Privacy Policy

Mauk Family Systems ("we", "our", "the platform") is a private digital home for our family's lineage, stories, and memories. We treat the personal information shared by every member, elder, and guardian with the same care we give to a family heirloom. This policy explains what we collect, why we collect it, and the safeguards that keep it within the family.

1. Information we collect

• Account details: name, email, password (encrypted), profile photo.
• Family record: date of birth, anniversary, gender, generation, parents, spouse, children, education, occupation, place of residence, biography, and photographs that you or a family admin add.
• Engagement data: the families and members you view, contributions you submit, and notifications you interact with.
• Technical data: device, browser, IP address, and basic logs needed to keep the site secure.

2. How we use your information

• Placing you in the correct generation within your family tree.
• Sharing birthday, anniversary, and remembrance greetings with relatives.
• Allowing family admins to verify and approve new members.
• Sending essential service emails (approvals, password resets, important family notices).
• Protecting the platform against abuse, spam, and unauthorised access.

3. Who can see your information

Family information is shared only with approved members of your family. We do not sell, rent, or trade your data. Public profiles are limited to what a family admin explicitly marks as public (for example, the family's name and motto). Sensitive details such as date of birth, contact, and address remain visible only inside your approved family circle.

4. Children and elders

Records for minors and senior family members are added by a parent, guardian, or family admin who is responsible for the accuracy and appropriateness of those details. We honour requests from guardians to correct or remove such records.

5. Your rights

You may at any time:

• Review and edit the details on your own profile.
• Ask a family admin to update or remove a member record that relates to you.
• Request a copy of the personal information we hold about you.
• Request deletion of your account and personal data (some shared family records may be retained in anonymised form for tree continuity).

6. Security

Data is stored on encrypted, access-controlled infrastructure. Row-level security rules ensure that no family can read another family's records. Passwords are hashed and never visible to administrators. Despite our best efforts no system is perfectly secure — please report any concerns immediately via our contact page.

7. Cookies

We use a small number of strictly necessary cookies for login sessions and language preferences. We do not run third-party advertising or behavioural tracking.

8. Changes

If this policy changes in a meaningful way, we will notify approved members by email and post a notice at the top of this page.

9. Contact

Questions about your data or this policy? Reach the family administrators via the contact page.