Privacy Policy for Structured Obedience

Effective Date: July 29, 2025

1. Introduction

Welcome to Structured Obedience ("we," "us," or "our"). This Privacy Policy describes how https://www.structuredobedience.com collects, uses, stores, and protects your personal information when you use our website, accessible at https://www.structuredobedience.com.

We are committed to respecting and protecting your privacy. As an online service with users worldwide, we comply with applicable data protection laws, including:

**An Act respecting the protection of personal information in the private sector (Loi 25)**, applicable to residents of Quebec, Canada.
The **Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA)**, applicable to residents of Canada.
The **General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)**, for users located in the European Union (EU) or European Economic Area (EEA).
Other relevant international privacy regulations, as applicable.

Given the sensitive nature of the community and the personal information you may choose to share, we emphasize our commitment to your privacy and data security.

2. Contact for Privacy Concerns (Personal Information Protection Officer)

For any questions, concerns, or to exercise your privacy rights regarding your personal information, please contact our designated Personal Information Protection Officer:

Title: Privacy Officer
Email: privacy@structuredobedience.com

This Privacy Officer is responsible for ensuring compliance with applicable privacy laws and addressing all data protection inquiries.

3. What Personal Information Do We Collect?

3.1. Information You Provide Directly:

Account Information: When you register for an account, we collect your:

Username: Used to identify you within the community.
Email Address: For account verification, password resets, and essential service notifications.
Password: Stored in an encrypted format; we never store your actual password.

Profile Information: Any additional information you choose to add to your public or private profile (e.g., gender, preferences, interests), or any self-identifying details you share within your profile or posts. The choice to share this information is entirely yours.
User-Generated Content: Any information, messages, posts, chat communications, comments, tasks, rules, BDSM contracts, or other content you create, upload, share, or transmit through our platform. This content may contain personal or sensitive personal information depending on what you choose to disclose.
Communications with Us: If you contact us via email or support channels, we collect the content of your communication and your contact details to assist you.

3.2. Information Collected Automatically (Strictly Necessary Cookies):

We use **only strictly necessary cookies** that are essential for the operation and security of our website. These cookies are fundamental for providing you with a functional and secure user experience. They do not collect personal information for tracking, analytics, personalization, or advertising.

Session Cookies: These temporary cookies are crucial to identify you as a logged-in user and maintain your session across different pages of the site. They enable core functionalities like accessing private areas, sending messages, and keeping you authenticated without needing to re-enter your login details for every action.
Security Cookies: These cookies may be used to detect fraudulent activity or enhance the security of your logged-in session.

We **do NOT** use cookies or similar technologies for: analytics (e.g., tracking user behavior), marketing, advertising, building user profiles for personalization, or social media integration that sets tracking cookies.

3.3. Identity Verification Data (Future Implementation for Filtering Fakes):

Purpose: In the future, we may implement an **optional** identity verification process. This will be **solely for the purpose of filtering fake accounts and enhancing the integrity, safety, and authenticity of our community.** This data will *not* be used for any other purpose, including marketing or sharing with third parties beyond the verification process itself.
What Data: If implemented, this process may require the collection of sensitive personal information, such as:

A photograph of a government-issued ID (e.g., driver's license, passport).
A "selfie" or live photo for biometric comparison to the ID.

Explicit Consent Required: Should this feature be introduced, you will be provided with a separate, clear, and explicit consent request at the time of verification, detailing exactly what data will be collected, why, and how it will be handled. You will have the choice to proceed with verification or not.
Retention: Identity verification data, if collected, will be stored for **30 days** after successful verification for audit and dispute resolution purposes, then securely deleted, unless a longer retention period is explicitly required by law.

4. How Do We Use Your Personal Information?

We use your personal information solely for the following specific purposes, based on the necessity of providing our service and our legitimate interests in maintaining a safe community:

To Provide and Maintain Our Service: To allow you to create and manage your account, access logged-in features (e.g., messaging, chatrooms, task trackers), and ensure the proper functioning of the website.
Authentication and Security: To verify your identity when you log in, maintain your authenticated session, and protect your account from unauthorized access and fraudulent activity.
Community Facilitation: To enable communication and interaction among members of our community, including the display of your username and profile information to other members as per your privacy settings.
Moderation and Safety: To moderate user-generated content, enforce our Terms of Service, and ensure a safe and respectful environment within the community. This includes using data to filter fake accounts (especially if identity verification is implemented).
Customer Support: To respond to your inquiries, provide technical support, and address any issues you may encounter.
Service Communications: To send you essential service-related notifications (e.g., password reset emails, important updates about the platform, account-related alerts). You cannot opt-out of these essential communications.
Legal Obligations: To comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our agreements.

5. How Do We Share Your Personal Information?

We are committed to **NOT selling, renting, or sharing your personal information with third parties for marketing, advertising, or other commercial purposes.** Your privacy is paramount.

