PRIVACY POLICY

1. Who We Are

Dharma Beacon ("we", "our", "us") operates the Dharma Beacon platform — a digital community for practitioners. We are the data controller for personal data collected through this service.

Contact: support@dharmabeacon.org

2. Data We Collect

• Account data: name, email address, password (hashed)
• Profile data: city, country, practice interests, avatar
• Community data: posts, comments, group memberships, connections
• Usage data: pages visited, features used, session duration, IP address
• Cookie data: session tokens, preference cookies (see Section 6)

3. Legal Basis for Processing (GDPR)

Under the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), we rely on the following legal bases:

• Contract performance (Art. 6(1)(b)): to create and maintain your account, deliver platform features.
• Legitimate interests (Art. 6(1)(f)): to detect abuse, improve security, and understand aggregate usage.
• Consent (Art. 6(1)(a)): for optional analytics cookies. You may withdraw consent at any time.
• Legal obligation (Art. 6(1)(c)): where required by applicable law.

4. How We Use Your Data

• Provide, operate, and personalise the platform
• Send transactional emails (account verification, password reset)
• Notify you of relevant community activity
• Improve platform features through aggregated analytics
• Detect and prevent fraud or abuse
• Comply with legal obligations

We do not sell your personal data to third parties.

5. Data Retention

We retain your account data for as long as your account is active or as needed to provide the service. If you request deletion, we will erase your personal data within 30 days, except where we must retain it for legal obligations (e.g. financial records for 7 years).

6. Cookies & Tracking

We use the following cookie categories:

• Strictly Necessary: Authentication session tokens. These cannot be disabled.
• Functional: Preferences such as tutorial progress and display settings.
• Analytics: Anonymised usage data to help us improve. Only set with your consent.

7. Your Rights Under GDPR

If you are located in the EU/EEA or UK, you have the following rights:

• Right of access (Art. 15): request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
• Right to rectification (Art. 16): correct inaccurate or incomplete data.
• Right to erasure (Art. 17): request deletion of your data ("right to be forgotten").
• Right to restriction (Art. 18): limit how we process your data.
• Right to data portability (Art. 20): receive your data in a machine-readable format.
• Right to object (Art. 21): object to processing based on legitimate interests.
• Right to withdraw consent: withdraw consent for analytics cookies at any time via the cookie settings above.

To exercise any of these rights, email us at support@dharmabeacon.org. We will respond within 30 days. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with your national data protection authority.

8. Data Transfers

Your data may be processed by our infrastructure providers outside the EU/EEA. Where this occurs, we ensure appropriate safeguards are in place (e.g. Standard Contractual Clauses) in accordance with GDPR Chapter V.

9. Third-Party Services

We may use the following third-party processors, each bound by their own data processing agreements:

• Hosting & infrastructure (Base44)
• Email delivery (transactional emails)
• Payment processing (Stripe / Wix Payments) — we do not store card details

10. Data Security

We implement industry-standard security measures including encryption in transit (TLS), hashed passwords, and access controls. However, no internet transmission is 100% secure and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

11. Children's Data

Our platform is not directed at children under 16. We do not knowingly collect data from children. If you believe a child has provided us personal data, please contact us immediately.

12. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy. We will notify registered users of material changes by email and update the effective date above. Continued use of the platform after changes constitutes acceptance.

13. Contact & Data Protection Officer

For any privacy queries or to exercise your rights, contact us at: support@dharmabeacon.org