CiteGuild

Privacy Policy

Last updated:

1. Information We Collect

We collect information you provide directly to us, such as when you create an account, use our services, or contact us for support. This may include:

  • Name and email address
  • Account credentials
  • Submitted sitemap URLs, site names, and crawl status
  • Public page text, titles, canonical URLs, language, and outbound links discovered from submitted sites
  • Embeddings and detected member-to-member link records derived from public pages
  • Payment information (processed securely through Stripe)
  • Communication preferences

2. How We Use Your Information

We use the information we collect to:

  • Provide, maintain, and improve our services
  • Process transactions and send related information
  • Send technical notices, updates, and support messages
  • Respond to your comments and questions
  • Monitor and analyze usage and trends
  • Protect the crawler, search service, members, and public sites from abuse

3. Information Sharing

We do not sell, trade, or otherwise transfer your personal information to third parties without your consent, except as described in this policy. We may share your information:

  • With service providers who assist us in operating our platform
  • With authenticated members and agents as search results containing public titles, URLs, excerpts, and relevance metadata
  • When required by law or to protect our rights
  • In connection with a business transfer or acquisition
  • In connection with a merger, acquisition, bankruptcy, or sale of assets, we may transfer your information to the acquiring entity. You will be notified via email and/or prominent notice on our website of any such change.

4. Data Security

We implement industry-standard security measures including:

  • Encryption of data in transit (TLS/SSL)
  • Hashed passwords and API credentials that are shown only when created or rotated
  • Encrypted database backups with limited retention
  • Access controls and authentication requirements
  • Secure payment processing through PCI-compliant providers (Stripe)

However, no method of transmission over the internet is 100% secure. While we strive to protect your information, we cannot guarantee absolute security.

5. Cookies and Tracking Technologies

We use the following types of cookies:

  • Essential cookies: Required for the service to function
  • Analytics cookies: With your consent, help us understand campaign and product-flow performance
  • Preference cookies: Remember your settings and preferences

Third-party services that may set cookies include:

  • Stripe (payment processing)
  • PostHog (consented browser analytics and privacy-minimized operational events)

You can control cookies through your browser settings. Note that disabling essential cookies may affect service functionality.

6. Your Rights

You have the right to:

  • Access and update your personal information
  • Delete your account and associated data
  • Opt out of marketing communications
  • Request a copy of your data

7. Changes to This Policy

We may update this privacy policy from time to time. We will notify you of any changes by posting the new policy on this page and updating the "Last updated" date.

8. Contact Us

If you have any questions about this privacy policy, please contact us at:

Contact: LVTD LLC
Email: rasul@lvtd.dev
Website: https://citeguild.lvtd.dev

9. California Privacy Rights (CCPA)

California residents have specific rights regarding their personal information:

  • Right to know what personal information is collected
  • Right to know if personal information is sold or disclosed
  • Right to say no to the sale of personal information
  • Right to access your personal information
  • Right to equal service and price
  • Right to request deletion of personal information

We do not sell your personal information. To exercise these rights, contact us at rasul@lvtd.dev with "CCPA Request" in the subject line.

10. International Data Transfers

Your information may be transferred to and maintained on servers located outside of your state, province, country, or other governmental jurisdiction where privacy laws may differ. If you are located in the European Economic Area (EEA), we ensure appropriate safeguards are in place for data transfers.

11. European Users' Rights (GDPR)

If you are located in the EEA, you have additional rights under GDPR:

  • Right to access: Request copies of your personal data
  • Right to rectification: Request correction of inaccurate data
  • Right to erasure: Request deletion of your data
  • Right to restrict processing: Request limitation of data processing
  • Right to data portability: Receive your data in a structured format
  • Right to object: Object to processing of your personal data
  • Right to withdraw consent: Withdraw consent at any time

Legal basis for processing: We process your data based on contract performance, legitimate interests, and your consent where applicable.

12. Data Retention

We retain your personal information for as long as necessary to provide our services and fulfill the purposes outlined in this policy. Specifically:

  • Account information: Retained while your account is active
  • Site indexes and derived records: Retained while the site or account is active, then removed from active search and deleted or anonymized when no longer needed
  • Encrypted backups: Rotate under our documented daily, weekly, and monthly retention schedule
  • Payment records: Retained by Stripe and by us as required for tax, accounting, fraud, and dispute obligations
  • Marketing data: Retained until you unsubscribe or request deletion

After account deletion, we may retain certain information for legal compliance, fraud prevention, and dispute resolution purposes.

13. Embedding Service Providers

We use OpenRouter to route page text and search queries to the configured embedding model. OpenRouter and the selected model provider process that data to return numeric vectors used for semantic search. Review their current policies before submitting a site:

Provider handling, retention, and model-training terms can change, so you should review the linked policies directly.

14. Children's Privacy

Our service is not intended for children under 13 (or 16 in the EEA). We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe we have collected information from a child, please contact us immediately.

15. Automated Decision Making

We use embeddings to rank potentially relevant public sources. CiteGuild does not automatically publish citations or make editorial decisions. We do not use this ranking for automated decisions that produce legal or similarly significant effects.

16. Data Breach Notification

In the event of a data breach that affects your personal information, we will notify affected people and relevant authorities within the periods required by applicable law.