Privacy Policy

Last updated: July 24, 2026

Photostories ("Photostories", "we", "us") complies with Korea's Personal Information Protection Act and other applicable laws, and protects your personal information. This policy explains how we handle personal information across the Photostories service (photostories.co and its related subdomains).

1. Purposes of Processing

We process personal information only for the following purposes:

• verifying sign-up and identifying/authenticating you;
• providing the Service, such as publishing and displaying photo stories;
• handling inquiries and complaints and sending notices;
• improving the Service and developing new features.

2. Personal Information We Collect

a. At sign-up / authentication (collected via our auth provider, Clerk)

• email, name, profile image (email or social login).

b. Information you enter while using the Service

• site address (handle), display name, bio, location, occupation, social links, profile photo.

c. Information collected when you post content

• uploaded photo files and metadata contained in them (such as EXIF);
• photo captions, location information (place name, country, coordinates), and camera information;
• the stories you write (title and body).

d. Information generated automatically

• In the course of providing the Service, access IP, browser/device information, and usage records may be automatically generated and processed through the systems of our hosting and authentication processors. We do not separately store these in our own database.

3. Retention and Use Period

• Member information and user content: until you withdraw membership or request deletion (destroyed without delay upon withdrawal).
• Retention required by law
  • records on consumer complaints or dispute handling: 3 years (Act on Consumer Protection in Electronic Commerce);
  • login/access records: 3 months (Protection of Communications Secrets Act).

4. Provision to Third Parties

We do not provide your personal information to third parties, except:

• where you have consented in advance;
• where required by law, or where an investigative agency requests it under the procedures set by law.

5. Consignment of Processing

To operate the Service, we consign the processing of personal information as follows:

If paid services are introduced later, a payment gateway (PG) or Merchant of Record may be added as a processor; in that case we will update this policy and give advance notice.

6. Cross-Border Transfer

To provide the Service, we transfer personal information overseas (as consigned processing) as follows. Transfers occur by transmission over the network at the time of use.

You may refuse the cross-border transfer of your personal information; in that case, use of the services that require such processing may be restricted.

7. Your Rights and How to Exercise Them

You may exercise the following rights at any time:

• request access to your personal information;
• request correction of errors;
• request deletion;
• request suspension of processing.

You can make these requests at supportphotostories@gmail.com, and we will act without delay. You can also edit your profile or delete your account directly from your settings. We do not collect the personal information of children under the age of 14.

8. Destruction of Personal Information

When personal information is no longer needed — because the retention period has passed or the purpose has been achieved — we destroy it without delay. When you delete your account, your profile, stories, and photo information are removed from our database and image storage (both the public and private buckets), and the account record held by our authentication provider is deleted. Electronic files are deleted by unrecoverable means.

9. Security Measures

• encryption in transit (HTTPS/HSTS);
• minimizing and controlling access privileges;
• storing original images in a separate, non-public bucket (never served publicly);
• rendering from a trusted content model to block malicious scripts.

10. Cookies and Similar Technologies

• We use cookies and browser storage (localStorage) to keep you logged in and remember your language (e.g. a session cookie, a language setting, and an onboarding draft). These are functional; we do not use advertising or behavior-tracking cookies.
• External services such as the map (OpenFreeMap) and support chat (Channel Talk) may set their own cookies or receive your access information (such as IP) when they load.
• You can refuse cookies in your browser settings, but some services such as login may then be restricted.

11. Privacy Officer

We designate a privacy officer to oversee personal-information processing and handle user inquiries and complaints:

• Privacy Officer: Photostories operator
• Email: supportphotostories@gmail.com

12. Remedies for Rights Infringement

You may contact the following bodies for counseling or dispute mediation regarding personal-information infringement:

• Personal Information Dispute Mediation Committee: 1833-6972 (www.kopico.go.kr)
• Privacy Infringement Report Center: 118 (privacy.kisa.or.kr)
• Supreme Prosecutors' Office Cyber Investigation: 1301 (www.spo.go.kr)
• National Police Agency Cyber Bureau: 182 (ecrm.police.go.kr)

13. Changes to This Policy

This policy applies from its effective date. If content is added, removed, or changed, we will announce it within the Service at least 7 days before it takes effect (30 days for material changes).

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