Legal

Privacy Policy

Last updated: April 25, 2025

Sparrow ("we", "us", or "our") operates a college-exclusive writing and community platform for verified Indian students. This Privacy Policy explains what personal information we collect, how we use it, and the choices you have.

By using Sparrow, you agree to the collection and use of information as described here.

1. Information we collect

Account information

When you sign up, we collect your name, email address, and password (stored hashed). You may also provide a username, bio, profile photo, college, academic program, and year of study.

College verification

To verify your student status we collect your institutional email address. This is stored privately and is never returned in public API responses or displayed to other users.

Content you create

We store articles, anonymous posts, comments, project listings, placement experiences, events, and any other content you publish on the platform.

Usage data

We collect standard server logs (IP address, browser user-agent, pages visited, referrer) and in-app events via PostHog analytics (read counts, claps, follow actions).

Communications

If you contact us by email, we keep records of that correspondence.

2. How we use your information

To provide and improve the Sparrow service
To verify your college student status
To send transactional emails (email verification, password reset, OTP codes)
To send optional weekly digest and notification emails (you can turn these off in Settings)
To enforce our Terms of Service and Community Guidelines
To detect and prevent abuse, fraud, and spam
To generate aggregated, anonymised analytics about platform usage
To process creator tips via our payment provider (Cashfree)

We do not sell your personal data to third parties.

3. Information sharing

We share data only in these limited cases:

Service providers — Neon (database hosting), Cloudflare R2 (file storage), Upstash (caching), Resend (transactional email), PostHog (analytics), Cashfree (payment processing), and Vercel (hosting). Each provider processes data only as needed to deliver the service.
Legal requirements — If required by law, court order, or to protect the rights and safety of Sparrow, our users, or others.
Business transfers — In the event of a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets, user data may be transferred. We will notify you before your data becomes subject to a different privacy policy.

4. Cookies and tracking

We use session cookies (httpOnly, Secure, SameSite=Lax) to keep you logged in. These are essential for the service and cannot be disabled while using Sparrow.

Our analytics provider (PostHog) may set first-party cookies to count page views and track in-app behaviour anonymously. You can opt out by using your browser's Do Not Track setting.

5. Data retention

We retain your account data for as long as your account is active. If you delete your account, we remove your personal information within 30 days, except where we are required to retain it for legal, tax, or fraud-prevention purposes. Content you published (articles, comments) is anonymised rather than deleted to preserve community context.

6. Security

We use industry-standard practices: TLS encryption in transit, hashed passwords, httpOnly session cookies, CSRF protection, rate limiting, and regular security reviews. No method of transmission or storage is 100% secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

7. Children's privacy

Sparrow is intended for college students (18 years and older). We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 18. If you believe a minor has created an account, please contact us and we will delete it promptly.

8. Your rights

Depending on your jurisdiction, you may have the right to:

Access the personal data we hold about you
Request correction of inaccurate data
Request deletion of your account and associated data
Object to or restrict certain processing activities
Data portability (receive your data in a structured format)

To exercise these rights, email us at . We will respond within 30 days.

9. Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of significant changes by posting a notice on the platform or sending an email to your registered address. Continued use of Sparrow after changes take effect constitutes your acceptance of the revised policy.

10. Contact us

If you have questions or concerns about this Privacy Policy or how we handle your data, please contact Team Sparrow at:

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