Privacy Policy

1. Information We Collect

Account Information:

• Email address and display name
• Authentication provider (email/password, Google OAuth)
• Subscription tier and billing status

Content You Create:

• Writing projects (novels, stories, drafts)
• Character sheets, outlines, and notes
• Custom writing styles and plugins
• Chat messages with AI characters
• AI-generated character portrait images

Usage Data:

• AI feature usage (which features you use, token consumption, model selection)
• Session data and interaction patterns
• Error logs and performance metrics

Payment Information:

• Payment processing is handled entirely by Stripe. We do not store credit card numbers, CVVs, or full card details on our servers.
• We retain your Stripe customer ID and subscription status for account management.

2. How We Use Your Information

• Service Delivery: To provide writing tools, AI generation, and account management.
• AI Processing: Your prompts and surrounding context are sent to AI providers to generate content. We send only the minimum context necessary for quality generation.
• Image Generation: Text prompts describing character appearance are sent to our image generation provider for portrait creation. No personal information is included in these prompts.
• Billing: To process payments, manage subscriptions, and track token usage.
• Security: To detect and prevent fraud, abuse, and unauthorized access.
• Communication: To send account-related emails (welcome, subscription confirmation, security alerts). We do not send marketing emails without your consent.
• Improvement: To analyze aggregated, anonymized usage patterns to improve the Service.

3. Legal Basis for Processing

For users in the European Economic Area (EEA), United Kingdom, and other jurisdictions that require a legal basis for processing personal data, we rely on the following grounds under GDPR Article 6:

• Contractual Necessity (Article 6(1)(b)): Processing your account data, content, and payment information is necessary to provide the Service as described in our Terms of Service.
• Consent (Article 6(1)(a)): Where we send marketing communications or set non-essential cookies (such as affiliate tracking), we do so with your consent. You may withdraw consent at any time.
• Legitimate Interest (Article 6(1)(f)): We process certain data for security monitoring, fraud prevention, service improvement (via aggregated analytics), and enforcing our terms. We have assessed these interests against the impact on your rights and freedoms.
• Legal Obligation (Article 6(1)(c)): We retain payment records and certain account data as required by tax, accounting, and other legal requirements.

4. Data Storage & Security

• Your data is stored on secure, industry-standard cloud infrastructure.
• All data is encrypted in transit (TLS/HTTPS) and at rest (AES-256).
• Access to production data is restricted to authorized personnel only.
• Database security rules enforce that users can only read and modify their own data.
• We perform regular security reviews and maintain audit logs for administrative actions.

5. Third-Party Services & Subprocessors

We use third-party services (subprocessors) to operate Genesis Writer. Each service receives only the minimum data necessary for its function:

For GDPR purposes, a detailed list of our current subprocessors (including specific provider names and links to their privacy policies) is available upon request. Contact support@genesiswriter.ai with the subject line “Subprocessor List.”

No-Training Guarantee: Neither Genesis Writer nor our AI providers use your creative writing content to train, fine-tune, or improve AI models when accessed via our paid API integrations. AI providers may temporarily retain prompts (typically up to 30 days) for abuse detection purposes per their terms of service.

6. AI-Generated Content & Image Generation

• Prompts sent to AI providers may include relevant surrounding writing context, character information, and style preferences to improve generation quality.
• We do not send your email address, account details, or payment information to AI providers.
• For character portrait generation, only text prompts describing the character’s appearance are sent to our image generation provider. Generated images are stored securely in your account.
• We do not use your content to train or fine-tune AI models.

7. Cookies & Tracking

For full details, see our Cookie Policy. In summary:

• Essential Cookies: We use cookies for authentication sessions and security. These are required for the Service to function.
• Affiliate Tracking: If you arrive via an affiliate referral link, we set a 90-day cookie to attribute your registration to the referring affiliate. This cookie contains only the affiliate code.
• We do not use third-party advertising trackers or sell your data to advertisers.

