Terms of Use, Copyright & Privacy.

Lectern uses YouTube API Services (including the official YouTube IFrame Player API, official YouTube Data API v3, and public YouTube Atom syndication feeds) to display and play publicly embeddable academic lectures from official university and institutional channels.

By using Lectern and its embedded video player, you agree to be bound by the YouTube Terms of Service (https://www.youtube.com/t/terms) and acknowledge that your interaction with embedded YouTube players is governed by the Google Privacy Policy (https://policies.google.com/privacy).

Lectern does not modify, obscure, or block native YouTube player controls, attribution links, or closed-caption interfaces inside the YouTube IFrame Player, and provides direct source links to the canonical upload on YouTube for every catalog entry.

No Video, Audio, or Verbatim Caption Hosting: Lectern does not download, copy, re-host, re-encode, or redistribute any video streams, audio tracks, or third-party verbatim closed-caption files. All video and audio playback streams directly from YouTube's servers via the official YouTube IFrame Player API only when the original uploader has enabled public embedding.

First-Party Editorial Metadata & Study Guides: Course descriptions, subject classifications, chapter outlines, and study guides on Lectern are original editorial metadata prepared to help students navigate long-form lectures. For verbatim closed captions, users are directed to the native CC toggle in the official YouTube player.

Clear Academic Attribution: Every lecture page credits the originating university or research institution, the faculty speaker(s), the course code or series, and links directly to the original YouTube upload so views, engagement, and channel attribution remain with the creator.

Even when a lecture is publicly embeddable on YouTube, we honor all requests from faculty speakers, university media offices, and copyright owners who prefer that their lecture, course, or channel not be indexed on Lectern.

To request immediate removal of a lecture, course playlist, or institutional channel from the Lectern catalog—or to submit a formal notice under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (17 U.S.C. § 512(c)(3))—please submit a Rights & Takedown Notice with:

• The Lectern URL(s) or YouTube video/playlist URL(s) you wish to have removed or updated.
• Your name, institutional affiliation or role (e.g., speaker, department administrator, copyright owner, or authorized agent), and contact email.
• For formal DMCA notices: a statement of good-faith belief that the disputed use is not authorized, and a statement under penalty of perjury that the information in the notice is accurate and that you are the copyright owner or authorized to act on the owner's behalf.

Local-First Study Workspace: You can browse Lectern, watch lectures, save bookmarks, and write timestamped notes without creating an account. By default, your saved library, playback progress, and study notes are stored locally in your browser's storage and can be exported as Markdown at any time.

Optional Account Sync: If you choose to sign in, we store your account profile (name and email), saved lectures, study playlists, and notebook entries so they stay synchronized across your devices. We never sell or rent personal data to third parties or advertisers.

Third-Party Services (YouTube & Google): When you load or play an embedded lecture, your browser connects directly to YouTube (`youtube.com` / `ytimg.com`), which may collect device and playback information in accordance with the Google Privacy Policy. You can review or manage Google privacy controls at myaccount.google.com.

Lectern is provided for personal study, teaching, and research. You agree not to use automated scrapers that overload our infrastructure, attempt to circumvent security controls, or post unlawful, defamatory, or infringing material in public discussion threads or shared study paths.

You retain full ownership of the study notes you write in your Notebook. When you submit a public lecture URL or timestamped discussion comment, you grant Lectern a non-exclusive license to display that contribution as part of the public archive.