Privacy Policy

1. Who we are

This policy explains how The Cloud Library Collective (“we”, “us”) handles personal data on this website and in the book-sharing service run through it (the “Library”). We are a community library run by volunteers on a not-for-profit basis. The volunteers we appoint to run it are called “admins”. For the data described here, we decide why and how it is used.

This policy goes with our Terms of Service.

2. What we collect

• From your Google account, when you sign in: your name, email address and profile photo. That is all we ask Google for.
• When you ask to join: the name you give us and an optional note, such as your area.
• If you ask to become an admin: the reason you give, and when you asked.
• Your membership: a member ID, your status (for example pending, active or blocked), your credit balance, and the record of credit changes (the “ledger”).
• Your activity: book requests you make or receive, your answers to them, hand-over and return confirmations or reports, and their dates.
• If you share a book: its title, author, condition and photos, and the loan period you choose. Once your book is listed, its photos can be seen by signed-in members, so they can judge its condition before borrowing. They are not shown to the public or to people who aren't signed in members.
• If you borrow a book: you can add photos of it as you return it. The borrower, the owner and admins can see them.
• If you report a problem or ask to be told when a book is back: what you write, and which book, so the admins can help or we can email you.
• Anything you send an admin, for example when you ask about a decision on your account.
• Book lookups. When a book has an ISBN, only the ISBN (never your name or details) is sent to Open Library to look it up: from your browser, for its cover, title, author and description, and from our server, to confirm the ISBN is a real book before it is listed. Open Library may log the request as any website does.
• Basic technical data. Our website host, Vercel, and the services we use, such as Google, may log things like your IP address and browser type when you visit. We don't build profiles from this.

We don't ask for your home address, your date of birth, payment details or any government ID.

3. Why we use it

Only to run the Library:

• to check who you are and keep your account secure;
• to approve members, list books and let admins decide what a book is worth from its photos;
• to pass requests between owners and borrowers, and to introduce them once a request is accepted so they can arrange the hand-over;
• to track credits, hand-overs, returns and lost books, to send reminders, and to apply the rules in our Terms;
• to email you about your requests, hand-overs, returns and account (these emails are about the Library only and don't contain other members' contact details);
• to keep records, fix problems and prevent misuse.

We rely on your consent when you join and sign in, and on what is needed to provide the service you asked for. We don't sell your data, we don't run ads, and we don't use it to profile you.

4. Who can see what

• Admins can see what is needed to run the Library: members' names and emails, requests, phone numbers, deposits with their photos, and credit records. Members can ask to become an admin; only the library owners approve that, and admins are asked to keep what they see private.
• A book's owner sees your name and your request. They don't see your email, phone number or credit balance.
• A borrower sees the owner's name, email and phone number only if that owner has chosen to share them and only after they accept the request, while the hand-over is in progress; an owner sees a borrower's in the same way while the book is out. Otherwise the site shows the next hub day. Until then, it shows them as hidden. This is enforced on our server, not just on the page.
• Other members and visitors see the catalog only: title, author, condition, credits and availability. They can't see who owns a book.
• Your credit history is visible to you and to admins. It isn't shown to other members.
• Meet-up codes are shown only to the person they are meant for: the borrower sees the hand-over code, and the owner sees the return code.

If you receive another member's details, our Terms say you may use them only to arrange that hand-over.

We may share data if the law requires it, or where it's needed to protect someone's safety. Apart from that, we don't share it with anyone else.

5. Sign-in with Google

We use Google Sign-In only to confirm who you are. We request your name, email address and profile photo, and no other Google data. We can't see your Google password, your Gmail, Drive, contacts or anything else in your Google account.

Our use of information we get from Google is limited to providing and improving the Library's own features described here. We don't use it for advertising or sell it.

You can stop the Library using your Google sign-in at any time in your Google account's connections settings. Use “Sign out” on the site to end your session on this device. To have your Library data deleted as well, contact us (section 13).

6. Where your data is kept

• A Postgres database (run by Neon and connected through Vercel) holds membership records, requests, the credit ledger and deposit details, including phone numbers.
• Backups: every night a copy of the database (members, requests and credits, but not photos) is saved in the same private store and kept for 30 days, so we can recover if something goes wrong. Only the library owners can download a backup.
• Vercel Blob holds deposit photos in a private store. Nobody can open a photo by its address; the site itself hands a photo over only to admins and, for a listed book, to signed-in members.
• Vercel hosts the website and runs our back end.
• Gmail sends our notification emails, from an account run by the admins.
• Google Fonts supplies the typefaces on our pages, so your browser contacts Google when a page loads.

These providers may store and process data on servers outside India, and have their own terms and privacy policies. We choose services we think are reasonable for a small volunteer library, but we can't control how they run.

7. Cookies and browser storage

We don't use advertising or analytics cookies. The site stores a little in your browser to work:

• Session storage: your signed-in session, which is cleared when you close the tab.
• Local storage: your light or dark choice. We never sign you in automatically: you always press the Google button yourself.

Google may set its own cookies when you use Google Sign-In. Those are governed by Google's policies.

8. How long we keep it

• Your account details, requests and photos are kept while you're a member, and for a while after so we can settle anything unfinished.
• Some records, such as completed hand-overs and the credit ledger, may be kept longer where that's needed for safety and fairness, and to stop someone avoiding a block by starting a new account.
• When you ask us to delete your data, we delete or anonymise what we don't need to keep, promptly. Copies in nightly backups disappear when those backups expire, after 30 days.

9. Your rights and choices

You can ask us to:

• tell you what data we hold about you and give you a copy;
• correct anything that's wrong or out of date;
• delete your data, or close your account (see the limits in section 8);
• stop using your data for a purpose you no longer agree to. You can withdraw your consent at any time, though we may then be unable to keep your account open;
• name someone to exercise these rights for you if you die or become unable to.

Write to us using the contact in section 13. We may need to check it's really you first, and we'll reply within a reasonable time.

10. Keeping data safe

We take sensible steps for a small volunteer service: your Google sign-in is checked on our server for every request, other members' contact details are never sent to the browser until a request is accepted, deposit photos are kept in a private store that can only be opened through the site, by admins and, for listed books, signed-in members, and only a few admins have access to the records. No system is perfectly secure, so we can't promise absolute security. If a breach affects your data in a way that could harm you, we'll tell you.

11. Children

The Library is for people aged 18 or over and we don't knowingly collect data from anyone younger. If you think a child has joined, tell us and we'll delete the account.

12. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy. We'll change the “last updated” date at the top and, for important changes, say so on the site or by email.

13. Contact and complaints

Questions, data requests, or to raise a concern: an admin (see the contact details on the site). If we don't sort it out, you can also complain to the Data Protection Board of India once it's operating, or to the courts of Bengaluru. This policy is governed by the laws of India.