AirMemo1. Definitions
In these Terms, the following terms have the meanings set out below.
- "AirMemo" (also "we," "us," or "our") means AirMemo Corporation, a Missouri corporation, which provides the Service under the AirMemo trade name. You are contracting with AirMemo Corporation.
- "Service" means the governed push-and-receipt platform for AI agents described in Section 2, including the hook client, the delivery and audit systems, and all related software and systems operated by AirMemo.
- "Customer" (also "you" or "your") means the organization or individual that enrolls Agents or pays for a subscription to the Service, and any authorized users acting on its behalf.
- "Authorized User" means an individual authorized by Customer to compose, approve, or revoke memos under Customer's who-may-push role model.
- "Memo" means a message composed through the Service: signed, scoped to an organization, team, or project, carrying a mandatory expiry, and delivered into an agent's session context at a sanctioned lifecycle boundary.
- "Agent" means an AI agent running on a supported third-party agent platform (including coding assistants, chat assistants, and any MCP-capable agent) whose session context can receive memos.
- "Active Agent" means an Agent enrolled under Customer's organization that holds its own current per-agent credential. An active Agent is not a Seat; one person may run several active Agents.
- "Seat" means one named individual (an employee or contractor of Customer) whom Customer authorizes to use the Service and who has at least one active Agent under Customer's organization. A Seat is counted once per person per organization, however many Agents that person runs, and is consumed at that person's first active Agent. Additional Agents by the same person do not consume another Seat. Revoking the person's last active Agent frees the Seat. An Agent pending approval does not consume a Seat. A console user who never installs is not a Seat.
- "Agent Cap" means the number of active Agents Customer's organization may run at once: the tier total stated in Section 6 on a self-serve subscription, or the number recorded in an enterprise order form. Each active Agent counts once against the Agent Cap. The Agent Cap is a total for the organization at that tier, not a per-Seat entitlement, and no multiple of the Seat count applies.
- "Receipt" means the delivery record generated when a memo is delivered into an agent's session context, including the proof hash, timestamp, injection point, and the rail that carried it.
- "Confidential Information" means information disclosed by one party to the other under these Terms that is marked confidential, or that a reasonable person would understand to be confidential given its nature and the circumstances of disclosure.
- "Export" means the standard export tooling that produces a copy of Customer's memos, receipts, and audit-trail rows on termination or offboarding.
- "Documentation" means the product documentation for the Service published by AirMemo, which is incorporated into these Terms by reference and may be updated as the Service evolves.
- "Third-Party Agent Platform" means an agent platform supported by the Service, including Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Copilot, and Gemini CLI, and any successors or additions AirMemo documents.
- "Content" means memos and any other data, text, files, or material that Customer submits to or publishes through the Service.
2. Parties; Acceptance
By enrolling an Agent or paying for a subscription, Customer accepts these Terms, the Data Processing Addendum, and the Acceptable Use Policy. If Customer is an organization, the individual accepting these Terms represents that they are authorized to bind the organization, and the organization is bound by their acceptance. If Customer does not have that authority, Customer may not use the Service.
3. The Service
AirMemo is a governed push-and-receipt platform for AI agents. Authorized users compose memos that are signed (Ed25519), scoped to an organization, team, or project, and given a mandatory expiry at authoring time. Memos are delivered into agent session context at sanctioned lifecycle boundaries, including session start and prompt submit, on supported Third-Party Agent Platforms. The Service generates Receipts for each delivery and maintains an append-only audit trail with proof hashes. Delivery is best-effort: a Receipt is generated when delivery into session context completes, and if a delivery attempt does not complete, it is retried at the next sanctioned lifecycle boundary. A memo whose expiry passes before delivery is not delivered. Delivery mechanics are documented in the Documentation, which is incorporated by reference and may change as the Service evolves.
Three rails carry a memo, and Customer enables which ones its people use. The hook client runs on the person's machine and injects at the agent's lifecycle boundaries. The model-API gateway is an HTTP endpoint the person points their AI client at: AirMemo prepends the organization's in-force memos to the request the client was already sending, streams the vendor's response back untouched, stores neither the request body nor the response body, and holds no model-vendor credential of its own, because the client's own credential is forwarded as sent. The browser sensor is a first-party extension AirMemo publishes: on the supported AI chat surfaces it inserts the memo into the composer and reports which surface it ran on, with the host reduced to a keyed digest rather than the hostname itself. Each rail records its own Receipt naming that rail. On the cloud edition, traffic through the gateway transits AirMemo's process and no request or response body is stored; on a self-hosted deployment every rail runs inside Customer's own infrastructure and AirMemo never sees your traffic.
4. Eligibility; Age
The Service is offered for commercial and organizational use. Customer must be an entity, or an individual acting as an authorized representative of an entity, with full authority to bind that entity to these Terms. Customer must be at least the age of majority in Missouri, and may not use the Service where such use is prohibited by applicable law. The Service is not directed at minors, and AirMemo does not knowingly accept use by minors. Customer is responsible for ensuring that every individual who uses the Service on its behalf is an Authorized User. Customer represents that the enrollment and account information it provides is accurate and complete, and Customer will update that information as needed.
5. Accounts, Agents, Authorization
(a) Customer controls who may push memos ("who-may-push") through its organization's role model. Org-wide broadcasts require approval under that role model before they are queued. Customer will designate at least one administrator able to manage the role model and act on revocation requests. (b) Each Agent receives a per-agent credential when it is enrolled. One person may run several Agents; the organization's active Agents are counted against the Agent Cap in Section 6, and the person consumes one Seat. Customer is responsible for all Agents enrolled under its account and must revoke the credentials of lost or compromised Agents promptly using the revocation controls, which frees the Seat when it is the person's last active Agent. (c) Customer must not share credentials or agent credentials. (d) Customer must comply with the hook and installer documentation: installers append to or merge into existing hook configuration and never overwrite a customer's existing configuration. (e) Credentials are per-agent; transport integrity is protected with HMAC. (f) The Service enforces rate limits on memo creation, delivery, and audit access; exceeding those limits may delay or reject requests.
6. Fees, Payment, Quotas
Pricing and tier limits are published on the pricing page and incorporated by reference. The Service is billed per person. A Seat is one named individual, counted under Section 1: one Seat per person, consumed at that person's first active Agent and freed when the person's last active Agent is revoked. Additional Agents by the same person do not consume another Seat, and a console user who never installs is not a Seat. The self-serve tiers are Free (5 people, 5 active agents, no charge), Cloud ($12.00 per person per month, 100 people, 100 active agents), and Self-hosted ($12.00 per person per month, 100 people, 100 active agents). Each tier's user cap counts seat holders and console-only users together at the same total, 5 on Free and 100 on either paid tier: a console-only user takes one of those user slots, and is not a Seat. The agent allowance is a total for the organization, not a per-Seat entitlement: each Seat needs at least one active agent, and a person may run a second while the tier total has room. Self-serve fees are per person per month, billed in advance by card; enterprise and pilot orders are invoiced per Section 6b. Fees are non-refundable except as expressly stated in these Terms. No usage-based charges apply unless separately agreed in writing. Quota enforcement is technical and automated: exceeding a tier's people limit or agent limit may refuse to enroll a new Agent or rate-limit the Service until Customer upgrades to a tier that covers its usage. When Customer changes tiers, the new fee applies from the next billing cycle; fees for a billing cycle already paid are not adjusted downward mid-cycle. AirMemo may announce pricing changes for future periods on the pricing page; for a self-serve subscription a pricing change applies to new orders and takes effect at the next renewal, and an enterprise order's rate is governed by Section 6b.
6a. Taxes
Fees exclude all taxes, duties, and similar charges. Customer is responsible for all taxes associated with its purchase of the Service, including sales, use, value-added, and withholding taxes, except taxes on AirMemo's net income. Where AirMemo is legally required to collect or remit a tax, AirMemo will invoice it and Customer will pay it. If Customer provides a valid tax-exemption certificate or direct-pay permit, AirMemo will not charge the covered taxes. Customer must provide any information AirMemo reasonably requests to determine the correct tax treatment.
