Introduction

Remarkbox aims to protect your privacy when using our online services. This policy discloses how we process and protect your personal data. This Privacy Policy may be updated or revised. To stay updated visit our website.

Why does Remarkbox collect personal data?

Remarkbox collects and stores personal data in order to offer a functional comment service and user experience.

What type of personal data does Remarkbox collect?

Remarkbox aims to collect the least amount of data possible while still providing value to both our Commenters (Users) and Customers (Namespace Owners).

As such this privacy policy is split between two types of entities: Commenter and Customer. What we collect is determined by the type of interaction you have with Remarkbox.

Commenter: Data Collection

Remarkbox may collect the following information from a User ("Commenter"):

• Email address: this is used to verify and activate your account by sending one-time-password (OTP) codes. Additionally you may opt-in to email notifications of new remarks.
• IP address: your public IP address is stored in our audit and monitoring systems. We use your IP address to protect and throttle our service against abuse like spam or denial-of-service. IP addresses are also used in spam scoring to detect patterns of abusive behavior. Access to your IP address is limited to Remarkbox operations and moderation.
• Comment content: the text of your comments is stored and displayed publicly. Comment content may be analyzed by automated systems for spam detection (see "Automated Content Moderation" below).

Customer: Data Collection

Remarkbox may collect the following information from a Namespace Owner ("Customer"):

• Email address: this is used to verify and activate your account by sending one-time-password (OTP) codes. Additionally you may opt-in to email notifications of new remarks. We also use this email address to provide white glove support and billing correspondence, for example invoices or payment receipts.
• IP address: your public IP address is stored in our logging system as part of our audit and monitoring systems. Additionally we use your IP address to throttle and protect our service against abuse like denial-of-service or spam.
• Stripe Id: Remarkbox securely stores your payment preferences (credit or debit card) with a 3rd party, PCI compliant payment processor (Stripe). Remarkbox stores a unique Stripe Id on your behalf. This allows you to modify your payment preferences with our self service dashboards.

API Access

Remarkbox provides a JSON API for programmatic access to the service. API requests are subject to rate limiting. Session cookies are used to authenticate API requests in the same manner as browser sessions. API usage is logged and subject to the same data collection policies described above.

Automated Content Moderation

Remarkbox uses automated systems to detect and manage spam content. This includes:

• Content scoring: comments are analyzed for spam signals such as link density, known spam patterns, duplicate content, posting velocity, and content length anomalies. A numerical spam score is stored alongside the comment.
• Machine learning relevance checking: when enabled by the namespace owner, comment content may be sent to a third-party machine learning inference service (currently Hermes, hosted at hermes.ai.unturf.com, operated by UncloseAI) to determine whether the comment is relevant to the discussion. The system receives the comment text, the thread context, and the namespace or page URL. The system's assessment (relevant or irrelevant) and a brief explanation are stored alongside the comment.
• Namespace owner control: namespace owners may disable machine learning-based spam filtering for their namespace at any time via namespace settings. Basic spam scoring based on content patterns still applies when machine learning filtering is disabled.

Comments flagged by the automated moderation system may be held for manual review by namespace moderators. Spam scores and machine learning explanations are visible to namespace moderators to assist with moderation decisions.

Marketing: Data Collection

Remarkbox sometimes uses Google Analytics on our marketing and landing pages.

Cookies

Remarkbox stores signed cookies in your web browser, on your computer, to keep your session logged into the service. These cookies will reside under one of our domains or subdomains, or our affiliate domains.

Most web browsers give you control to clear your cookies at any time.

Log Files

The Remarkbox websites and services use log files. Information stored includes IP addresses, browser and operating system information, ISPs (Internet Service Providers), pages visited, referring pages, and timestamps. This information is used to analyze trends, administer, protect and secure the Services, track visitor movement in the aggregate, and gather broad demographic information for aggregate use. IP addresses, etc. may be linked to session, account, or user identifiers.

Who do we share your personal data with?

We never share your personal data with anyone without your explicit consent.

Based on the consent you've given, we may permit the following companies to use your personal data for processing, but only for the purposes you have given consent:

• Remarkbox - For website comments and/or "frequently asked pages"
• Stripe - For payment processing and subscription management
• Google Analytics - For website analytics
• UncloseAI (Hermes) - For machine learning-based content relevance checking, when enabled by the namespace owner. Comment text and thread context are sent for analysis. No personal identifiers (email, IP) are sent to this service.

What kinds of automated decision-making or profiling do we perform with your data?

Remarkbox uses automated spam detection to score and flag comments that may be spam. Comments above a certain spam score may be automatically held for moderator review or rejected. Namespace owners and moderators can override these automated decisions by approving or removing flagged content. See "Automated Content Moderation" above for details.

Some of our processors (such as Google or Stripe) may also employ automated decision-making or profiling with the data they receive from us.

How long do we keep your personal data?

We retain personal data as long as it is necessary to provide the Services to you and others, subject to any legal obligations to further retain such information. Information associated with your account will generally be kept until it is no longer necessary to provide the Services or until you ask us to delete it.

When you ask for us to delete your personal data, it may take up to 30 days to fully delete that data from our systems.

Additionally, we may retain information from deleted accounts to comply with the law, prevent fraud, collect fees, resolve disputes, troubleshoot problems, assist with investigations, enforce the Terms of Service, and take other actions permitted by law. The information we retain will be handled in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

Information about you that is no longer necessary and relevant to provide our Services may be de-identified and aggregated with other non-personal data to provide insights which are commercially valuable to Remarkbox, such as statistics of the use of the Services.

What options do you have for managing your personal data with us?

All users can manage their personal data through Remarkbox's self-service tools:

• Data export: you can download your personal data at any time from your user settings page.
• Account deletion: you can permanently delete your account and associated data from your user settings page.

If you are a natural person of the European Union, you additionally have the right to request from Remarkbox:

• Access to the personal data Remarkbox has collected from you
• Rectification of the personal data Remarkbox has collected from you
• Erasure of personal data Remarkbox has collected from you ("right to be forgotten")
• Restriction to processing of the personal data Remarkbox has collected from you
• Objection to processing of the personal data Remarkbox has collected from you
• An extract of your personal data for the purposes of data portability
• The withdrawal of your consent to Remarkbox's collection of your personal data

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us with your request.

In addition to these options, you also have the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority, as outlined in the GDPR.

Where is my personal data processed?

The Services are operated in the United States. If you are located outside of the United States and choose to use the Services or provide information to us, you acknowledge and understand that your information will be transferred, processed, and stored in the United States, as it is necessary to provide the Services and perform the Terms of Service. United States laws may not be as protective as those in your jurisdiction.

When machine learning-based content moderation is enabled, comment text and thread context may be processed by the Hermes machine learning inference service, which is also operated in the United States.

Privacy Policy Updates and Revisions

Remarkbox reserves the right to modify this Privacy Policy at any time. Please review it occasionally. If Remarkbox makes material changes, we will provide a prominent notice. If you object to any of the changes to this Privacy Policy, you should stop using the Services and request for Remarkbox to delete your account and to remove any personal data.