The Records Project
Massachusetts  ·  Vol. I  ·  Est. 2026
Terms  ·  Effective May 29, 2026  ·  Last updated May 29, 2026

Terms of use.

The Records Project publishes analysis of Massachusetts public-records appeals for journalists, researchers, and the public. By using this site you agree to the terms below. They are short, and written to be read.


This is not legal advice

Everything on this site is published for research and journalism, not as legal advice, and using it does not create any attorney-client relationship. The analysis, classifications, and commentary are our reading of public documents and may contain errors. For anything that matters, read the underlying orders yourself and, where the stakes warrant, consult a licensed attorney. The authoritative source for any Supervisor of Records determination is the office that issued it.

1. Eligibility

You must be at least 13 years old to use this site.

2. Acceptable use

Use the site lawfully and in good faith. Do not bulk-download or scrape the site, attempt to reverse-engineer or extract the underlying models or classifier outputs, probe or circumvent security or access controls, submit unlawful or harassing content through the question form, or use the site to violate anyone's privacy. The underlying public records remain freely available from the issuing offices; this restriction is about automated abuse of this site, not about access to public documents.

3. Accuracy and disclaimer of warranties

The site is provided "as is," without warranties of any kind. We do not guarantee that the analysis is complete, current, or free of error, and the published numbers reflect a corpus that changes over time. Where we know of limits in the data, we disclose them on the methodology page. Verify anything you intend to rely on against the original record.

4. Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, The Records Project and its director are not liable for any indirect, incidental, consequential, or punitive damages, or for any loss arising from your use of, or reliance on, the site or its analysis. The site is offered at no charge; nothing in these terms creates an obligation beyond that.

5. Intellectual property

The public records analyzed here are public documents and are not ours to own. Our own work, however, is. The search and classification system, the analysis and embeddings, the written commentary, the rankings, and the design and presentation of this site are the property of The Records Project and may not be copied wholesale or used commercially without permission. Quoting and linking for journalism, research, and commentary is welcome and encouraged.

6. Questions you submit

When you send a question through the Ask page, you keep ownership of what you wrote. You give us permission to use it to answer you and to improve the Project's work. If we want to publish your question and our answer so that others benefit, we ask you first. How we handle the personal information in a submission is governed by our privacy policy.

7. Governing law and venue

These terms are governed by the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, without regard to conflict-of-laws rules. Any dispute arising from the site or these terms will be resolved exclusively in the state or federal courts located in Suffolk County, Massachusetts.

8. Changes to these terms

We may update these terms. If a change is material, we will post the revised version here with a new effective date and note it on the homepage for at least fourteen days. Continuing to use the site after a change means you accept the updated terms.

9. Contact

Questions about these terms: [email protected].