6b. Enterprise orders; self-hosting
Enterprise is the same rate with no ladder: $12.00 per person per month, on a cloud deployment and on a self-hosted one, at every size and on every term. There is no minimum order size, no band, no floor, no setup or onboarding fee, and no volume or term step: the rate a buyer reads on the pricing page is the rate AirMemo invoices, and it does not move with headcount or with the length of the term. An enterprise order is one placed past the self-serve ceilings, past 100 people or past 100 active agents, and it runs on an annual invoice at that same rate; the annual charge is twelve times the monthly rate for the people on the roster, so 100 people come to $1,200.00 per month, $14,400.00 per year. The rate recorded in an order form is the rate AirMemo invoices for that order's term and at each renewal of that subscription, and a change to the published rate applies to new orders. No coupon, code, or promotional rate applies. The Agent Cap for an enterprise order is the total number of active agents recorded in the order form, a total separate from the people on the roster; the Seats carry no default multiple, and the number is agreed in the order form before signature. An order inside those ceilings is placed in the console at the same published rate and is not an enterprise order. Enterprise fees are invoiced annually in advance and are payable on receipt of the invoice, by ACH debit authorized online in the billing console or by card for the first annual invoice. A pilot runs 90 days at the same rate, billed monthly, at the size Customer starts at: it needs no minimum, and it converts on day 91, the day after the pilot ends, to the subscription rate unless Customer gives written notice before day 90. Self-hosting runs at the same rate as the cloud edition, with no multiplier: the same codebase, one image, deployed where Customer's fleet lives. A self-hosted deployment runs under a signed license file, issued to the ordering organization when the first invoice is paid and bound to the organization it names.
7. Payment Disputes; Non-Payment
Customer should notify AirMemo of any billing error within 90 days of the invoice date; AirMemo will investigate and correct confirmed errors by refund or credit. Unpaid amounts beyond 14 days past due may result in suspension of the Service, or in the account becoming read-only with its capacity limited to the applicable plan ceiling, until payment is received. The account and its data are not deleted, and Customer may Export at any time per Section 19. Suspension does not relieve Customer of accrued payment obligations. Customer is responsible for the accuracy of the payment method it provides and will keep it current. Accrued fees survive termination of these Terms for any reason. Nothing in this Section limits either party's rights regarding disputed charges under applicable law.
8. Acceptable Use
The full Acceptable Use Policy is incorporated by reference. In summary, Customer may not: (a) use the Service to transmit credentials, secrets, or data it lacks authority to transmit; (b) push memos that contain prompt-injection payloads or attempt to manipulate models or agents (the Service scans for and blocks such payloads at authoring time and re-scans at delivery); (c) interfere with or circumvent the append-only audit, signing, rate limits, or revocation controls; (d) resell or sublicense the Service except as expressly permitted; (e) use the Service to violate applicable law. Customer is responsible for the content of memos it publishes and for compliance with applicable law, including export control. If Customer becomes aware of a violation of this Section or the AUP, Customer must notify AirMemo promptly at hello@airmemo.com.
9. Security; Data Protection
Each party will maintain reasonable administrative, physical, and technical safeguards appropriate to the risks associated with processing under these Terms. AirMemo's controls, retention and erasure commitments, and processing terms are set out in the DPA, the privacy policy, and the security and trust page. No uptime or availability SLA is offered during the pilot unless separately agreed in writing. The hook client is fail-open: it never blocks an agent turn, and if the platform or network fails the outcome degrades to "memo delayed," never "agent blocked," with delivery retried at the next sanctioned lifecycle boundary. The gateway is fail-open in its default mode and blocking in its other mode, and Customer chooses. In alert mode, a request whose instructions cannot be resolved is forwarded without them and the response says so in a header. In block mode, the gateway refuses that request with a typed 503 error instead of forwarding it, records the refusal as an audit event, and names the reason in the response body; that refusal stops a model call, which is the control Customer selected, and Customer may change the mode at any time. The hook client is proprietary software. AirMemo will make the hook client's source available for Customer's security review under a confidentiality agreement on request, and every hook release is SHA256-pinned and signed so the binary Customer runs is verifiable against the release AirMemo published. Customer is responsible for applying hook and installer updates, and for the security of its own systems, accounts, and agents, including keeping agent credentials private. Customer will notify AirMemo promptly of any suspected unauthorized use of its account or credentials.
