Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy applies to information processed when you access or use Katha, create an account, preserve a Katha, upload media, record a voice memory, interact with other contributions, report content, or otherwise use the service.

It should be read together with Katha's Terms of Use, Community Guidelines and Copyright Policy.

Depending on how you use Katha, you may provide information such as your email address, profile details, photographs, written stories, voice recordings, place information, dates, descriptions, collections, connected stories, reports and other content.

You may also provide information about people, places and events appearing in a Katha. You are responsible for considering whether you have the right to share that information.

Katha may process account information required to register, authenticate and secure your account.

Authentication may involve information such as your email address, account identifier, login status and security-related session information.

Passwords are handled through Katha's authentication provider. Katha's application should not need to see or store your password in readable form.

A Katha may include photographs, written memories, language, approximate or exact dates, seasons, environmental context, descriptions of people, voice memories and related contextual information.

Some of this material may contain personal information about you or other people. The sensitivity of a Katha depends on what you choose to preserve.

Location is an important part of Katha, but exact location is not always necessary.

Katha may allow you to associate a contribution with a place at different levels of precision, such as a locality, village, district, approximate location or exact location.

Public discovery features may use place information to organise and display public Kathas. Katha should not expose a more precise location than the visibility and precision choices you select.

If you choose to record or upload a voice memory or place sound, Katha processes that audio so it can be stored and played through the service.

Voice may itself be identifying information. You should consider the privacy and rights of anyone who can be identified from a recording before sharing it.

Katha and its infrastructure providers may process technical information necessary to operate and secure the service.

This can include information such as browser type, device information, IP address, timestamps, authentication events, request logs, error information and security signals.

As Katha develops, we may also introduce privacy-conscious analytics to understand how features are used and where the experience needs improvement. If we do, this Policy will be updated to reflect those practices.

Katha may process information where reasonably necessary to:

• create and maintain your account;
• authenticate you and protect account security;
• store and display your Kathas;
• apply the visibility, moderation and location choices you make;
• provide Explore, Search, Map and Place Archive features;
• support connected stories and collections;
• deliver photographs, audio and other media;
• prevent abuse, spam, fraud or security threats;
• review reports and moderate content;
• respond to support, legal or privacy requests;
• maintain and improve the reliability of Katha;
• comply with applicable law and lawful requests.

When you choose to publish a Katha publicly, information included in that Katha may be visible to other people.

Depending on the features available, public information may include photographs, your public contributor identity, written story, place, date context, voice memory and related Katha information.

Public Kathas may appear in discovery areas such as Explore, Search, Map, Place Archives or connected stories.

Content that you choose to keep private or otherwise restricted is intended to be accessible only according to Katha's visibility rules.

Access controls reduce exposure but no internet-connected system can guarantee absolute security. You should avoid preserving highly sensitive information unless you are comfortable with the risks associated with online storage.

Katha relies on service providers to operate its technical infrastructure. These providers may process information on Katha's behalf for purposes such as authentication, database hosting, media storage, web hosting, content delivery, mapping, security and email delivery.

We aim to provide such providers only with information reasonably necessary for the services they perform and to use providers appropriate for Katha's operational and security needs.

During Katha's present development stage, the service uses third-party infrastructure that may include services for authentication, databases, storage, hosting and maps.

As Katha evolves, providers may change. This Privacy Policy will be updated if those changes materially affect how personal information is handled.

Some technology providers may operate infrastructure or process information outside India.

Where personal information is processed across borders, Katha will seek to handle such processing consistently with applicable legal requirements and any restrictions that may apply.

Katha may retain information for as long as reasonably necessary to provide the service, maintain the archive, comply with legal obligations, resolve disputes, enforce policies, prevent abuse and protect users.

Different categories of information may be retained for different periods. For example, account information, published Kathas, security logs, reports and deleted content may have different retention requirements.

We will refine and document specific retention periods before broad public launch where required.

Katha may provide tools that allow you to edit or delete your own Kathas.

When content is deleted, it may take time for copies to disappear from backups, caches or technical systems used for security, recovery or compliance.

Removal of a Katha does not necessarily require removal of independently contributed Kathas that were connected to it by other contributors.

Katha intends to provide a process for requesting deletion of your account and associated personal information, subject to information that Katha may lawfully or necessarily retain.

The exact account deletion workflow will be published before broad public launch.

Depending on applicable law and the circumstances, you may have rights or choices relating to your personal information.

These may include the ability to access, correct, update or erase certain information, withdraw consent where processing relies on consent, or raise a grievance regarding how your information is handled.

Katha will publish the appropriate process and contact details for exercising applicable rights before broad public launch.

A contributor may preserve a memory involving another person. If you include information about someone else, you should respect that person's privacy, dignity and legal rights.

Katha may restrict or remove information where appropriate in response to a valid privacy, safety or legal concern.

Katha must not be used to exploit, endanger or unlawfully expose children.

Content involving children requires particular care. Contributors should consider whether publication could reveal sensitive information, exact locations, routines or other details that could create a risk to a child.

Katha's rules for accounts, children's data and any parental or guardian requirements will be finalised before broad public launch in accordance with applicable law.

Katha uses technical and organisational measures intended to protect information against unauthorised access, disclosure, alteration, loss or misuse.

These measures may include authenticated access, database access controls, private media storage, encryption provided by infrastructure services and operational security practices.

No security system is perfect. Users should protect their account credentials and notify Katha if they become aware of suspicious activity.

If you submit a report, Katha may process information about you, the reported content, the reason for the report and any details you provide.

Such information may be used to investigate the concern, enforce Katha's policies, protect users and comply with applicable legal obligations.

Katha may preserve, disclose or otherwise process information where reasonably necessary to comply with applicable law, legal process, court orders or valid governmental requests.

Katha may also process information where reasonably necessary to protect the rights, safety and security of users, the public or the service.

Katha may use cookies or similar browser storage where necessary for authentication, session management, security and core functionality.

If Katha later introduces non-essential analytics, advertising or other tracking technologies, this Policy and any required consent mechanisms will be updated before those technologies are used.

Katha may update this Privacy Policy as the service, technology or applicable legal requirements change.

Material changes will be reflected by updating the effective date and, where appropriate or legally required, providing additional notice.

Katha will maintain a process through which users can raise privacy concerns, exercise applicable rights or submit grievances.

Formal privacy contact and Grievance Officer information will be added before broad public launch once Katha's operating entity and official contact details are finalised.