Terms of Service

1 Acceptance of Terms

By accessing or using Sunshine Data at sunshinedata.io (the "Platform"), you agree to be bound by these Terms of Service ("Terms"). If you do not agree to these Terms, do not use the Platform.

These Terms apply to all visitors, users, and others who access or use the Platform, including free users, newsletter subscribers, paid subscribers, and API users.

If you are using the Platform on behalf of an organization, you represent that you have authority to bind that organization to these Terms.

2 Description of Service

Sunshine Data is a civic data platform that aggregates and organizes publicly available government records from Florida government agencies, including:

• Marion County property records and parcel data
• Building permits (Marion County and City of Ocala)
• Florida business filings (Sunbiz / Florida Division of Corporations)
• City of Ocala financial records
• Code enforcement records
• Court records (when available)
• Other Florida public records obtained under Florida Statutes § 119

The Platform makes these records searchable, filterable, and exportable. We are a data utility — we organize and present public information; we do not create, validate, or guarantee the accuracy of underlying government records.

3 Eligibility

You must be at least 18 years of age to create an account or use paid features. By using the Platform, you represent and warrant that you are at least 18 years old.

Users between the ages of 13 and 17 may access the publicly available portions of the Platform only with parental or guardian consent. The Platform is not intended for children under 13.

You may not use the Platform if you are prohibited from doing so by applicable law or if your account has been previously terminated by Sunshine Data for violation of these Terms.

4 Accounts & Access

Account Creation

Some features require an account or invite code. You agree to provide accurate, current, and complete information when creating an account and to keep that information updated.

Account Security

You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your account credentials and for all activity that occurs under your account. Notify us immediately at justin@sunshinedata.io if you suspect unauthorized access.

Invite Codes

During our early access period, certain features require an invite code. Invite codes are non-transferable, may only be used once (unless otherwise specified), and may not be sold, traded, or publicly distributed without our written permission.

One Account Per User

Unless you have a team or organization account, you may only maintain one account. Creating multiple accounts to circumvent rate limits, access restrictions, or pricing tiers is prohibited.

5 Permitted Use

Subject to these Terms, we grant you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable license to access and use the Platform for lawful purposes, including:

• Researching property ownership, permit history, and assessed values
• Investigating business filings and registered agents
• Analyzing local government financial data
• Journalistic research and civic reporting
• Real estate due diligence and investment research
• Contractor lead generation from permit data
• Academic or educational research
• Personal use for civic awareness and transparency

This license does not include any rights not expressly granted in these Terms.

6 Prohibited Uses

You agree not to use the Platform to:

Legal Violations

• Violate any applicable law, regulation, or government order
• Use data for any purpose prohibited by the FCRA (see Section 7)
• Violate any individual's privacy rights under applicable law
• Engage in stalking, harassment, or surveillance of any individual
• Collect data for use in discriminatory practices prohibited by fair housing, employment, or lending laws

Platform Abuse

• Scrape, crawl, or bulk-download data in a manner that exceeds normal use or circumvents rate limits
• Attempt to gain unauthorized access to any portion of the Platform or its infrastructure
• Interfere with or disrupt the Platform, its servers, or networks
• Use automated tools, bots, or scripts to access the Platform beyond what is permitted by any API terms
• Reverse engineer or attempt to extract the source code of the Platform
• Use the Platform to test or benchmark competing products without our written consent

Data Misuse

• Resell, relicense, or redistribute Platform data as a standalone data product without written authorization
• Represent Platform data as your own original data product
• Use data to build a competing civic data platform without written authorization
• Use data to harass, intimidate, or threaten any individual
• Aggregate Platform data with other sources to create consumer profiles for FCRA-regulated purposes

Content

• Submit false, misleading, or defamatory information
• Impersonate any person or entity
• Transmit malware, viruses, or other harmful code

7 FCRA Prohibition

Sunshine Data is not a consumer reporting agency as defined by the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), 15 U.S.C. § 1681 et seq. You expressly agree that you will NOT use any data obtained from this Platform as a factor — in whole or in part — in determining a consumer's eligibility for:

• Credit or any credit-related product or service
• Insurance, underwriting, or insurance pricing
• Employment, including hiring, promotion, reassignment, or retention
• Housing, including rental applications or tenant screening
• Any other purpose that would constitute a "consumer report" under the FCRA

This prohibition applies regardless of how the data is combined, augmented, or interpreted. Using Sunshine Data as a research tool to locate a property is permitted. Using it to screen a tenant applicant is not.

By using the Platform, you represent and warrant that you understand this restriction and will not violate it. Any violation of this section is grounds for immediate termination of your account and may result in legal action.

