Privacy Policy

1. Information We Collect

Account Information

When you create an account, we collect your email address, display name, username, and password (stored as a bcrypt hash). You may optionally provide your age, gender, bio, profile picture, and favorite subgenres.

Usage Data

We collect information about your interactions with the Platform, including books you shelve, reviews you write, reading lists you create, book club participation, and social interactions (follows, comments, reactions).

Contact Information

If you use our contact form or suggest a trope, we store your name, email, and message content to respond to your inquiry.

2. How We Use Your Information

• To provide and maintain the Platform's features (shelves, reviews, social feed, book clubs, reading lists)
• To send you notifications about activity relevant to you (new followers, mentions, suggestion updates)
• To display your public profile to other users
• To moderate content and enforce community guidelines
• To improve the Platform and develop new features
• To respond to your inquiries and support requests

3. Cookies & Authentication

NotSmut uses JSON Web Tokens (JWT) stored in secure, HTTP-only cookies for authentication. We do not use third-party tracking cookies. No advertising cookies or analytics trackers are embedded on the Platform.

4. Third-Party Services

Amazon Associates

"Buy on Amazon" links are affiliate links through the Amazon Associates Program. When you click these links, Amazon may set cookies on your device per their own privacy policy. NotSmut does not receive any personal data from Amazon about your purchases.

Open Library

We use the Open Library API to source book metadata (titles, covers, publication years). No user data is shared with Open Library.

Hosting

The Platform is hosted on Netlify (frontend) and Railway (database). These providers may process server logs containing IP addresses per their respective privacy policies.

5. Data Sharing

We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information to third parties. We may share information only in these limited cases:

• With your consent
• To comply with legal obligations
• To protect the rights and safety of NotSmut and its users
• With service providers who help operate the Platform (hosting, database), under strict confidentiality agreements

6. Data Retention

Account data is retained for as long as your account is active. If you request account deletion, we will remove your personal data within 30 days, though some anonymized data (e.g., aggregate review counts) may be retained. Contact form submissions are retained for up to 12 months.

7. Your Rights

You have the right to:

• Access the personal data we hold about you
• Correct inaccurate information through your profile settings
• Request deletion of your account and associated data
• Export your data (reviews, shelves, lists)
• Opt out of non-essential notifications through profile settings

To exercise these rights, contact us through the Platform's contact form.

8. Profile Visibility

Your username, display name, bio, avatar, and favorite subgenres are publicly visible. Reviews and reading lists you create are public by default. You can set individual shelves and reading lists to private. Your email address, age, and gender are never publicly displayed. Your spice comfort level can be set to private in profile settings.

9. Children's Privacy

NotSmut is not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child under 13 has created an account, please contact us and we will promptly delete the account.

10. Security

We take reasonable measures to protect your data, including password hashing (bcrypt), secure HTTP-only cookies, HTTPS encryption, and access controls. However, no method of transmission over the Internet is 100% secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

11. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify users of significant changes through the Platform. Continued use after changes constitutes acceptance.

12. Contact

For privacy-related questions or requests, please reach out through our contact form on the Platform.