Privacy

Draft for legal review before public launch. Version 2026-10-24.

Operator: ChowChow Labs. Contact: chowchowbuy@gmail.com.

What we collect, and why

• Sign-in email, to send sign-in codes. WaterDen accounts are separate from other ChowChow Labs sites. If you sign in with Google, GitHub, LinkedIn, Facebook or LINE, we receive your account ID and email from that service, nothing else.
• Waterloo email, only if you choose to verify. Stored in a restricted table and never shown. Only the verification state and date are public.
• Your display name and optional profile fields, which you choose to make public.
• What you post: discussions, replies, listings, group messages and files.
• Minimal security logs, such as rate-limit counters, kept about 30 days.

We never ask for student numbers, transcripts, identity documents, job offers, pay slips or leases.

Visit statistics

To see which pages help people, we count visits with our own statistics service, run on Cloudflare. It records the page address (never anything you type or post), the site that sent you, your approximate country and region, your browser and device type, time on the page and a few actions, such as starting a post or opening sign-in. A random ID kept in this browser tells new and returning visits apart on this site only; it isn't linked to your account or shared with our other sites. We never store your IP address. If your browser sends Do Not Track or Global Privacy Control, or you're in Quebec, no ID is kept. Records are deleted after 13 months. Turn off visit statistics on this site (turn them back on).

Who processes data for us

• Supabase (database), Cloudflare (hosting, file storage, security checks, visit statistics), Resend (email delivery).
• OpenAI's moderation service checks text for harmful content. We send only the text being checked, never your email or account details.
• Moderators may also use an AI tool to help review posts, replies, listings and uploads. It can only read; people make every decision. Group messages are included only when a moderator records a reason.
• Paddle processes payments for the optional upload plan. We do not store card details.

Some of these providers process data outside Canada. Choosing a Canadian database region does not mean every service stores data only in Canada.

Moderator access

Private groups are restricted to members; they are not end-to-end encrypted. Platform moderators can open a group's messages only for a recorded reason, such as a report, and each access is logged. Group owners cannot see other groups.

Advertising

Ads are off during the pilot. If we enable Google AdSense later, it will appear only on approved public pages, never on private groups, messages, account or payment pages. We never send post text, resumes, university emails or chat content to advertising tools.

How long we keep things

• Public posts: while useful and permitted. If you delete your account we remove or anonymise them, as you choose.
• Listings: expire after 30 days without renewal; their files are removed 30 days after expiry or sale.
• Group chat: deleted after 90 days. Reported evidence may be held separately with restricted access.
• Upload quarantine: abandoned and rejected files purged within 24 hours.
• Security logs about 30 days; moderation case records 180 days, unless an incident or legal hold applies.
• Backups: 7 daily and 4 weekly copies.
• Payment records: as required for accounting and tax.

Your choices

• Download your data or delete your forum account from Settings.
• Hide any optional profile field by leaving it empty.
• Mute discussions and block members.

We do not sell student data.