Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy explains how Don't Open Me (“we,” “us”) collects, uses, and shares information when you use the Service. It is part of our Terms of Use. Capitalized words have the meanings in the Terms.

1. Information we collect

Account information: email address, display name you choose, optional username, and sign-in identifiers from Google, X, or email/password. We do not use your legal name in public search unless you type it as your display name.

Capsule Content: letters, messages, photographs, quotes, memories, and titles you upload. This is stored so we can show it to you and, if you listed a year as public and the opening date has arrived, to visitors of that lockbox and to our public search. Opened public Content may be indexed by us and by third-party search engines. Content is encrypted at rest while sealed. Encryption is not a guarantee against all access and does not keep public Content private after it opens.

Listing metadata, if you opt in: display name, optional username, capsule name, opening year, created year, and a shareable lockbox address. Email addresses, passwords, payment details, and sealed Content are not searchable.

Payments: processed by Stripe. We receive payment status, amount, opening year or storage package, Stripe customer and payment identifiers, and timestamps. We do not store full card numbers.

Notify-me emails: if a visitor asks to be told when a listed lockbox opens, we store that email, verification tokens, and related timestamps until they unsubscribe or we delete stale records.

Technical data: IP address, device and browser type, approximate location derived from IP, cookies or similar tokens needed to keep you signed in, and basic logs to operate, secure, and debug the Service.

2. How we use information

We use information to: create and authenticate accounts; store, encrypt, show, edit, and delete your Content at your request; run the 5-day free period and paid entitlements; process payments; show listed lockboxes in search; send opening-day notices that a visitor requested; prevent abuse and fraud; comply with law; and improve the Service.

We do not sell your personal information. We do not use sealed Content to train public AI models.

3. When we share information

Service providers that host, process payments, send email, or authenticate users, under contracts that limit their use of the data. Stripe for payments. Law enforcement or others if we believe disclosure is required by law, legal process, or to protect rights, safety, or the Service. A buyer or successor if the Service is sold, merged, or transferred. The public, only for listing metadata and opened Content that you designated as public. Once a public capsule opens, messages, photographs, names, quotes, and other items inside may be shown on the lockbox page, listed in Recently Opened, and found by search. Other visitors never see sealed Contents, your email, or payment details through search.

4. Retention

Account and Content are kept until you delete them or your free period expires without payment for that year. Payment records are kept as needed for accounting, tax, dispute, and fraud purposes. Backups may hold residual copies for a limited time. Logs are kept only as long as needed for security and operations.

5. Your choices

You can view, edit, and delete your Content in your year vault. You can unlist a lockbox. You can delete stored Content from your profile. You can close the session with Log out. Notify-me recipients can unsubscribe. Depending on where you live, you may have rights to access, correct, delete, or export personal information, or to object to certain processing. We will not discriminate against you for exercising rights the law gives you. Some requests may be refused where the law allows (for example, to keep payment records we must keep).

6. Children

The Service is for adults 18 and over. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child has used the Service, contact us and we will delete the account data we can identify.

7. Security

We use encryption at rest for sealed fields, access controls, and industry-standard payment processing. No method of transmission or storage is 100% secure. You use the Service at your own risk.

8. International visitors

The Service is operated from the United States. If you use it from another country, you consent to transfer of your information to the United States, which may have different data-protection rules than your home country.

9. Changes

We may update this Policy. The “Effective” date will change. Continued use means you accept the updated Policy.

10. Contact

Privacy requests may be sent from the email address on your account, or through any contact method posted on the Service.