Privacy Policy

1. Introduction

Welcome to Vitalopedia ("we", "us", or "our"), accessible from vitalopedia.com. We are committed to protecting your personal data and respecting your privacy in accordance with the Swiss Federal Act on Data Protection (FADP) and, where applicable, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Our services are intended for users who are at least 18 years of age. By using Vitalopedia, you represent that you meet this age requirement.

2. Data We Collect

We collect information to provide better services to our users. The data we collect includes:

• Identity and Contact Data: When you register for an account, subscribe to our newsletter, or contact us, we may collect your name and email address.
• Publicly Visible Community Data: Community posts and replies are publicly visible to all visitors of the Website. Please do not include sensitive personal information (such as medical diagnoses, medications, or contact details) in any post you submit.
• Technical and Usage Data: We use Google Analytics to collect information about how you interact with our website. This includes your IP address, browser type, device information, and pages visited. This data is primarily used to analyze traffic and improve user experience.
• Cookies: We use cookies to enhance your browsing experience. You can manage your cookie preferences through our website's cookie consent banner or your browser settings.
• Community Content Data: When you use the Community feature, we collect the content of your posts and replies, timestamps, the product, protocol, or expert your post relates to, your voting activity (upvotes/downvotes), and a public display identifier (first name or username) associated with each post.

3. How We Use Your Data

We use your data for the following purposes:

• To provide, maintain, and improve our services and content.
• To manage your user account and personal protocols.
• To send you updates regarding products or protocols you follow (via Brevo).
• To analyze website usage trends through Google Analytics.
• To respond to your inquiries and provide support.
• To generate personalized health insights and protocol suggestions using artificial intelligence.
• To operate and moderate the Community feature, including displaying your posts to other users, recording your voting activity, and enforcing our community guidelines.

4. Data Retention

We retain your personal data only for as long as is necessary for the purposes set out in this Privacy Policy.

• Account Data: Retained as long as your account is active. You can request deletion of your account at any time.
• Usage Data: Retained for a limited period for analysis purposes (typically up to 26 months in Google Analytics).
• Communication Data: Retained for as long as necessary to provide support or fulfill your requests.
• Community Posts and Replies: Retained for as long as your account is active or until you delete the post. Following account deletion, posts may be anonymised (author attribution removed) and retained for a limited period to preserve the integrity of discussions, after which they are permanently deleted.

5. Data Storage and Third Parties

Your data is stored securely using industry-standard infrastructure. We share data with the following third-party service providers only as necessary:

• Google Analytics: For web traffic analysis.
• Brevo: For sending transactional emails and newsletters.
• Firebase (Google Cloud): For database and authentication services.
• Artificial Intelligence (LLM) Providers: We may share anonymized or specific data points (such as age, health goals, or product interests) with third-party Large Language Model providers (e.g., Google Gemini) to provide advanced analysis, content generation, and personalized protocol recommendations. We do not share personally identifiable information (PII) like your email address or full name with these AI providers unless explicitly required for a specific feature you've opted into.

International Data Transfers: Some of our service providers (such as Google and Brevo) are located outside of Switzerland and the European Economic Area (EEA), primarily in the United States. We ensure that such transfers are conducted in compliance with applicable data protection laws, using mechanisms such as Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) to guarantee an adequate level of data protection.

Note: We do not sell your personal data to third parties.

6. Your Rights

Under Swiss law and the GDPR (where applicable), you have the following rights:

• Access and Rectification: The right to access your personal data and have it corrected if inaccurate.
• Deletion: The right to request the deletion of your data ("right to be forgotten").
• Objection and Restriction: The right to object to or restrict the processing of your data.
• Data Portability: The right to receive your data in a structured, commonly used format.
• Withdrawal of Consent: If you have subscribed to our newsletter, you can withdraw your consent and opt-out at any time using the "unsubscribe" link in any email we send you.

To exercise these rights, please contact us at the email address provided below.

7. Jurisdiction

This Privacy Policy is governed by the laws of Switzerland. Any disputes arising from these terms shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts in Switzerland.

8. Contact Us

If you have any questions about this privacy policy or our privacy practices, please contact us at: privacy@vitalopedia.com