Privacy Policy

This policy explains how BringBooks collects, holds, uses, and discloses personal information, and how you can access or correct it, in line with the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth).

1. Who this policy covers

BringBooks (“we”, “us”) operates the BringBooks personal library application at bringbooks.com. This policy applies to anyone who signs up for or uses BringBooks.

2. What personal information we collect

• Account details: your name, email address, and a securely hashed password.
• Library data you add: book titles, authors, notes, quotes, reading status/progress, and — if you choose to enter it — purchase price, purchase date, seller, and insurance value for individual books.
• Community content: messages, reactions, and shared books you post in BringBooks’ community chat, visible to other approved members.
• App preferences: settings like theme, notification, and AI-feature toggles.
• Technical data: standard server logs (IP address, browser type, timestamps) generated by normal web traffic.

3. How we collect it

Directly from you — when you request access, add books to your library, adjust settings, or use community features. We don’t buy personal information from third parties or collect it from social media.

4. Why we collect and use it

• To create and run your BringBooks account, including admin approval of new sign-ups.
• To operate the features you use: your library, reading tracker, notes, and community chat.
• To notify the library owner by email when a new account requests access.
• To personalise the app for you (e.g. dashboard picks, reading suggestions) where you’ve opted in via Settings.
• To keep the service secure and diagnose technical problems.

We do not use your personal information for advertising, and we do not sell it.

5. Who we disclose it to

We use the following service providers to run BringBooks. Each only receives what it needs to provide its service, under its own terms:

• Neon (database hosting) — stores your account and library data. Hosted on Amazon Web Services in the United States.
• Vercel (application hosting) — runs the BringBooks application itself.
• Resend (email delivery) — sends the new-signup approval notification email. Based in the United States.

Overseas storage: because of the providers above, your personal information is stored and processed on servers located outside Australia, principally in the United States. We choose providers with strong security and privacy commitments of their own, but by using BringBooks you understand your information may be handled overseas and outside the direct reach of Australian privacy enforcement.

We don’t disclose your personal information to anyone else, except where required by law.

6. Data security

Passwords are never stored in plain text — they’re hashed with bcrypt. Sessions use secure, HTTP-only cookies. Access to administrative functions (approving accounts, managing members) is restricted to the super admin. No method of storage or transmission is 100% secure, but we take reasonable technical steps to protect your information.

7. How long we keep it

We keep your account and library data for as long as your account is active. If you ask us to delete your account (see below), we’ll remove your personal information within a reasonable time, except where we need to retain something to meet a legal obligation.

8. Access, correction, and deletion

Most of your information — library data, notes, settings — can be viewed and corrected directly inside the app. For anything else, including requesting a copy of your data or deleting your account entirely, email hello@bringbooks.com. We’ll respond within a reasonable timeframe.

9. Cookies

BringBooks uses a single essential cookie to keep you signed in. See our Cookie Policy for details.

10. Children’s privacy

BringBooks isn’t directed at children and we don’t knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 16. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, contact us and we’ll remove it.

11. Complaints

If you think we’ve mishandled your personal information, contact us first at hello@bringbooks.com so we can try to resolve it. If you’re not satisfied with our response, you can lodge a complaint with the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) at oaic.gov.au.

12. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as BringBooks changes. We’ll update the “Last updated” date above when we do. Continued use of BringBooks after a change means you accept the update.

13. Contact us

Questions about this policy or your personal information: email hello@bringbooks.com.