Terms of Service
Last updated 30 August 2026
The Backchannel is operated from Pennsylvania, United States. By creating an account or subscribing you agree to what follows. If you do not agree, do not use the service.
What the service is
The Backchannel provides subscribers with streaming access to a library of recorded audio conversations. Access is by invitation: an account can only be created with an invite code issued by the operator, and each code works once.
The library is curated at the operator's discretion. No promise is made about how many recordings exist, how often new ones appear, or that any particular recording will remain available. Recordings may be added or removed at any time.
Accounts
You must be at least 18 years old. You sign in with a Google or Discord account, and you are responsible for anything done through yours. One account is for one person. Sharing an account, or sharing access links, is grounds for termination without refund.
An account may stay signed in on up to four devices, but only one may play at a time. Signing in on one more device than that signs out whichever of them signed in longest ago. Moving between your own devices is fine: closing the page or finishing a recording frees it immediately, and if a device is left without closing properly its hold lapses within a minute. Where you have to wait, the site tells you how many seconds rather than simply refusing. These limits exist so that one subscription serves one person.
Free previews
Some invitations carry a free preview: full access for a limited period, with no payment and no card. The period starts the first time you play something, not when the invitation was sent and not when you first open the library, so you can look through what is there before spending any of it. The site tells you how long is left. When it ends, access stops until you subscribe. Your account and your place in each recording are kept, and no charge is made at any point unless you choose to subscribe.
Subscription, billing and cancellation
The subscription costs $10/month, charged automatically each month until cancelled. Payments are processed by Stripe; the operator never receives or stores your card details.
Sales tax is added where it applies, based on the address you give at checkout, and is shown before you pay. Whether any is due depends on where you are: at present it applies to customers in Pennsylvania and to nowhere else. The price above is exclusive of tax.
You may cancel at any time from your account page. Cancellation takes effect at the end of the period you have already paid for, and access continues until then. Partial months are not refunded, because cancelling does not cut your access short.
If a payment fails, access continues briefly while the payment is retried and then stops. It resumes automatically if a retry succeeds.
The price may change. Any change applies from your next renewal, and you will be told before it takes effect.
What you may and may not do
Your subscription buys you personal, non-transferable access to listen. It does not transfer ownership of anything.
You may not:
- redistribute, republish, sell or publicly perform the recordings;
- share your account, your sign-in, or access links with anyone else;
- attempt to circumvent access controls, or automate bulk retrieval of files.
The site limits how many playback links an account may request per hour. Normal listening is unaffected.
Rights in the recordings
The recordings are made available by the operator. Rights in the underlying conversations remain with their respective participants and rights holders. Your subscription grants you a limited personal licence to listen through this site, and nothing more.
If you believe material here infringes your rights, write to hello@thebackchannel.xyz identifying the recording, and it will be removed while the claim is considered.
Suspension and termination
The operator may suspend or close an account that breaches these terms. You may close yours at any time by cancelling and asking for it to be deleted.
No warranty
The service is provided as it is. It may be interrupted, and recordings may be unavailable at times. No warranty is given that it will be uninterrupted, error-free, or fit for any particular purpose.
Limitation of liability
To the extent the law allows, the operator's total liability to you for any claim connected with the service is limited to the amount you paid in the twelve months before the claim arose. The operator is not liable for indirect or consequential losses.
Changes
These terms may be updated. Material changes will be notified on this site before they take effect, and continuing to use the service after that means you accept them.
Governing law
These terms are governed by the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and disputes are subject to the courts of that state.