ForeverTrail - Privacy Policy

DRAFT - not yet reviewed by an attorney. This document was prepared to reflect how ForeverTrail actually works today, but it has not been reviewed by a lawyer and should not be published or presented to users as binding until it has been. Bracketed items like [STATE OF FORMATION] need a real value filled in before this goes live.

Effective date: [DATE] Data controller: ForeverTrail LLC, a limited liability company formed in the State of [STATE OF FORMATION] ("ForeverTrail," "we," "us," or "our") Contact: privacy@forevertrail.com

This Privacy Policy explains what personal information ForeverTrail collects, why, and what choices you have. It should be read alongside our Terms of Service.

The most important thing to understand: ForeverTrail is a public website. A memorial, a memory, a comment, your username, your avatar, your bio, and which memorials you follow are all visible to any visitor, signed in or not. The one exception is a memory you mark "Only me" when you add or edit it: only you can see it, it is left out of the memorial and or subsequent statistics, and no one can comment on it (see "Private memories" in our Terms of Service). This Privacy Policy is about the account and technical information behind the scenes - not a promise that anything else you post is private, because it isn't.

1. Information we collect

Account information. When you sign up, we collect an email address and a password (handled by our authentication provider, Supabase Auth - we never see or store your password in plain text). You also choose a username, which is public and required to be unique, and confirm that you are 18 or older. We keep a record that you confirmed and when - not your date of birth.

Profile information you choose to add. An optional short bio, and an optional avatar photo you upload. Both are public.

Memorials you follow. When you follow a memorial, your username appears in that memorial's list of followers, which anyone can see. Unfollow at any time to remove it.

Content you post. Memory titles and stories, comments, and photos you attach to a memory - all public, as described above. If you create a memorial, we also collect the obituary link, the person's name and dates, where they called home, and your stated relationship to them.

Your relationship to a memorial you created is not shown publicly - it is visible only to ForeverTrail moderators, as part of reviewing whether a memorial should be approved. It is stored in our database regardless of whether a memorial is approved.

Location information - only if you choose to share it. If you use "Use my current location" when adding a memory, we record your device's GPS coordinates at that moment. This is only collected when you actively choose that option; typing a place name does not share your device's location with us. This location is used to mark the memory as an in-person visit and to calculate the "miles traveled" total shown on a memorial's page, and (if you later drag the map pin) is kept alongside the pin's displayed position for that distance calculation. If you create a memorial, the place the person called home is also geocoded (converted from an address to coordinates) using OpenStreetMap's free Nominatim search service - that address is sent to Nominatim as part of the lookup.

Private homes. When a memory's pin appears to be on a private home, the pin everyone else sees is moved 200 to 400 meters (about a quarter mile) away and the place is shown as the neighborhood; the exact spot is kept so that only you and our moderators can see it. To check what's at the pin, its coordinates are sent to OpenStreetMap's Nominatim service. Where your device was when you used "Use my current location" is never shown publicly at its exact position either: it is stored moved the same way, with the exact reading visible only to you and our moderators. For a memorial's home, only the town is saved, never a street address.

Information stored on your own device. ForeverTrail uses your browser's local storage for a few things that never reach our servers: which alerts you've already seen (so the unread badge clears), and - if you create a memory while offline - a temporary local copy of that memory (including its photos) until it successfully uploads. This local information stays on your device.

We do not currently collect: payment information (ForeverTrail is free), analytics or advertising cookies, or any information beyond what's described above. If that changes, we will update this policy.

2. How we use your information

We use the information above to:

• Operate your account and let you sign in;
• Display your public content (memories, comments, profile) to other visitors;
• Verify a memorial submission before it goes live;
• Calculate the miles-traveled figure on a memorial page;
• Send you email notifications about activity tied to your own content or submissions (see Section 4);
• Protect ForeverTrail from spam and abuse: we keep a short private record of when an account (or, for reports, a signed-out visitor) posts a memory or comment, submits a memorial, follows a memorial or sends a report, and count recent photo uploads, so we can limit how much can be done in a short time. These records are deleted after two days; and
• Investigate reports of content that may violate our Terms of Service or Community Guidelines.

