English

Policy version 1.8

Privacy Notice

Exactly what we collect, why, who can see it, and the rights you hold over it.

WHO IS RESPONSIBLE

Avadhoota Datta Peetham, Sri Ganapati Sachchidananda Ashrama, Mysuru, is responsible for the information described here. You can reach us at privacy@dattapeetham.org about anything on this page.

WHAT WE COLLECT, AND WHY — ITEM BY ITEM

1. Your name and email address
   Why: to create your account, sign you in, and answer you if you write to us.
   Who sees it: you, and the small number of staff who handle support.
   Other devotees never see your email address, and see your name only at the
   level you choose. Sri Swamiji can always see your name.
2. Your password
   Why: to protect your account.
   Local sign-in uses a one-way cryptographic hash. When your registration
   also creates a DattaID, an encrypted, recoverable copy is temporarily kept
   so the registration worker can send it to Datta Peetham over HTTPS.
   The copy is cleared after successful provisioning, exhausted retries, or
   seven days. A separate maintenance job clears expired copies regardless
   of whether Datta Peetham is reachable. It is never shown to administrators
   or included in data exports. Backups require the same access controls and
   separate expiry; restoring a backup must run expiry cleanup before use.
3. Your phone number, center, and location that you type yourself
   Why: so the room can show that devotees are practicing in many places.
   You provide a country, state and city for center matching and room presence.
   Your profile name and location appear in the room participant list. Your
   phone number is used for account contact and center association; it is not
   displayed to other devotees in that list.
   We do not ask your device for its location. We do not use GPS.
4. Your presence in a room
   What: which room you joined, when you joined and left, and whether the
   embedded player reported a playing, paused or ended state.
   Why: so the room can show how many devotees are practicing, so moderators can
   keep the room safe, and so you can see your own practice history.
   Who sees it: you. Other devotees see only a count, the identity level you
   chose, and how many sittings of that room's practice you have completed today.
   Sri Swamiji and authorised moderators can see the state of the room, and
   Sri Swamiji always sees the devotees present by their real name, city and
   country.
5. Comments and reactions you choose to send
   Why: so devotees can take part in the room.
   Who sees it: comments are shown in the room, after moderation where the room
   requires it. When text chat is enabled, your submitted text is sent to the
   configured Google Gemini or Sarvam service for automated moderation before
   publication. We do not attach your account ID, name, location or chat history.
   Anything you type into the message itself is included, so do not share private
   information. Google's free-tier service may use submissions to improve its
   products. Fixed emoji choices do not go to an AI provider. Refused text is not
   kept in our chat database.
6. Reflections you choose to write
   Why: a private journal of your own practice.
   Who sees it: only you, unless you explicitly submit one for guidance.
7. Security records
   What: sign-in events, and a shortened one-way hash of your network address —
   never your address itself.
   Why: to detect misuse and protect every devotee's account.
   Who sees it: a small number of technical administrators.
8. A record of the choices you make on this page
   Why: so we can show what you agreed to, and when.
9. Your name during live guidance audio
   What: when Sri Swamiji speaks live and you listen, or you accept an
   invitation to speak, you join a live audio session. Your name, as it
   appears on your account, is visible to the other devotees connected to
   that session for as long as you remain connected. This applies whatever
   identity level you have chosen for the room list.
   Why: so everyone present can hear and see who is listening and who has
   been invited to speak.
   Who sees it: the devotees connected to the same live audio session. The
   audio is carried by a service provider acting only on our instructions.
   Nothing is recorded, and leaving the session removes you from it at once.
10. Messages, recordings and notifications
   Text, photographs, voice/video messages and their delivery/read state are
   stored to deliver correspondence to its intended recipients. Recordings
   are created only when you choose a recording or upload action. Microphone,
   camera and notification access require the device permission where applicable.
   Push delivery uses a device push token. You can decline notifications and
   continue using the application. Reports and blocks are stored for safety;
   authorized moderators can review reported content, including recordings.
11. Practice information and media services
   Practice choices and history can reveal religious beliefs or interests.
   We use this information for the spiritual-practice features you request.
   Embedded media providers receive connection and playback information and
   may use their own cookies, accounts, advertising and privacy policies.
   The service does not control those providers’ independent data collection.

WHAT WE DO NOT DO

  • We do not sell your practice history to advertising companies. Embedded providers may serve advertisements and collect data under their own policies.
  • We do not sell or rent your information to anyone, for any purpose.
  • We do not build a profile of you to predict or influence your behaviour.
  • We do not start a voice or video recording without your action.
  • We never show your email address, network address, exact position or device identifiers to other devotees.

AN IMPORTANT CLARIFICATION

Your practice sessions and their duration are records created by this application. They are not official YouTube views. YouTube decides independently whether any playback counts as a view, and we make no claim about that.

WHERE YOUR INFORMATION IS HELD

On servers operated for Avadhoota Datta Peetham. Where a service provider is involved — for example to carry live audio — their role is described above. Automated text moderation can send submitted text outside these servers. Google free-tier submissions may be used to improve Google's products under its service terms; this is an exception to processing solely for the Peetham. Choose a fixed emoji instead if you do not wish to send text to an AI provider.

YOUR RIGHTS, AND HOW TO USE THEM

You can do all of the following yourself, at any time, from Account:

  • See what we hold about you — Account, and take a copy at once.
  • Correct your name or the city and country you have entered — Account.
  • Change who can see your name and location — Account.
  • Withdraw any optional permission — Account → Your permissions. Withdrawing is one click, exactly as granting it was.
  • Ask us to close your account and remove everything you wrote — Profile → Delete account. Confirm your consent and password (or recently authenticate with your sign-in provider); deletion is automatic.

If you would rather we did it for you, or you are not satisfied with how we have handled something, write to privacy@dattapeetham.org and we will respond. If you are in India and remain dissatisfied, you may complain to the Data Protection Board of India.

HOW LONG WE KEEP THINGS

Set out in full in the Data Retention Schedule, which forms part of this notice.

YOUTUBE AND GOOGLE

YouTube embedded players and API Services process information under Google's Privacy Policy: https://policies.google.com/privacy Authorized channel operators can revoke Google account access at https://myaccount.google.com/permissions. Revoking access prevents subsequent authorized API use; contact us to request deletion of stored authorized data. Watching an embedded player does not require granting this app channel access.