Merrative is committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. Merrative is hosted and operated out of our offices in Mumbai, India. This policy and any other documents referred to in this policy explain how we collect, use and handle personal information from you when you use the Merrative platform. By visiting the platform you are accepting and consenting to the practices described in this policy.
What information do we collect?
Merrative is a community network set up to help members and users have conversations on books, articles or newsletters they’ve enjoyed reading. With this objective, Merrative collects and processes the following data about you:
Information collected when you sign-up:
To access Merrative you need to register to become a user. To register with us you will be asked to provide personal information including your name, address, phone number, date-of-birth, email address, date-of-birth, profile picture and personal website, a username and a password created by you. In case if you choose social signup/login method using Google or Facebook, your personal data will be shared by them to Merrative, namely, your name, email and profile picture. You may also elect to upload materials to your profile that include personal information. Do not post or add personal data to your profile that you do not want to be publicly available.
Information collected automatically every time you access Merrative:
Technical information including the Internet Protocol (IP) address used to connect your computer to the internet, login information, browser type and version, time zone setting, ISP and/or mobile carrier, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system and platform, location; information about visits, including the full Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) to, through and from which you access Merrative; products you viewed or searched for; page response times, download errors, length of visits to certain pages, page interaction information (i.e. scrolling, clicks, and mouse-overs), methods used to browse away from the page, and any phone number used to contact Merrative.
Information collected by third-party sources:
Other users may post, write about and tag you, or link to your profile on Merrative. You and others may post content that includes information about you on Merrative. Customers and partners may provide data to Merrative. We also work closely with third parties (including, for example, partners, technical sub-contractors, payment and delivery services, advertising networks, analytics providers and search information providers and may receive information about you from them. At present these services are provided by the following entities and / or their groups of companies:
When do we collect this information?
- When you register to become a user of Merrative.
- Each time you send us a message on the Merrative platform or correspond with us in writing.
- Every time you visit the Merrative platform.
- When you subscribe to our email newsletters.
- Each time you participate in a discussion or other social media functions on Merrative.
- Each time you enter a competition, promotion or survey on the Merrative platform.
- Each time you report a problem to Merrative.
- From any of your activities in connection with your use of the Merrative platform.
What do we use your personal information for?
- To create, personalise, provide support and maintain your Merrative account and profile.
- To send you information about changes and upgrades made to your Merrative account and the facilities provided through your account.
- To authenticate you and authorise access to Merrative.
- To alert you via email of relevant conversations and activities (including book promotions or any 3rd party platform promotions).
- To allow you to stay in touch and up to date with other readers, writers and authors. To do so, you can find and ‘follow’ the users you choose.
- To suggest ‘follows’ or ‘reads’ for you and others.
- To allow you to seek out and be found for connecting
- To allow you to invite new readers to join your conversations.
- To allow us to take photos of you when you attend our events, and use those photos for promotional purposes.
- To enable you to enter competitions and participate in Merrative and/or third-party events.
- To send you email updates on events and opportunities on and behalf of Merrative and other third-party partners.
- To send you newsletters which you may either elect to receive or may be interested in given your user account and/or profile and to provide you with any other information or services you may request for.
Please note
- Except as set out in this Privacy Policy or otherwise agreed by you, Merrative will not share your personal information with third parties or use your personal information other than for Merrative’s internal purposes.
- Merrative does not store credit card details.
- Merrative monitors for and tries to prevent security breaches.
Advertising and cookies
Merrative uses cookies and similar technologies to identify information about your web browser session and personalisation data each time you visit and use Merrative. A cookie is a small data file that will be stored by your web browser when you access Merrative. These cookies do not contain any of your personal information such as name or email, the information stored in the cookie will only identify you to Merrative. Cookies can be used to enhance your use of the platform, as Merrative uses them to help personalise our delivery of material and information most relevant to you. You can set up your browser to not accept Merrative’s cookies. You can also manually delete Merrative’s cookies from your browser. However, you will not be able to login to the Merrative platform without cookies being enabled on your browser. While browsing without logging in, some features may not behave as intended when cookies are not accepted. Cookies from other entities may also be set on your devices.
How Merrative may share your information
Merrative may engage third parties to carry out some of Merrative’s services or related services such as hosting, archiving, data security and email communications. Merrative may provide those third parties access to your personal information for the sole purpose of them providing their services to Merrative. We will put reasonable measures in place to ensure that those third parties only use your personal information for the specific purposes for which it is provided to them and in alignment with this Privacy Policy.
Further Merrative may use third parties to help the smooth running of our platform through functions like maintenance, analysis, audit, payments, fraud detection, marketing and development. These third parties will have access to your information as reasonably necessary to perform these tasks on Merrative’s behalf and are obligated not to disclose or use it for other purposes.
