TDC collects only the information needed to provide the feature you choose. We do not sell personal information. Advertising and cross-site behavioural tracking are not active; optional analytics remains off unless you choose it.
1. Who is responsible
The December Company is an independent creative project operating from Bengaluru, India. For privacy questions, access requests, corrections or deletion requests, email info@thedecembercompany.com with the subject “Privacy Request”.
2. Information we collect
- Purchase and delivery information: recipient name, order-contact email, delivery phone, delivery address and PIN code, product, quantity, amount, order reference, payment status and fulfilment records. Payment credentials are entered through Cashfree; do not send them through our forms.
- Contact-form information: name, email, optional phone number, selected topic, subject and message.
- Reader subscriptions: email address, consent record and signup source.
- Reply Room Pilot 001 submissions: private email, chosen alias, one observation, two optional profile answers, participation confirmations, optional backup-replier choice, optional TDC-updates consent, assigned place number and operational reference.
- Project briefs: name, email and project description; organisation, audience, timeline and budget are optional. Existing briefs may also contain relevance, output, production needs and references supplied through the earlier form.
- When you choose optional analytics: pseudonymous visitor and session identifiers, page path, referrer or campaign information, device class and coarse country or region. TDC does not store a full network address in the analytics record.
- Basic technical and security information automatically processed by our hosting provider to deliver and protect the website, such as request logs and device or network information. TDC may temporarily store a one-way hash derived from a network address to limit automated or repeated form submissions; the plain address is not placed in the form database by this control.
- Cookie preference, article feedback and temporary experience choices stored locally on your device.
3. Public and creative submissions
In Reply Room letters, Reader responses and general creative submissions, do not send passwords, complete payment-card or bank information, government identity numbers, health records, exact home addresses, another person’s confidential information or material that could place someone at risk. The Reply Room is not an emergency, therapy, medical, legal or crisis service.
Checkout separately asks for a delivery address because a physical order cannot be fulfilled without one. Provide it only in the delivery fields, not in creative submissions.
4. How we use information
- To process orders, verify payment status, arrange delivery and handle order support, cancellations and refunds.
- To answer enquiries and assess project briefs.
- To deliver Reader notices when you have actively subscribed.
- To understand broad site use when you have chosen optional analytics.
- To operate and moderate Reply Room Pilot 001, remove identifying details where practical, arrange the exchange and return one reply privately.
- To maintain security, prevent spam, investigate abuse and comply with lawful obligations.
- To document a project using aggregated or de-identified findings where practical; private words are not published without separate permission.
5. Legal grounds
Depending on where you are and how you interact with TDC, processing may be based on your consent, steps taken at your request, performance of a contract, compliance with law or TDC’s legitimate interest in operating a secure and responsive cultural website. You may withdraw marketing consent at any time without affecting earlier lawful processing.
6. Reply Room privacy
Your email and private reference are never intentionally shared with the stranger receiving your letter. Before a response invitation is created, TDC prepares a separate moderated copy and manually reviews it for names, contact details, precise locations, targeting information and other obvious identifiers. Automated pattern warnings assist this review but are not treated as proof that a letter is anonymous.
TDC cannot guarantee that a personal story contains no detail from which someone could infer identity. Do not submit information you would be unsafe or unwilling to have read by an unknown participant. Letters remain pending until reviewed. TDC may decline, quarantine or delete content that is unsafe, unlawful, targeted, exploitative, promotional or inconsistent with the room. Submission does not guarantee a reply or a particular delivery time.
7. Service providers and disclosure
Information may be processed by infrastructure, hosting, database, email, security, payment or delivery providers when those services are active and only to the extent necessary for their role. We may also disclose information where required by law, to protect a person from credible harm, to investigate misuse or in connection with a legitimate business reorganisation subject to appropriate safeguards.
8. International processing
The website is accessible globally and service providers may process information in countries other than yours. Where required, TDC will use appropriate contractual or legal safeguards. Merely viewing the site from another country does not mean every TDC product or service is offered there.
9. Retention
- General enquiries and project briefs: ordinarily up to 24 months after the last meaningful correspondence.
- Reader subscriptions: until you unsubscribe or the list is closed, plus a limited suppression record where needed to honour the request.
- Reply Room observations and replies: for the moderation and exchange period, then ordinarily deleted 30 days after private delivery unless earlier deletion is requested or limited longer retention is required for safety, disputes or law.
- Short-lived form-abuse counters: ordinarily reset within the stated rate-limit window; obsolete records may be periodically removed.
- Security and transaction records: for the period reasonably needed for fraud prevention, accounting, legal claims and compliance.
10. Your choices and rights
Subject to applicable law, you may ask what information TDC holds about you, request a copy, correct it, ask for deletion, withdraw consent, object to certain processing or raise a grievance. Email info@thedecembercompany.com from the address connected with the request. We may ask for proportionate verification and may retain limited information where law, safety, fraud prevention or another person’s rights require it.
11. Age
The Reply Room, purchases and paid or member features are intended for people aged 18 or older. If you believe a minor has submitted personal information through one of these features, contact us so we can review and, where appropriate, remove it.
12. Security and limits
TDC uses proportionate technical and organisational safeguards and limits public exposure of submissions. No internet system is completely secure, and we cannot promise absolute security. If a breach creates a meaningful risk, TDC will take steps required by applicable law.
13. Changes and contact
We may update this policy when the site, providers or law changes. The current version and date will remain on this page. Questions or requests: info@thedecembercompany.com.