Privacy Policy

1.Summary

• We collect what we need to run a writing and citation platform: your account, your profile, your writing, and basic technical information.
• Your writing is yours. We use it only to provide the Platform to you and to the people you share it with, such as the teacher of a class you join.
• We do not sell your information, show advertising, or use your content to train artificial intelligence models.
• Accounts you connect are used only for the actions you ask for, and you can disconnect them at any time.
• You can access, correct, export and delete your information.

2.Who we are

The Alekhni editor (the “Platform”) is operated by Alekhni Technologies Private Limited (“Alekhni”, “we”, “us” or “our”), a company incorporated in India. We decide how and why your personal information is processed, and we are responsible for it.

This policy applies to the Alekhni website at www.alekhni.com, the editor, dashboards, class and teacher tools, and every other service we offer under the Alekhni name. It should be read with our Terms & Conditions. The Alekhni ZoExt browser extension has its own privacy policy.

3.Information we collect

We do not ask for payment details, government identifiers, health information or precise location. Please do not put sensitive personal information in documents unless your work requires it.

4.How we use information

We use personal information only to:

• create and manage your account, verify your email address and keep you signed in;
• obtain and record parental or guardian consent for student accounts;
• save, sync, version, format, cite, export and restore your documents;
• run classes, including showing class work, writing history and citation activity to the class teacher, and delivering comments and suggestions;
• carry out the actions you ask for with services you connect;
• respond to your messages and provide support;
• send service messages about your account, security or material changes to our terms, which you cannot opt out of while you hold an account;
• protect the Platform and its users, prevent abuse, and investigate breaches of our Terms;
• find and fix errors and keep the Platform working reliably;
• comply with the law and respond to lawful requests.

We process information because it is necessary to provide the service you have asked for, because you or your parent or guardian have given consent, because we must meet a legal obligation, or, where the law permits, for our legitimate interest in running a secure and reliable platform. Where we rely on consent, you can withdraw it at any time.

5.Accounts and services you connect

You can choose to sign in with a third-party account, and to connect a reference manager or a cloud storage service. Each connection asks for your permission on the provider's own screen, and requests only the access the feature needs.

• Signing in with a third-party account. We receive your name, email address, profile picture and an account identifier, and use them only to create your account, sign you in and show who is signed in. We do not receive your password for that account.
• Cloud storage. When you connect Google Drive, OneDrive or Dropbox, the Platform can open the files you pick and save the documents you choose to export. For Google Drive, access is limited to files you select in the file picker and files the Platform creates; the rest of your Drive is not visible to us. Files move directly between your browser and the provider. The access token is kept only in your browser tab and is discarded when the tab closes; it is never stored on our servers.
• Reference managers. When you connect Zotero, the Platform reads your library to let you cite sources and, when you ask, adds or edits items in it. Your Zotero user ID and access key are stored in your browser, not in our database. A short-lived record of the sign-in request is held on our server only while you complete the connection.

Information received from these services is used only to provide the features you asked for. We do not use it for advertising, we do not sell it, we do not use it to train artificial intelligence or machine learning models, and we do not transfer it to others except as needed to provide those features, to comply with the law, or as part of a merger or acquisition. Our staff do not read it unless you ask us to for support, it is needed for security, or the law requires it.

Alekhni's use and transfer to any other app of information received from Google APIs will adhere to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements.

You can disconnect a service at any time from the Platform, and you can also remove the Platform's access from the security or connected-apps settings of your account with that provider.

6.Who can see your work

• Documents in My Documents are private to you unless you share them.
• When you join a class or put a document in a class, the teacher of that class can see the document, its drafts, saved versions, writing history, sources, citation activity and submission status, and can comment on it and suggest edits.
• Teachers can see the names of students in their classes.
• A teacher's own writing is private to that teacher.
• Anything you export or save to another service is then controlled by you and that service.

7.Who we share information with

We share personal information only with the following, and only as far as each needs it. Service providers act on our instructions and may not use your information for their own purposes.

