Privacy Policy

Starward Path is operated by Or Soffer, based in Israel, who is the data controller for the personal information described here. This policy explains what we collect, why, who we share it with, and your choices. It's part of our terms of service.

What we collect. Account information — when you sign up, your email address, name, and sign-in identity, managed by our authentication provider; we also assign your account random internal identifiers used for analytics and billing. Purchases — which books you bought, when, the amount, and a payment reference. Progress — your position in each book so you can resume; if you browse without an account, this is kept only in your own browser. Usage — pages you visit and how you use the player, as described under Analytics below. Attribution — if you arrive from an ad, the advertising click identifier in the link and the page you signed up from. Technical data— IP address, browser and device type, and similar information in the logs of the services that host the site. We don't intentionally collect sensitive categories of information (such as health, religion, or political views) — please don't send them to us.

Why we use it. To create and secure your account, deliver the books you buy and sync your progress (performance of our contract with you); to keep records of accounts and purchases, analyze how the store is doing, and prevent fraud and abuse (our legitimate interests); to run analytics and marketing cookies (your consent, see below); and to meet legal and tax obligations. We don't use your information for automated decisions with legal or similarly significant effects.

Payments. Purchases are processed by Polar Software, Inc. (US), which acts as merchant of record. Your card details go to Polar, never to our servers. We pass Polar your email and name to prefill checkout and a billing identifier that links your Polar customer record to your account, and Polar sends us confirmation of what you bought. Polar is an independent controller for the transaction; its privacy policy applies to the payment itself.

Analytics and marketing. We use an analytics service hosted in the European Union. If you accept analytics cookies, it records the pages you visit and how you use the player, tied to your account's internal analytics identifier (and to your email and name once you're signed in). If you decline, we don't set analytics cookies and your browsing isn't tracked; we still keep basic records of accounts and purchases, which we use to run and understand the business. If you accept marketing cookies, a tag manager loads the advertising and measurement tools we configure — tags from advertising networks such as search and social platforms — which set their own cookies and may receive activity data and the attribution identifiers above; those providers act under their own privacy policies. You can change your choice at any time via "Cookie preferences" in the footer.

Cookies and browser storage. Essential: a cookie that remembers your cookie choice (12 months), our authentication provider's sign-in session cookies, and browser storage for your listening position, playback speed, and preview state when you aren't signed in. Optional, only with your consent: analytics cookies and the marketing cookies described above. We don't respond to browser "Do Not Track" signals; use Cookie preferences instead.

Who we share it with. Only the service providers that run the site, each processing data on our behalf under contractual safeguards: authentication, database and backend, hosting, analytics, and tag management — and, as an independent controller, Polar (payments). Advertising partners receive data only if you accept marketing cookies. We may also disclose information when the law requires it, to protect our rights or safety, or as part of a sale or transfer of the business. We don't sell your personal information.

International transfers. We operate from Israel, which the European Commission recognizes as providing adequate data protection. Our providers process data in the United States (including Polar) and the European Union. Transfers to the US rely on the safeguards those providers offer, such as standard contractual clauses or certification under the EU-US Data Privacy Framework.

How long we keep it. Account information and progress: while your account exists. When you delete your account, we delete your account record and progress. Purchase records are kept as business and financial records, without your name or email (a billing identifier remains so the record can be matched to Polar's). Analytics data is kept only as long as needed for analytics; server logs are kept briefly for security and reliability. Polar keeps transaction records under its own policy.

Your rights. Depending on where you live, you may have the right to access, correct, delete, or receive a copy of your personal information, to object to or restrict certain processing, and to withdraw consent at any time (withdrawing doesn't affect processing that happened before). Under Israel's Privacy Protection Law you may review and request correction of information we hold about you; you're not legally required to give us any information, but without an email address we can't create an account or sell you a book. To exercise any right, or to delete your account, email sofferor@gmail.com; we may need to verify your identity first. If you're in the EU or UK you can also complain to your data protection authority, and in Israel to the Privacy Protection Authority. US state residents: we don't sell personal information; if you accept marketing cookies, advertising partners may receive activity data that some state laws treat as "sharing" — decline or withdraw in Cookie preferences to opt out.

Children. The site isn't directed to children under 13, and accounts and purchases require you to be 18 or have a parent or guardian's permission. If we learn we've collected a child's information without appropriate consent, we'll delete it.

Security. We use reasonable technical and organizational measures appropriate to the data we hold, and our providers maintain their own security programs. No system is perfectly secure, and we can't guarantee the security of information in transit or at rest. Keep your sign-in method secure and tell us if you suspect unauthorized access.

Changes. We may update this policy from time to time; the date at the top shows the current version. For material changes we'll post a notice on the site.

Questions about privacy: sofferor@gmail.com.