At DevScrolls, accessible from devscrolls.dev, we respect your privacy and are committed to protecting the personal information you share with us. This Privacy Policy explains what data we collect, how it is processed and stored, and your rights regarding your information.
If you have questions or require more information about our Privacy Policy or data practices, contact us directly at santhanakrishnanstark@gmail.com.
1. Information We Collect
Depending on how you interact with DevScrolls, we collect information in the following categories:
Account and Authentication Data
To participate in article discussions, comment threads, and community reactions, you may authenticate using third-party identity providers: Google Identity Services or GitHub OAuth.
When you authenticate via these providers, we receive basic public profile information provided by the respective OAuth service:
- Full name / display name (used to attribute your comments and replies)
- Email address (used for account identification, spam prevention, and optional subscription preferences)
- Profile picture / avatar URL (displayed alongside your public comments)
- Unique provider ID (to securely link your session across visits)
We do not collect, process, or store passwords for external OAuth accounts.
Google API Services User Data Policy
DevScrolls' use and transfer of information received from Google APIs to any other app adheres to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements. Specifically:
- We only request authentication scopes necessary to identify you (name, email, profile picture) for the commenting platform.
- We do not sell, rent, or transfer your Google user data to any advertising platforms, data brokers, or information resellers.
- We do not use your Google user data to serve personalized advertisements or train artificial intelligence or machine learning models.
User-Generated Content
When you post a comment, reply to a thread, or react to an article, that content (including comment text, timestamps, article identifiers, and vote counts) is stored in our database. Your display name and avatar will be publicly associated with your published comments.
Newsletter Subscriptions
When you subscribe to the DevScrolls newsletter (either via our newsletter subscription forms or by checking the optional subscription box when posting a comment), we collect your email address and first name. This information is processed by our email distribution provider, Kit (ConvertKit), solely to deliver technical articles and engineering deep dives.
Contact and Moderation Forms
When you submit messages through our contact form or post new comments, submission details (name, email address, message or comment body) are dispatched to Formspree to alert site maintainers for review and spam moderation.
Server Logs and Analytics
Like most websites, our hosting provider (Vercel) automatically logs standard network requests, including IP addresses, browser user agent, operating system, referrer URLs, and request timestamps for infrastructure reliability and security defense.
For site performance and traffic insights, we use Umami Analytics. Umami is a cookieless, privacy-first analytics tool that does not collect personally identifiable information (PII), does not track visitors across websites, and complies with GDPR, CCPA, and PECR without requiring cookie banners.
2. How We Store and Protect Your Data
We implement strict data architecture practices to safeguard your personal information:
- Database and Authentication: Authentication sessions, user profiles, comments, and claps are managed through Supabase, hosted on secure cloud infrastructure. All data in transit is encrypted using modern TLS (HTTPS), and data at rest is encrypted using industry-standard AES-256 encryption.
- Row-Level Security (RLS): Our database employs PostgreSQL Row-Level Security policies ensuring that authenticated users can only edit or delete their own comments.
- Session Tokens: Authentication tokens are stored locally in your browser's local storage or secure cookies to keep you signed in. You can terminate your session at any time by clicking "Sign Out" in the discussion header.
3. Third-Party Service Providers
We work with trusted third-party services that process data strictly on our behalf under defined contractual terms:
- Supabase Inc. — Backend database hosting, authentication management, and PostgreSQL Row-Level Security.
- Google LLC — Identity Services for authentication via Google accounts.
- GitHub Inc. (Microsoft) — OAuth authentication via GitHub accounts.
- Kit (ConvertKit) — Email newsletter distribution, list management, and automated subscription management.
- Formspree Inc. — Contact form handling and discussion notification alerts for moderation.
- Umami — Privacy-first, cookieless analytics.
- Vercel Inc. — Global Content Delivery Network (CDN) and edge hosting.
4. Cookies and Local Storage
DevScrolls uses minimal browser storage required for core functionality:
- Essential Storage: Browser local storage and cookies used by Supabase to maintain your authenticated login session and remember your selected theme (dark or light mode).
- Advertising Cookies (if applicable): Google and third-party vendors may use cookies, such as DoubleClick DART cookies, to serve relevant advertisements based on prior visits to this and other websites. You may opt out of personalized advertising by visiting Google Ads Settings.
You can manage or disable cookies through your web browser preferences at any time.
5. Data Retention and Deletion Rights
We retain your information only as long as necessary to provide our services and maintain community discussions:
- Self-Service Comment Deletion: You can delete any comment you have authored directly in the discussion section on any article page by clicking the delete option on your comment while signed in.
- Account Deletion: If you wish to delete your entire account profile, associated authentication records, and discussion history, send an email from your authenticated email address to santhanakrishnanstark@gmail.com. We will process and purge your account data within 30 days.
- Newsletter Unsubscribe: Every newsletter email sent via Kit contains an instant, one-click unsubscribe link in the footer. You can opt out at any time.
6. CCPA / CPRA Privacy Rights (California Residents)
Under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA), California residents have the right to:
- Request disclosure of the categories and specific pieces of personal data collected about you.
- Request deletion of your personal data held by us.
- Request correction of inaccurate personal data.
- Opt out of the sale or sharing of your personal data. (DevScrolls does not sell or share personal data with data brokers or advertisers).
- Receive equal service and pricing without discrimination for exercising privacy rights.
To exercise these rights, please email santhanakrishnanstark@gmail.com. We will acknowledge and verify your request within 45 days.
7. GDPR Data Protection Rights (EEA and UK Residents)
Under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), users located in the European Economic Area (EEA) and United Kingdom hold the following rights:
- Right to access: You may request copies of the personal data we hold about you.
- Right to rectification: You may request that we correct any inaccurate or incomplete information.
- Right to erasure ("Right to be forgotten"): You may request the deletion of your personal data and account records.
- Right to restrict processing: You may request that we limit the processing of your personal data under certain conditions.
- Right to object: You may object to our processing of your personal data based on legitimate interests or direct communications.
- Right to data portability: You may request a machine-readable export of the data you provided to us.
To exercise any of these rights, contact us at santhanakrishnanstark@gmail.com. We respond to all verified requests within one month.
8. Children's Information
DevScrolls is a professional engineering publication designed for developers and technologists. We do not knowingly collect or solicit personal information from children under the age of 13. If you believe that a child has provided personal information on our site, please contact us immediately so we can promptly delete the data from our systems.
9. Updates to This Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy periodically to reflect architectural changes, new platform integrations, or legal requirements. Any modifications will be posted on this page with an updated "Last updated" date. Continued use of DevScrolls after updates constitutes acceptance of the revised policy.