10. Support
During the pilot, support is provided by email at hello@airmemo.com on a best-effort basis during business hours in the Central Time zone. AirMemo does not guarantee a response time and does not offer dedicated support tiers or support SLAs during the pilot. The Documentation is the primary reference for operating the Service, and AirMemo may ask Customer to consult it before opening a support request. Reports of security incidents or suspected abuse take priority over ordinary support requests and may be escalated internally. Support may be limited or suspended for Free-tier use at AirMemo's discretion.
11. Confidentiality
Each party will protect the other's Confidential Information (including audit data, agent counts, and pricing) with at least reasonable care, use it only to perform under these Terms, and not disclose it except to those who need it for that purpose and are bound by obligations of confidentiality at least as protective as this Section. Either party may disclose Confidential Information to the extent required by law, provided it gives the other party advance notice where lawful and practicable. Each party will notify the other promptly upon becoming aware of any unauthorized disclosure or use of the other's Confidential Information and will cooperate with the other in limiting the harm. This Section survives termination of these Terms.
12. Proprietary Rights
The Service, hook software, and Documentation are owned by AirMemo or its licensors. AirMemo grants Customer a non-exclusive, non-transferable license to use the hook client solely to operate the Service as part of a Deployment; Customer may not modify, redistribute, or sublicense the hook client except as expressly permitted in writing. Source review under a confidentiality agreement does not enlarge this license. Customer retains all rights in its memos, Content, and data. Customer grants AirMemo the minimal license necessary to operate the Service, including storage, queueing, delivery, receipt generation, audit, and quota enforcement. AirMemo may use anonymized, aggregate data that does not identify Customer for the purpose of operating and improving the Service.
13. Feedback
If Customer voluntarily submits suggestions, ideas, or other feedback about the Service, AirMemo may use that feedback freely, including in product development and marketing, without any obligation to Customer. Feedback is not Confidential Information unless Customer marks it as confidential at the time of submission. No compensation is due for feedback, and Customer makes no warranty that its feedback does not infringe third-party rights.
14. Electronic Communications
By enrolling, Customer consents to receive service notices (including changes to these Terms, planned maintenance, incidents, and subscription renewals) by email or in-product notification. Email to the address of record is written notice. Customer must keep its contact details current, and notices sent to the address of record are effective whether or not received. Customer may withdraw its consent to electronic notices only by terminating its account, since service notices are integral to the Service.
15. Copyright; DMCA
Customer warrants that it owns or is licensed to publish all memo Content it submits through the Service. AirMemo respects intellectual property rights. To submit a copyright or DMCA takedown notice, contact AirMemo's designated agent at hello@airmemo.com; AirMemo will respond to valid notices and remove or disable access to the identified Content. AirMemo may suspend or terminate the accounts of repeat infringers. Notices that are incomplete, abusive, or unlawful may be disregarded, and AirMemo does not waive any defense available to it under applicable law. If AirMemo removes Content in response to a takedown notice, it will notify the Customer account that published it where practicable, so that Customer may respond with a counter-notice if it believes the removal was in error.
16. Third-Party Agent Platforms
The Service depends in part on Third-Party Agent Platforms that AirMemo does not control. AirMemo makes no representation about the availability or behavior of any Third-Party Agent Platform, and is not responsible for changes a platform makes to its session, hook, or extension mechanisms, including removal or deprecation of the mechanisms the Service uses. AirMemo will document supported platforms in the Documentation and will use reasonable efforts to notify Customer of material platform changes that affect delivery. Delivery therefore depends on mechanisms whose operation AirMemo cannot guarantee; the fail-open design of the hook ensures that any platform or network failure degrades to "memo delayed," never "agent blocked." This Section does not limit the warranty disclaimer in Section 20 or the limitation of liability in Section 21.
17. Publicity
AirMemo may use Customer's name and logo in marketing materials and case studies upon written consent, with opt-out available. Customer may opt out at any time by notifying AirMemo at hello@airmemo.com; AirMemo will remove Customer's name and logo from future materials within a reasonable time. Anonymized aggregate usage statistics are not subject to this opt-out.
