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1. Agreement and operator
These Terms govern access to Lerche, a Discord text-to-speech application operated by LercheTTS (“Lerche”, “we”, “us” or “our”). By installing, configuring or using Lerche, you agree to these Terms.
If you install or use Lerche for a server, community or organisation, you confirm that you have authority to accept these Terms on its behalf.
2. Eligibility
The hosted Lerche service is intended only for people aged 18 or over. You must also be legally capable of accepting these Terms and comply with Discord’s applicable terms and community rules.
Server owners and administrators are responsible for taking reasonable steps to ensure that people they authorise to use Lerche satisfy these requirements.
3. What Lerche provides
Lerche converts eligible text messages into synthetic speech and plays the result in Discord voice channels. It may also provide configuration, permissions, queues, usage controls, moderation, documentation and related utilities.
Lerche depends on third-party services including Discord, database and hosting providers, and one or more speech-generation providers. Lerche is independent and is not endorsed by or an agent of those providers.
Generated audio is synthetic. It may be delayed, incomplete, inaccurate or unsuitable for a particular purpose. Do not rely on Lerche for emergencies, safety-critical communications or professional advice.
4. Server administrators
An administrator who enables Lerche confirms that they will:
- inform members that eligible text may be processed and spoken aloud
- provide access to these Terms and the Privacy Policy
- configure appropriate channels, roles, permissions and usage limits
- avoid enabling Lerche where users would reasonably expect messages to remain unprocessed or private
- assist reasonably with misuse reports, enforcement and valid data requests
5. Your content and instructions
You retain any rights you have in the text, configuration and other material you submit. You grant us a limited, non-exclusive, worldwide licence to access, clean, transform, transmit, reproduce, generate audio from, play, temporarily store and moderate that material as reasonably necessary to operate, secure and support Lerche, enforce these Terms and comply with law.
You confirm that you have the rights and permissions needed to submit the content and that processing or speaking it will not violate another person’s rights. Do not submit passwords, authentication tokens, payment information, private health information or other sensitive or confidential material.
Text submitted for speech may be sent to the configured speech provider and is also subject to that provider’s applicable terms and acceptable-use restrictions.
6. Acceptable use
This list is not exhaustive. We may restrict conduct that creates a credible legal, security, safeguarding, privacy, financial or reputational risk.
You must not use or attempt to use Lerche to:
- break the law, facilitate criminal conduct, or create a credible risk of harm
- exploit, sexualise, groom, threaten or otherwise endanger a child
- harass, stalk, bully, intimidate, discriminate against, defame or threaten another person or group
- promote terrorism, violent extremism, human trafficking, sexual violence, self-harm or exploitation
- impersonate another person without permission or create deceptive synthetic evidence, scams or social engineering
- misrepresent synthetic speech as an authentic recording where doing so could deceive or harm someone
- infringe copyright, trade marks, privacy, data-protection, publicity or other legal rights
- distribute spam, raid channels, overwhelm systems or deliberately disrupt Discord communities
- facilitate malware, credential theft, unauthorised surveillance or unauthorised system access
- conduct prohibited political impersonation, voter suppression or election manipulation
- provide high-stakes automated medical, legal, financial or other professional advice
- evade permissions, quotas, safeguards, moderation, suspensions, bans or voice-verification controls
- resell, sublicense, reverse engineer or commercially redistribute Lerche or an integrated speech service without permission
- use a cloned, private or identifiable voice without every consent and legal right required for that use
7. Voices and impersonation
The availability of a voice does not guarantee that every intended use is lawful. You are responsible for checking the voice’s licence and obtaining any required consent.
You must not use generated audio to imply sponsorship, approval, authorship or participation by a person who did not provide it. Voice cloning is not offered unless Lerche expressly identifies an authorised feature and its additional requirements.
8. Moderation, reports and enforcement
We may use automated filters, limits, logs, provider safeguards, user reports and manual review to operate Lerche safely. We do not promise to pre-screen every message or detect every violation.
Where reasonably necessary, we may refuse generation, remove or restrict a voice, delete associated records, limit or suspend a user or server, preserve evidence, notify administrators, or report activity to Discord, a speech provider, safeguarding bodies or law enforcement.
Anyone may report suspected illegal, harmful, infringing or unauthorised use through the official support community. Contact emergency services first where somebody is in immediate danger. A person affected by a moderation decision may use the same channel to request review.
9. Availability, limits and payments
Lerche remains under development. Features, voices, quotas, commands and providers may change or be discontinued. We do not guarantee uninterrupted, permanent, secure or error-free availability.
Lerche may impose message, character, token, concurrency, server or other limits to control costs, reliability and abuse. Attempts to evade those limits are prohibited.
If paid plans are introduced, the price, billing period, cancellation rights and other required consumer information will be presented before purchase. Any paid plan is subject to these Terms and additional checkout terms disclosed at that time.
10. Ownership
Lerche’s software, branding, documentation and original materials belong to us or our licensors. Discord, speech-provider and other third-party names and materials remain the property of their respective owners.
Generated audio may remain subject to voice licences, provider rules and third-party rights. Lerche does not grant rights it does not possess.
11. Suspension and termination
You may stop using Lerche at any time, and an administrator may remove Lerche from a server. We may suspend or terminate access where these Terms may have been violated, continued access creates material risk, a provider or authority requires it, or Lerche is discontinued.
Removing Lerche stops new activity in that server but does not necessarily erase every operational or legal record immediately. Retention is explained in the Privacy Policy.
12. Disclaimers and liability
To the fullest extent permitted by law, Lerche is provided “as is” and “as available”. Nothing in these Terms excludes rights or responsibilities that cannot legally be excluded.
You are responsible for your content, configuration, generated audio and any later use or distribution of that audio. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we are not liable for indirect or consequential loss, lost profits, business, data, reputation, goodwill or opportunity arising from Lerche.
Where liability may lawfully be limited, our total aggregate liability will not exceed the greater of the amount paid directly to us during the preceding 12 months or £100. This limit does not apply to fraud, fraudulent misrepresentation, death or personal injury caused by negligence, or another liability that cannot lawfully be limited.
13. Changes and governing law
We may update these Terms to reflect changes to Lerche, providers, safety practices or law. Material changes will be communicated where reasonably practicable. These Terms are governed by the laws of England and Wales. Consumers retain any mandatory rights and jurisdiction available where they live.
14. Contact
For support, abuse reports, moderation appeals or legal enquiries, contact the Lerche operator through the official support community linked below. Include relevant Discord identifiers, approximate dates and a clear explanation, but do not post sensitive evidence publicly.
Need to reach the operator?
Contact Lerche privately.
Use the support server and open a private support request for legal, privacy or abuse matters.
Open the support community