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Privacy Policy

Last updated: May 13, 2026

Gather ("we", "us") builds life stories from your photos and data. Your privacy is fundamental to what we do. This policy explains what we collect, how we use it, and your rights.

What We Collect

• Account information — name, email address, password (hashed)
• Photos and videos — files you upload, including embedded metadata (dates, locations, camera info, face tags)
• Google Takeout data — location history, calendar events, contacts, and other data you choose to export from Google. You select which Google products to include in your export — you can deselect any source you prefer not to share
• Text content — stories, comments, captions, and audio transcriptions you provide
• Usage data — pages visited, features used, session cookies for authentication

How We Use Your Data

• Build your story — we process your photos, metadata, and supplemental data to generate narrative biographies, slideshows, and other outputs
• Face identification — we detect faces in your photos to group them by person and read any name tags already embedded in your photos (from Apple Photos or Google Photos). Face data is used only within your project and is never shared externally
• AI processing — we use AI models to generate captions, identify scenes, and compose narrative text from your content
• Service operation — authentication, email notifications, upload processing, and technical maintenance

Sensitive Data Handling

When we process imported data such as email, search history, browsing history, and maps activity, we extract only the life events relevant to your story — career changes, moves, travel, milestones. The raw source data is immediately discarded after processing. We do not retain your search queries, email content, browsing history, or maps activity. Only the distilled life events are stored.

Your Data Transparency

The "Your Data" tab in your project's Timeline view shows you everything we extracted from your imported data, organized by source. You can review every item and delete anything you don't want included in your story. Deletions take effect immediately.

What We Do Not Do

• We do not sell your data to anyone
• We do not use your photos to train AI models
• We do not share your content publicly — nothing is visible to anyone until you explicitly choose to share the finished output
• We do not use face data for surveillance or identification beyond your project — face grouping is used solely to identify people in your story

Where Your Data Lives

• Photos and media — stored on Amazon S3 (encrypted at rest), served via CloudFront CDN
• Metadata and accounts — stored in MongoDB Atlas (encrypted at rest)
• All data is hosted in the United States

Who Can See Your Content

Your photos and stories are private by default. Content is visible only to:

• You (the project owner)
• People you explicitly invite to a project
• People you share finished outputs with (slideshows, PDFs, websites)

Gather staff do not view your content except when necessary for technical support you have requested, or as required by law. Administrative tools show only project status and diagnostics — not your personal data. All administrative access is audit-logged.

Content Safety

We are committed to preventing the distribution of child sexual abuse material (CSAM). Uploaded content may be scanned for known CSAM using industry-standard hash-matching technology. If CSAM is detected, we will report it to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) as required by US federal law (18 U.S.C. § 2258A), preserve relevant evidence, and disable the account. See our Content Safety Policy for details.

Cookies

We use session cookies for authentication and a small number of functional cookies (e.g., remembering your engagement stage). We do not use advertising or tracking cookies.

Data Retention

We retain your data for as long as your account is active. You can request deletion of your account and all associated data at any time by contacting us. We will delete your data within 30 days of a verified request, except where retention is required by law.

Your Rights

• Access — request a copy of your data
• Correction — update inaccurate information
• Deletion — request deletion of your account and data
• Export — download your uploaded content

Children's Privacy

Gather is designed for adults creating life stories that naturally include photos of family members of all ages. We do not knowingly allow children under 13 to create accounts. If you believe a child under 13 has created an account, please contact us and we will delete it.

DMCA / Copyright

If you believe that content hosted on Gather infringes your copyright, you may submit a DMCA takedown notice to our designated agent:

• Designated Agent — Roy McDonald
• Email — dmca@gather.icu
• Mail — 429 Virginia Avenue, San Mateo, CA 94402

Your notice must include:

• Identification of the copyrighted work you believe is infringed
• Identification of the infringing material and its location on Gather
• Your contact information (name, address, phone, email)
• A statement that you have a good faith belief the use is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law
• A statement, under penalty of perjury, that the information in your notice is accurate and that you are the copyright owner or authorized to act on their behalf
• Your physical or electronic signature

We will respond to valid DMCA notices promptly and may remove or disable access to the allegedly infringing material.

California Privacy Rights (CCPA)

If you are a California resident, the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) provides you with additional rights regarding your personal data:

• Right to Know — you may request details about the categories and specific pieces of personal data we collect about you
• Right to Delete — you may request that we delete the personal data we have collected from you
• Right to Opt Out of Sale — we do not sell your personal data to third parties

To exercise these rights, contact us at privacy@gather.icu. We will verify your identity before processing your request. We will not discriminate against you for exercising any of your CCPA rights.

Changes to This Policy

We may update this policy from time to time. Significant changes will be communicated via email or a notice on the site.