18. Term, Suspension, Termination
(a) Subscriptions auto-renew monthly until canceled (enterprise orders run on the annual term stated in the order, per Section 6b), and fees are billed in advance. On cancellation, capacity reverts to the applicable plan ceiling, write access continues for 90 days, and the account then becomes read-only. Cancellation never deletes data, and Customer may Export at any time per Section 19. (b) Either party may terminate for convenience with 30 days' written notice, or immediately for material breach uncured within 15 days of notice, including breach of Section 8. (c) AirMemo may suspend access to the Service (i) to prevent harm or abuse, including violations of Section 8 or the AUP, or (ii) where required by law; AirMemo will give notice where lawful and practicable, and suspension for abuse will be lifted if Customer remedies the cause and AirMemo is reasonably satisfied the cause will not recur. (d) On termination, Customer may Export its data per Section 19; AirMemo will complete the offboarding and erasure process per the DPA. (e) Fees already paid are not refunded on termination for convenience or for Customer's uncured breach, except prepaid fees for the unused portion of the billing period in the case of termination by AirMemo without cause. (f) Sections that by their nature should survive termination survive it, including Sections 1, 7, 11, 13, 15, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 26, and 27.
19. Export-on-Exit; Data Return
On termination, offboarding, or cancellation, Customer is entitled to an Export of its audit trail, receipts, and memo content ("export-before-delete"; the erasure contract is in DPA Section 6). After Export, Customer's data is hard-deleted within 30 days per the DPA; AirMemo will confirm in writing when the hard-delete has completed. Receipts and audit rows are insert-only by design (no UPDATE/DELETE) and AirMemo keeps them as permanent storage: they are not deleted on an age schedule, and no retention window expires them. What a tier changes is how far back the console will read, namely the audit-visibility window (Free 7 days; 365 days on paid Cloud or self-hosted subscription; 30 or 90 days on a subscription still renewing on the retired team or business plan; 90 days after a paid subscription is canceled or lapses for non-payment, or the plan's own window where it is shorter). Rows leave storage only through erasure, meaning an offboarding or erasure request, or deletion of the organization: the erasure path writes the export manifest in its own transaction, then removes the rows and drops the append-only trigger to do so. A person-level erasure is a separate path and is pseudonymization, not deletion: it overwrites that person's identity in place and keeps the user row so receipts and audit events stay attributable, as described in DPA Section 6. The one exception is rows written before authentication (sign-in and signup attempts), which belong to no organization and cannot be reached by an erasure request; those are deleted after a fixed 90-day export-first window. Memos are not archived: a memo carries an expiry set when the author creates it (7 days where the author sets none), after which the memo expires and any queued copy of it is deleted, per the DPA and the Documentation. AirMemo will charge reasonable costs for extraordinary export assistance beyond the standard export tooling.
20. Disclaimers
EXCEPT AS EXPRESSLY STATED IN THESE TERMS, THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND AIRMEMO DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. DELIVERY DEPENDS IN PART ON THIRD-PARTY AGENT PLATFORMS WHOSE MECHANISMS AIRMEMO DOES NOT CONTROL; EXCEPT WHERE CUSTOMER HAS SET THE GATEWAY TO BLOCK MODE, IN WHICH A REFUSAL STOPS A MODEL CALL BY DESIGN AS SECTION 9 DESCRIBES, AIRMEMO'S FAIL-OPEN DESIGN ENSURES THAT ANY PLATFORM OR NETWORK FAILURE DEGRADES TO "MEMO DELAYED," NEVER "AGENT BLOCKED." AIRMEMO DOES NOT WARRANT THAT THE SERVICE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR-FREE, OR THAT MEMOS WILL BE DELIVERED BY ANY PARTICULAR TIME. AIRMEMO MAKES NO REPRESENTATION THAT ANY CERTIFICATION (E.G., SOC 2) HAS BEEN OBTAINED; SOC 2, EU DATA-PROCESSING RESIDENCY, AND USAGE-BASED BILLING ARE NOT OFFERED DURING THE PILOT. OIDC SSO, SCIM, AND MFA ARE AVAILABLE AT EVERY TIER. NO UPTIME OR AVAILABILITY SLA IS OFFERED DURING THE PILOT.
