Privacy Policy & Architecture

You are not required to create an account, submit an email address, or link a third-party social profile (Google/Apple) to explore news and cast votes on TownSphere.

When you launch TownSphere, an anonymous device installation token is generated locally. This token is mathematically hashed on our secure servers using HMAC-SHA256 with a private secret salt to derive a pseudonymous voter_id. This derivation is strictly one-way: our backend cannot reverse-engineer your device identity or IP address from your ballot.

Unlike traditional social media comment sections, TownSphere enforces a strict cryptographic firewall between user accounts and ballot tables:

• Isolated Tables: Account credentials and voter demographics live in isolated data stores completely decoupled from the votes table.
• No Foreign Keys: There is zero foreign key linkage between a voter's credentials and their voting records.
• Session Security: Ephemeral session tokens authenticate eligibility without revealing personal identity.

Demographic information (age bracket, occupation sector, education level, country/state) is 100% voluntary. You can skip demographics during onboarding or clear your demographic profile at any time in Settings.

Demographic sentiment distributions are displayed only in broad population aggregates, ensuring individual opinions can never be isolated or traced back to a specific person.

Information We Process:

• Pseudonymous voter identifiers (HMAC hash output).
• Voluntary demographic attributes (if submitted).
• Anonymous ballot submissions & aggregate topic metrics.
• Optional email address (only if you choose to submit in-app feedback).

SEO & Web Analytics Transparency:

• Google Search Console Verification: A static HTML tag is used solely to verify site ownership for web search indexing. It runs 0 JavaScript and collects 0 user data.
• Aggregated Web Traffic: If web traffic analytics are enabled on the public web domain, they measure broad visitor counts and bounce rates in aggregate without tracking individual voting actions.

Information We NEVER Collect:

• ❌ Precise GPS coordinates or physical location tracking.
• ❌ Phone numbers, contacts, address books, or biometric markers.
• ❌ Microphone, camera, or photo library access.

Current State: TownSphere currently does not run third-party behavioral advertising networks or sell personal data to advertisers.

Future Evolution: In future versions, TownSphere may introduce privacy-respecting advertising, contextual sponsorships, or partner civic polls. Any future advertising will strictly adhere to our data minimization ethos: advertisers will never receive individual voting records, personal contact info, or demographic profiles linked to specific identities. Any updates will be reflected in this policy with clear transparency.

We comply with international privacy frameworks, including the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA/CPRA), and India's Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act 2023:

• Right to Erasure / Data Purge: You can purge your demographic profile directly in Settings or submit a permanent account deletion request via POST /api/v1/accounts/delete.
• Right to Withdraw Consent: You may clear demographic preferences or reset your anonymous session anytime.
• No Sale of Personal Data: TownSphere does not sell, rent, or broker your personal information.

All network communication is strictly encrypted via TLS 1.3 (HTTPS). API endpoints are protected with DDoS rate-limiting, CORS origin isolation, and server-side signature validation to prevent tampering and ballot sybil attacks.

For any privacy questions, data requests, or feedback, please contact us at:

Email: townsphere.org@gmail.com