Privacy Policy

1. Introduction

Welcome to Hewa+ ("we," "our," or "us"), a space news and content platform operated by the Ethiopian Space Science Society (ESSS). We are committed to protecting your personal data and your right to privacy.

This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and safeguard your information when you visit our website hewa.ethiosss.org, use our membership services, or interact with our content.

2. Information We Collect

We collect information in two ways: data you provide to us directly and data we collect automatically when you use the website.

A. Data You Provide (Member Accounts)

When you choose to become a member or log in to access exclusive content, we collect personal information via Google Sign-In. This includes:

• Personal Identity: First and last name.
• Contact Details: Email address.
• Profile Data: Profile picture (avatar).

Note: We do not collect or store passwords, as your authentication is handled securely by Google.

B. Data Collected Automatically (Usage Data)

We automatically collect certain information when you visit, use, or navigate the Site. This information does not reveal your specific identity unless you are logged in, but may include:

• Technical Data: IP address, browser type, device characteristics, operating system, and country/location.
• Analytics: Anonymous data regarding which articles are viewed most frequently to generate our "Trending" lists.

3. How We Use Your Information

We use the information we collect for specific, legitimate business purposes:

• To Provide Membership Services: To authenticate you via Google, manage your ESSS membership status, and grant access to "Member Only" content.
• To Personalize Your Experience (Members Only): For logged-in members, we track reading history and "Followed" writers to curate the "Recommended" section of the news feed. This data is linked to your member profile to provide a consistent experience across devices.
• To Analyze Site Performance: To monitor the most viewed articles (e.g., "Trending Now") and improve our content strategy using aggregated, anonymous data.

4. Legal Basis for Processing

If you are located in the European Economic Area (EEA) or UK, we process your data under the following legal bases:

• Consent: You give us consent to collect your data when you click "Sign in with Google."
• Legitimate Interests: We track analytics to improve our services and, for members, we process reading history to fulfill the service of providing a personalized news feed.

5. Third-Party Services

• Google Sign-In: We use Google's authentication service. By using this feature, you authorize us to receive your personal profile information from Google in accordance with Google's policies.
• Analytics: We may use third-party analysis tools (such as Google Analytics) to track website traffic and usage trends.

6. Data Retention

We retain your personal information only for as long as is necessary to fulfill the purposes set out in this privacy policy.

• Member Data: Retained as long as your account is active. You may request deletion at any time.
• Usage Logs: Anonymized views data is retained indefinitely for statistical purposes.

7. Your Data Rights

Depending on your location, you have the following rights:

• Right to Access: Request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
• Right to Rectification: Request that we correct inaccurate info (e.g., updating your email).
• Right to Erasure: Request that we delete your account and associated data ("Right to be Forgotten").
• Right to Withdraw Consent: You can disconnect your Google account from our platform at any time.

To exercise these rights, please contact us at: info@ethiosss.org