1. Introduction

Sovereign Intelligence Systems, LLC, doing business as Articlefoundry ("we," "our," or "us"), operates the Articlefoundry platform, an AI-powered content generation service that creates SEO-optimized articles with real sources and citations. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and safeguard your information when you use our website and services at articlefoundry.com (the "Service").

By accessing or using the Service, you agree to this Privacy Policy. If you do not agree with the terms of this Privacy Policy, please do not access the Service.

2. Information We Collect

2.1 Information You Provide

We collect information you voluntarily provide when using our Service:

Account Information: Email address and password when you register, or information from your Google account if you choose to sign in with Google (name, email, profile picture).
Profile Preferences: Your selected content niches, writing voice style, and image style preferences used to customize article generation.
Publishing Credentials: If you connect WordPress or Ghost for publishing, we collect your site URL, username, and application password. These credentials are encrypted using AES-256 encryption before storage.
Payment Information: When you subscribe, payment processing is handled entirely by Stripe. We do not store your credit card numbers, bank account details, or other financial account information on our servers.
Communications: Any correspondence you send to us, including support requests and feedback.

2.2 Information Collected Automatically

When you access the Service, we automatically collect certain information:

Device Fingerprint: We use FingerprintJS to generate a unique browser fingerprint for fraud prevention and to enforce our free trial policy. This fingerprint is derived from browser characteristics and does not contain personally identifiable information.
Usage Data: Information about how you interact with the Service, including articles generated, ideas approved, features used, and timestamps of activity.
Log Data: Server logs that may include your IP address, browser type, operating system, referring URLs, and pages visited.

2.3 AI-Generated Content

When you use our article generation service, we process your preferences and selected topics through artificial intelligence systems to create content. The generated articles, including text and images, are stored in your account and associated with your user profile.

Important: Your content, preferences, and generated articles are NOT used to train or improve AI models. Your data is processed solely to deliver the Service to you and is not shared with AI providers for model training purposes.

2.4 Automated Decision-Making

Our Service uses automated processing to generate articles and images based on your preferences. This automated processing is necessary to perform our contract with you (delivering the Service). The AI systems make decisions about content structure, wording, research inclusion, and image composition without human intervention for each individual piece of content.

You have the right to request human review of AI-generated content before publication through our article review workflow. If you have concerns about automated processing, you may contact us at support@articlefoundry.com.

3. Legal Basis for Processing (GDPR)

If you are located in the European Economic Area (EEA), United Kingdom, or Switzerland, we process your personal information based on the following legal grounds:

Contract Performance: Processing necessary to provide the Service you requested, including account creation, article generation, publishing, and billing.
Legitimate Interests: Processing for fraud prevention, security, service improvement, and analytics, where our interests do not override your rights.
Consent: Where you have given explicit consent, such as agreeing to our Terms and Privacy Policy during registration.
Legal Obligation: Processing required to comply with applicable laws, such as tax and accounting requirements.

4. How We Use Your Information

We use the information we collect for the following purposes:

Service Delivery: To create your account, generate articles based on your preferences, and deliver the core functionality of the Service.
Publishing: To publish approved articles to your connected WordPress or Ghost sites using your provided credentials.
Billing: To process subscriptions, manage your account status, and enforce usage limits based on your plan.
Fraud Prevention: To detect and prevent abuse of our free trial system and protect against fraudulent activity.
Communications: To send transactional emails (article completion notifications, password resets, billing confirmations) and respond to your inquiries.
Improvement: To analyze usage patterns and improve the Service, develop new features, and optimize performance.
Legal Compliance: To comply with applicable laws, regulations, and legal processes.

5. Third-Party Services

We use third-party services to operate the Service. These providers have access to your information only to perform specific tasks on our behalf and are obligated to protect your information:

Supabase: Authentication and database services. Stores your account information and application data. Supabase Privacy Policy
Google Cloud Platform: Cloud infrastructure, file storage for generated images, and task queue processing. Google Cloud Privacy
Stripe: Payment processing for subscriptions. Stripe collects and processes your payment information directly. Stripe Privacy Policy
Google OAuth: If you sign in with Google, we receive basic profile information from Google. Google Privacy Policy
AI Service Providers: We use third-party artificial intelligence services to power our content research, article generation, and image creation features. Your topic preferences and content requests are processed by these services. These providers include services from Anthropic (Privacy Policy) and Google (Privacy Policy).
Resend: Transactional email delivery service. Resend Privacy Policy
FingerprintJS: Browser fingerprinting for fraud prevention. Fingerprint Privacy Policy
ImprovMX: Email forwarding service for support communications. ImprovMX Privacy Policy

6. Data Retention

We retain your information for as long as your account is active or as needed to provide the Service. Specifically:

Account Data: Retained until you delete your account or request deletion.
Generated Articles: Retained in your account until you delete them or close your account.
Generated Images: Stored in cloud storage and retained until the associated article is deleted or your account is closed.
Billing Records: Retained for 7 years as required for tax and accounting purposes.
Log Data: Retained for up to 90 days for security and debugging purposes.

