Privacy Policy & Data Protection

1. Our Core Philosophy: Whistleblower Safety & Data Minimization

CorruptionGram exists to empower citizens and document civic negligence, public infrastructure defects, and administrative misconduct. We believe nobody should suffer harassment or retaliation for reporting the truth. Our technological architecture follows a strict data minimization model: we intentionally avoid collecting identifying details that are not required to verify and route civic issues.

2. Data We DO NOT Collect or Associate with Reports

• No IP Logging on Reports: We do not store or link IP addresses with submitted citizen reports in our database. Ephemeral request IPs may only be evaluated by automated network firewalls for rate-limiting, bot prevention, and DDoS protection.
• No Mandatory National IDs: We never ask for Aadhaar, PAN, voter ID, or passport credentials to submit a grievance.
• No Third-Party Ad Trackers: We do not sell user data or install behavioral ad-tracking beacons.
• Stripped Device Fingerprints: Camera serial numbers, hardware models, and device GPS tags are removed from uploaded image files.

3. Information We Collect and Process

Depending on how you interact with CorruptionGram, the platform processes:

• Public Incident Reports: Title, description, state, district/city, targeted department (e.g. Municipal Corporation, PWD, Electricity Board), category, optional estimated financial impact, and uploaded media evidence.
• Citizen Accounts (Optional): If you sign up using our authentication service, your verified email address and chosen display name are stored securely for login session management and report tracking.
• Direct Inquiries: If you contact us via our contact form, your name, email, and inquiry subject are processed solely to respond to your request.
• Local Device Preferences: UI theme (Light/Dark mode) and bookmarked items are stored purely on your local device (localStorage).

4. Automated Image EXIF Sanitization

When image evidence (JPEG, PNG, WEBP, AVIF) is uploaded to CorruptionGram, our media pipeline processes the image using an automated sanitization filter before storing it. This strips:

Note: For video or raw document uploads, metadata sanitization depends on file formats; we advise whistleblowers to check device camera privacy settings before capturing sensitive recordings.

5. Evidence Integrity & Legal Inquiries

Evidence files can be verified using cryptographic checksums (SHA-256) to ensure media has not been altered or tampered with following submission. If served with a lawful court order or government warrant, CorruptionGram complies with applicable law; however, under our data minimization policy, we cannot provide personal identities or report-linked IP records that our systems do not collect.

6. Your Rights & Account Deletion

You retain rights over your account under applicable data protection laws. You can delete your profile at any time through your profile settings or by contacting our team. Upon account deletion, personal account credentials are removed from our active databases.