Digital Culturist Privacy Policy

1. Introduction

This Privacy Policy (“Policy”) describes how Hook and Anchor Media ("Company," "we," "us," or "our") collects, uses, shares, and safeguards the information you (“User”) provide to us while using https://digitalculturist.ai/, including all associated websites and services (collectively, “DC” or the “Services”). The Policy assists you in making informed decisions when using our Services. We encourage you to read this Policy carefully to make informed choices about how you engage with our Services.

PLEASE NOTE, BY CONTINUING TO USE OR ACCESS OUR SERVICES, YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THAT YOU HAVE READ, UNDERSTOOD, AND AGREE TO BE BOUND BY THIS POLICY IN ITS ENTIRETY. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO ANY PART OF THIS POLICY, YOU MUST IMMEDIATELY CEASE USING OUR SERVICES.

2. Personal Information We Collect

Personal information is any data that can be used to identify you. We collect personal information related to you (“Personal Information”) to provide and enhance our services. This includes:

2.1 Personal Information You Provide

We collect Personal Information when you create an account, make transactions, or contact our support team and communicate with us:

• Account Information: When you create an account, we collect details associated with your profile, such as your name, role, email address, contact information, account credentials, payment information, and transaction history (collectively, “Account Information”).
• User Content: We collect any data you provide in the form of content or files you upload, including text inputs, images, audio, and other files (“Content”).
• Feedback on your use of our Services: We appreciate feedback, including ideas and suggestions for improvement or reporting concerns about an Output in response to an Input ("Feedback"). If you report an Output in response to an Input we will store the entire related conversation as part of your Feedback.
• Communication Information: If you reach out to us, such as via email or social media, we collect relevant Personal Information, including your name, contact information, and the contents of your messages (“Communication Information”).
• Other Information You Provide: We collect other information you may share, such as details you provide during events, surveys, or to verify your identity or age (collectively, “Other Information You Provide”).

2.2 Personal Information We Receive from Your Use of the Services

When you interact with our services, we collect certain data about your visit and usage (“Technical Information”). The specific Technical Information we collect depends on how you access the Services. When you use our website, we may collect the categories below. Our mobile application collects less Technical Information and does not use advertising identifiers or track you across other apps or websites:

• Log Data: We gather information your browser or device sends automatically, including your IP address, browser type and settings, date and time of your requests, and your interactions with our services.
• Usage Data: We collect information about your usage, including the types of content you engage with, features accessed, actions taken, time zone, country, access times, device information, and connection details.
• Device Information: We collect information about your device, such as device name, operating system, device identifiers, and browser type. Information may vary based on your device and settings.
• Location Information: We may determine the general location of your device through your IP address for security purposes, to detect unusual login activity, or enhance user experience.

2.3 Information We Receive from Other Sources

We may receive data from trusted partners, including security providers to protect against fraud and threats, and marketing vendors to help us reach potential customers. We also may use information from publicly available sources and content you provide to provide and improve features of our Services.

3. Use of Your Information

We use the information we collect for the following purposes:

• To provide, maintain, and improve our services.
• To process transactions and send transactional communications (e.g., confirmation of purchases, account-related updates).
• To personalize your user experience, including suggesting relevant content or features.
• To ensure legal compliance, including preventing fraud or enforcing our Terms of Service.
• To send you marketing communications, where permitted, that may be of interest to you. You can opt out of marketing communications at any time.

4. Legal Basis for Processing Personal Data

We process your personal data based on the following legal grounds:

• Performance of a contract: We process personal data to fulfill our obligations under a contract with you, such as providing the services you requested.
• Legitimate interests: We process your data for legitimate interests, such as improving our services and enhancing security, as long as these interests do not outweigh your rights.
• Consent: In cases where consent is required, we will seek your explicit consent for the processing of your personal data. You may withdraw consent at any time.
• Compliance with legal obligations: We may be required to process your data to comply with legal obligations, including regulatory requirements and court orders.

5. Data Sharing and Disclosure

We do not sell, trade, or rent your personal information to third parties except as described in this policy. We may share your data in the following circumstances:

5.1 Vendors and Service Providers

To operate and provide the Services, we share personal data with third-party vendors and service providers that process it on our behalf, only to perform their services for us and in accordance with our instructions. These currently include, for example:

• Backend and storage — a cloud backend provider (currently Supabase) that hosts our database, file storage, authentication, and server functions, and receives your account information and the content you save (such as links, notes, photos, files, and folder names).
• Sign-in — if you choose “Sign in with Google” or “Sign in with Apple,” the applicable provider shares your email, name, profile information, and a sign-in token so we can create or access your account.
• AI processing — an AI model provider (currently Anthropic) that analyzes the content you save and reads text from files you upload. We send the relevant content (such as saved page text, uploaded files and photos, and your notes) for this purpose; we do not send your name or email.
• Email delivery — an email provider (currently Resend) that sends sign-in codes and related messages, and receives your email address.
• Customer records and communications — a customer-relationship provider (currently HubSpot) that manages our customer records and product emails, and receives your email, account identifier, sign-up date, and usage information.
• Payment processing — our payment processor (currently Stripe) for purchases made on our website; see Section 7.

When you save a link, our servers also retrieve the linked web page to read its text and preview image. We send only the link to that website, not your personal data.

We may add, replace, or remove service providers over time, and will require each to protect your information consistent with this Policy.

Third-party SDKs (mobile application). Our mobile application includes third-party software development kits (SDKs) used solely for sign-in and core functionality — specifically the backend and sign-in providers described above. These SDKs handle the account and content data described in this Section. Our application does not use analytics, advertising, crash-reporting, attribution, or tracking SDKs; does not use a device advertising identifier; and does not track you across other apps or websites.

5.2 Affiliates

We may share personal data with our affiliates, meaning entities that are controlled by, control, or are under common control with our company. These affiliates are permitted to use personal data in ways consistent with this Privacy Policy.

5.3 Account Administrators (for Business Accounts)

If you join a business or organizational account with us, administrators of that account may access and manage your account information, including your email address and content, as necessary to administer your participation. Additionally, if you create an account using an email associated with an organization, we may share certain account information, like your email address, with the organization to facilitate account management.

5.4 Sharing Digital Culturist Links with Other Users

Certain features within our services allow you to share information with others by creating links to what you have created. These links can be shared in two ways: privately or publicly.

• Private Sharing: Privately shared links are accessible only to those who have the URL. We do not publicly share these URLs, so access is restricted to individuals you choose to share the link with.
• Public Sharing: Publicly shared DC links are available for anyone to view and access.

Please note that inappropriate content in publicly shared DC links may be subject to removal by us to ensure community standards. Information you choose to share through either option is governed by the terms and privacy policies of the recipients or viewers, and we encourage you to review and understand these terms before sharing your information.

5.5 Business Transfers

In the event of a merger, acquisition, reorganization, or sale of some or all of our assets, personal data may be shared during the due diligence process and transferred to the successor or acquiring entity as part of the transaction. This data transfer will be subject to the terms outlined in this policy to protect your privacy.

5.6 Legal Requirements and Protection of Rights

We may access, preserve, and disclose personal data if we believe in good faith that doing so is required by applicable law, regulation, legal process, or governmental request. We may also disclose personal data to enforce our Terms of Service, including investigating potential violations; to detect, prevent, or otherwise address fraud, security, or technical issues; or to protect the rights, property, or safety of DC, our users, or the public, as required or permitted by law.

6. Data Retention

We are committed to respecting your privacy and ensuring transparency regarding data retention. We will retain your personal information only for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes outlined in this privacy policy, unless a longer retention period is required by applicable law (such as tax, accounting, or other legal obligations).

In some cases, we may need to retain certain data temporarily to comply with legal requirements, respond to lawful requests, or support our security and fraud prevention efforts. We take these actions to protect our rights, comply with legal obligations, investigate potential fraud, and ensure the safety of our users. Any such retained data will be securely stored and isolated from further processing until deletion is feasible.

