GDPR Compliance

What is GDPR?

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a data protection law from the European Union that regulates how personal data is collected, processed, stored, and protected. GDPR exists to ensure that every user knows what data is being collected, understands how it is used and has full control over their personal information.

Although LiteraryUniverse operates globally, we apply GDPR principles as a standard of trust and transparency for all users.

What Data we collect

Besides the data you put into your profile or generated through your interaction (messages, stories, etc.) we try to collect as little as possible. The data we collect includes:<ul><li>Technical information such as IP address, browser type, and operating system for security and platform functionality</li><li>Action logs for security and functionality purposes</li><li>Reading time and reading statistics when you opt in via your settings</li><li>Writing sessions and writing statistics when you opt in via your settings</li><li>Diary entries and personal notes you create</li><li>Bookmarks and reading lists</li><li>API keys you generate for third-party integrations</li><li>Author resume data, which may include contact information and an encrypted address, if you choose to create one</li></ul>Occasionally we might collect data for marketing purposes through third-party services which respect GDPR and you will always have the option to opt out.

How we use Your Data

Your data is used for the following purposes:

• Providing core platform features (e.g., accounts, content publishing, messaging)
• Security, abuse prevention, and fraud detection
• Functional analytics to improve performance and user experience
• Legal compliance and responding to valid requests
• Reading and writing tracking data is used for your personal statistics and shared in anonymized form with authors so they can understand how readers engage with their work
• Diary entries and personal notes are private and never shared with anyone
• We provide your email and country to Stripe for payment processing and fraud protection
• For marketing purposes, we might use your data, but you will always have the option to opt out (cookie banner, etc.)

Data storage & security

• All data (except non-sensitive audio visual data) is stored using secure encrypted systems
• Access is restricted to authorized personnel only utilizing industry standard secure access
• We regularly perform security audits and updates to ensure the safety of your data
• All internal communication is over encrypted channels

Despite best efforts, no online system is ever 100% immune. In rare case of a data breach, users will be notified as promptly as possible, as required by law.

Your rights under GDPR

Under GDPR you have the following rights. You can find options to perform these in your user settings or at the given content:

• Right to access - Export a comprehensive copy of all data we store about you, covering your account, social connections, personal content, reading and writing data, workshop content, community activity, memberships, author resume, and reports
• Right to erasure - Delete your account and all private data from our servers. Published works will be anonymized (your name and profile removed) rather than deleted
• Right to restriction of processing - Control how your data is used via tracking toggles in your settings (e.g., reading time, writing time)
• Right to data portability - Export your data as a structured JSON file from your account settings

Data retention

We store your data:

• As long as your account is active
• Or as long as required for legal, security, or operational purposes
• Published creative works are stored indefinitely unless agreed to otherwise. Upon account deletion, published works are anonymized rather than removed
• Anonymized reading statistics may be retained after account deletion to preserve author analytics
• Audit logs are retained for compliance purposes with personally identifiable information removed

Contact

We are only human, so if you have any requests, questions, concerns or we missed something, please don't hesitate to contact us.
Email: privacy@literaryuniverse.com