Privacy Policy

VeriPledge ("we", "us", or "our") operates veripledge.com (the "Service"). This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, and protect your personal data when you use our Service.

By using VeriPledge, you agree to the collection and use of information in accordance with this policy. If you do not agree with any part of this policy, please do not use our Service.

1. Information We Collect

Account Information

When you register for a VeriPledge account, we collect your full name and email address. Your password is stored as a secure, one-way hash and is never readable by us.

Entity Profile Data

When you claim or create an entity profile, we collect and store information you provide, including the organization's name, website URL, domain, industry, contact email, description, logo URL, and geographic information (country, state/province).

Pledge Declarations

Pledge declarations — including the pledge type, tier level, supporting notes, and the date of declaration — are permanently recorded in our public ledger. By design, this data is append-only and publicly accessible.

Domain Verification Data

To verify domain ownership, we generate and store a unique verification token associated with your entity. We record the verification method used (DNS TXT record or HTML meta tag) and the timestamp of successful verification.

Usage and Technical Data

We may collect standard server log data including IP address, browser type, pages visited, and timestamps. This data is used solely for security monitoring and service improvement.

Communications

If you contact us by email, we retain the content of your message to respond to your inquiry.

2. How We Use Your Information

• To provide, operate, and maintain the VeriPledge Service
• To authenticate your identity and manage your account
• To process entity claims and domain verifications
• To send transactional emails (email verification, claiming code notifications, password-related messages)
• To display entity profiles and pledge declarations publicly
• To detect and prevent fraudulent activity, abuse, or violations of our Terms
• To improve and optimize our Service
• To comply with legal obligations

We do not use your personal data for targeted advertising or sell it to third parties.

3. Cookies and Tracking

VeriPledge uses a small number of cookies strictly necessary to operate the Service:

• Authentication cookie: A secure, HttpOnly session cookie that keeps you signed in. It is destroyed when you sign out or after a period of inactivity.
• Anti-forgery token: A cookie used to protect form submissions against cross-site request forgery (CSRF) attacks.
• Language preference: A cookie that stores your selected display language.

We do not use advertising cookies or third-party tracking cookies. For more detail, see our Cookie Policy.

4. Information Sharing and Disclosure

We do not sell, trade, or rent your personal information. We may share data only in the following limited circumstances:

• Infrastructure providers: Hosting, email delivery, and database services that process data on our behalf under strict confidentiality agreements.
• Legal requirements: If required to comply with a legal obligation, court order, or to protect the rights, property, or safety of VeriPledge, our users, or the public.
• Business transfers: In the event of a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets, your data may be transferred. We will notify you prior to any such transfer.

Public pledge data and entity profiles are, by the nature of the Service, publicly accessible to anyone. This is a core design principle of VeriPledge.

5. Data Retention

We retain your account information for as long as your account is active. If you request deletion of your account, we will delete your personal account data within 30 days, subject to the following:

• Public pledge declarations are append-only and permanently preserved in the public ledger. The names and declarations associated with an entity remain publicly visible even if the claiming user deletes their account, as this is essential to the integrity of the transparency record.
• Legal retention: We may retain certain data for longer periods where required by law.

6. Your Rights

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

• Access: Request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
• Correction: Request that we correct inaccurate data. You can update most information directly in your account settings.
• Deletion: Request that we delete your account and associated personal data (subject to the retention notes above).
• Portability: Request your data in a machine-readable format.
• Objection: Object to processing of your data where we rely on legitimate interests.
• Withdrawal of consent: Where processing is based on consent, withdraw that consent at any time.

To exercise any of these rights, contact us at [email protected]. We will respond within 30 days. If you are located in the European Economic Area, you also have the right to lodge a complaint with your national data protection authority.

7. Data Security

We implement industry-standard security measures including HTTPS encryption for all data in transit, bcrypt password hashing, HttpOnly and Secure cookie flags, and CSRF protection. While we take reasonable precautions, no system is completely immune to security risks and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

8. Children's Privacy

VeriPledge is not directed at persons under the age of 16. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children. If you believe we have inadvertently collected data from a child, please contact us immediately and we will delete it.

9. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of any material changes by posting the new policy on this page and updating the "Last updated" date. For significant changes, we will also send an email to the address associated with your account.

10. Contact Us

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

VeriPledge
Email: [email protected]
Website: veripledge.com