When we no longer have a legitimate business need to retain your personal information, we will delete or anonymize it.

7. Payment Processing

We use Stripe, a third-party payment processor, to process payments made through our platform. When you make a payment:

• Your payment information is collected and processed directly by Stripe
• We do not store your full credit card numbers or payment account details
• We may retain limited transaction records for accounting and legal purposes
• Stripe's handling of your payment data is governed by their privacy policy and terms of service
• We recommend reviewing Stripe's privacy practices at their website

While we carefully select our payment processing partners, we are not responsible for Stripe's privacy practices or security measures.

8. Security Measures

We implement reasonable administrative, technical, and physical safeguards designed to protect your personal information from unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, and destruction. However, no security measure is infallible, and we cannot guarantee absolute security of your data.

Breach Response: In the event of a security breach, we will notify affected users and any relevant regulators without undue delay and within the timeframes required by applicable law.

9. Your Rights (GDPR & CCPA Compliance)

All users of DC have certain rights regarding their personal data, regardless of their location. These include the ability to access, correct, or request deletion of your information, as well as to opt out of marketing communications.

To request deletion, go to "Profile" in your account settings, select "Delete Account," and confirm by providing your email address. We will process your request in line with applicable regulations. Specific rights under GDPR and CCPA are outlined below.

9.1 GDPR Compliance for European Union Users

As a user located in the European Union (EU), you have rights under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), including:

• Right to Access: You may request a copy of your personal data.
• Right to Rectification: You can request corrections to inaccurate or incomplete information.
• Right to Erasure: You can request deletion of your personal data under certain circumstances.
• Right to Data Portability: You may request that your data be transferred to another service provider in a machine-readable format.
• Right to Object or Restrict Processing: You may object to or request limitations on certain types of data processing, including direct marketing.

You may contact us to exercise these rights or request further information at carissa@digitalculturist.ai.

9.2 CCPA Compliance for California Residents

If you are a California resident, you have additional rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), including:

• Right to Know: You have the right to request disclosure of the specific pieces and categories of personal data we have collected or disclosed about you within the past 12 months.
• Right to Delete: You can request that we delete your personal information, subject to certain exceptions allowed by law.
• Right to Correct: You may request that we correct inaccurate personal information we maintain about you.
• Right to Limit Use of Sensitive Personal Information: To the extent we collect sensitive personal information, you may request that we limit its use to what is necessary to provide the Services.
• Right to Opt-Out of Data Sales: While we do not currently sell or share your personal information (as ‘sell’ and ‘share’ are defined under California law, including sharing for cross-context behavioral advertising), you have the right to opt out of any such selling or sharing should our practices change. We will update this Policy and provide any required notice if they do.
• Right to Non-Discrimination: We will not discriminate against you for exercising any of your CCPA rights, such as denying services or providing a different quality of service.

California residents can submit requests related to their rights under the CCPA by contacting us at carissa@digitalculturist.ai.

10. Data Transfers

Your personal data may be transferred and maintained on servers outside of your country, where data protection laws may differ. Where required by applicable regulations, we use safeguards to ensure your data is handled securely.

11. Children's Privacy

The Services are intended for users who are at least 18 years old, and are not directed to anyone under 18. We do not knowingly collect Personal Information from anyone under 18.

If you believe that someone under 18 has provided us with Personal Information through the Services, please contact us using the “Contact Information” section of this Policy. We will investigate and promptly delete the information from our systems.

12. Changes to This Policy

We may revise this Privacy Policy occasionally. The latest version will be indicated by an updated date and will be effective immediately upon accessibility. If significant changes are made, we may inform you by prominently posting a notice of these changes or by directly sending you a notification. We encourage regular reviews of this Privacy Policy to stay informed on how we are safeguarding your information.

13. Contact Information

For any questions or concerns regarding this Policy, please contact us at Email: carissa@digitalculturist.ai

Hook and Anchor Media
453 S Spring Street
Ste 400 PMB1625
Los Angeles, CA 90013
United States