Introduction
This privacy policy ("Policy") describes how the personally identifiable information ("Personal Information") you may provide on the writefol.io website ("Website" or "Service") and any of its related products and services (collectively, "Services") is collected, protected and used.
It also describes the choices available to you regarding our use of your Personal Information and how you can access and update this information. This Policy is a legally binding agreement between you ("User", "you" or "your") and this Website operator ("Operator", "we", "us" or "our").
By accessing and using the Website and Services, you acknowledge that you have read, understood, and agree to be bound by the terms of this Agreement. This Policy does not apply to the practices of companies that we do not own or control, or to individuals that we do not employ or manage.
Automatic collection of information
When you open the Website, our servers automatically record information that your browser sends. This data may include information such as your device's IP address, browser type and version, operating system type and version, language preferences or the webpage you were visiting before you came to the Website and Services, pages of the Website and Services that you visit, the time spent on those pages, information you search for on the Website, access times and dates, and other statistics.
Information collected automatically is used only to identify potential cases of abuse and establish statistical information regarding the usage and traffic of the Website and Services. This statistical information is not otherwise aggregated in such a way that would identify any particular user of the system.
Collection of personal information
You can access and use the Website and Services without telling us who you are or revealing any information by which someone could identify you as a specific, identifiable individual. If, however, you wish to use some of the features on the Website, you may be asked to provide certain Personal Information (for example, your name and e-mail address).
In addition, if you link your Google account or accounts from other third-party services, we also get information from those accounts. The information we get from those services depends on your settings and their privacy policies. We receive and store any information you knowingly provide to us when you create an account, or fill any online forms on the Website. When required, this information may include the following:
- Personal details such as name, country of residence, etc.
- Contact information such as email address, address, etc.
- Account details such as user name, unique user ID, password, etc.
- Any other materials you willingly submit to us such as articles, images, feedback, etc.
Some of the information we collect is directly from you via the Website and Services. However, we may also collect Personal Information about you from other sources such as public databases and our joint marketing partners.
Use and processing of collected information
In order to make the Website and Services available to you, or to meet a legal obligation, we need to collect and use certain Personal Information. If you do not provide the information that we request, we may not be able to provide you with the requested products or services. Any of the information we collect from you may be used for the following purposes:
- Create and manage user accounts
- Send administrative information
- Respond to inquiries and offer support
- Improve products and services
- Request user feedback
- Improve user experience
- Enforce terms and conditions and policies
- Protect from abuse and malicious users
- Respond to legal requests and prevent harm
- Run and operate the Website and Services
Disclosure of information
Depending on the requested Services or as necessary to complete any transaction or provide any service you have requested, we may share your information with your consent with our trusted third parties that work with us, any other affiliates and subsidiaries we rely upon to assist in the operation of the Website and Services available to you. We do not share Personal Information with unaffiliated third parties.
If you participate in our affiliate program, we share your PayPal email address and your payout amount with PayPal in order to deliver your monthly commission payout. Where the law requires us to report affiliate income (for example, issuing a US 1099 form), we may share the details required for that reporting with a tax-compliance provider.
We will disclose any Personal Information we collect, use or receive if required or permitted by law, such as to comply with a subpoena, or similar legal process, and when we believe in good faith that disclosure is necessary to protect our rights, protect your safety or the safety of others, investigate fraud, or respond to a government request.
Retention of information
We will retain and use your Personal Information for the period necessary to comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our agreements unless a longer retention period is required or permitted by law. We may use any aggregated data derived from or incorporating your Personal Information after you update or delete it, but not in a manner that would identify you personally. Once the retention period expires, Personal Information shall be deleted.
Device identifier
When you sign in for the first time from a browser we set a long-lived
identifier cookie (device_token) so we can recognize that browser on
future sign-ins. The value is a random secret; we store only its
hashed form on our servers, together with the timestamps of the first
and most recent sign-in from that device and, per-namespace, the
per-device preferences you have chosen (for example, which document
tabs you had open).
We use this identifier to preserve your per-device settings across sign-ins, and to detect abusive multi-account activity (for example, the same browser signing in to many accounts that have been closed for policy violations) — a legitimate-interest purpose under Article 17(3)(b) GDPR.
A device row that has not been used for 12 months is automatically deleted, along with the preferences stored against it. Preferences tied to your account are deleted when you close your account. The device identifier itself is retained after account closure for the fraud-detection purpose above; it carries no personally-identifying information beyond the hash and the timestamps.
Local-storage identifiers
Like most web apps, writefolio keeps a handful of functional values in your browser's local storage — your theme choice, session details, and similar settings — plus, if you arrived from a marketing campaign, the campaign tags from that link (so we can tell which campaigns work). Two of these values are identifiers worth explaining specifically:
wf_device_id— a random identifier for your browser. For readers who aren't signed in, it lets us count unique readers of a published manuscript without knowing who they are. If you later create an account, it becomes one of the device records described above (we store only its hashed form on our servers).wf_ref_code(withwf_ref_captured_at) — set only if you arrive through an affiliate's referral link. It remembers which affiliate referred you, for up to 60 days on a rolling basis; if you sign up within that window, the referral is recorded on your account. A newer referral link replaces an older one.
Both values live only in your browser: they are visible to you, are cleared whenever you clear your browser data, and are never shared with third parties or used for advertising.
Affiliate records
If you join our affiliate program, we keep your affiliate record and the ledger of your commissions for seven years, because tax law requires us to retain payment records for that long. The link between a referred account and the affiliate who referred it is kept for the lifetime of that account.
Data protection rights under GDPR
If you are a resident of the European Economic Area (EEA), you have certain data protection rights. In certain circumstances, you have the following data protection rights:
- The right to request access to your Personal Information that we store.
- The right to request that we correct any Personal Information you believe is inaccurate.
- The right to request the erasure of your Personal Information under certain conditions.
- The right to object to our processing of your Personal Information.
- The right to seek restrictions on the processing of your Personal Information.
- The right to be provided with a copy of the information we have on you in a structured, machine-readable and commonly used format.
- The right to withdraw your consent at any time.
Information security
We secure information you provide on computer servers in a controlled, secure environment, protected from unauthorized access, use, or disclosure. We maintain reasonable administrative, technical, and physical safeguards in an effort to protect against unauthorized access, use, modification, and disclosure of Personal Information in its control and custody. However, no data transmission over the Internet or wireless network can be guaranteed.
Contacting us
If you would like to contact us to understand more about this Policy or wish to contact us concerning any matter relating to individual rights and your Personal Information, you may send an email to hi@writefol.io.