Source Policy

Tier 1 sources can support deeper original lessons when rights permit, such as verified public-domain works, public government sources, user notes, and properly licensed sources.

Tier 2 sources should be cited, summarized, and linked carefully, including news, reference entries, scholarly metadata, and social signals.

Tier 3 sources are metadata/link only unless permission is obtained, including modern copyrighted books, paid courses, paywalled articles, and unclear sources.

Tier 4 sources are blocked or restricted, including pirated PDFs, paywall bypasses, leaked/private data, and scraped content against terms.

Public domain and government/public records may support richer use, but item-level and jurisdiction-specific review still matters.

Open-license and OER sources require exact license and attribution checks.

Copyrighted books, news, scholarly sources, courses, and reference entries should not be treated as free to copy because they are visible online.

Reddit, X, and other social sources are signal-only and not authoritative by themselves.

External teachers and paid courses are generally Tier 3 unless permission exists: link, cite, recommend, and allow user-private notes only.

IntelliReads should prefer links, citations, metadata, user-created notes, short permitted excerpts, and original synthesis.

Some sources are linked instead of reproduced because source rights, API terms, or user expectations do not permit storage or replacement.

Users are responsible for rights when uploading or publishing course notes. Private notes from outside courses should not become public IntelliReads lessons.