Upon account deletion, we will delete or anonymize your personal information within 30 days, except where retention is required by law or for legitimate business purposes (such as billing records).

7. Data Security

We implement appropriate technical and organizational measures to protect your information:

All data transmission is encrypted using TLS/SSL (HTTPS).
Publishing credentials (WordPress/Ghost passwords) are encrypted at rest using AES-256 encryption.
Database access is restricted and protected by Row Level Security policies.
Authentication tokens are securely managed with industry-standard JWT practices.
Payment information is handled entirely by Stripe's PCI-DSS compliant infrastructure.

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

7.1 Data Breach Notification

In the event of a data breach that affects your personal information, we will notify affected users via email within 72 hours of becoming aware of the breach, as required by applicable law. The notification will include: the nature of the breach, the types of data affected, steps we are taking to address the breach, and recommended actions you can take to protect yourself.

8. Your Rights and Choices

Depending on your location, you may have certain rights regarding your personal information:

Access: Request a copy of the personal information we hold about you.
Correction: Request correction of inaccurate personal information.
Deletion: Request deletion of your personal information, subject to certain exceptions.
Restriction: Request that we restrict processing of your personal information in certain circumstances.
Objection: Object to our processing of your personal information based on legitimate interests.
Export: Request a portable copy of your data in a structured, commonly used format.
Withdraw Consent: Where processing is based on consent, you may withdraw consent at any time without affecting the lawfulness of prior processing.
Opt-Out: Unsubscribe from marketing communications (though we currently do not send marketing emails).

To exercise these rights, contact us at support@articlefoundry.com. We will respond to your request within 30 days. If you are in the EEA, you also have the right to lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority. If you are in the United Kingdom, you may lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk.

9. California Privacy Rights (CCPA)

If you are a California resident, you have additional rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA):

Right to Know: You may request information about the categories and specific pieces of personal information we have collected about you, the sources of that information, our business purposes for collecting it, and the categories of third parties with whom we share it.
Right to Delete: You may request that we delete your personal information, subject to certain exceptions.
Right to Non-Discrimination: We will not discriminate against you for exercising your privacy rights.
Right to Opt-Out of Sale: We do not sell your personal information to third parties. "Sale" under CCPA includes sharing personal information for monetary or other valuable consideration. Since we do not engage in such practices, there is no need to opt out.

To exercise these rights, contact us at support@articlefoundry.com or submit a request through your account settings. We will verify your identity before processing your request.

9.1 California "Shine the Light" Law

Under California Civil Code Section 1798.83, California residents may request information about disclosure of personal information to third parties for direct marketing purposes. We do not share your personal information with third parties for their direct marketing purposes.

9.2 Other U.S. State Privacy Laws

If you are a resident of Virginia, Colorado, Connecticut, Utah, or other states with comprehensive privacy laws, you may have similar rights to those described above, including the right to access, correct, delete, and obtain a copy of your personal data, as well as the right to opt out of certain processing activities. We do not sell personal data or use it for targeted advertising. To exercise your rights, contact us at support@articlefoundry.com.

10. Cookies and Tracking

We use essential cookies and similar technologies to operate the Service:

Authentication Cookies: To keep you signed in and maintain your session.
Preference Cookies: To remember your settings and preferences.
Security Tokens: To protect against cross-site request forgery and other attacks.

We do not use advertising cookies or third-party tracking for marketing purposes. The browser fingerprinting described in Section 2.2 is used solely for fraud prevention.

10.1 Do Not Track Signals

Some browsers offer a "Do Not Track" (DNT) setting that sends a signal to websites you visit indicating you do not wish to be tracked. Because there is no accepted standard for how to respond to DNT signals, we do not currently respond to DNT signals. However, we do not engage in cross-site tracking or sell your information to third parties for advertising purposes.

11. Children's Privacy

The Service is not intended for children under 18 years of age. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 18. If you are a parent or guardian and believe your child has provided us with personal information, please contact us at support@articlefoundry.com, and we will delete such information.

12. International Data Transfers

Your information may be transferred to and processed in countries other than your own, including the United States, where our service providers operate. These countries may have different data protection laws. By using the Service, you consent to the transfer of your information to these countries.

13. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of any material changes by posting the new Privacy Policy on this page and updating the "Last updated" date. For significant changes, we may also send an email notification. Your continued use of the Service after such modifications constitutes your acknowledgment and acceptance of the updated Privacy Policy.

14. Contact Us

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or our data practices, please contact us:

Sovereign Intelligence Systems, LLC
d/b/a Articlefoundry
Email: support@articlefoundry.com