8 Public Records & Data Accuracy

Source of Data

All data displayed on the Platform originates from Florida government agencies and is obtained under the Florida Sunshine Law (Chapter 119, Florida Statutes). We do not create, modify, or editorialize this data. We organize, format, and present it.

No Guarantee of Accuracy

Government records contain errors. Parcel boundaries may be approximate. Permit records may be incomplete. Business filing data reflects what was submitted to the state — not necessarily current reality. We make no representation or warranty that any data displayed on the Platform is accurate, current, or complete.

Data Currency

Data is updated on a schedule (nightly for permits, weekly for business filings, periodically for others). There may be a lag between when a government record is filed and when it appears on the Platform. We display the data currency date where possible.

Correction Requests

If you believe data displayed about you is factually incorrect, contact us at justin@sunshinedata.io. We will review the underlying source record. If the error originates with the government agency, we will provide guidance on how to request a correction from that agency. We cannot alter government source records.

9 Paid Features & Subscriptions

Current Pricing

Some features of the Platform require payment. Current pricing is displayed on the Platform. We reserve the right to change pricing with 30 days' notice to existing subscribers.

Billing

Recurring subscriptions are billed in advance on a monthly or annual cycle. One-time purchases (such as Intelligence Reports) are billed at the time of purchase. All payments are processed by a third-party payment processor (currently Stripe). We do not store your raw payment card data.

Refunds

For monthly subscriptions, we offer a pro-rated refund within 7 days of your billing date if you are not satisfied. For annual subscriptions, we offer a full refund within 30 days of initial purchase. One-time Intelligence Report purchases are non-refundable once the report has been delivered, unless the report contains a material error.

Cancellation

You may cancel your subscription at any time. Cancellation takes effect at the end of the current billing period. You will retain access to paid features until the end of the period for which you have paid.

Free Tier

The Platform includes a free tier with access to specific public features. We reserve the right to modify or discontinue free tier features with 30 days' notice.

Taxes

You are responsible for any applicable taxes on purchases made through the Platform. We will collect and remit sales tax where required by law.

10 API Access

If we offer API access (now or in the future), the following terms apply:

• API access requires a valid API key issued by Sunshine Data
• API keys are non-transferable and may not be shared or publicly published
• Rate limits apply to all API usage; exceeding rate limits may result in temporary or permanent suspension of API access
• All prohibitions in Section 6 and the FCRA prohibition in Section 7 apply to API usage
• You may not use the API to build a competing civic data platform that resells our data without a separate written commercial agreement
• We may monitor API usage to enforce these terms
• We reserve the right to suspend or terminate API access for any violation of these terms

API-specific pricing and rate limits will be published in the API documentation when API access is available.

11 Data Exports

The Platform allows users to export data in CSV and other formats. The following conditions apply to all exports:

• Exported data remains subject to all use restrictions in these Terms
• You may use exported data for personal research, internal business analysis, or journalistic purposes
• You may not resell or redistribute exported data as a standalone data product
• You may not use exported data for FCRA-regulated purposes
• Export rate limits apply; bulk export access may require a paid plan
• We log export activity for security and abuse prevention purposes

12 Intellectual Property

Platform IP

The Sunshine Data platform, including its design, software, organization, presentation, and original content, is owned by Sunshine Data and is protected by applicable intellectual property laws. These Terms do not grant you any rights in the Platform's intellectual property beyond the limited license in Section 5.

Public Records

The underlying government records displayed on the Platform are public domain data created by Florida government agencies. We do not claim copyright in government-created public records. Our compilation, organization, and presentation of these records may be protected as a collective work.

Trademarks

"Sunshine Data" and our logo are trademarks of Sunshine Data. You may not use our trademarks without our written permission.

Feedback

If you submit feedback, suggestions, or ideas about the Platform, you grant us a perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free license to use that feedback for any purpose without compensation or attribution to you.

13 DMCA / Copyright

We respect intellectual property rights. If you believe content on the Platform infringes your copyright, send a DMCA takedown notice to justin@sunshinedata.io with the following information:

• A description of the copyrighted work you claim is infringed
• The specific URL(s) where the allegedly infringing material appears
• Your contact information
• A statement that you have a good faith belief the use is not authorized
• A statement under penalty of perjury that the information is accurate and you are authorized to act on behalf of the copyright owner
• Your physical or electronic signature

Note: The vast majority of content on this Platform consists of Florida public records, which are not subject to copyright protection under Florida law and federal law. Frivolous DMCA claims may result in liability for damages under 17 U.S.C. § 512(f).