• Hosting and database providers. Our application host and our database, authentication and file storage provider store and process account details, content and technical information on our behalf so that the Platform can run.
• Email delivery provider. Receives the email address and the content of messages we send, such as account verification, password reset and parental consent emails.
• Citation metadata services. Services such as Crossref and doi.org receive an identifier, such as a DOI, when you look up a source, so they can return its details. Only the identifier is sent.
• Web font provider. Serves the typefaces the Platform displays. Like any web request, this reveals your IP address and browser to that provider.
• Services you connect. Receive what is needed to carry out the action you ask for, such as a document you save to your cloud storage or a source you add to your reference library.
• Teachers of classes you join. See your class work as described in the section on who can see your work.
• Legal and safety. Authorities, courts or others where the law requires it, or where it is necessary to protect the rights, safety or security of our users, the public or the Platform.
• A successor business. If Alekhni Technologies Private Limited is involved in a merger, acquisition or sale of assets, information may transfer to the successor, which must continue to protect it as this policy describes.

8.What we do not do

• We do not sell or rent personal information or content.
• We do not show advertising, and we do not use your information for advertising or to build advertising profiles.
• We do not use your content, or information from services you connect, to train artificial intelligence or machine learning models.
• We do not use your information to assess creditworthiness or for lending.
• We do not use third-party analytics, advertising or tracking cookies.

9.Cookies and browser storage

We use only the cookies needed to keep you signed in securely. The Platform also stores your editor preferences, document drafts and connected-service settings in your browser's local and session storage, so that your work is not lost and the editor opens the way you left it. You can clear this data from your browser settings; doing so signs you out and removes anything not yet saved to your account.

10.Students and children

Student accounts are intended for use with the consent and supervision of a parent or guardian. Before a student account can be used for writing or class work, we email the parent or guardian address provided and ask them to confirm consent. We use a child's information only to provide the Platform, never for advertising, profiling or behavioural monitoring beyond the class features described in this policy.

A parent or guardian can ask to review, correct or delete their child's information, or withdraw consent, by writing to write@alekhni.com. If we learn that we hold a child's information without the required consent, we will delete it.

11.Retention and deletion

• We keep your account information and content for as long as your account is open.
• Deleted documents may be kept for a short period so they can be recovered, and are then removed.
• When you ask us to delete your account, we delete your account, profile and content within 30 days. Copies in backups are removed as those backups expire.
• Technical and security logs are kept for a limited period and then deleted.
• We may keep limited information for longer where the law requires it, or where it is needed to resolve a dispute or enforce our Terms.
• Work already submitted to a class may remain visible to that class's teacher, and copies a teacher exported are held by the teacher.

12.Your rights and choices

Depending on where you live, you may have the right to:

• access the personal information we hold about you and receive a copy of it;
• correct information that is inaccurate or incomplete;
• delete your account and personal information;
• withdraw consent you have given, including parental consent;
• object to or restrict certain processing;
• nominate another person to exercise your rights if you die or become unable to do so;
• complain to a data protection authority.

You can export your documents and disconnect services from within the Platform. For anything else, write to write@alekhni.com from the email address on your account. We may need to verify your identity, and we will respond within the time required by applicable law.

13.Security

All traffic to and from the Platform is encrypted with HTTPS. Passwords are stored only as secure hashes. Access to documents and class data is enforced by access rules in our database, so each account can reach only what it is permitted to see. Access keys for connected services are kept in your browser rather than on our servers. No system is perfectly secure; if a breach affects your personal information, we will notify you and the relevant authorities as the law requires.

14.Where information is processed

Our service providers may store and process information on servers outside your country, including outside India. Where we transfer personal information across borders, we do so as permitted by applicable law and with safeguards that protect it as this policy describes.

15.Changes to this policy

We may update this policy when the Platform or the law changes. The current version is always published on this page with the date it was last updated. If a change materially affects how we use your information, we will tell you by email or within the Platform before it takes effect and, where required, ask for your consent again.

16.Contact and grievances

For questions about this policy or your information, or to exercise your rights, contact our Grievance Officer at Alekhni Technologies Private Limited by writing to write@alekhni.com, or through the contact page. We will acknowledge your message and work to resolve it within the timelines required by applicable law.