Privacy Policy

1. Personal information we collect

ElSeeker (the "Service") collects only the minimum information needed to provide the Service smoothly.

• 👤 When you sign up (social login):
  • Google · Naver: email address, profile name, profile image
  • Kakao: profile nickname, profile image, email address (only if you have given separate consent)
  • Apple: email address (if you choose "Hide My Email", we collect the private relay address issued by Apple instead) — Apple does not provide a profile name or profile image.
  • The unique identifier of each social service (used to identify members)
• 📧 When you sign up (email):
  • Email address, nickname
  • Password (stored with one-way encryption; the original is never kept)
  • Email verification code (kept only in encrypted form and destroyed when verification is completed or the code expires)
• ✍️ Information created while you use the Service: community posts and comments, study records (notes, highlights, reading progress, quiz and game records)
• 🖥 Information collected automatically: access logs, IP address, device information, Referer (where you came from), pages visited, visitor identification cookie (es_visitor_id, up to 12 months), authentication cookies (ACCESS_TOKEN·REFRESH_TOKEN, HttpOnly)

※ You can choose whether to accept cookies and can refuse to store them through your web browser's settings. However, if you refuse the essential cookies needed to operate the Service, such as those that keep you logged in, some features may not be available.

2. Purposes of collecting and using personal information

We use the personal information we collect only for the following purposes.

• Identifying members, verifying identity, and keeping you logged in
• Providing the Service, such as community and study features, and operating personalized features
• Preventing fraudulent and unauthorized use
• Statistical analysis to improve the Service and resolving technical problems

3. Retention and destruction of personal information

In principle, your personal information is destroyed without delay when you delete your account. However, where applicable laws require it to be retained, it is kept for the required period.

• Member information and study and post data: until you delete your account (destroyed immediately upon deletion)
• Automatically collected records such as access and visit logs: kept for statistical analysis and to prevent fraudulent use, then destroyed; where applicable laws set a retention period, that period applies
• Sign-up requests whose email verification was not completed (email address, nickname, password): automatically destroyed 24 hours after the verification code expires

4. Provision to third parties and outsourcing

The Service does not provide personal information to outside parties without your consent. However, to manage the infrastructure needed to operate the Service, it outsources operations to a specialized cloud company.

• Service provider: Google Cloud Platform
• Outsourced work: data storage and system operation

5. Your rights

You can view or modify your personal information at any time, and you can withdraw your consent to the use of your personal information by deleting your account. Requests can also be handled by email.

6. Measures to keep personal information secure

The Service takes the following measures to keep your personal information safe.

• Protecting data with encryption in transit (HTTPS)
• Minimizing the risk of theft by encrypting authentication tokens and cookies and marking them HttpOnly
• Storing passwords with one-way encryption (hashing) — original passwords are never kept and cannot be decrypted
• Minimizing and managing access rights to personal information
• Managing data on secure cloud infrastructure (Google Cloud Platform)

7. Personal information of children under 14

The Service is intended for users aged 14 or older and does not collect the personal information of children under 14. If we find that a child under 14 has signed up, that information is destroyed without delay.

8. Changes to this Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy may be revised due to changes in laws, policies, or the Service. When it is revised, the changes and their effective date are announced in advance on the Service.

9. Remedies for infringement of your rights

If you need to report or get advice about an infringement of your personal information, you can contact the following organizations in Korea.

• Personal Information Dispute Mediation Committee: 1833-1130 (from within Korea, no area code) / www.kopico.go.kr
• Personal Information Infringement Report Center: 118 (from within Korea, no area code) / privacy.kisa.or.kr
• Supreme Prosecutors' Office, Cyber Investigation Division: 1301 (from within Korea, no area code) / www.spo.go.kr
• Korean National Police Agency, Cyber Investigation Bureau: 182 (from within Korea, no area code) / ecrm.police.go.kr

10. Chief Privacy Officer and contact

For questions or complaints about personal information, please contact us below.