Privacy Policy

1. What Data We Collect

• Account information: name, email address, phone number (optional, for SMS notifications)
• Business information: business name, sector, location, services offered, bio, profile photo, business logo
• Content you create: posts, messages, opportunity listings, comments
• Usage data: pages visited, features used, timestamps (collected automatically)
• Payment information: processed securely by Stripe — we do not store card details

2. How We Use Your Data

• Providing and improving the Colchester.Network service
• Sending notifications (in-app, email, SMS, push — based on your preferences)
• Processing payments and managing subscriptions
• Moderating content and enforcing community guidelines
• Generating anonymised usage analytics

3. Third-Party Processors

We use the following third-party services to operate Colchester.Network:

• Supabase — database, authentication, and real-time features (EU-hosted)
• Stripe — payment processing (PCI DSS compliant)
• Twilio — SMS notifications
• Resend — transactional email delivery
• OneSignal — push notifications
• Cloudflare — CDN, image storage (R2), and security
• Vercel — website hosting

4. Cookies

We use a single essential cookie for authentication (Supabase session). This cookie is HttpOnly, Secure, and SameSite=Lax. We do not use tracking cookies, advertising cookies, or any third-party analytics cookies.

5. Data Retention

Your data is retained while your account is active. If you close your account, your data will be deleted within 30 days. Anonymised usage data may be retained for analytics purposes.

6. Your Rights (GDPR)

Under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018, you have the following rights:

• Right of access — request a copy of your personal data
• Right to rectification — correct inaccurate data
• Right to erasure — request deletion of your data
• Right to data portability — receive your data in a portable format
• Right to withdraw consent — especially for SMS and push notifications
• Right to lodge a complaint— with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk

7. SMS Communications

If you opt in to SMS notifications, you will receive a maximum of 4 messages per week. You can opt out at any time by replying STOP, updating your notification preferences in account settings, or contacting us directly.

8. Data Security

All data is encrypted in transit (TLS) and at rest (Supabase encryption). Access to personal data is restricted through row-level security policies. Only authorised personnel can access system administration tools.

9. Contact

For data protection queries, contact us at privacy@colchester.network.