21. Limitation of Liability
TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, AIRMEMO'S AGGREGATE LIABILITY ARISING OUT OF THESE TERMS OR THE SERVICE WILL NOT EXCEED THE FEES PAID BY CUSTOMER IN THE 12 MONTHS PRECEDING THE CLAIM. NEITHER PARTY WILL BE LIABLE FOR INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR LOST PROFITS, REVENUE, OR DATA, EXCEPT FOR: (i) BREACHES OF SECTION 8 (ACCEPTABLE USE), (ii) INDEMNITIES IN SECTION 22, OR (iii) A PARTY'S GROSS NEGLIGENCE OR WILFUL MISCONDUCT. Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits liability that cannot be excluded or limited under applicable law, including liability for fraud or for death or personal injury caused by negligence.
22. Indemnification
(a) AirMemo will defend Customer against third-party claims alleging that the Service infringes intellectual property rights, provided Customer gives prompt notice, sole control of the defense, and reasonable cooperation. If a claim is made or appears likely, AirMemo may modify or replace the Service to avoid infringement, or terminate the affected subscription and refund prepaid fees. IP indemnity is not offered during the pilot absent separate agreement. (b) Customer will defend AirMemo against third-party claims arising from Customer's memos or Content, or from Customer's breach of Section 8. Each indemnifying party's obligation is subject to the other's prompt notice, control, and cooperation. This Section survives termination of these Terms.
23. Export and Sanctions
Customer will comply with all applicable export control and sanctions laws and regulations. Customer may not use the Service in or for the benefit of any jurisdiction or person subject to comprehensive sanctions, or in violation of any export restriction, and may not upload Content that is controlled, embargoed, or prohibited under such laws. Customer is responsible for determining whether its use of the Service and its Content are subject to export restrictions and for obtaining any required licenses. AirMemo may suspend or terminate access to the Service to comply with law, with notice where lawful. Customer represents that it is not a sanctioned person and is not located in a comprehensively sanctioned jurisdiction.
24. Governing Law; Disputes
These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Missouri, without regard to conflict-of-laws rules. Before commencing proceedings, the parties will attempt in good faith to resolve any dispute informally for 60 days, unless the dispute concerns infringement, confidentiality, or misuse of the Service, in which case either party may proceed sooner. Either party may seek injunctive or other equitable relief where damages would be inadequate, and either party may bring claims in small claims court where available. Disputes not resolved informally or in small claims court will be resolved in the state and federal courts located in Missouri, and each party consents to the exclusive jurisdiction and venue of those courts. Nothing in this Section limits the statutory rights of consumers or individuals under applicable law, including the right to bring claims in a court of competent jurisdiction where required.
25. Changes to These Terms
AirMemo may update these Terms with 30 days' notice (by email or in-product notification); continued use of the Service after the notice period constitutes acceptance of the updated Terms. If Customer does not accept the updated Terms, Customer may terminate before the effective date without penalty. Material changes to data handling require the DPA process. Changes to the Service itself, including pricing, are governed by the Documentation and the pricing page.
26. No Waiver of Statutory Rights
Nothing in these Terms limits any right Customer may have under applicable law that cannot be waived by contract. Where Customer is an individual using the Service for personal purposes, statutory consumer protections, including mandatory warranties and rights of withdrawal, apply to the extent required by the law of Customer's place of residence or habitual residence.
27. Miscellaneous
These Terms, together with the DPA, the AUP, the Documentation, and the pricing page, are the entire agreement between the parties and supersede prior agreements. Customer may not assign these Terms without AirMemo's prior written consent, except that either party may assign them in connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of substantially all assets, with notice to the other party. No failure to enforce a provision is a waiver. If any provision is held unenforceable, the remaining provisions continue in full force. Neither party is liable for failure or delay caused by events beyond its reasonable control (force majeure), including natural disasters, war, terrorism, or failures of public infrastructure. Notices under these Terms are in writing and sent to the email address of record of the receiving party. AirMemo's notice email is hello@airmemo.com, and Customer's notice email is the address associated with its account. The parties are independent contractors; nothing in these Terms creates an agency, partnership, or joint venture. The surviving provisions of these Terms are Sections 1, 7, 11, 13, 15, 20, 21, 22, 23, and 27, together with provisions that by their nature should survive.