# HoundLine Privacy Policy

Effective September 24, 2026. Alpha policy edition.

1. Scope and our central promise. This policy covers HoundLine websites, accounts, scanning, research, and support. HoundLine commercializes access to dog information and its compiled research, not identifiable personal, account, contact, or support information. We do not sell personal information or share it for cross-context behavioral advertising.

2. Information we collect. We collect account and contact details; private pedigrees, saved dogs, searches, uploads, and source documents; dog facts, provenance, scanner output, corrections, and public research contributions; support and rights requests; and device, access, performance, analytics, fraud, and security information. The Data Use matrix explains visibility, purpose, testing, commercialization, retention, and choices for each category.

3. How we use information. We operate accounts and features; scan and match records; build and correct dog research; measure quality; provide support; send transactional messages; prevent abuse; secure the service; comply with law; and create de-identified or aggregate insights. We do not use a general permission statement to override the specific boundaries in this policy.

4. Scanner, AI, and testing uses. HoundLine may use Google Cloud Document AI and OpenAI services to process eligible documents or extracted text, and may use source material internally to evaluate scanner accuracy and improve HoundLine. Access is limited to operational needs. This does not authorize public posting of original private documents or unrelated external model training by HoundLine.

5. Service providers. HoundLine uses providers acting on its behalf, including Supabase for database, authentication, and storage; Vercel for hosting, performance, and analytics; Resend for transactional email; Google Cloud for document processing; and OpenAI for eligible extraction and quality workflows. Providers receive only information reasonably needed for their function and operate under their own security and legal obligations.

6. When information may be disclosed. We may disclose information to those providers; when you direct a feature to publish or share it; to investigate abuse, security, or rights complaints; in a business transaction subject to appropriate safeguards; or when law validly requires it. Dog facts may be included in free or paid HoundLine research as described in the Terms.

7. Retention and deletion. Account data and private workspace material are deleted through the account-deletion process. Accepted source evidence, scanner output, corrections, and public dog research may remain privately or publicly as appropriate even after account deletion. Typical periods include 20 minutes for individual unaccepted uploads, 24 hours for unaccepted batches, two years after closure for ordinary support records, 90 days for ordinary logs, up to one year for incident logs, seven years for administrative audits and deletion/export receipts, and 35 days for encrypted backup rotation. Legal obligations, disputes, security, and documented research provenance may require longer retention.

8. Your choices and rights. Account tools allow access, correction, export, and deletion of much of your information. You may also request access, correction, deletion, restriction, or review through the legal-request form. We may need to verify identity and may deny or limit a request where law permits. Where applicable law provides an opt-out of selling or sharing personal information, HoundLine's current practice is already to do neither. We treat a recognized Global Privacy Control signal as an opt-out request if a covered practice is ever introduced. We do not discriminate for exercising applicable privacy rights.

9. Cookies and analytics. HoundLine uses essential storage and cookies for authentication, security, and requested features. Vercel Analytics and Speed Insights provide site-level usage and performance measurement. HoundLine does not use third-party behavioral advertising pixels in the alpha service.

10. Security and international processing. We use access controls, private storage, logging, and limited administrative permissions designed to protect information. No system is perfectly secure. HoundLine and its providers may process information in the United States and other locations where they operate.

11. Age limit. HoundLine is for adults age 18 or older. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. Submit a privacy request if you believe a minor provided personal information.

12. Updates and contact. Policy changes receive a new version and effective date. Material changes require renewed agreement before continued ordinary use. Submit questions and privacy requests through the public request form.


Document SHA-256: 4cafcab987693d975f0c0efce9b7ba481bc84336730cf4a67cdfc22dba8b205c
Effective: 2026-09-24T00:00:00+00:00