Last updated: January 2025
Welcome to Next Thing Security. These Terms of Service ("Terms") govern your access to and use of the website located at nextthingsecurity.com, along with any articles, guides, newsletters, comment features, and related services we make available (collectively, the "Service"). Please read these Terms carefully before using the Service.
1. Acceptance of Terms
By accessing nextthingsecurity.com, browsing our articles, subscribing to our email list, or otherwise interacting with the Service, you agree to be bound by these Terms and by our Privacy Policy, which is incorporated here by reference. If you do not agree with any part of these Terms, you should not use the Service.
The Service is intended for adults in the United States who are at least 18 years of age. By using Next Thing Security, you represent that you are at least 18 years old and that you have the legal capacity to enter into a binding agreement. If you are using the Service on behalf of an organization, you represent that you have authority to bind that organization to these Terms.
2. Description of the Service
Next Thing Security is an independent editorial publication about digital privacy and account security for ordinary adults. We publish plain-language explanations of what deserves your attention, what can reasonably wait, what a minimum-effort fix looks like, and when a paid security or privacy product may genuinely be worth the money.
The Service is informational and educational in nature. Next Thing Security is not a security vendor, a managed service provider, an incident response firm, a law firm, or a financial advisor. We do not monitor your accounts, we do not perform security assessments, and we do not provide individualized professional advice. Nothing published on nextthingsecurity.com creates a professional, fiduciary, or advisory relationship between you and us.
We may add, modify, suspend, or discontinue any portion of the Service at any time, including individual articles, features, or the site as a whole, without prior notice and without liability to you.
3. User Accounts and Responsibilities
Some features of the Service — such as newsletter subscriptions, saved reading lists, or commenting — may require you to provide an email address or create an account. When you do, you agree to:
Provide accurate and reasonably current information;
Use an email address you control and are authorized to use;
Maintain the confidentiality of any credentials associated with your account;
Accept responsibility for all activity that occurs under your account; and
Notify us promptly at nextthingsecurity.com if you believe your account has been accessed without your authorization.
Given the subject matter of this site, we will state the obvious: we encourage you to use a unique, strong password and, where available, a second authentication factor. However, you remain solely responsible for the security of your own account and devices. We are not liable for losses arising from your failure to safeguard your credentials.
4. Acceptable Use
You agree to use Next Thing Security lawfully and respectfully. You may read, reference, and share our content for personal, non-commercial purposes. You may not:
Use the Service to violate any applicable federal, state, or local law;
Attempt to gain unauthorized access to nextthingsecurity.com, its servers, its databases, or any account belonging to another user;
Probe, scan, or test the vulnerability of our systems without our prior written permission;
Interfere with or disrupt the integrity or performance of the Service, including through denial-of-service activity, automated scraping at unreasonable volume, or circumvention of rate limits;
Upload or transmit malware, spyware, or other harmful code;
Impersonate any person or entity, or misrepresent your affiliation with any person or entity;
Harvest email addresses or other personal information from the Service;
Use any content from Next Thing Security to develop, train, or fine-tune machine learning models without our express written consent; or
Use the Service to harass, threaten, dox, stalk, or surveil another person.
Our articles sometimes describe how certain attacks, scams, or tracking techniques work so that readers can defend themselves. That information is published strictly for defensive and educational purposes. You agree not to use anything you learn from Next Thing Security to compromise systems or accounts you do not own or lack authorization to access.
5. Intellectual Property
All content published on nextthingsecurity.com — including articles, guides, checklists, explanatory graphics, editorial frameworks, the Next Thing Security name, logo, and overall look and feel — is owned by Next Thing Security or its licensors and is protected by United States and international copyright, trademark, and other intellectual property laws.
We grant you a limited, revocable, non-exclusive, non-transferable license to access and view the Service for your personal use. You may quote brief excerpts with clear attribution and a link back to the original article on nextthingsecurity.com. You may not republish, syndicate, resell, or systematically reproduce substantial portions of our content without prior written permission.
Third-party names, products, and trademarks mentioned in our reviews and comparisons remain the property of their respective owners. Reference to a product does not imply endorsement by that company, nor endorsement of that company by us.
6. User Content
If you submit comments, questions, feedback, corrections, or other material to Next Thing Security ("User Content"), you retain ownership of that material. However, you grant us a worldwide, royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive license to use, reproduce, adapt, publish, and display that User Content in connection with the Service, including in follow-up articles or reader mailbag features.
