Privacy Policy

1. Information We Collect

1. Account information: nickname, username, email, phone number, avatar, bio, location, professional role, interest tags, social links, and other details you choose to provide.
2. Sign-in and security information: sign-in times, device information, IP address, authentication state, verification-code records, security settings, and unusual sign-in records.
3. Content and interaction information: articles, discussions, comments, replies, likes, bookmarks, follows, reports, browsing footprints, subscriptions, growth points, and check-in records.
4. Transaction and delivery information: orders, payment status, payment evidence, subscription records, delivery status, after-sales handling, and necessary contact details. Cryptocurrency payments additionally involve the addresses used and the on-chain transaction hash.
5. Traffic analytics: we run our own page-view analytics recording path, referrer, time, coarse region, device, and browser type; visits by signed-in users are associated with the account for security auditing and product analysis. We use no third-party advertising or cross-site tracking.

2. How We Use Information

1. To create and maintain accounts, and to handle sign-in, identity verification, security, notifications, and account recovery.
2. To display your public profile, published work, interaction records, follow relationships, and anything you have chosen to make public.
3. To provide articles, discussions, columns, projects, the showcase, the tool station, orders, the growth center, check-ins, and notifications.
4. To process orders, complete delivery, issue records, meet tax and compliance obligations, and handle after-sales and disputes.
5. For risk-control auditing, anti-spam, report handling, enforcement, system security, product analysis, and service improvement.

3. Content Translation and Automated Processing

1. To provide multilingual versions, we may submit titles, summaries, and body text from public content to a third-party translation service. Do not include sensitive information in public content if you do not want it processed by a third party.
2. Translated content is provided only for multilingual display. Where a translation differs from the original, the original text governs; you can report a material translation error through our contact channels.
3. We do not use your personal information for fully automated decisions producing legal effects. If an automated risk-control or anti-spam decision affects your account, you may request human review through the appeal channel.

4. Cookies, Logs, and Local Storage

1. We may use cookies, local storage, or similar technologies to keep you signed in, remember language and appearance preferences, improve loading performance, and protect account security. We serve no third-party advertising cookies.
2. We keep necessary service logs (including IP and request information) to diagnose errors, monitor performance, identify unusual requests, and handle security incidents; logs rotate by size and are overwritten once the retained set is exceeded.
3. You can manage cookies in your browser, but disabling them may break sign-in, preference, or security features.

5. Sharing and Third-Party Services

1. We do not sell your personal information, and we do not share it for a third party's own marketing.
2. To operate the service we share the minimum necessary information with: netcup GmbH (server and infrastructure hosting); Cloudflare (content delivery, DNS, and security, which processes visitor IP and request information); Resend (delivery of sign-in codes and notification email, which processes email addresses); Creem and Stripe (as Merchant of Record for payment, invoicing, and tax, which process payment and billing information); and Google (content translation service, which processes public content submitted for translation).
3. Payment details are collected and processed directly by the payment providers above. Pathryn neither sees nor stores your full card number, CVV, or bank credentials.
4. We may disclose information where required by law, regulation, or a competent judicial or administrative authority, or where necessary to protect the lawful rights of users and the platform.
5. In a merger, acquisition, or asset transfer, your information may move as part of the transaction; we will give notice beforehand and require the recipient to maintain protection no weaker than this policy.

6. Storage, International Transfer, and Protection

1. Your information is stored on servers we rent, with infrastructure provided by netcup GmbH; the third parties named above may process data on their own servers and in their own regions. Your information may therefore be stored or processed outside your country of residence.
2. For transfers involving users in the European Economic Area and the United Kingdom, we rely on appropriate safeguards such as standard contractual clauses, or on lawful bases including contract performance and your consent.
3. We apply reasonable technical and organizational measures, including access control, log auditing, encryption in transit (HTTPS site-wide), privilege separation, and security monitoring.
4. Retention: account and content information is kept while the account exists; service logs rotate and are overwritten; order, payment, and invoicing records are kept as tax and accounting rules require (normally no less than 5 years); security and dispute records are kept until the matter is resolved and the statutory period has passed. We delete or anonymize data afterwards.
5. No internet service can guarantee absolute security. If a security incident may affect your rights, we will notify and act as the law requires.

7. Your Rights

1. In Account Settings you can view and edit your profile, adjust visibility under Privacy, adjust notification preferences under Notifications, and manage passwords and sign-in methods under Security.
2. Under Account Settings › Data Export you can request an export of your account data, and you can request account closure in account settings.
3. If you are in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, or another region with equivalent rules, you also have rights of access, rectification, erasure, restriction, objection, and data portability, and the right to complain to your local supervisory authority. We reply to verifiable requests within 30 days.
4. Exercise these rights through the matching entry in account settings, or by emailing support@pathryn.com. To protect your account we may need to verify your identity first.
5. If you close your account, we handle or anonymize the related information as the law requires; transaction, audit, security, and dispute records that must be retained may be kept for a further period.

8. Minors and Policy Updates

1. Pathryn serves creators, developers, and readers capable of independent judgment, and is not directed to minors under 16. Minors should use the service with a guardian's consent and guidance; if we learn we have collected a minor's information without the necessary consent, we delete it promptly.
2. We may update this policy in response to product, legal, or security changes. Material changes are announced on the page, through in-site notice, or by other reasonable means, and the effective date at the top of this page is updated.
3. For questions about this policy or how we handle personal information, use the help center, the in-site feedback entry, or email support@pathryn.com.