This Privacy Policy explains how {OPERATOR} (“we”, “us”, “our”) collects, uses, stores, and shares your personal information when you use {SERVICE}{" "} (the “Service”) available at prabhupadasays.org. By using the Service you agree to the practices described below.
We are committed to handling your information lawfully, fairly, and transparently in accordance with India’s Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 (DPDP Act).
The Service is developed and owned by {OPERATOR}, a limited liability partnership registered in India. For any questions about this Policy or your personal data, contact us at{" "} {CONTACT_EMAIL} .
We collect only the information needed to operate the Service:
(a) Information you give us
- Account details when you sign up by email: your name, email address, password (stored only as a one-way bcrypt hash — we never see or store your plain password), and a public handle.
- Profile information{" "} that you choose to add: display name, handle, and an optional avatar image you upload.
- User content you create within the Service, such as posts (selected quotes you choose to share publicly), bookmarks (private), collections (private or public), and short share links.
- Reading preferences{" "} such as your chosen font, theme, and palette, so the reading experience follows you across devices.
- Feedback messages{" "} you submit through the feedback form, including any contact email you provide.
(b) Information from third-party sign-in
- If you choose “Login with Google” or “Login with Facebook”, we receive a stable provider user identifier, your email, your name, and your profile picture URL from that provider. We use this information solely to create or sign you in to your account.
(c) Information collected automatically
-
Session cookies. We
set an httpOnly, secure session cookie (
spsays_auth) after you sign in, so you stay signed in across page loads. During third-party sign-in we briefly set a second cookie (spsays_oauth_state) to protect against cross-site request forgery; it is deleted at the end of the sign-in handshake. - Share link analytics.{" "} When someone clicks a short share link, we log the timestamp and whether the request came from a known social-media link preview bot. We do not log IP addresses or build user profiles from this data.
- Standard server logs.{" "} Our servers retain short-lived logs containing request paths, status codes, and timing for security and reliability. These logs are not used for advertising or profiling.
- To create and operate your account, and authenticate you.
- To deliver the features you request — bookmarks, collections, posts, share links, search, and reading preferences.
- To send transactional emails: email verification, password reset, and notifications you have opted into.
- To respond to your feedback, questions, and support requests.
- To protect the Service against abuse, fraud, and security incidents.
- To comply with applicable laws, court orders, and lawful requests by public authorities.
We do not sell your personal information, and we do not use it for advertising or to build profiles about you for third parties.
Where the DPDP Act or other applicable law requires a legal basis, we rely on the following:
- Your consent, given when you sign up or submit information voluntarily.
- The performance of our service to you (for example, processing your account so you can sign in).
- Our legitimate interests in keeping the Service secure, preventing abuse, and improving reliability.
- Legal obligations{" "} we are required to meet.
We share your information only with the service providers we need to run {SERVICE}. Each provider is bound by contractual or statutory confidentiality obligations and processes data only on our instructions.
- Google LLC — when you use “Continue with Google”, Google authenticates you and shares your profile basics with us.
- Meta Platforms, Inc.{" "} — when you use “Continue with Facebook”, Facebook authenticates you and shares your profile basics with us.
- Cloudflare, Inc.{" "} — we store avatar images you upload in Cloudflare R2 object storage.
- MongoDB, Inc. and hosting/infrastructure providers — we store account data and content in managed Postgres, MongoDB, and DragonflyDB instances.
- Typesense, Inc.{" "} — we use a Typesense search index to power on-site search for public content.
- Our email delivery provider — we send transactional emails (account verification, password reset, feedback notifications) via an SMTP relay.
We may also disclose information when required by law, by valid legal process, or to protect the rights, property, or safety of our users, the public, or {OPERATOR}.
Some of the providers listed above operate servers outside India. Where data is transferred internationally, we rely on the provider’s standard contractual safeguards and security controls, in line with the DPDP Act and applicable cross-border transfer rules.
- Account data is kept for as long as your account is active.
- User content{" "} (posts, bookmarks, collections, profile) is kept until you delete it or delete your account.
- Password-reset and email-verification tokens expire within 1 hour and 24 hours respectively, and are deleted shortly after.
- Server and click logs{" "} are retained for a short operational window (typically 30 days or less) and then deleted or anonymised.
- Feedback messages{" "} may be retained after your account is deleted, with your user identifier removed, so we can act on the product feedback you shared.
Subject to the DPDP Act and other applicable laws, you have the right to:
- Access the personal information we hold about you.
- Correct information that is inaccurate or out of date.
- Request deletion of your account and personal information (see{" "} Data Deletion ).
- Withdraw any consent you previously gave us.
- Nominate another person to exercise these rights on your behalf in the event of your death or incapacity.
- Lodge a grievance with us at{" "} {CONTACT_EMAIL} , or with the Data Protection Board of India.
You can edit your name, handle, avatar, and reading preferences at any time from your profile settings. For any other request, write to us at the email above — we respond within 30 days.
The Service is not directed to children under 13. If you are under 13, please do not use the Service or provide any personal information. If we learn that we have collected personal information from a child under 13 without verified parental consent, we will delete that information promptly. Parents and guardians who believe their child has provided personal information to us can contact us at{" "} {CONTACT_EMAIL} .
We use industry-standard safeguards to protect your information, including encryption in transit (HTTPS), bcrypt password hashing, httpOnly secure cookies, signed CSRF tokens for third-party sign-in, and least-privilege access controls. No method of transmission or storage is perfectly secure; we will notify you and the appropriate authority of a personal-data breach as required by law.
We may update this Policy from time to time. We will revise the “Effective” date at the top of the page and, for material changes, give you reasonable advance notice (for example, by email or an in-app notice).
Grievance Officer: contact{" "} {CONTACT_EMAIL} {" "} with the subject line “Privacy” and we will route your message appropriately. {OPERATOR} is registered in India.