We may share your information only in the following limited and necessary circumstances:

With Your Consent: We will share your information if you provide explicit consent for a specific purpose (e.g., if you choose to use an optional future feature that explicitly requires sharing data with a named third party, and you consent to that specific sharing).
With Other Members (User-Generated Content & Public Profiles): Information you voluntarily post in public areas of the site (e.g., public forums, open chatrooms) or on your public profile will be visible to other members as determined by your privacy settings. Exercise caution when sharing sensitive personal information in public areas.
Service Providers (Data Processors): We may share personal information with third-party service providers who perform services on our behalf (e.g., website hosting, email delivery, security services). These providers, such as **Namescheap, LLC (for shared website hosting services)**, act as our data processors. They are contractually obligated to process your information only on our instructions, protect your information, and comply with applicable privacy laws. We ensure such providers adhere to robust security standards.
Legal Requirements: We may disclose your personal information if required to do so by law, court order, or in response to a valid request by a public authority (e.g., law enforcement agencies, data protection authorities).
Business Transfers: In the event of a merger, acquisition, or sale of all or a portion of our assets, your personal information may be transferred as part of that transaction. We will notify you via email or a prominent notice on our website of any such change in ownership or control of your personal information.

6. International Data Transfers

As an online service, your personal information may be stored and processed in countries outside of your country of residence, including Canada (where our operations are based) and the United States (where our primary hosting servers are located with Namescheap, LLC).

When your personal information is transferred internationally, we implement safeguards to ensure a level of protection at least equivalent to that provided by the laws of Quebec, Canada, and the GDPR. These safeguards include:

Contractual Clauses: Implementing appropriate contractual clauses with our service providers that mandate data protection standards.
Assessment of Legal Frameworks: Conducting due diligence on the legal frameworks of destination jurisdictions (such as the United States) to ensure adequate protection.
Your Consent: By registering and using our service, you consent to the transfer of your personal information to these locations for the purposes outlined in this policy.

7. Data Retention

We retain your personal information only for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes for which it was collected, including for the duration of your active account, and for a reasonable period thereafter as required by law (e.g., for audit, legal, or legitimate business purposes). User-generated content associated with a deleted account may be anonymized or removed depending on the context and our data retention policies.

8. Data Security

We implement industry-standard technical, administrative, and organizational security measures to protect your personal information from unauthorized access, use, disclosure, alteration, or destruction. These measures include:

Encryption of data in transit (SSL/TLS).
Encryption of passwords at rest.
Access controls to limit who can view personal data based on necessity.
Regular security assessments.
Secure server configurations.
Adherence to internal data handling policies.

While we strive to protect your personal information, no method of transmission over the Internet or method of electronic storage is 100% secure. Therefore, we cannot guarantee absolute security.

9. Your Privacy Rights

Depending on your jurisdiction, you may have the following rights regarding your personal information. To exercise any of these rights, please contact our Privacy Officer at [Your Dedicated Privacy Contact Email]. We will respond to your request within the legally required timeframe (e.g., 30 days under Law 25 and GDPR).

Right to Access: You have the right to request a copy of the personal information we hold about you.
Right to Rectification (Correction): You have the right to request that we correct any inaccurate or incomplete personal information we hold about you.
Right to Withdrawal of Consent: For any processing based on your consent (e.g., future identity verification), you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time. This will not affect the lawfulness of processing based on consent before its withdrawal.
Right to Erasure (Right to be Forgotten): You have the right to request the deletion or removal of your personal information, especially if the data is no longer necessary for the purposes for which it was collected. Please note that fulfilling this right for account data will typically result in account deletion.
Right to De-indexing and Cessation of Dissemination (Specific to Quebec - Law 25): Under certain conditions, you may request that we de-index a hyperlink attached to your name that provides access to your personal information, or cease disseminating your personal information, if the dissemination causes you injury or contravenes the law or a court order.
Right to Restriction of Processing: You have the right to request that we restrict the processing of your personal information under certain circumstances.
Right to Data Portability: You have the right to receive your personal information in a structured, commonly used, and machine-readable format and to transmit that data to another controller.
Right to Information about Automated Decision-Making: If we ever use automated decision-making processes (e.g., algorithms making decisions without human intervention) that significantly affect you, you have the right to be informed of this, to know the logic involved, and to challenge the decision. (Currently, we do not employ such automated decision-making processes).
Right to Complain: You have the right to lodge a complaint with the relevant data protection authority in your jurisdiction.

For Quebec Residents: Commission d'accès à l'information du Québec (CAI): https://www.cai.gouv.qc.ca/nous-joindre/
For EU/EEA Residents: The data protection authority in your Member State.
For Canadian Residents (outside Quebec): Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC): https://www.priv.gc.ca/en/contact-the-opc/

10. Age Restriction and Minors' Privacy

Our service is **strictly for individuals who are 18 years of age or older.** Minors (individuals under 18 years of age) are **not permitted to register for an account or use our website.**

By registering for an account or using our services, you explicitly represent and warrant that you are 18 years of age or older. It is a violation of our Terms of Service for any individual under 18 to attempt to access or use our site.

We do not knowingly collect personal information from individuals under 18. If we become aware that a minor has provided us with personal information or created an account, we will take immediate steps to:

Terminate their account.
Remove their personal information from our servers.
Take any other necessary action to ensure compliance and maintain the integrity of our community.

If you believe a minor (under 18) has provided us with personal information or is using our service, please contact us immediately at privacy@structuredobedience.com so we can investigate and take appropriate action.

11. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices or for legal or regulatory reasons. We will notify you of any significant changes by posting the new Privacy Policy on this page and updating the "Effective Date" at the top. We encourage you to review this Privacy Policy periodically.

12. Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or our privacy practices, please contact our Privacy Officer at: privacy@structuredobedience.com.