Shimerith

1. Introduction

Shimerith ("we", "us", "our") operates the Shimerith platform at shimerith.com. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and safeguard your information when you use our service.

2. Information We Collect

We collect the following types of information:

Account Information: Email address, display name, country, and role preference when you register.
Profile Information: Bio, avatar, favorite genres, feedback style, and other optional profile data you choose to provide.
Manuscript Content: Chapters, titles, descriptions, and other content you upload to the platform.
Feedback Data: Ratings, comments, inline annotations, and reading progress generated through beta-reading activities.
Payment Information: Billing details processed securely through Stripe. We do not store your full credit card number.
Usage Data: Pages visited, features used, and interactions with the platform.

3. How We Use Your Information

To provide and maintain our service, including account management and beta-reading features.
To process payments and manage subscriptions.
To facilitate AI-powered manuscript analysis (see Section 5).
To match readers with authors based on genre preferences.
To send notifications about reading assignments, feedback, and account activity.
To improve our service and develop new features.

4. Third-Party Services

We use trusted third-party services to operate the platform:

Payment processing: Handled by Stripe. We never store your card details. Stripe handles all payment data under their own privacy policy.
AI analysis: When you request an AI review, your chapter text is sent to the AI provider you selected (see Section 5 for details).
Hosting and infrastructure: Your data is stored securely with industry-standard encryption at rest and in transit.

5. AI Processing

When you use our AI analysis features, your chapter text is sent to third-party AI providers (Anthropic and/or OpenAI) for processing.

Text is sent only when you explicitly request an AI review.
AI providers process your text to generate feedback and analysis. They do not store your content for training purposes.
If you use your own API key (BYOK), data is sent directly through your account with the respective provider.
AI-generated reviews are stored on our platform for your access.

6. Cookies

We use essential cookies only for authentication and session management. We do not use advertising or tracking cookies. These cookies are necessary for the platform to function and cannot be disabled.

7. Data Retention

We retain your data for as long as your account is active. When you delete your account, all associated data, including your profile, manuscripts, chapters, reading assignments, and feedback, is permanently deleted from our systems. Backups may retain data for up to 30 days after deletion.

8. Your Rights

You have the right to:

Access: Request a copy of your personal data.
Correction: Update or correct your personal information through your Settings page.
Deletion: Delete your account and all associated data at any time from Settings.
Data Portability: Request an export of your data in a machine-readable format.

9. Data Security

We implement appropriate technical and organizational measures to protect your data, including encryption in transit (TLS), encrypted storage for sensitive data like API keys, and secure authentication practices. However, no method of electronic transmission or storage is 100% secure.

10. Children's Privacy

Shimerith is not intended for users under 13 years of age. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 13. If we become aware of such collection, we will delete the data immediately. Users between 13 and 17 must have parental or guardian permission to use the service and cannot access mature or explicit content.

11. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of any material changes by updating the "Last updated" date at the top of this page and, where appropriate, through email or in-app notification.

12. Contact Us

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or wish to exercise your data rights, please contact us through our feedback page.