1. Introduction

Welcome to Varaneety ("Service", "Platform", "we", "us", or "our"). Varaneety is a community-based knowledge sharing platform operated by Meged Solutions. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and safeguard your information when you use our Service.

We are committed to protecting your privacy and ensuring transparency about our data practices. This policy complies with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), and other applicable privacy laws.

By accessing or using Varaneety, you acknowledge that you have read, understood, and agree to be bound by this Privacy Policy. If you do not agree with our policies and practices, please do not use our Service.

2. Information We Collect

2.1 Account Information

When you create an account through our authentication provider (Clerk), we collect:

• Email address
• Name (first and last name)
• Profile image (if provided)
• Account creation and update timestamps

2.2 User-Generated Content

When you use our Platform, you may create and share:

• Neeties and posts (including title, content, images, and tags)
• Reviews of service providers (ratings, comments, service details)
• Recommendations for service providers
• Community information and settings (if you create or manage a community)

2.3 Community and Membership Data

We collect information about your community participation:

• Communities you join or create
• Your role within each community (admin or member)
• Membership join dates
• Invitation and membership request history

2.4 Usage Information

We automatically collect certain information when you use our Service:

• Neeties you view (we track unique views per user)
• Search queries within the Platform
• Interactions with the AI assistant (chat messages and responses)

2.5 Uploaded Media

When you upload images to our Platform, we store:

• The image file (optimized and converted to WebP format)
• Original filename and file size
• Upload timestamp and uploader identification
• Image type (cover, thumbnail, logo, etc.)

2.6 Technical Information

Our hosting providers may automatically collect:

• IP address
• Browser type and version
• Device information
• Operating system
• Access times and dates
• Referring URLs

3. Legal Basis for Processing (GDPR)

Under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), we process your personal data based on the following legal grounds:

• Contract Performance (Article 6(1)(b)): Processing necessary to provide our Service, including account management, content hosting, and community features.
• Legitimate Interests (Article 6(1)(f)): Processing for our legitimate interests, such as improving our Service, ensuring security, preventing fraud, and analyzing usage patterns.
• Consent (Article 6(1)(a)): Where required, we obtain your consent for specific processing activities, such as AI-powered features that process your content.
• Legal Obligation (Article 6(1)(c)): Processing necessary to comply with applicable laws and regulations.

4. How We Use Your Information

We use the information we collect for the following purposes:

4.1 Providing and Maintaining the Service

• Create and manage your account
• Enable you to create, share, and discover content
• Facilitate community creation, membership, and management
• Process service provider reviews and recommendations
• Enable search functionality across the Platform

4.2 AI-Powered Features

• Generate vector embeddings of content for semantic search
• Power the AI assistant to answer questions about community content
• Provide intelligent content recommendations

4.3 Security and Fraud Prevention

• Authenticate users and protect accounts
• Implement rate limiting to prevent abuse
• Detect and prevent fraudulent or unauthorized activities
• Enforce our Terms of Service and community guidelines

4.4 Service Improvement

• Analyze usage patterns to improve features
• Debug and fix technical issues
• Develop new features and functionality

5. Information Sharing and Third Parties

We do not sell your personal information. We share your information only in the following circumstances:

5.1 Service Providers

We use the following third-party service providers who may process your data:

Clerk (Authentication)

Handles user authentication, account management, and session management. Clerk stores your email, name, profile image, and authentication credentials. Clerk Privacy Policy

OpenAI (AI Features)

Powers our AI assistant and semantic search. When you use AI features, your content (neeties, provider descriptions) and chat messages are sent to OpenAI for processing. OpenAI may retain this data according to their policies. OpenAI Privacy Policy

MongoDB Atlas (Database)

Provides cloud database hosting for storing your account information, content, and community data. MongoDB Privacy Policy

Vercel (Hosting)

Hosts our application and may collect standard web server logs including IP addresses and access information. Vercel Privacy Policy

5.2 Community Visibility

Content you create within communities may be visible to other community members based on the community's visibility settings and your content's visibility preferences. Your name and profile image may be displayed alongside your content.

5.3 Legal Requirements

We may disclose your information if required by law, court order, or governmental authority, or when we believe disclosure is necessary to protect our rights, your safety, or the safety of others.

5.4 Business Transfers

In the event of a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets, your information may be transferred as part of that transaction. We will notify you of any such change and any choices you may have regarding your information.

6. International Data Transfers

Our Service is operated from and our service providers are primarily located in the United States. If you are accessing our Service from outside the United States, please be aware that your information may be transferred to, stored, and processed in the United States and other countries.

