At EthosWrite Pro, your privacy matters. This policy explains what data we collect, how we use it, and your rights regarding your information.
1. Introduction
EthosWrite Pro ("we," "us," "our," or "Company") is committed to protecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and otherwise process your personal data when you use our Service.
Please read this policy carefully. If you do not agree with our practices, do not use the Service.
2. What data we collect
Account information: When you create an account, we collect your name, email address, password hash, and optional institution name.
Usage data: We collect information about your interactions with the Service — documents created, words generated, sections drafted, timestamps, API calls — to provide and improve the Service.
Session data: IP address, browser user-agent, and session tokens for security and fraud detection.
Payment data: Billing email, subscription plan, and payment method information (handled securely by Paystack; we do not store full credit card numbers).
Communication data: Email address and any messages you send via the contact form or support requests.
Optional data: University affiliation, research discipline, and any metadata you voluntarily provide in your profile.
3. How we use your data
To operate the Service: Providing features, managing your account, processing payments, and sending transactional emails (welcome, password resets, billing notifications).
To communicate with you: Responding to support requests, sending important Service updates, and notifying you of policy changes.
To improve the Service: Analyzing usage patterns in aggregated form to identify features, bugs, and performance issues. We do NOT use your academic content to train AI models.
For security: Detecting fraud, abuse, and unauthorised access; maintaining logs for audit purposes.
With your consent: Sending newsletters or marketing emails (only if you opt in). You can unsubscribe at any time.
4. What we do NOT do with your data
We do NOT sell your personal data to third parties.
We do NOT share your academic content (research proposals, literature reviews, generated chapters) with anyone outside your account except as required to provide the Service (e.g. our retrieval and generation agents).
We do NOT train AI models on your content. Your research remains confidential to you.
We do NOT disclose your data to marketing partners or data brokers.
5. Who we share data with
Service providers: We share data with third parties who help operate the Service: Paystack (payment processing), SendGrid or similar (email delivery), AWS (cloud hosting). These vendors are bound by data processing agreements.
Legal requirements: We may disclose data if required by law, court order, or government request, though we will notify you whenever legally permissible.
Business transfers: If EthosWrite is acquired or merged, your data may transfer as part of the transaction. We will notify you of any change in ownership or control.
With your consent: We may share data with third parties if you explicitly consent (e.g. integrating with your Zotero account).
6. Data retention
Active accounts: Your data is retained as long as your account is active.
After account deletion: We retain certain data for legal and operational purposes (e.g. payment records for tax purposes, logs for security investigations) for up to 2 years, unless legal obligations require longer retention.
Anonymised data: Usage statistics and performance data may be retained indefinitely in anonymised or aggregated form.
7. Your rights and choices
Access: You can download a copy of your personal data from your account dashboard.
Correction: You can update your profile information at any time.
Deletion: You can request permanent deletion of your account and associated data. We will delete personal data within 30 days, though some logs may persist longer for legal compliance.
Opt-out of marketing: You can unsubscribe from promotional emails via the link in any email, or by updating your preferences in your account.
Privacy rights (if applicable): Depending on your location (GDPR in EU, CCPA in California, etc.), you may have additional rights such as data portability or the right to restrict processing. Contact us to exercise these rights.
8. Data security
We use industry-standard encryption (TLS/HTTPS) to protect data in transit. Passwords are hashed before storage.
We maintain reasonable administrative, technical, and physical safeguards to protect your data against unauthorised access and misuse.
However, no security measure is foolproof. We cannot guarantee absolute security. You use the Service at your own risk.
If we discover a data breach, we will notify affected users within a reasonable timeframe and comply with applicable notification laws.
9. Children and minors
The Service is not intended for anyone under 16 years old (or the age of digital majority in your jurisdiction). We do not knowingly collect data from children.
If we become aware that a minor's data has been collected, we will delete it promptly. Please contact us immediately if you believe a child's data has been collected.
10. International data transfers
Your data may be processed in the United States (AWS), Ghana, and other countries where our service providers operate. By using the Service, you consent to the transfer of your data outside your home jurisdiction.
For users in the EU or other regions with data protection laws, we rely on Standard Contractual Clauses and other legal mechanisms to ensure adequate protections.
11. Third-party links
The Service may link to third-party websites (documentation, citations, external tools). We are not responsible for their privacy practices. Please review their privacy policies separately.
12. Changes to this policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of material changes via email or in-app notice. Continued use after notification constitutes acceptance of changes.
13. Contact us
For privacy questions or to exercise your rights, email contact@ethoswrite.com or visit our Contact page.
If you are in the EU and believe we have violated GDPR rights, you also have the right to lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority.