Privacy Policy

1 Introduction and Who We Are

TryLivingWhile.Black is a community platform for Black people to share lived experiences with racism and access professional advocacy tools. The Platform is operated by Polsia, Inc. ("we," "us," or "our"), and is accessible at livingwhileos.polsia.app.

This Privacy Policy applies to all visitors and users of the Platform — whether you are reading stories, submitting your own account, or accessing professional tools. By using the Platform, you consent to the data practices described in this Policy.

If you have questions about this Policy or your data, you can reach us at contact@trylivingwhileblack.com.

2 Information We Collect

We collect a small, defined set of information. Here is what we collect and why:

We do not collect your full name, phone number, home address, government ID, payment information, social media handles, or any biometric data.

3 How We Use Your Information

We use the information we collect for specific, limited purposes:

• To provide access to professional tools: Your email address is used to authenticate your session and maintain tool access. We do not use it for advertising or share it with tool partners.
• To operate and improve the Platform: Anonymous usage data helps us understand what's working, identify errors, and improve the user experience. This data is aggregated — we cannot trace it back to you as an individual.
• To publish community stories: Stories you submit may be reviewed and published on the Platform to educate the public and advance advocacy. We publish only what you choose to share, with the degree of attribution you choose.
• Optional community matching: If you join the community and consent to it, we may use your general location or issue category to connect you with relevant local resources, organizers, or community members. This is always opt-in.
• To respond to your communications: If you contact us, we use your email address to respond to your inquiry.

We do not use your information for automated decision-making that produces legal or similarly significant effects. We do not use your information for behavioral advertising. We do not create user profiles for commercial purposes.

4 What We Do NOT Collect

We want to be explicit about data practices we reject, because the landscape of online privacy is filled with invisible data collection. We affirmatively do not:

• Maintain persistent user accounts with usernames, passwords, or profile pages
• Require social login (no "Sign in with Google/Facebook/Apple")
• Use third-party tracking pixels from Meta, Google, TikTok, or any advertising network
• Build individual behavioral profiles based on your browsing history or content consumption
• Collect or store your IP address in a way that is linked to your submitted content or tool usage
• Collect device fingerprints or use cross-site tracking technologies
• Sell, rent, lease, or trade your personal information to any third party for any purpose
• Share your email address with advertisers, data brokers, or marketing partners
• Use your story submissions to train AI models for commercial purposes without explicit consent

5 Stories and Content

Stories submitted to TryLivingWhile.Black are the heart of this platform. Here is how we handle them:

What You Control

You decide what to include in your story. We do not require you to use your real name. You can submit anonymously, under a pseudonym, or with your full name — it is your story and your choice. We strongly recommend not including personally identifying information about yourself or private third parties unless you have deliberately decided to do so.

Public Publication

Stories that pass our moderation review may be published publicly on the Platform and surfaced through aggregated reports and analysis. By submitting a story, you acknowledge that it may be visible to any visitor of the Platform. Do not submit content you are not comfortable having publicly associated with this platform.

Requesting Removal

You may request the removal of a story you submitted at any time by emailing contact@trylivingwhileblack.com with the subject line "Story Removal Request." We will process requests within 30 days. Note that stories already incorporated into aggregated, anonymized datasets cannot be individually extracted from those datasets, but the attributed story will be removed from public view.

Archival and Research Use

We may share anonymized, aggregated datasets derived from community stories with academic researchers, civil rights organizations, policy advocates, or journalists for the purpose of documenting and combating racism. Individual stories will not be shared in identifiable form without your explicit consent.

6 Professional Tools

Our professional tools (incident documentation, response drafting, complaint letter generation, etc.) are designed with privacy as a constraint, not an afterthought. Specifically:

• On-the-fly processing: Input you provide to tools is processed in real time to generate your output. The content of your input is not stored in our database after your session ends.
• HIPAA-aligned security practices: Although TryLivingWhile.Black is not a covered entity under HIPAA, our tools are designed to align with HIPAA security principles for handling sensitive personal information. We apply encryption in transit (TLS), minimize data exposure at each processing step, and prohibit retention of Personally Identifiable Health Information (PHI) in persistent storage.
• Audit trail hashes only: For platform integrity and abuse prevention, we may retain cryptographic hashes (one-way fingerprints) of tool sessions. These hashes cannot be reversed to recover your input content. They exist only to detect anomalous usage patterns and maintain system security.
• No storage of legal details: Details about your legal situation entered into tools (incident descriptions, parties involved, dates, jurisdictions) are processed to generate output and not retained. We cannot retrieve what you entered after your session closes.