14 Privacy

Your use of the Platform is also governed by our Privacy Policy, which is incorporated into these Terms by reference. By using the Platform, you agree to the collection and use of your data as described in the Privacy Policy.

15 Third-Party Links & Services

The Platform may contain links to third-party websites or services, including government portals, payment processors, and other external sites. We are not responsible for the content, privacy practices, or terms of any third-party sites. Links are provided for convenience only and do not imply endorsement.

16 Disclaimers

THE PLATFORM IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE" WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT.

WE DO NOT WARRANT THAT THE PLATFORM WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, ERROR-FREE, OR SECURE. WE DO NOT WARRANT THE ACCURACY, COMPLETENESS, OR CURRENCY OF ANY DATA DISPLAYED ON THE PLATFORM.

THE PLATFORM IS NOT A SUBSTITUTE FOR LEGAL ADVICE, FINANCIAL ADVICE, OR PROFESSIONAL DUE DILIGENCE. DO NOT RELY SOLELY ON PLATFORM DATA FOR DECISIONS INVOLVING REAL ESTATE TRANSACTIONS, LEGAL MATTERS, FINANCIAL DECISIONS, OR ANY OTHER HIGH-STAKES PURPOSE.

SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW EXCLUSION OF IMPLIED WARRANTIES. IN THOSE JURISDICTIONS, THE ABOVE DISCLAIMERS APPLY TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW.

17 Limitation of Liability

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, SUNSHINE DATA AND ITS OWNERS, OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES, AND AGENTS SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO LOSS OF PROFITS, DATA, GOODWILL, OR BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES, ARISING FROM OR RELATED TO YOUR USE OF THE PLATFORM, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

IN NO EVENT SHALL OUR TOTAL LIABILITY TO YOU FOR ALL CLAIMS RELATED TO THE PLATFORM EXCEED THE GREATER OF (A) THE AMOUNT YOU PAID TO US IN THE 12 MONTHS PRECEDING THE CLAIM, OR (B) ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS ($100).

SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW LIMITATION OF LIABILITY FOR CERTAIN TYPES OF DAMAGES. IN THOSE JURISDICTIONS, THE ABOVE LIMITATIONS APPLY TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW.

18 Indemnification

You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless Sunshine Data and its owners, officers, employees, and agents from and against any claims, damages, losses, liabilities, costs, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising from or related to:

• Your use of the Platform in violation of these Terms
• Your violation of any applicable law or regulation
• Your violation of the FCRA prohibition in Section 7
• Any claim that your use of Platform data caused harm to a third party
• Your infringement of any third-party intellectual property or privacy rights

19 Termination

Termination by You

You may stop using the Platform at any time. To delete your account, contact us at justin@sunshinedata.io.

Termination by Us

We may suspend or terminate your access to the Platform at any time, with or without notice, for any violation of these Terms, or for any reason we deem appropriate in our sole discretion. Grounds for termination include but are not limited to:

• Violation of the FCRA prohibition
• Unauthorized scraping or bulk access
• Fraudulent activity
• Abuse of other users or platform staff
• Non-payment of fees

Effect of Termination

Upon termination, your license to use the Platform ends immediately. Provisions of these Terms that by their nature should survive termination will survive, including Sections 7 (FCRA), 12 (IP), 16 (Disclaimer), 17 (Liability), 18 (Indemnification), and 20 (Governing Law).

20 Governing Law & Disputes

Governing Law

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Florida, without regard to its conflict of law provisions. Any disputes arising from these Terms or your use of the Platform shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the state and federal courts located in Marion County, Florida.

Informal Resolution

Before filing any legal claim, you agree to first contact us at justin@sunshinedata.io and give us 30 days to attempt to resolve the dispute informally.

Class Action Waiver

You agree that any dispute resolution proceeding will be conducted only on an individual basis and not as a class, consolidated, or representative action. You waive any right to participate in a class action lawsuit or class-wide arbitration related to the Platform.

Statute of Limitations

Any claim arising from your use of the Platform must be filed within one (1) year of the date the claim arose, regardless of any statute of limitations to the contrary.

21 Changes to Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. When we make material changes:

• We will update the "Last Updated" date at the top of this page
• We will notify subscribers by email at least 14 days before the change takes effect
• Continued use of the Platform after the effective date constitutes acceptance of the updated Terms

If you disagree with any updated Terms, you must stop using the Platform before the effective date of the change.

22 Contact

Questions about these Terms? Contact us:

• Email: justin@sunshinedata.io
• Website: sunshinedata.io
• Location: Ocala, Florida, United States

We will respond to all inquiries within 30 days.