You represent that your User Content is your own, does not infringe the rights of others, and does not contain confidential information you are not authorized to share. Please do not send us passwords, account recovery codes, full account numbers, government identification numbers, or screenshots containing sensitive personal data. We do not want that information and cannot be responsible for it if you send it.
We reserve the right — but assume no obligation — to review, edit, refuse, or remove any User Content at our sole discretion, including content that is off-topic, abusive, promotional, or that encourages unlawful activity.
7. Disclaimers
The Service and all content on nextthingsecurity.com are provided "as is" and "as available," without warranties of any kind, either express or implied, including but not limited to implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, accuracy, and non-infringement.
Security and privacy guidance is inherently time-sensitive and context-dependent. Settings change, vendors change policies, threats evolve, and what is a reasonable trade-off for one reader may be wrong for another. Next Thing Security does not warrant that:
Any recommendation will prevent a breach, fraud, identity theft, account compromise, or financial loss;
Any article is complete, current, or applicable to your specific circumstances;
Any third-party product we mention will perform as described by its vendor; or
The Service will be uninterrupted, timely, secure, or error-free.
You are solely responsible for evaluating and acting on any information you find here. For legal, financial, tax, or regulated compliance matters, consult a qualified professional.
8. Affiliate Relationships and Third-Party Links
Next Thing Security may participate in affiliate programs and may earn a commission if you purchase a product through certain links. Affiliate relationships never determine our editorial conclusions, and we routinely recommend free options and "do nothing for now" as legitimate answers. Any material connection will be disclosed where required.
The Service may link to third-party websites, tools, and services that we do not control. We are not responsible for the content, privacy practices, pricing, or security of those third parties. Your dealings with them are solely between you and them.
9. Limitation of Liability
To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, Next Thing Security and its owners, contributors, and affiliates shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages, or for any loss of data, profits, revenue, goodwill, or business opportunity, arising out of or related to your use of or inability to use the Service — even if we have been advised of the possibility of such damages.
To the fullest extent permitted by law, our total aggregate liability for all claims relating to the Service shall not exceed one hundred United States dollars (USD $100.00) or the amount you paid us, if any, in the twelve months preceding the claim, whichever is greater.
Some jurisdictions do not allow certain limitations of liability or exclusions of implied warranties, so portions of this section may not apply to you. In such cases, our liability is limited to the maximum extent permitted by law.
10. Indemnification
You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless Next Thing Security and its owners, contributors, and affiliates from and against any claims, liabilities, damages, losses, costs, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising out of or related to: (a) your use of the Service; (b) your violation of these Terms; (c) your violation of any law or the rights of a third party; or (d) any User Content you submit.
11. Termination
We may suspend or terminate your access to the Service, or to any account or newsletter subscription, at any time and for any reason, including suspected violation of these Terms, with or without notice.
You may stop using the Service at any time. You may unsubscribe from our emails using the link included in every message, or by contacting us directly. Sections relating to intellectual property, user content licenses, disclaimers, limitation of liability, indemnification, and governing law survive termination.
12. Governing Law and Dispute Resolution
These Terms are governed by the laws of the United States and the state in which Next Thing Security is established, without regard to conflict-of-law principles. You agree that any dispute arising from these Terms or the Service shall be resolved exclusively in the state or federal courts located in that jurisdiction, and you consent to personal jurisdiction there.
Before initiating any formal proceeding, we ask that you contact us through nextthingsecurity.com so we can attempt to resolve the matter informally. Most issues can be handled with a short email.
13. Changes to These Terms
We may update these Terms from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, features, or legal requirements. When we do, we will revise the "Last updated" date at the top of this page. Material changes will be announced on nextthingsecurity.com or by email to subscribers where practical.
Your continued use of the Service after changes take effect constitutes acceptance of the revised Terms. We encourage you to review this page periodically.
14. General Provisions
These Terms, together with our Privacy Policy, constitute the entire agreement between you and Next Thing Security regarding the Service. If any provision is found unenforceable, the remaining provisions remain in full force. Our failure to enforce any right does not waive that right. You may not assign these Terms without our consent; we may assign them in connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets.
15. Contact Information
If you have questions about these Terms, want to request permission to republish content, or need to report a problem with the Service, please reach out through the contact page at nextthingsecurity.com. We read everything sent to us and typically respond within a few business days.
Thank you for reading Next Thing Security. Our goal is straightforward: help ordinary adults make calmer, better-informed decisions about their own privacy and account security — without fear, jargon, or unnecessary complexity.