8. Your Rights

Depending on your jurisdiction, you may have the following rights:

• Access: Request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
• Correction: Update or correct inaccurate personal information.
• Deletion: Request deletion of your account and associated data. We will process deletion requests within 30 days, subject to legal retention requirements.
• Export / Data Portability: Export your data in JSON format from your Account Settings page.
• Restriction: Request that we limit processing of your data in certain circumstances.
• Objection: Object to processing of your data based on legitimate interests.
• Withdraw Consent: Where processing is based on consent, you may withdraw it at any time without affecting the lawfulness of prior processing.
• Lodge a Complaint: EU/EEA users have the right to lodge a complaint with their local Data Protection Authority.

To exercise any of these rights, contact us at support@genesiswriter.ai. We will respond within 30 days (or 45 days for CCPA requests, with notification of extension if needed).

9. California Privacy Rights (CCPA/CPRA)

If you are a California resident, you have the following additional rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act and California Privacy Rights Act:

• Right to Know: You may request that we disclose the categories and specific pieces of personal information we have collected about you, the sources, the purposes, and the third parties with whom we share it.
• Right to Delete: You may request deletion of your personal information, subject to certain exceptions (e.g., legal obligations, security, completing transactions).
• Right to Opt-Out of Sale/Sharing: Genesis Writer does not sell or share your personal information with third parties for cross-context behavioral advertising. Because we do not engage in these practices, there is no need to opt out.
• Right to Non-Discrimination: We will not discriminate against you for exercising your privacy rights.
• Right to Limit Use of Sensitive Personal Information: We do not use or disclose sensitive personal information for purposes other than providing the Service.

How to Exercise Your Rights: Contact us at support@genesiswriter.ai with the subject line “CCPA Request.” You may also designate an authorized agent to make a request on your behalf. We will verify your identity before processing your request. We will respond within 45 days, with one 45-day extension if needed with notification.

10. US State Privacy Rights

Residents of states with comprehensive privacy laws (including Colorado, Connecticut, Virginia, Oregon, Texas, Montana, Delaware, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Tennessee, Iowa, Indiana, Kentucky, Rhode Island, Minnesota, Maryland, Nebraska, and others) may have similar rights to those described in sections 8 and 9 above. To exercise any state-specific privacy rights, contact us at support@genesiswriter.ai. We honor Global Privacy Control (GPC) signals as a valid opt-out of sale or sharing of personal information where required by applicable law.

11. Children's Privacy

Genesis Writer is not intended for individuals under 18 years of age. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 18. If we discover that a person under 18 has created an account, we will promptly delete the account and all associated data. If you believe someone under 18 is using Genesis Writer, please contact us at support@genesiswriter.ai.

12. International Data Transfers

Your data is processed and stored in the United States. If you are accessing the Service from outside the United States, your data will be transferred to, stored, and processed in the US and potentially other countries where our service providers operate.

For transfers from the EEA, UK, or Switzerland, we rely on Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) as approved by the European Commission, together with supplementary measures where appropriate, to ensure an adequate level of protection for your personal data. Our infrastructure and payment providers maintain their own SCCs and adequacy mechanisms for international transfers.

13. Automated Decision-Making

Genesis Writer uses AI features to assist you with creative writing. These features are tools that you control and do not make automated decisions that produce legal or similarly significant effects on you. Our content moderation systems may use automated processes to detect prohibited content (see our Acceptable Use Policy). If an automated system flags your content or account, you may request human review by contacting support@genesiswriter.ai.

14. Data Retention

• Active account data is retained for as long as your account exists.
• Usage history and audit logs are retained for up to 12 months for dispute resolution and analytics.
• After account deletion, your data is permanently removed within 30 days, except where retention is required by law.
• Payment records may be retained for up to 7 years for tax and accounting compliance.

15. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Material changes will be communicated via email or an in-app notification at least 14 days before taking effect. The “Last Updated” date at the top of this page reflects the most recent revision. We encourage you to review this policy periodically.

16. Contact Information

For privacy-related questions, data requests, or concerns about our data practices, contact us at: support@genesiswriter.ai