3. Who we share information with

We do not sell your personal information.

We share information with the service providers that operate ForeverTrail on our behalf ("subprocessors"), currently:

• Supabase - our database, authentication, and file-storage provider. Your account information, content, and photos are stored on Supabase's infrastructure (hosted on AWS, in the United States).
• Resend - our email-delivery provider, used to send the notification emails described in Section 4. Resend receives the recipient's email address, and the content of that specific email, only at the moment a notification is sent.
• OpenStreetMap / Nominatim - a free, open geocoding service used to turn a typed address into map coordinates when you search for a place. Nominatim receives the text you search for; ForeverTrail does not control or operate this service.

We may also disclose information if required by law, to protect ForeverTrail's or others' rights and safety, or in connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets (in which case we'll make reasonable efforts to notify affected users).

4. Email notifications

If your account has a verified email, ForeverTrail can email you when: someone comments on a memory you posted; someone adds a memory to a memorial you created; someone adds a memory to a memorial you follow; a memorial you submitted is approved; or a moderator acts on your content (a memorial you submitted isn't approved or is removed, or a memory or comment you posted is removed). You choose which of these you get - when you set up your account, and any time afterwards from the menu (☰ → Settings and privacy → Email notifications) or the link at the bottom of every email. Until you choose, all of them are on except new memories on memorials you follow. Turning an email off doesn't change what the app shows you in its Alerts tab. There is currently no marketing or newsletter email.

5. Data retention

We keep your account and content for as long as your account is active. You can delete your own account at any time from "Edit profile" → "Delete my account," or by contacting privacy@forevertrail.com. Deleting your account permanently removes your login, email, bio, and avatar photo, and replaces your username with an anonymized placeholder. Memories, comments, and any memorial you created stay visible under that anonymized name - deleting your account does not remove your posted content, since doing so would also remove other people's replies and a memorial's history. You can delete your own memories and comments at any time from "My posts" on your profile (deleting a memory also deletes the comments on it), including before deleting your account if you don't want them to stay. To have anything else removed - for example, a memorial you created - contact privacy@forevertrail.com and we'll review it the same way we review any other removal request. Content that has already been publicly visible may persist in backups for a limited time after deletion. ForeverTrail does not guarantee that content will be stored permanently - see "ForeverTrail is not a backup" and "If ForeverTrail closes" in our Terms of Service.

6. Your rights and choices

Depending on where you live, you may have rights to access, correct, delete, or receive a copy of your personal information, and to object to or restrict certain processing. To exercise any of these, contact privacy@forevertrail.com. We will respond within the timeframe required by applicable law.

If you are in the European Economic Area, the UK, or a jurisdiction with similar law: our legal basis for processing your account information and content is our contract with you (these Terms) and, for optional information like location, your consent, which you can withdraw by not using that feature going forward. You have the right to lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority. Because our infrastructure is hosted in the United States, using ForeverTrail involves an international transfer of your data; [a lawyer should confirm the correct transfer mechanism - e.g., standard contractual clauses with our subprocessors - before this policy is published].

If you are a California resident, you may have additional rights under California law (such as the CCPA/CPRA) to know what personal information we collect and to request its deletion, as described above; [a lawyer should confirm whether any additional CCPA-specific disclosures are required given ForeverTrail's size and data practices].

7. Children's privacy

ForeverTrail is intended for adults and is not directed to children. You must be at least 18 to create an account, per our Terms of Service, and every account is asked to confirm this. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 18. If we learn that an account belongs to someone under 18, we will delete it and may remove what it posted. If you believe someone under 18 has an account, contact privacy@forevertrail.com and we will investigate.

8. Security

We rely on our infrastructure provider's security practices (encryption in transit, access controls, and row-level database security rules that restrict who can read or write which data) to protect your information. No system is perfectly secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

9. Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. If we make a material change, we will try to give reasonable notice before it takes effect.

10. Contact us

Questions about this policy, or to exercise your privacy rights: privacy@forevertrail.com