was created solely by a human.

The Operator reserves all rights actually held in original human-authored expression, qualifying creative selection, coordination, arrangement and modifications, branding, and other protectable material. These terms do not assert that a purely AI-generated element has copyright protection merely because it appears on this site, was selected by the author, or is described in a provenance record. They do not convert unprotectable material into copyrighted material.

Copyright, trademark, and contract protect different interests. No license is granted to use the series identity, book branding, or the author’s name to mislead readers about source, sponsorship, or approval. Truthful identification of a work in a review or discussion is permitted. No federal trademark registration is represented unless accurately identified as such.

8. Publisher access and private materials

Reader acceptance does not give access to the operational Author Room, unpublished manuscripts, sequel plans, full working records, or the detailed Author Analytics. Access to the Publisher Project Room is limited to the material and purpose expressly authorized for that recipient.

Genuinely nonpublic evaluation material may be disclosed only after a separate, clearly presented confidentiality and evaluation agreement is accepted. That agreement must identify the material or categories covered. This reader agreement does not retroactively make already public chapters confidential or silently impose confidentiality on public reviews. A shared password is not itself a signed agreement with every person who learns it.

9. Permission requests

Request reuse, adaptation, translation, narration, licensing, institutional access, or other permission at rob@thesagedad.com or through the site’s publishing-inquiry instructions. Identify the work, intended material, format, audience, distribution, term, and commercial purpose. Submission of a request is not a grant.

Permission must come expressly from Robert Wescott or a representative with actual authority and must describe the authorized use. Silence, access to a page, a promotional statement, a reader account, or output from a chatbot does not supply permission. A signed, more specific license controls over inconsistent general terms for the use it covers.

10. Service operation and suspension

The Operator may revise the site’s presentation and publishing plans, correct Content, or temporarily interrupt access for maintenance, security, or legal requirements. A release announcement is not a guarantee of uninterrupted service, a completed future book, or a particular outcome.

Access may be suspended for a reasonable belief of a material breach, security threat, or unlawful use, with an explanation and opportunity to contact the Operator where practicable. Urgent action may be taken without advance notice. A person will not be penalized merely for expressing an unfavorable opinion or raising a good-faith rights or accessibility concern.

Suspension does not erase lawful copies already made under an express permission or create retroactive restrictions. If an unauthorized copy or disclosure occurred, the Operator may request that it cease and that unauthorized copies under the responsible person’s control be removed, subject to lawful preservation duties and the permissions in section 6. The Operator does not remotely erase files from a reader’s device.

11. Account data, agreement evidence, and privacy

The Services may retain records reasonably necessary to operate access and document this agreement, such as the verified account identifier, acceptance time, applicable terms version, the acceptance screen version, and access-grant or revocation events. The reader-access privacy supplement identifies the records, purposes, retention, recipients, and available request process for this service. Security or network identifiers will be collected only as accurately disclosed, not because this paragraph secretly authorizes unlimited monitoring.

Agreeing to reader terms is not consent to optional behavioral analytics, promotional email, or sale of personal data. Those choices remain separate. Account or agreement identifiers are not to be added to PostHog audience events merely because they exist in the access service. Necessary access/security processing and optional audience measurement are distinct.

A copy of the applicable terms and acceptance receipt will be available through the agreed access process or on request. Requests to close an account or delete data will be handled under the privacy notice and applicable law, including limited retention necessary for a genuine legal obligation or dispute. Your receipt and the applicable terms are available through the reader-agreement page; contact the Operator for account or data requests.

12. Fiction and third-party material

The stories are fiction. Medical, legal, financial, technical, and historical elements may be speculative or invented and are not professional advice. References, reader notes, or research assistance do not constitute professional certification of a narrative.

Third-party content and services retain their own applicable rights and terms. This agreement grants no rights the Operator does not possess. External community platforms, links, and services are not automatically brought under this agreement merely by being linked here.

13. Enforcement and proportionate remedies

Where there is a legally sufficient basis, either party may seek the remedies available under applicable law for a breach of this agreement or an independently actionable violation. Available relief may include proven damages and appropriate injunctive or other equitable relief, subject to the court’s requirements and applicable defenses.

This agreement does not impose an automatic fine, a per-page copying charge, an admission of irreparable harm, or an automatic award of attorney fees. Fees and costs are recoverable only when permitted by applicable law or an enforceable separate agreement. No term creates standing, federal jurisdiction, copyright, a criminal offense, or a right to a takedown where the law does not otherwise supply it.

14. Governing law and disputes

Subject to applicable federal law and mandatory protections that cannot lawfully be displaced, New Jersey law governs this agreement without applying a choice-of-law rule that would defeat those mandatory protections. Where law permits an agreed forum, disputes concerning this agreement will be brought in an appropriate state court in New Jersey, or in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey if it has subject-matter jurisdiction. Either party may seek urgent lawful relief in another competent court when necessary to protect rights or preserve evidence.

Nothing here deprives a consumer of a mandatory right to bring a claim in a local court, use a regulator or small-claims process, or benefit from non-waivable law where the consumer resides. This agreement contains no mandatory arbitration, class-action waiver, or jury-trial waiver. The parties may attempt to resolve a dispute through the contact address, but doing so is not a mandatory delay before filing or an agreement to shorten a limitation period.

15. Changes, survival, and entire agreement

Material changes to these terms require conspicuous notice and fresh express acceptance before the revised agreement governs subsequent controlled access. The applicable version will be retained. Posting a revision or treating silence as assent will not retroactively change the agreement governing earlier conduct.

Ending access does not eliminate accrued rights or obligations concerning material previously obtained under an enforceable agreement. Sections concerning permitted use, truthful attribution, confidentiality under a separate agreement, privacy records, and dispute resolution survive only as applicable to their subject matter and only to the extent lawful; they do not create perpetual exclusivity in unprotected material.

An invalid provision will be severed only to the extent that doing so is lawful and leaves a workable agreement, without eliminating non-waivable reader rights. This agreement and any expressly accepted, more specific license state the parties’ agreement concerning the access and uses they cover. The Operator’s failure to enforce one occasion is not a general permission for later unauthorized uses.

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