What happens when you click a link on 8t3.net — and what we’re responsible for.
These Usage Terms govern your experience as a visitor of 8t3.net — that is, anyone who clicks a short URL, views a gateway page, or browses this website.
These terms do not govern the creation of short URLs. Link creators are registered users of the A’ Design Award & Competition platform and are bound by separate, comprehensive terms of service presented during the URL creation process on that platform. A summary of creator obligations is provided in Section 12 below for your awareness.
By accessing any page on 8t3.net or clicking any short URL hosted on this domain, you acknowledge that you have read and agree to these Usage Terms. If you do not agree, please do not use the service.
For legal entity details, registered address, and contact information, see our Impressum. For how we handle your personal data, see our Privacy Policy.
8t3.net (8 Tenets) is a brand-safe URL shortening service operated by A’ Design Award & Competition S.r.l. as part of the A’ Design Award ecosystem. It provides short, pure-numeric URLs (e.g. 8t3.net/1042) that redirect visitors to destination web addresses specified by link creators.
The service is built on eight founding principles: Brand Safety, Zero Ambiguity, Privacy by Design, Access Control, Transparency, Accountability, Legal Compliance, and Creator Empowerment. These tenets are aspirational design principles guiding the platform’s architecture — they are not contractual warranties or service-level guarantees.
Every short URL is a pure number. When a creator configures an optional access key, the format extends to 8t3.net/1042/key, where the trailing segment serves as a private passphrase for restricted distribution.
When you click a short URL, you do not go directly to the destination. Instead, your request passes through a gateway page that performs sequential validation before issuing a redirect. Here is what happens, in order:
8t3.net/1042/yourkey).302 redirect is issued to the destination URL.At any consent or agreement step, you may decline. If you decline, you are not redirected and no view is recorded. You may close the page at any time.
For links created by verified A’ Design Award winners, the redirect is immediate after any applicable premium-feature checks (no countdown interstitial). For links created by non-verified users, a brief interstitial page with a countdown is displayed, along with a disclaimer that the link has not been independently verified by the platform.
Every gateway page displays:
For non-verified links, the gateway also displays a non-verified link disclaimer stating that the A’ Design Award does not endorse, guarantee, or assume responsibility for the destination content.
This transparency exists so you can make an informed decision about whether to proceed. We encourage you to exercise your own judgment when visiting any external destination.
Some links have individual view tracking enabled by the creator. When this is the case, the gateway will show you a consent page before any personal data is shared. The consent page tells you exactly what information the creator will receive:
You must explicitly accept or decline. If you decline, you are not redirected and no information is shared with the creator. Your IP address is recorded by the system for abuse prevention purposes only and is not shared with the creator.
View tracking only activates when the creator has explicitly enabled it. Most short URLs on the platform do not use individual view tracking. For details on how we handle your data, see our Privacy Policy.
Some links require a payment before you can access the destination. When this is the case, the gateway will redirect you to a payment page operated by the A’ Design Award payment system. You will see the link’s label as the payment description and the amount set by the creator.
Important things to understand about payment-gated links:
The existence of a payment gate does not imply endorsement, verification, or quality assurance by the platform. Please exercise due diligence before making any payment.
Some links require you to accept agreement text written by the creator before being redirected. If the creator has also configured onerous clauses, you will be asked to accept those in a separate, second step — a requirement under EU consumer protection law for particularly burdensome contractual terms.
Key points:
8t3.net provides the technical mechanism for presenting agreements and recording acceptance. It is not a party to any agreement between you and a link creator. The platform does not warrant the enforceability or legal sufficiency of any creator-provided agreement text.
The gateway uses server-side session data to track your progress through multi-step validation (age confirmation, tracking consent, agreement acceptance, onerous clause acceptance). This is stored in a standard PHP session and is necessary for the gateway to function correctly.
Session data for a specific short URL is cleared once you are successfully redirected or when you close your browser. We do not use third-party tracking cookies, advertising cookies, or analytics cookies on gateway pages.
If you are logged into an A’ Design Award account, a session cookie is used to maintain your authenticated state across the platform.
For full details, see our Privacy Policy.
The existence of a short URL on 8t3.net does not constitute endorsement, recommendation, verification, certification, or approval of the destination by the platform, A’ Design Award, or any affiliated entity.
Short URLs redirect to destinations provided entirely by link creators. We do not independently investigate, verify, or monitor destination content. Destination content may change after a short URL is created.
Links created by verified A’ Design Award winners carry the credibility of the award evaluation process, but even for winner-created links, the platform does not warrant the content, safety, legality, or quality of the destination.
Always exercise your own judgment. If you encounter a link that you believe violates the platform’s policies or applicable law, please report it.
The 8t3.net service, including its name, domain, the “8 Tenets” concept, logos, trademarks, design, software, and all original content, is owned by A’ Design Award & Competition S.r.l. and protected by applicable intellectual property laws.
You may not copy, reproduce, modify, reverse engineer, scrape, or commercially exploit any aspect of the service without prior written consent.
If you believe that a short URL or its destination infringes your intellectual property rights, please contact us at the address provided in our Impressum.
The service is provided on an “as is” and “as available” basis without warranties of any kind, whether express or implied, including implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, or non-infringement.
We do not warrant that:
To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, the platform, its operators, affiliates, officers, directors, employees, and agents shall not be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages arising from your use of or inability to use the service, including damages arising from reliance on any destination content, from payment-gated transactions, or from any agreement accepted through the gateway.
Nothing in these terms excludes liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, fraud, or any liability that cannot be excluded under mandatory law.
If you are interested in creating short URLs on 8t3.net, URL creation is managed through the A’ Design Award control panel. You must hold a registered A’ Design Award account.
Link creators are bound by comprehensive terms of service presented during the URL creation process, which cover:
These creator terms are separate from the Usage Terms you are reading now. Every registered user receives 10 free URL creation slots. A’ Design Award winners receive additional slots and premium credits based on their award achievements.
For questions about creating short URLs, visit the Short URL Creator or contact support.
These Usage Terms are governed by the laws of the Republic of Italy, without regard to conflict-of-law principles. The United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG) is expressly excluded.
Any disputes arising from these terms shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of Como, Italy, except where mandatory law provides otherwise.
EU Online Dispute Resolution platform: https://ec.europa.eu/consumers/odr/
We may update these Usage Terms from time to time. When we do, we will update the “Last Updated” date at the top of this page. Material changes will be communicated through the website. Your continued use of the service after changes become effective constitutes acceptance of the updated terms.
We encourage you to review these terms periodically.
For the operating entity’s full legal name, registered address, registration details, VAT identification, responsible persons, and dispute resolution information, see our Impressum.
For data protection inquiries, see our Privacy Policy.
For general inquiries and to report links: A’ Design Award Support