Merrative may also disclose your personal information to analytics and search engine providers that assist us in the improvement and optimisation of our platform; to related companies; to Merrative’s professional advisors; to law enforcement authorities, if Merrative suspects that an unlawful act is being committed or that such disclosure will prevent that unlawful act; or as otherwise required or authorised by law.
Other than the types of disclosures set out in this Privacy Policy or as otherwise agreed by you, Merrative will not disclose your personal information to any third party.
Processing of personal data outside India
The personal data that Merrative collects from you may also be transferred to other countries outside India. In those cases, except where the relevant country has been determined to ensure an adequate level of data protection, Merrative will ensure that the transferred personal data is protected by a data transfer agreement in the appropriate standard form approved for this purpose or by a binding legal agreement. It may also be processed by Merrative staff operating outside India. Such staff maybe engaged in the provision of support services to enable Merrative to deliver our service to you. By submitting your personal data, you agree to this transfer, storing and processing.
Security of your personal information
Merrative implements security safeguards designed to protect your data, such as HTTPS. We regularly monitor the platform and our systems for possible vulnerabilities and attacks. However, Merrative cannot warrant the security of any information that you send us. There is no guarantee that data may not be accessed, disclosed, altered, or destroyed by breach of any of Merrative’s physical, technical, or managerial safeguards.
Third-party websites
Be aware that the Merrative platform may contain links to third party websites. If you happen to visit such websites, before providing your personal information on or in connection with those websites, we suggest you review their privacy policy and terms of use.
Your personal information
You are entitled to know what personal information Merrative holds about you. You are also entitled to update or correct your personal information. If you would like to contact Merrative in relation to your personal information, you may do so by emailing us at support@merrative.com.
Your rights under data protection
You shall have the right to obtain from Merrative the following:
Right of confirmation
Confirmation as to whether or not personal data concerning you is being processed.
Right of access
Free information about the personal data Merrative stores about you at any time and to receive a copy of it.
Right to rectification
Rectification without undue delay of inaccurate personal data about you.
Right to erasure
The erasure of personal data concerning you without undue delay, subject to Merrative’s legal rights and obligations to retain the same.
Right of restriction of processing
Restriction of processing where a. You contest the accuracy of the personal data, for a period while Merrative verifies its accuracy; b. The processing is unlawful and you oppose the erasure of your personal data and request that it be restricted instead; c. Merrative no longer needs your personal data for the purposes of the processing, but does require them for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims; and d. You do not agree with Merrative’s assessment that the processing is permitted for our legitimate interests, for a period while verification is carried out as to whether those interests override your own interests.
Right to data portability
You shall have the right to have the personal data concerning you, which was provided to Merrative, in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format and to have it transmitted to another entity (to the extent that such data was processed by Merrative on the basis of consent or because it such processing was necessary for the performance of a contract).
Right to object
To object on grounds relating to your particular situation, at any time, to processing of personal data concerning you, based on Merrative’s legitimate interests. This also applies to profile based on these provisions; a. To object to Merrative’s processing of personal data for direct marketing purposes. This applies to profile to the extent that it is related to such direct marketing;
b. Automated individual decision-making including profiling; c. Not to be subject to a decision based solely on automated processing, including profiling, which produces legal effects concerning you, or similarly significantly affects you.
You may be able to exercise some of these rights directly through the functionality Merrative provides you on the platform. Alternatively, or where that is not possible, or if you wish to ask a question about your rights, please contact us via email on support@merrative.com.
Personal information retention
The criteria Merrative uses for retaining different types of personal data includes the following:
- General queries: When you make an enquiry or contact us by email or telephone, Merrative will retain your information for as long as necessary to respond to your queries. After this period, Merrative will not hold your personal data for longer than one year if Merrative has not had any active subsequent contact with you.
- Membership data: his will generally include your name, address, phone number, email address, date-of-birth, profile picture and personal website, a username and a password created by you.
- Deactivate account: Merrative will retain your information for as long as your account is in a deactivated state, but your account will not be accessible from the Merrative platform.
- Account deletion: We will remove all personally identifiable data belonging to you within 30 days of receiving your request to delete.
- Direct marketing: Where Merrative holds your personal data on our database for direct marketing purposes Merrative will retain your information for as long as we have your explicit consent.
Children’s privacy
Merrative as an entity and the Merrative platform does not address anyone under the age of 13.
Changes to our privacy policy
Merrative may change the terms of this Privacy Policy from time to time and at any time, and without actual notice to you. You are advised to check this page regularly to take notice of any changes we make, as these are binding on you.
Contact
Questions, comments and requests regarding this Privacy Policy are welcomed and should be addressed to support@merrative.com.