Legal

Privacy Policy

This policy explains what CONCISE collects, why, how it's used to run and personalize the product, who it's shared with, and the choices and rights you have over it.

Last updated: August 15, 2026
Note: CONCISE is based in India and built for a global audience, so this policy is written with India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 as our home framework, layered with the additional rights we extend to users under the GDPR (EU/UK), the CCPA/CPRA (California), and other regional data protection laws — based on where you live, not where we intend to incorporate. This is a comprehensive outline, in cross-border data protection compliance — particularly India's rules on cross-border data transfer under the DPDP Act — for every jurisdiction our users are in.

1. Information We Collect

CONCISE is built to organize public news reporting, not to be a data-collection product. We collect the minimum we need to authenticate you, run the service, and personalize your feed.

1.1 Account & authentication data

When you sign in with "Continue with Google," Google shares your name, email address, profile picture, and a unique account identifier with us, in accordance with the permissions you approve at sign-in. We do not receive or store your Google password.

1.2 Usage & personalization data

To power features like The Latest and your personal "For You" page, we log which stories, sources, topics, and entities you view, click, or set as preferences in Settings. This activity is what allows your feed to become more relevant over time.

1.3 Device & log data

Like most web services, our servers automatically record technical information when you use CONCISE — IP address, browser and device type, operating system, pages visited, referring/exit pages, and timestamps.

1.4 Cookies & session data

We use a session cookie to keep you signed in and a small number of preference cookies to remember display settings. See Section 3 for details.

1.5 What we do not collect

  • We do not currently process payments, so we do not collect payment card or billing details.
  • We do not ask for or knowingly collect sensitive categories of data — such as health information, racial or ethnic origin, religious beliefs, or government ID numbers — as part of using CONCISE.
  • We do not scrape or access your Google Drive, Gmail, or other Google services beyond the basic profile information needed to create your account.

2. How We Use Information

We use the information described above to:

  • Create and authenticate your account, and keep you signed in securely
  • Operate core features — The Latest, story clustering, perspective comparison, and your personalized "For You" feed
  • Remember your settings, such as followed topics, sources, or display preferences
  • Maintain the security and integrity of the service, including detecting abuse, spam, or unauthorized access
  • Understand aggregate usage patterns so we can improve clustering, ranking, and the product generally
  • Communicate with you about your account or material changes to our service or this policy

We do not use your personal data to train third-party advertising profiles, and — as of this policy's last update — CONCISE does not display third-party advertising or sell audience data to advertisers.

3. Cookies & Similar Technologies

We use a small number of cookies, each for a specific purpose:

  • Session cookies — keep you signed in as you move between pages; these expire when you sign out or after a period of inactivity.
  • Preference cookies — remember display and feed settings so you don't have to reset them each visit.

We do not currently use third-party advertising or cross-site tracking cookies. You can block or delete cookies through your browser settings at any time; doing so may sign you out or reset your preferences.

4. How We Share Information

We do not sell your personal information. We share it only in these limited circumstances:

  • Service providers — infrastructure, hosting, database, and authentication providers (including Google, for Sign-In) who process data on our behalf, under confidentiality and data-protection obligations, solely to help us run CONCISE.
  • Legal requirements — where required to comply with applicable law, regulation, legal process, or a valid governmental request.
  • Safety & integrity — to investigate and prevent fraud, abuse, security incidents, or violations of our terms.
  • Business transfers — if CONCISE is involved in a merger, acquisition, or asset sale, your information may transfer as part of that transaction; we'll notify you before it becomes subject to a different privacy policy.

We do not share your personal data with the publishers whose headlines appear on CONCISE. Visiting an article through a "Read full article" link is a direct visit to that publisher's own site, governed by their own policy — see Section 5.

6. Data Retention

We retain your account information for as long as your account remains active. Usage and personalization data is retained for as long as it's useful for the purpose it was collected — typically the life of your account — after which it is deleted or anonymized on a routine basis.

If you delete your account, we delete or anonymize your personal data within a reasonable period, except where we're required to retain certain records to comply with legal obligations, resolve disputes, or enforce our agreements.

7. Data Security

We use reasonable technical and organizational measures to protect your information, including encrypting data in transit, restricting internal access on a need-to-know basis, and using authentication providers (Google Sign-In) rather than storing passwords ourselves.

No method of transmission or storage is 100% secure. If we become aware of a security incident affecting your personal data, we will notify affected users and relevant authorities as required by applicable law.

8. Your Rights & Choices

Depending on where you live, you may have some or all of the following rights over your personal data. Where these rights don't already exist in your jurisdiction, we extend them to you as a matter of practice wherever we reasonably can:

  • Access — request a copy of the personal data we hold about you
  • Correction — ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete data
  • Deletion — ask us to delete your account and associated personal data
  • Portability — request your data in a portable, machine-readable format
  • Objection & restriction — object to, or ask us to limit, certain processing
  • Withdraw consent — where processing is based on consent, withdraw it at any time
  • Opt out of personalization — turn off the personalized "For You" feed in Settings and use a non-personalized version of The Latest instead

Region-specific notes

European Economic Area & UK (GDPR): you have the rights above under the General Data Protection Regulation, and the right to lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority.

California (CCPA/CPRA): California residents have the right to know, delete, and correct personal information, and to opt out of the sale or sharing of personal information — CONCISE does not sell personal information as defined under the CCPA/CPRA.

India (DPDP Act, 2023): as a Data Principal, you have the right to access a summary of your personal data and its processing, request correction or erasure, nominate another individual to exercise your rights in the event of death or incapacity, and grievance redressal — see Section 12 to reach our grievance contact.

To exercise any of these rights, contact us using the details in Section 12; we may need to verify your identity before acting on a request.

9. Children's Privacy

CONCISE is not directed at children, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under the age of 13 (or the minimum age required by your local law, if higher). If we learn that we've collected personal data from a child without verified parental consent, we will delete it. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, please contact us using the details below.

10. International Data Transfers

Your information may be processed and stored on servers located outside your country of residence, including in countries whose data protection laws may differ from those of your home jurisdiction. Where we transfer personal data internationally, we use appropriate safeguards — such as standard contractual clauses or equivalent mechanisms — as required by applicable law.

11. Changes to This Policy

We may update this policy from time to time as CONCISE evolves. If we make material changes, we'll update the "Last updated" date above and, where required by law, notify you directly — for example, by email or an in-product notice — before the changes take effect.

12. Contact Us

If you have questions about this policy, want to exercise any of the rights described in Section 8, or want to raise a privacy concern or grievance, contact us at:

Email: connect@concise.plus
Postal address: IIT Delhi, Hauz Khas, New Delhi-110016, India.