For transfers of personal data from the European Economic Area (EEA), United Kingdom, or Switzerland, we rely on:

• Standard Contractual Clauses approved by the European Commission
• Adequacy decisions where applicable
• Service provider certifications and compliance frameworks

By using our Service, you consent to the transfer of your information to these countries, which may have different data protection laws than your country of residence.

7. Data Retention

We retain your personal information for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes described in this Privacy Policy:

• Account Data: Retained until you request account deletion
• User-Generated Content: Retained until deleted by you or a community administrator
• Usage Logs: Retained for up to 90 days
• AI Interaction Data: May be retained by OpenAI according to their data retention policies

When you delete your account, we will delete or anonymize your personal information, except where we are required to retain it for legal, regulatory, or legitimate business purposes.

8. Your Rights

8.1 Rights Under GDPR (EEA, UK, Switzerland Residents)

If you are located in the European Economic Area, United Kingdom, or Switzerland, you have the following rights:

• Right of Access: Request a copy of the personal data we hold about you
• Right to Rectification: Request correction of inaccurate or incomplete data
• Right to Erasure: Request deletion of your personal data ("right to be forgotten")
• Right to Restriction: Request restriction of processing in certain circumstances
• Right to Data Portability: Receive your data in a structured, machine-readable format
• Right to Object: Object to processing based on legitimate interests
• Right to Withdraw Consent: Withdraw consent at any time where processing is based on consent
• Right to Lodge a Complaint: File a complaint with a supervisory authority

8.2 Rights Under CCPA (California Residents)

If you are a California resident, you have the following rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act:

• Right to Know: Request information about the categories and specific pieces of personal information we have collected, the sources of collection, our purposes for collecting the information, and the categories of third parties with whom we share information
• Right to Delete: Request deletion of your personal information, subject to certain exceptions
• Right to Opt-Out: Opt out of the sale of your personal information (note: we do not sell personal information)
• Right to Non-Discrimination: Not receive discriminatory treatment for exercising your privacy rights

8.3 Exercising Your Rights

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at privacy@varaneety.com. We will respond to your request within the timeframes required by applicable law (generally within 30 days for GDPR requests and 45 days for CCPA requests).

We may need to verify your identity before processing your request. If we cannot verify your identity, we may request additional information from you.

9. Cookies and Similar Technologies

We use cookies and similar technologies to provide, protect, and improve our Service:

• Essential Cookies: Required for authentication and security. These cookies are set by our authentication provider (Clerk) to maintain your session and keep you logged in.
• Functional Cookies: Used to remember your preferences, such as language settings.

We do not use third-party analytics cookies, advertising cookies, or tracking pixels. We do not track your activity across other websites.

Most web browsers allow you to control cookies through their settings. However, disabling essential cookies may prevent you from using certain features of our Service.

10. Children's Privacy

Our Service is not intended for children under the age of 16. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 16. If you are a parent or guardian and believe that your child has provided us with personal information, please contact us at privacy@varaneety.com.

If we become aware that we have collected personal information from a child under 16 without verification of parental consent, we will take steps to remove that information from our servers.

11. Security Measures

We implement appropriate technical and organizational measures to protect your personal information against unauthorized access, alteration, disclosure, or destruction. These measures include:

• Encryption of data in transit using TLS/SSL
• Encryption of data at rest in our databases
• Secure authentication through industry-leading providers
• Access controls limiting who can access personal data
• Regular security assessments and updates
• Rate limiting to prevent abuse and attacks

While we strive to protect your personal information, no method of transmission over the Internet or electronic storage is 100% secure. We cannot guarantee absolute security of your data.

12. Do Not Track Signals

Our Service does not currently respond to "Do Not Track" signals. However, as noted above, we do not use third-party tracking or analytics services, so your browsing activity on our Service is not tracked across other websites.

13. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, technologies, legal requirements, or other factors. When we make material changes, we will:

• Update the "Last Updated" date at the top of this policy
• Notify you through the Service or via email (for significant changes)
• Provide you with an opportunity to review the changes before they become effective

We encourage you to review this Privacy Policy periodically to stay informed about how we protect your information.

14. Contact Information

If you have any questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or our data practices, please contact us:

Operator: Meged Solutions Email: privacy@varaneety.com Service: Varaneety - Community Knowledge Sharing Platform Website: https://app.varaneety.com

For GDPR-related inquiries, you may also contact the relevant supervisory authority in your country of residence.

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By using Varaneety, you acknowledge that you have read and understood this Privacy Policy and agree to the collection, use, and disclosure of your information as described herein.