Privacy Policy

1. Information we collect

• Account information: email address, password, and sign-in method. Passwords are stored encrypted and cannot be viewed by our staff.
• Social sign-in information: when you sign in with a Google or Kakao account, we receive the items shown on that provider’s consent screen (account identifier, email address, name or nickname, and profile picture address) and use them to verify your identity and sign you in. We do not use them to fill in your K-LIFE profile automatically.
• Profile information: ID (handle), display name, bio, and profile photo. Instagram and Facebook addresses may also be registered for authors.
• Activity records: authors you follow, stories you write or submit, comments and reports you submit, how many times you use the AI writing assistance features, and the time of your last sign-in and visit.
• Automatically generated information: while handling requests, your IP address, browser and device information, and access time may be recorded in the server logs of our hosting and authentication providers. We check your country to choose the language of the first screen, but we do not store it.
• Staff accounts: staff who use the management screens also have two-step verification (authenticator app) enrollment data stored.

The Service does not collect phone numbers, dates of birth, gender, legal names, or payment information.

2. How we collect it

Member accounts are created through an email invitation from our staff or by signing in with Google or Kakao. Invitation records keep only a partly masked form and a hash of the email address, not the address itself. Profile information is entered by the member, and activity records are created as you use the Service.

3. How we use it

• Identifying members and keeping them signed in
• Showing profiles and author pages, and providing the follow feature
• Writing, reviewing, and publishing stories, and crediting their authors
• Preventing abuse, protecting accounts, and recording moderation actions for the safety of the Service
• Answering inquiries and requests to exercise your rights

The Service does not sell members’ personal information and does not use it beyond these purposes and the scope described in this policy.

4. Information that is public

For authors with published stories, the ID, display name, bio, profile photo, and any Instagram or Facebook address set to be shown appear on the author page and on articles. Profile photo files are served from an address anyone can open.

Comments approved for display are public together with the author’s ID and the time they were written.

Your email address and the list of authors you follow are not shown to other users. Email addresses can be viewed only by staff with account management permission.

5. Cookies and browser storage

• Sign-in cookies: keep you signed in. They are removed when you sign out and otherwise last for up to 400 days. Starting a social sign-in also creates a temporary verification cookie, and requesting a password reset creates a cookie (one hour) that remembers which screen to return to. None of these are created unless you try to sign in or reset your password.
• Language cookie (klife_language): remembers the language you chose and lasts for one year.
• Visitor statistics cookies (Google Analytics): we use Google Analytics 4 to measure which stories are read and how much, where visitors come from, and which devices and countries they use. Google processes cookies that distinguish visitors (such as _ga, up to two years) and an approximate location derived from your IP address; the IP address itself is not stored. Only our staff see these statistics, and they are not used to personalize advertising. If you connect from the EEA, the United Kingdom or Switzerland, the analytics script is not loaded until a consent process is in place. You can block collection with the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on (tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout).
• Browser storage: your recently read stories, used for “continue reading”, and a temporary note (10 minutes) used to finish a follow after you sign in are stored only on your device and are not sent to our servers.

You can refuse or delete cookies in your browser settings. Refusing sign-in cookies makes features that require signing in unavailable; refusing visitor statistics cookies does not affect your use of the Service.

6. Advertising and external content

• Google advertising: the Service may show Google AdSense ads. When ads are shown, Google and its partners may use cookies to serve ads and measure their performance. You can turn off personalized ads in Google Ads Settings (adssettings.google.com).
• YouTube: videos embedded in articles are loaded in YouTube’s privacy-enhanced mode (youtube-nocookie.com). Video preview images on the home screen are loaded directly from YouTube’s servers, so your IP address may be sent to Google in the process.
• External links: sites you reach through links in articles and author bios are governed by their own privacy policies.

7. Service providers and international transfer

The Service relies on the following providers to operate.

• Supabase, Inc.: member authentication, database, file storage, and sending invitation and password reset emails. Data is stored in the Seoul region.
• Vercel Inc.: web hosting, request handling, and server logs.
• Google LLC and Kakao Corp.: identity verification when you choose to sign in with that account.
• Google LLC (Google Analytics): aggregating visitor statistics. It processes the cookies and access information described in section 5.
• AI service providers (Google, Anthropic, OpenAI): the content of a story (title, summary, body including tables, image alt text and captions, hashtags, and advertising or sponsorship notices) may be sent to assist with translation and summaries. Account information such as your email address or ID is not sent.

These providers are headquartered outside Korea, including in the United States, and information may be processed abroad as they provide their services.

8. Retention and deletion

• Account and profile information is kept while you have an account and is deleted without delay once we confirm a deletion request. Information that the law requires us to keep is stored separately for the required period.
• The author name and bio shown on published stories remain in the publication record and are handled together when you request deletion.
• Records of moderation actions (such as member suspension and permission changes) are kept for the safety of the Service and for handling disputes.
• Server logs are deleted after a period set by each provider’s retention policy.

9. Your rights

You may request access to, correction of, deletion of, or a stop to the processing of your personal information.

• You can edit your display name and bio yourself on the profile screen in the studio, and you can remove your bio and profile photo there.
• To delete your account or make any other request, email the contact below. We will act on it after verifying your identity.
• You can disconnect your Google or Kakao account from K-LIFE in that account’s settings.

10. Children

The Service does not offer membership to children under 14 and does not knowingly collect their personal information. If we learn that information from a child under 14 has been collected, we will delete it without delay.

11. Security measures

• Encrypted transmission (HTTPS) between your browser and the Service
• Encrypted storage of passwords
• Database access controls that limit access to you and authorized staff
• Two-step verification for staff accounts and records of moderation actions

12. Changes to this policy

If we change this policy, we will post the changes and the effective date on this page.

13. Contact

Operator

K-LIFE

Privacy inquiries

mangotree@mangonw.com