privacy policy

This policy applies to all information collected or submitted on Mesh’s website and our apps for iPhone and any other devices and platforms.

Information we collect

Mesh accounts are created with, and tied to, a phone number or email address.You may optionally change the identifying information associated with your account, or delete your account, at any time in Mesh’s app. Email addresses are only used for logging in, password resets, responding to emails that you initiate, and sending notifications that you request. We don’t send promotional emails.We store information about your communities, posts, and other activities on the site to sync between our website and your devices. We also collect statistics about usage in order to discover find and fix bugs.

Technical basics

If you enable notifications, we store a token to send them. Communities that you are a part of may use notifications for their own purposes; if you don't like the way a community behaves, you can report it to Mesh or simply leave the community. Mesh itself never uses notifications for marketing.If you upload files to Mesh, we store them until you delete them.If you subscribe to a password-protected community, we need to store the credentials you provide in order to access the community. These credentials are kept entirely on-device in secure storage, and never sent directly to Mesh.We use local storage on the website and similar tokens in the app to keep you logged in.Our server software may also store basic technical information, such as your IP address, in temporary memory or logs.

Third-party providers

We use services from Heroku, Amazon AWS, Twilio, SendGrid, and Netlify to implement the Mesh backend services. Each one has access to some basic technical information to perform their role.

Ads and analytics

Mesh’s app may collect aggregate, anonymous statistics, such as the percentage of users who use particular features, to improve the app.Mesh does not run ads at present, though we may in the future. When we do allow advertising sometime in the future, our current intent is that ads will only be allowed to target whole communities whose leaders have elected to receive advertisements. We believe in the protection of personal information and explicitly dislike microtargeting of individual users.

Information usage

We use the information we collect to operate and improve our website, apps, and customer support.We do not share personal information with outside parties except to the extent necessary to accomplish Mesh’s functionality. We may share anonymous, aggregate statistics with outside parties, such as how many people are in public communities related to a particular topic.We may disclose your information in response to subpoenas, court orders, or other legal requirements; to exercise our legal rights or defend against legal claims; to investigate, prevent, or take action regarding illegal activities, suspected fraud or abuse, violations of our policies; or to protect our rights and property.In the future, we may sell to, buy, merge with, or partner with other businesses. In such transactions, user information may be among the transferred assets.

Security

We implement a variety of security measures to help keep your information secure. For instance, all communication with the app and website requires HTTPS with certificate pinning. Passwords are hashed, not stored, using industry-standard methods.

Accessing, changing, or deleting information

You may access or change your information or delete your account from the Mesh iOS app. Deleted information may be kept in backups for up to 90 days. Backups are encrypted and are only accessed if needed for disaster recovery.Mesh may delete your information at any time and for any reason, such as technical needs, legal concerns, abuse prevention, removal of idle accounts, data loss, or any other reason.

Third-party links and content

Mesh displays links and content from third-party websites, if it's shared by another person in your community. These websites have their own independent privacy policies, and we have no responsibility or liability for their content or activities.

California Online Privacy Protection Act Compliance

We comply with the California Online Privacy Protection Act. We therefore will not distribute your personal information to outside parties without your consent.

Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act Compliance

We never collect or maintain information at our website from those we actually know are under 13, and no part of our website is structured to attract anyone under 13.

Information for European Union Customers

By using Mesh and providing your information, you authorize us to collect, use, and store your information outside of the European Union.

International Transfers of Information

Information may be processed, stored, and used outside of the country in which you are located. Data privacy laws vary across jurisdictions, and different laws may be applicable to your data depending on where it is processed, stored, or used.

Your Consent

By using our site or apps, you consent to our privacy policy.

Contacting Us

If you have questions regarding this privacy policy, you may email privacy@meshcommunities.us. Please note that account deletion should be done within the Mesh app, not via email requests, for security reasons.

Changes to this policy

If we decide to change our privacy policy, we will post those changes on this page. Summary of changes so far: (October 8, 2019 - First published).