Privacy Policy

Introduction: Qatoto is a platform for researching, developing, funding and selling products, and it is committed to protecting the privacy of the people who use it. We have created this policy to explain what information we collect, why we collect it, how long we keep it, what rights you have over it, and what measures we take to protect it.
Who we are: [TO BE CONFIRMED — legal entity not yet incorporated], of [TO BE CONFIRMED — registered address], operates Qatoto and is the controller of the personal data described in this policy — meaning we are the ones who decide why and how it is used, and the ones answerable for it. You can reach us about anything in this document at support@qatoto.com.
Information Collection: We collect information that you provide to us directly, such as when you create an account, upload videos, list or buy a product, or take part in a project. This information may include your name, email address, profile picture, handle, the location shown on your profile, and how you sign in — a password stored only as a hash we cannot reverse, your passkeys, and any Google or GitHub account you link. We also collect information about your use of the site: the videos you upload and view, the comments and forum posts you make, the products you view, your cart and your orders, the projects you found, join or apply to, the effort you log, and the records of equity, pay and payments that follow from them. Each signed-in device is recorded with the IP address and browser it signed in from. The same inventory, in the same words, is in your account under Settings → Your data & privacy.
Product Pages You Look At: When you open a product page in the store we record which listing it was, roughly how long the page was open, and which day it was — so that a seller can see how many people looked at a listing and how many of those went on to order. Unlike watch activity below, this is recorded whether or not you are signed in, because a shop with no count of anonymous visitors has no idea how many people it turned away. If you are signed in the record is attached to your account, and you can download it from Settings → Your data & privacy; if you are not, there is no account to attach it to. We also keep a short-lived scrambled code and a scrambled, blunted form of your network address alongside it, so that one person reloading a page a hundred times does not read as a hundred shoppers — neither can be turned back into you, and we cannot read them back either. How long the page was open is measured by us, not reported by your browser, so it cannot be inflated.
Watch Activity and How Long We Keep It: When you are signed in, we record how long you watch and which hour of which day you watched, so that we can show you your own watch time and understand when the platform is busy. We keep the hour-by-hour record for 90 days and the per-day totals for about 25 months, after which they are deleted. We also keep an hour-by-hour total for the whole platform, which carries no account identifier and cannot be traced back to you. Watching while signed out is not recorded in any of these.
Use of Information: The information we collect is used to provide and improve the services we offer, to communicate with you, and to personalize your experience on the site. We may use your information to send you updates, newsletters, and other marketing materials, and we may also use it to respond to your questions and requests. We may also use aggregated and anonymized information to perform research and analysis, to create reports, and to support other business purposes.
Why We Are Allowed to Use It: Different information is held for different reasons, and the reason matters because it decides what you can ask us to do about it. We hold your account details, your orders and your project records because we need them to give you the service you asked for — without them there is no account, no order and no project. We hold sign-in device records, moderation decisions and security logs because we have a legitimate interest in keeping the platform safe and in being able to show what happened, and we hold watch activity for the same reason: to show you your own watch time and to understand when the platform is busy. Where we ask you for permission — for anything optional — that permission is the basis, and you can withdraw it at any time without affecting what we did before you did. Some records are kept because the law requires us to keep them, and those are described below.
Sharing of Information: We may share your information with third-party service providers who help us provide the services we offer, such as hosting, payment processing, and customer support. We may also share your information with law enforcement or other government agencies when required by law, or when necessary to protect the safety, rights, or property of Qatoto, its users, or others. We will never sell or rent your personal information to third parties for marketing purposes without your consent.
Where Your Information Goes: Qatoto is used from many countries, and the service providers who host it and help us run it may be located outside the country you are in — which means your information can be transferred across borders. Where that happens from the European Economic Area or the United Kingdom, we rely on the transfer mechanisms the law provides for it, such as standard contractual clauses or a finding that the destination country offers adequate protection. Write to support@qatoto.com if you want to know which mechanism applies to a particular transfer.
Cookies and Storage on Your Device: We use one cookie, and it is the one that keeps you signed in — without it every page would ask you to sign in again. We also keep a single entry in your browser's local storage, under the name qatoto.browser-preferences, holding your language, your browse country and whether AI assist is on. That entry never leaves your browser and is never sent to us. We run no analytics, advertising or tracking scripts, and we set no cookies for any of those purposes, so there is nothing here to ask your consent for and no consent banner to click through. If that ever changes, we will ask you first.
Your Rights: You can ask us for a copy of the personal data we hold about you, and to receive it in a commonly used, machine-readable format. You can ask us to correct anything inaccurate, to delete your account and erase your identity, or to restrict what we do with your information while a question about it is being resolved. You can object to us using your information where we rely on our legitimate interests, and you can withdraw any permission you have given us. Getting a copy of your data and deleting your account are both self-serve and immediate from Settings → Your data & privacy: the download is prepared for you in the background, and a deletion takes effect the moment you confirm it — you then have thirty days to change your mind, and simply signing in again is all it takes. The remaining rights — correction, restriction, and objection — are made by writing to support@qatoto.com, and we answer those within one month. We may have to ask you to confirm who you are first, so that we do not act on someone else's say-so about your account. Some records — the ones we are required to keep, and the shared records of work done on a project with other people — survive the deletion of an account, but they are kept without your name attached to them.
Complaints: If you think we have handled your information badly, please tell us first at support@qatoto.com — we would rather fix it. You also have the right to complain to the data protection authority in the country where you live or work, or where you think the problem happened, and you can do that whether or not you have raised it with us.
Security: We take the security of your information seriously and have implemented technical, administrative, and physical security measures to protect it. However, no system is perfect, and we cannot guarantee that unauthorized access, hacking, data loss, or other breaches will never occur. You are responsible for keeping your password and other account information secure, and for promptly reporting any security incidents or unauthorized access to your account.
Changes to this Policy: We may update this policy from time to time to reflect changes to our practices or to comply with legal requirements. We will notify you of any changes by posting the revised policy on the site, and your continued use of the site after the changes become effective indicates your acceptance of the revised policy.
Contact Us: If you have questions or concerns about this policy, or if you would like to access, update, or delete your personal information, please contact us by email at support@qatoto.com. You can also start an access, export, or deletion request from Settings → Your data & privacy in your account.