The output generated by tools (letters, summaries, documentation drafts) is delivered to you in your browser. We do not store copies of your generated output on our servers.

7 Cookies and Local Storage

We use a minimal, purpose-limited approach to client-side storage:

localStorage — Tool Access Token

When you verify your email address to access professional tools, a session token is stored in your browser's localStorage. This token is used exclusively to maintain your access to the tools during and after your session, without requiring you to re-enter your email each visit. This token expires automatically after 24 hours. It is not used for tracking, advertising, or analytics purposes.

No Tracking Cookies

We do not set third-party tracking cookies. We do not load advertising networks, remarketing pixels, or social media SDKs that set cookies. Standard browser session cookies may be set for essential site functionality (such as security protections), but these do not track you across sites or over time.

Analytics

If we use an analytics tool, it is configured to anonymize IP addresses, disable cross-site tracking, and aggregate data before it is logged. We do not use Google Analytics with default settings, Meta Pixel, or any other analytics service that builds individual behavioral profiles.

You can clear localStorage and cookies at any time through your browser settings. Doing so will log you out of tool access (requiring email re-verification) but will not affect any stories you have submitted.

8 Data Retention

We retain different types of data for different periods based on their purpose:

When data is no longer needed for its stated purpose and its retention period has expired, we delete it. We do not maintain data indefinitely "just in case."

9 Your Rights

Depending on your location, you may have rights under applicable privacy law (including GDPR, CCPA, and similar frameworks) with respect to your personal data. Regardless of where you are located, we extend the following rights to all users:

• Right to access: You may request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
• Right to correction: You may request that we correct inaccurate personal data associated with your account or submission.
• Right to deletion: You may request that we delete your email address, your submitted stories, or any other personal data we hold about you. We will process deletion requests within 30 days.
• Right to opt out of communications: If you have provided an email address, you may opt out of any non-essential communications at any time by emailing us or using the unsubscribe link in any email we send you. Opting out of communications does not delete your email address unless you also submit a deletion request.
• Right to data portability: Upon request, we will provide your personal data in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format.
• Right to object: You may object to certain processing activities, including any use of your data for research or aggregation beyond the immediate operation of the Platform.

To exercise any of these rights, contact us at contact@trylivingwhileblack.com. We will respond within 30 days. We may need to verify your identity before processing a request.

10 Children's Privacy

TryLivingWhile.Black is not intended for use by individuals under 18 years of age. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 18. Our Terms of Service require users to be at least 18 years old, and by using the Platform you represent that you meet this requirement.

If we become aware that we have inadvertently collected personal information from someone under 18, we will take prompt steps to delete that information. If you are a parent or guardian and believe your child has provided personal information to this Platform, please contact us at contact@trylivingwhileblack.com and we will address it promptly.

11 Changes to this Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, legal requirements, or Platform features. When we make material changes, we will update the "Effective Date" at the top of this page. For significant changes — particularly those that expand the type or use of data we collect — we will provide notice on the Platform and, if you have provided an email address, via email.

Your continued use of the Platform after an updated Privacy Policy has been posted constitutes your acceptance of the revised Policy. If you disagree with changes to this Policy, you should stop using the Platform and may request deletion of your data.

We encourage you to review this Policy periodically. The current version is always available at livingwhileos.polsia.app/privacy.

12 Contact

For all privacy-related inquiries — including data access requests, deletion requests, or concerns about our data practices — please contact us:

We aim to respond to all privacy-related requests within 5 business days, and to resolve them within 30 days. If you believe we have not adequately addressed your privacy concern, you may have the right to lodge a complaint with a relevant data protection authority in your jurisdiction.