01.Introduction & Overview
Ekholon ("we", "our", or "us") operates the Ekholon platform accessible via https://ekholon.app and associated web clients. Ekholon is a student-driven peer learning, builder community, and collaboration platform designed to help students, creators, and engineers build projects, share educational resources, participate in events, and connect.
We are committed to respecting your privacy and protecting your personal data in accordance with applicable laws, including the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 (DPDP Act 2023) of India and global privacy standards.
02.Information We Collect
We collect information that you directly provide to us, as well as limited technical information necessary to deliver and secure our services:
A. Account & Profile Information
When you register and maintain your Ekholon account, you may provide:
- Authentication credentials: Email address, hashed password, and unique account identifier.
- Profile details: Username, display name, biographical statement (bio), profile avatar/photo, and date of birth (optional/if provided).
- Academic & professional details: College/institution name, current role, technical skills, tags of interest, and location.
- Portfolio information: Project titles, descriptions, links, certification records, and showcase images.
B. User-Generated Content & Community Interactions
When you interact with the Ekholon community, we store:
- Feed & Posts: Posts, text content, image attachments, external links, polls, poll responses, upvotes, and downvotes.
- Discussions & Comments: Threaded comments and quoted replies on posts.
- Chat & Messaging: Topic-based group chat messages (General, Code, Design, Launch, Circuits), 1v1 direct messages, and quoted message references.
- Educational Resources & Notes: Uploaded study files (PDFs, slides, documents), subject tags, resource descriptions, bookmarks, and download counters.
- Events & Sessions: Event creation data, descriptions, RSVP registrations, and peer study room links.
C. Technical, Device & Session Data
- Cookies: Secure HTTP cookies used exclusively for authentication session tokens (`sb-*-auth-token`).
- Local Storage: Browser storage used for client-side theme preferences (dark/light mode) and offline caching.
- Server Logs: Standard request logs (IP address, browser user-agent, timestamps) processed temporarily for system security, rate limiting, and spam defense.
03.Google Sign-In & Third-Party Authentication
Ekholon supports optional third-party authentication via Google Sign-In (powered by Supabase Auth).
- Optional Feature: Google Sign-In is completely optional. You may always choose standard email registration.
- Minimal Scopes Requested: We strictly request only basic authentication scopes:
openid,email, andprofile. - No Access to Unrelated Services: We do not request, access, read, or store data from your Gmail, Google Drive, Google Calendar, Google Contacts, or any other Google service.
- How Data Is Used: Google account information (name, verified email address, and avatar image) is used solely to verify your identity, create your Ekholon profile, and log you into your account.
- No Sale or Advertising Use: Ekholon does not sell Google user data, transfer it to data brokers, or use it for personalized advertising or credit assessment.
04.Current Data Practices vs. Future Technologies
To maintain absolute transparency, we clearly distinguish between technologies active on Ekholon today and features that may be introduced in the future:
- Authentication & database management via Supabase.
- Encrypted file & image storage for user notes/avatars.
- Essential session cookies & local theme caching.
- Self-service account & profile management.
- Aggregated Google Analytics 4 (GA4) for page performance and platform traffic metrics (without invasive behavioral ad-tracking).
- Aggregated product telemetry or performance monitoring.
- Error/crash logging for platform stability.
- Expanded privacy-focused edge analytics (e.g. Cloudflare Web Analytics).
05.How We Use Your Information
We process your personal data for the following legitimate purposes:
- Service Delivery: Providing access to peer feeds, collaborative group chats, 1v1 messaging, resource libraries, and community events.
- Profile & Portfolio Showcasing: Allowing other students and builders to view your public profile, skills, projects, and contributions.
- Safety & Content Moderation: Enforcing community guidelines, preventing spam, investigating user reports, and protecting users from harassment or fraudulent activities.
- System Communications: Sending essential transactional notifications (e.g. account verification links, password resets, and in-app activity alerts).
06.Student Users & Protection of Minors
Ekholon is an educational community designed for students, including high school and college learners who may be under 18 years of age.
In accordance with child data protection principles under Indian law:
- No Behavioral Profiling or Tracking: Ekholon does not conduct behavioral tracking, targeted psychological profiling, or commercial ad targeting of children or any users.
- No Harmful Content: We maintain strict moderation standards to prevent inappropriate content, exploitation, or bullying.
- Parental & Guardian Inquiries: Parents or legal guardians with questions or concerns regarding a minor's account may contact us at ekholon.app@gmail.com for prompt review, data access, or account deletion.
07.Data Sharing & Third-Party Providers
We never sell, rent, or trade your personal data. We share data only with trusted infrastructure service providers strictly necessary to operate the platform:
- Supabase Inc.: Cloud database, authentication, and file storage infrastructure provider (data encrypted at rest and in transit).
- Vercel Inc.: Application hosting, edge computing, and content delivery network.
- Legal & Regulatory Compliance: We may disclose information if required by a valid court order, government authority, or applicable law in India.
08.Data Retention & Account Deletion
We retain your personal data only for as long as your account remains active or as needed to provide our services.
How to Delete Your Account
You have the right to delete your account at any time. When you request account deletion through your account settings or by emailing ekholon.app@gmail.com:
- Your profile data, authentication credentials, and private messages are permanently deleted.
- Your public posts, comments, and uploaded notes will be removed or disassociated from your personal identity.
- Routine backup snapshots containing residual data are permanently purged within 30 days.
09.Your Rights & Choices
Under applicable data protection laws, you have the right to:
- Access & Review: View and request a summary of the personal data we hold about you.
- Correction & Updates: Edit and update inaccurate profile data directly through your Settings page.
- Erasure / Deletion: Request the deletion of your personal data and account.
- Withdrawal of Consent: Withdraw consent for non-essential processing at any time.
10.Changes to This Policy & Contact Us
We may update this Privacy Policy periodically to reflect improvements in our platform or changes in regulatory requirements. When updates occur, the "Last Updated" date at the top of this document will be updated.
Contact Information
If you have any questions, privacy concerns, or data requests, please contact our Data Grievance Officer at: