Privacy Policy

3.1 Account Information (Required for Service)

When you create an account, we collect:

• • Email address (for login and communication)
• • Password (stored as an encrypted hash using bcrypt)
• • Birth date, time, and location (latitude, longitude, timezone) for natal chart calculations
• • Subscription status (free or premium tier)

Legal Basis: Processing is necessary to perform our contract with you (Article 6(1)(b) UK GDPR).

3.2 Assessment Responses (Optional - Special Category Data)

When you choose to complete psychological assessments, we collect your responses to:

• • Personality assessments (Big Five, Enneagram-inspired types)
• • Health and wellbeing questions (physical health, emotional wellbeing, sleep, activity)
• • Spiritual wellbeing questions (meaning, peace, faith)
• • Other psychological frameworks (attachment patterns, values, identity, decision-making)

Legal Basis: We process this data only with your explicit consent (Article 6(1)(a) + Article 9(2)(a) UK GDPR). Consent is:

• • Freely given (you can use the Service without completing assessments)
• • Specific (requested separately for each assessment category)
• • Informed (we explain what data we collect and how we use it)
• • Unambiguous (requires an active opt-in)

You can withdraw consent at any time from your account settings.

3.3 Usage and Technical Data

We automatically collect:

• • Access logs (IP address, browser type, device type, pages visited)
• • Usage analytics (features used, time spent, interactions)
• • Cookies and similar technologies (with your consent for non-essential cookies)

Legal Basis: Legitimate interests (Article 6(1)(f)) for essential analytics to improve the Service, or consent for non-essential analytics and marketing cookies.

3.4 Payment Information

For premium subscriptions, we collect:

• • Stripe customer ID (linked to your email)
• • Subscription status and history

Legal Basis: Processing is necessary to perform our contract with you (Article 6(1)(b)).

4.1 Core Service Delivery

We use your data to:

• • Generate your sidereal natal chart using your birth details
• • Calculate and display assessment scores from your questionnaire responses
• • Show current astrological transits relative to your natal chart
• • Create visualizations (charts, graphs, radars) of your data
• • Track changes over time in your assessment scores (longitudinal data)
• • Enable data export so you can download your information

4.2 Communication

With your consent, we may send you:

• • Service updates (essential account and security notifications)
• • Product updates (new features, improvements)
• • Marketing emails (optional, you can unsubscribe anytime)

You can manage your email preferences in your account settings.

4.3 Service Improvement

We use anonymized, aggregated data to:

• • Improve our algorithms and calculations
• • Understand how features are used
• • Fix bugs and optimize performance
• • Develop new features based on usage patterns

When data is fully anonymized (no reasonable way to re-identify you), it is no longer personal data under GDPR and we may retain it indefinitely for statistical analysis.

6.1 We Do NOT:

• ❌ Sell your data to anyone
• ❌ Share your personal information with advertisers
• ❌ Use your data for profiling beyond what you see in your dashboard
• ❌ Share your assessment responses with third parties

6.2 We DO Share Data With:

Only with trusted service providers who help us deliver the Service:

Technical Measures:

• ✅ TLS 1.3 encryption for all data in transit (HTTPS)
• ✅ AES-256 encryption for data at rest (database level)
• ✅ Bcrypt password hashing (never stored in plain text)
• ✅ Secure session management
• ✅ Regular security patches and updates
• ✅ Access controls and authentication
• ✅ Secure API communications

Organizational Measures:

• ✅ Minimal access principle (only authorized personnel)
• ✅ Regular security audits and monitoring
• ✅ Incident response procedures
• ✅ Staff training on data protection
• ✅ Regular backups with 30-day retention

11.1 Granular Consent

We ask for your explicit consent separately for each category of special category data:

11.2 Freely Given

Consent is freely given because:

• ✅ You can use core features (natal chart, guest charts, monthly transits) without completing any assessments
• ✅ Premium features are optional
• ✅ No consequences for refusing consent (other than reduced functionality)
• ✅ You can withdraw consent at any time

11.3 Informed

Before each assessment, we clearly explain:

• • What data we're collecting
• • Why we need it (to calculate and display scores)
• • How long we'll keep it
• • That it's special category data
• • Your right to withdraw consent

11.4 Withdrawal Process

1. 1. Go to Settings → Privacy → Manage Consent
2. 2. Toggle off any assessment category
3. 3. Choose to either:
   • • Delete data (permanent removal)
   • • Freeze data (kept but not processed)
4. 4. Confirm your choice

Withdrawal takes effect immediately. You can re-consent later if you change your mind (frozen data can be reactivated; deleted data cannot).

12.1 Essential Cookies (No Consent Required)

These cookies are necessary for the Service to function:

• • Session cookies: Keep you logged in
• • Security cookies: Prevent CSRF attacks
• • Preference cookies: Remember your settings (e.g., dark mode)

12.2 Analytics Cookies (Consent Required)

With your consent, we use:

• • Google Analytics 4: Understand how the Service is used
• • Anonymized IP addresses: Privacy-friendly analytics

12.3 Marketing Cookies (Consent Required)

Currently, we do not use marketing or advertising cookies. If we add them in the future, we will ask for your consent.

12.4 Cookie Management

You can manage your cookie preferences:

• • On first visit: Cookie consent banner with "Accept" / "Reject" options
• • Anytime: Settings → Privacy → Cookie Preferences
• • Browser settings: Most browsers allow you to block cookies

Rejecting non-essential cookies will not affect core functionality.

17.1 US Residents

While we are a UK-based company and primarily governed by UK GDPR, we recognize that some US states have consumer privacy laws (e.g., CCPA/CPRA in California).

If you are a US resident, you have similar rights to those described above. Contact us at privacy@siderealchart.com to exercise any rights under your state's privacy laws.

17.2 EU Residents

If you are accessing our Service from the EU, you are protected by EU GDPR, which provides substantially similar protections to UK GDPR. All rights and processes described in this policy apply equally to EU residents.