Privacy Policy

1. Introduction

discuria ("we," "us," or "our") is committed to protecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and safeguard your information when you use our website and services (collectively, "the Service").

By using the Service, you consent to the practices described in this Privacy Policy. If you do not agree, please do not use the Service.

2. Information We Collect

Information You Provide

• Account information — When you create an account, we collect your email address, display name, and password (stored securely via our authentication provider).
• Profile information — You may optionally provide a profile avatar and bio.
• Uploaded content — PDF files you upload, annotations you create, and comments you post on papers.
• Communications — Any messages or correspondence you send to us (e.g., DMCA notices, support requests).

Information Collected Automatically

• Usage data — Pages visited, papers viewed, search queries, and feature interactions.
• Device and browser information — Browser type, operating system, screen resolution, and language preferences.
• IP address — Collected for security, abuse prevention, and approximate geolocation.
• Cookies and local storage — Used to maintain your session and preferences. See Section 7 for details.

3. How We Use Your Information

We use the information we collect to:

• Provide, maintain, and improve the Service
• Authenticate your identity and manage your account
• Enable paper uploads, annotations, and discussions
• Send transactional emails (account verification, password resets, notifications)
• Detect and prevent abuse, fraud, and security threats
• Respond to DMCA takedown notices and enforce our Terms of Service
• Analyze usage patterns to improve features and user experience
• Comply with legal obligations

4. How We Share Your Information

We do not sell your personal information. We may share your information in the following limited circumstances:

• Public content — Your display name, avatar, annotations, and comments are visible to other users of the Service. Uploaded PDFs may be viewable by other users.
• Service providers — We use third-party services to operate the platform (e.g., Supabase for authentication and database hosting, Netlify for web hosting). These providers process data on our behalf and are bound by their own privacy policies.
• Legal requirements — We may disclose information if required by law, court order, or governmental authority, or to protect the rights, property, or safety of discuria, our users, or the public.
• DMCA compliance — In response to valid takedown notices, we may share relevant upload metadata (who uploaded what and when) with copyright holders or their agents as required by law.

5. Data Retention

We retain your personal information for as long as your account is active or as needed to provide the Service. Specifically:

• Account data — Retained until you delete your account.
• Uploaded PDFs — Retained until removed by you, by a DMCA takedown, or by content moderation.
• Annotations and comments — Retained until deleted by you or removed by moderation.
• Upload logs — We retain records of who uploaded each file and when for DMCA compliance purposes, even after the file is removed.

When you delete your account, we will remove your personal information within 30 days, except where retention is required by law or for legitimate legal purposes (e.g., DMCA compliance records).

6. Data Security

We implement appropriate technical and organizational measures to protect your information, including:

• Encrypted data transmission (HTTPS/TLS)
• Secure password hashing via our authentication provider
• Row-level security policies on our database
• Access controls limiting who can view and modify data

However, no method of transmission over the internet or electronic storage is 100% secure. We cannot guarantee absolute security of your data.

7. Cookies & Local Storage

discuria uses cookies and browser local storage for the following purposes:

• Authentication — To keep you logged in across sessions.
• Preferences — To remember your settings (e.g., theme, annotation preferences).
• Security — To detect and prevent unauthorized access.

We do not use third-party advertising or tracking cookies. You can manage cookie settings through your browser, but disabling cookies may affect the functionality of the Service.

8. Your Rights

Depending on your location, you may have the following rights regarding your personal information:

• Access — Request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
• Correction — Request correction of inaccurate or incomplete data.
• Deletion — Request deletion of your personal data (subject to legal retention requirements).
• Portability — Request your data in a portable, machine-readable format.
• Objection — Object to processing of your data for certain purposes.
• Withdrawal of consent — Withdraw consent where processing is based on consent.

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at [email protected]. We will respond within 30 days.

9. International Users

If you are accessing the Service from outside the United States, please be aware that your information may be transferred to, stored, and processed in the United States. By using the Service, you consent to this transfer.

For users in the European Economic Area (EEA) and United Kingdom, we process personal data on the following legal bases:

• Contract performance — To provide the Service you signed up for.
• Legitimate interests — To improve the Service, prevent abuse, and ensure security.
• Consent — Where you have given explicit consent (e.g., optional communications).
• Legal obligation — To comply with applicable laws (e.g., DMCA).

10. Children's Privacy

The Service is not directed to children under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If we become aware that we have collected personal information from a child under 13, we will take steps to delete that information promptly. If you believe a child under 13 has provided us with personal information, please contact us at [email protected].

11. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify users of material changes by posting a notice on the Service. The "Last updated" date at the top of this page indicates when this policy was last revised. Continued use of the Service after changes become effective constitutes acceptance of the revised policy.

12. Contact

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or our data practices, please contact us at: