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Acceptable Use Policy

Effective Date: October 25, 2026
Last Updated: October 25, 2026

1. Purpose and Relationship to Other ASK Terms

This Acceptable Use Policy (“AUP”) establishes rules for accessing and using asktheconsultants.com, the Ask The Consultants professional network, intake and assessment systems, provider listings, communications channels, member features, and other systems or services operated by Ask The Consultants LLC (collectively, the “ASK Services”).

For public visitors, compliance with this AUP is a condition of ASK’s permission to access and use the ASK Services. ASK may restrict or revoke that permission when ASK reasonably believes this AUP has been violated. For applicants and admitted providers, this AUP is incorporated into the Terms of Service when those parties affirmatively accept the applicable Terms.

This AUP supplements the Terms of Service, Privacy Policy, Cookie Policy, and Security & Legal Disclaimer. The Privacy Policy governs ASK’s handling of personal information. If this AUP conflicts with the Terms of Service, the Terms of Service controls to the extent of the conflict.

Nothing in this AUP limits a right or protection that applicable law makes nonwaivable. This AUP is governed by Kentucky law as described in Section 56 of the Terms of Service.

2. Lawful and Authorized Use Only

You may use the ASK Services only for lawful purposes and only in the manner ASK makes them available.

You may not use the ASK Services to commit, facilitate, promote, conceal, or assist fraud, theft, extortion, harassment, stalking, unlawful discrimination, infringement, deceptive practices, unauthorized access, malicious interference, or any other unlawful activity.

You may not use ASK to evade a court order, regulatory restriction, professional obligation, sanctions requirement, licensing rule, contractual restriction binding on you, or other legal duty.

3. Identity, Authority, and Accuracy

You may not impersonate another person or business, falsely state or conceal your identity or authority, create a deceptive affiliation with ASK or an admitted provider, or submit information you know to be materially false, fabricated, altered, or misleading.

An applicant represents that the person completing any portion of the intake or Strategic Compatibility Assessment for which personal completion is required is the authorized owner, founder, principal, or decision maker identified in the intake. A person may use ordinary accessibility tools or an accommodation approved by ASK, but an accommodation may not substitute another person’s substantive judgment or responses for those of the required applicant.

You may not create multiple identities, intakes, accounts, entities, affiliates, nominees, successor entities, or technical workarounds for the purpose of evading a rejection, suspension, removal, permanent re-intake bar, Position limitation, security control, rate limitation, access restriction, or other ASK rule. You may not share, sell, transfer, or permit another person to use credentials, private application links, access tokens, or other restricted access issued for your use where doing so would defeat an ASK control or misrepresent the identity of the person using the system.

4. Intake and Strategic Compatibility Assessment Integrity

The Strategic Compatibility Assessment (“SCA”), its questions, presentation, scoring architecture, response structure, evaluation logic, and related nonpublic materials are confidential and proprietary.

Unless ASK expressly authorizes otherwise in writing, you may not:

  • have another person, service, agent, or proxy complete an SCA response that ASK requires you to complete personally;
  • use generative artificial intelligence, automated answer-generation software, answer banks, coaching services, or similar tools to create, rewrite, or supply substantive SCA answers on your behalf;
  • record, photograph, screen-capture, transcribe, scrape, download, reconstruct, publish, sell, distribute, or create an answer bank from SCA questions or nonpublic assessment content;
  • solicit, purchase, trade, disclose, or use another applicant’s SCA questions, responses, score, or confidential evaluation information;
  • attempt to discover, infer, manipulate, benchmark, reverse engineer, or game nonpublic scoring parameters, weightings, thresholds, model logic, or reviewer criteria; or
  • use the SCA or its content to train, fine-tune, evaluate, benchmark, or build an artificial-intelligence model, dataset, assessment product, or competing service;
  • coordinate repeated intakes, test submissions, shared answer sets, or other systematic experiments intended to map or infer nonpublic scoring thresholds, weighting, prompts, reviewer criteria, or decision boundaries;
  • record, stream, transcribe, publish, or distribute a nonpublic ASK interview, evaluation session, or assessment interaction without ASK’s prior written authorization and any consent required by applicable law; or
  • submit forged, deceptively altered, fabricated, or AI-generated-as-if-authentic credentials, references, licenses, insurance evidence, corporate records, identity documents, or other verification material.

ASK may use reasonable technical, procedural, and human controls to protect assessment integrity and investigate suspected circumvention, subject to applicable law and the Privacy Policy.

5. Automated Access, Scraping, Harvesting, and Data Extraction

Except for ordinary indexing by generally recognized public search engines that comply with ASK’s technical directives, or access ASK expressly authorizes in writing, you may not use a bot, crawler, scraper, spider, headless browser, automated agent, data-mining tool, browser automation framework, API client, or similar technology to access or extract data from the ASK Services.

Prohibited activity includes systematically collecting provider profiles, contact information, pricing, categories, marks, page content, metadata, intake material, or other information; creating a competing directory or database; enriching a third-party database; harvesting contact details for marketing; monitoring ASK at scale; or using ASK content to train, fine-tune, ground, benchmark, or populate an artificial-intelligence system. The prohibition applies whether the extraction is performed by automated means or by coordinated manual activity designed to evade technical limits or reproduce the practical effect of prohibited automated extraction.

You may not circumvent robots directives, rate limits, authentication, access controls, anti-bot measures, CAPTCHAs, technical restrictions, or other mechanisms intended to control automated access.

6. Security and Unauthorized Testing

You may not, without ASK’s prior written authorization:

  • access or attempt to access systems, accounts, files, databases, administrative functions, credentials, or information for which you lack authorization;
  • probe, scan, enumerate, fuzz, exploit, or test a system or network for vulnerabilities;
  • bypass authentication, authorization, rate limiting, session controls, or other security mechanisms;
  • perform credential stuffing, password spraying, brute-force testing, phishing, pretexting, social engineering, or similar activity;
  • introduce malware, malicious scripts, destructive code, backdoors, unauthorized tracking code, or other harmful material;
  • conduct denial-of-service, load, stress, resource-exhaustion, or disruption testing;
  • intercept, monitor, alter, replay, or redirect communications or traffic without authorization; or
  • access, modify, copy, retain, disclose, or delete information belonging to another person or business without lawful authority.

ASK’s request that security concerns be reported privately does not grant permission to conduct security testing, does not create a bug-bounty program, and does not constitute a promise of safe harbor. Security reporting is governed by the Security & Legal Disclaimer and applicable law.

7. Provider and User Contact Information

Provider contact information is made available so legitimate prospective clients can evaluate and contact providers for genuine service inquiries.

You may not use provider or user contact information obtained through ASK to create or sell lead lists, conduct bulk or indiscriminate outreach, send spam, operate an automated solicitation campaign, harass or stalk a person, conduct phishing or impersonation, or populate a third-party marketing database without lawful authority.

Any communication you initiate using information obtained through ASK is your responsibility. You must comply with applicable email, telephone, text-message, privacy, professional-conduct, and do-not-contact requirements.

8. User Submissions and Third-Party Information

You may submit only information you have the legal right and authority to provide to ASK.

You may not knowingly submit unlawful, fraudulent, malicious, infringing, defamatory, materially false, fabricated, forged, impersonated, or deceptively altered content. You may not present AI-generated, synthetic, edited, or reconstructed material as an authentic third-party record, credential, testimonial, reference, image, communication, or document when doing so would be misleading. You may not knowingly submit another person’s confidential information, credentials, financial-account information, Social Security number, medical information, or other sensitive personal information unless ASK specifically requests that category of information for a lawful purpose and you are authorized to provide it.

Applicants must follow ASK’s instructions concerning client references and are responsible for obtaining any permission required before supplying a reference’s contact information.

Open-text fields are not invitations to submit unnecessary sensitive information. ASK may delete, quarantine, restrict, or decline to use unsolicited sensitive information as described in the Privacy Policy.

9. Reviews, Testimonials, Endorsements, and Public Claims

You may not use the ASK Services to create, purchase, sell, solicit, arrange, or distribute a fake or materially deceptive review, testimonial, rating, endorsement, or other purported statement of experience.

You may not condition compensation or another benefit on a review expressing a particular sentiment; misrepresent an insider, employee, contractor, relative, or other materially connected person as an independent reviewer; suppress or threaten a person for an honest review in violation of applicable law; or make a materially false statement about a provider’s relationship with ASK.

Where applicable law requires disclosure of a material connection, compensation, incentive, or other relationship affecting an endorsement or testimonial, the person making or publishing the endorsement is responsible for making the required clear disclosure.

10. Intellectual Property, Confidentiality, and Artificial-Intelligence Training

You may not copy, reproduce, republish, sell, license, distribute, publicly disclose, reverse engineer, decompile, create derivative works from, or commercially exploit ASK’s protected or confidential material except as expressly permitted in writing or by applicable law.

Without limiting the foregoing, you may not use ASK’s proprietary content, provider database, SCA content, Precision Logic Architecture™, evaluation methodology, confidential documentation, or other protected material to train, fine-tune, ground, benchmark, test, or populate an artificial-intelligence or machine-learning system without ASK’s prior written permission.

Nothing in this section restricts a nonwaivable right granted by applicable law. Any legally protected fair-use or interoperability right remains subject to the limits of applicable law.

11. ASK Names, Marks, Member Status, and Impersonation

You may not use the Ask The Consultants name, logo, member mark, seal, badge, Precision Logic Architecture™, or other ASK mark in a manner that is false, misleading, confusing, unauthorized, or likely to imply sponsorship, certification, recommendation, accreditation, or current membership when none exists.

An admitted provider may use an authorized ASK member mark only while authorized under the Terms of Service and ASK’s then-current mark-use standards. Optional use of a member mark does not convert the provider into ASK’s agent, franchisee, representative, partner, or employee.

A suspended, removed, expired, or former provider may not continue to represent itself as a current ASK member or use a mark whose license has ended.

12. Independent Competition and Antitrust Compliance

ASK is a network of independent businesses. The ASK Services may not be used as a forum or mechanism for competitors to coordinate competitively sensitive business decisions.

You may not use ASK, an ASK meeting, communication channel, survey, report, event, collaboration feature, referral discussion, or other ASK activity to agree on, coordinate, request, exchange for a collusive purpose, or facilitate another party’s coordination concerning nonpublic competitively sensitive matters, including:

  • prices, rates, fees, discounts, surcharges, margins, costs, or pricing formulas;
  • bids, whether to bid, bid levels, or bid allocation;
  • customers, client accounts, territories, markets, service areas, or categories to be divided or allocated;
  • output, capacity, sales levels, service availability, or production restrictions;
  • wages, compensation, benefits, hiring, recruiting, employee allocation, or no-poach arrangements;
  • boycotts, refusals to deal, exclusion strategies, or collective action against a customer, supplier, provider, platform, or competitor; or
  • other nonpublic information where sharing or coordination could reasonably restrain independent competition.

Each provider must make its own independent decisions concerning prices, customers, bids, personnel, capacity, business strategy, and whether to accept or decline work.

ASK’s limit on the number of Positions within a category and state is ASK’s unilateral network-capacity policy. It does not authorize providers to allocate customers, divide territory, restrict output, or agree not to compete.

13. Referrals, Introductions, and Professional Obligations

ASK does not require providers to make referrals or reciprocal introductions as a condition of admission, standing, pricing, renewal, or another membership benefit.

A provider may independently and voluntarily introduce a client to another provider when the provider believes doing so is appropriate. The provider is responsible for exercising its own professional judgment, obtaining any required client consent, addressing conflicts, making required disclosures, and complying with licensing, ethics, fee-sharing, referral-service, fiduciary, and other professional rules that apply to it.

You may not use ASK to create or disguise an unlawful referral-fee, fee-sharing, kickback, quid-pro-quo, reciprocal-referral, or client-allocation arrangement.

The client remains free to choose a provider inside or outside the ASK network.

14. Privacy Abuse, Surveillance, and Reidentification

You may not use the ASK Services to dox, stalk, track, profile, surveil, or harass another person; to collect personal information by deception; to reidentify information that ASK has provided in deidentified or aggregated form; or to combine ASK information with other data for an unlawful discriminatory, invasive, or harmful purpose.

You may not exploit a privacy, security, or access-control weakness to obtain information that ASK did not intend to make available to you.

15. Circumvention, Evasion, and Abuse of ASK Processes

You may not manipulate, exploit, or circumvent ASK processes to obtain an advantage to which you are not entitled.

Examples include using another entity or nominee to evade a prior removal; concealing common ownership to obtain multiple Positions contrary to ASK rules; submitting false evidence of licensing, insurance, business standing, references, or identity; tampering with a compliance attestation; attempting to obtain confidential reasons for another company’s admission decision; or retaliating against a person for making a good-faith report to ASK or a governmental authority.

Nothing in this AUP prohibits a person from making a truthful report to law enforcement, a regulator, a licensing authority, a court, or another governmental body, or from engaging in other activity protected by applicable law.

15A. False Complaints, Coercion, Retaliation, and Evidence Manipulation

You may not knowingly submit a fabricated complaint, forged evidence, materially altered record, impersonated communication, or other deceptive material to influence ASK’s admission, standing, complaint, renewal, suspension, or removal process.

You may not threaten, extort, harass, intimidate, or unlawfully retaliate against an applicant, provider, client, complainant, reference, employee, contractor, ASK representative, or other person in order to obtain admission, preserve a Position, force a refund, suppress a truthful report, compel a particular complaint outcome, or interfere with ASK’s lawful administration of the network.

Nothing in this section restricts truthful complaints, lawful demands, protected whistleblowing, reports to government authorities, consultation with counsel, or other activity protected by law.

16. Enforcement

ASK may investigate suspected misuse and may preserve relevant records where reasonably necessary for security, fraud prevention, dispute resolution, legal compliance, or enforcement, subject to the Privacy Policy and applicable retention limits.

Where ASK reasonably believes a violation has occurred or that access presents a security, legal, operational, reputational, or integrity risk, ASK may take proportionate action permitted by the Terms and applicable law, including warning, limiting functionality, blocking automated traffic, restricting communications, suspending access, removing content, preserving evidence, suspending a provider listing, terminating access or membership, or referring conduct to an appropriate service provider, regulator, licensing body, or law-enforcement authority. ASK may take immediate technical or access-control action without prior notice where reasonably necessary to protect security, evidence, users, the Site, or network integrity, subject to any contractual notice or process rights that apply to an admitted provider.

ASK is not obligated to monitor all activity or content, investigate every report, intervene in every dispute, or take a particular enforcement action. A decision not to act in one instance does not waive ASK’s right to act in another.

For applicants and providers, enforcement under this AUP is in addition to remedies available under the Terms of Service. Nothing in this section expands ASK’s liability or creates a duty to a third party.

17. Changes to This Policy

ASK may update this AUP as the ASK Services, security controls, network features, legal obligations, or risks change. ASK will update the Last Updated date and provide any additional notice required by the Terms or applicable law when a change materially affects an applicant’s or provider’s contractual obligations.

18. Contact

Ask The Consultants LLC
support@asktheconsultants.com

To protect against spam and unsolicited mail, ASK does not publish a mailing address. If you need one for legal notices or other correspondence, email us and we will provide it.