GoSip Privacy Policy
Last updated: 21 August 2026
GoSip lets verified residents of a housing society discuss community matters under a pseudonym. This policy explains what we collect, who can see it, and — importantly — the precise limits of that pseudonymity. Please read section 3 in particular. Anyone promising you total anonymity is either mistaken or lying.
1. Who is responsible for your data
GoSip is operated by Gautam Anand, an individual based in Bengaluru, India, acting as the data fiduciary (controller) for the purposes of India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023.
Privacy queries: gosipavenues@gmail.com
2. What we collect
| Data | Why |
|---|---|
| Email address | The only sign-in credential. Used to send you a one-time code, to contact you if something you post is actioned, and to prevent one person holding many accounts. |
| Flat or unit number | Proves you live in the society and enforces the limit of three accounts per flat. Stored encrypted. |
| Your handle | The pseudonym other residents see. Chosen by you. |
| What you post | Posts, comments, reactions, poll votes, reports you submit, and replies you give when someone names you. |
| Moderation records | Automated risk scores, moderator decisions, warnings, strikes and an append-only audit log. Kept so decisions can be explained, appealed and reviewed. |
| Technical data | Session tokens and basic request logs needed to keep you signed in and to detect abuse. |
We do not ask for your name, phone number, contacts, location, photos library or any government identifier. The app requests no location, contacts or SMS permission.
3. What pseudonymity does and does not mean
This is the part that matters most, so it is stated plainly.
Your neighbours and your committee cannot identify you
Other residents see only your handle. Your email address and your flat number are never shown to them, are not searchable, and are not visible to your managing committee. A society administrator can manage the member roster and invite codes; they have no power to read, remove, approve or reject anything you write. That separation is enforced in the database itself, not merely in the interface.
GoSip can identify you, and in some cases must
We hold the link between your handle and your account. We use it to act on harassment and abuse, and we will disclose it where a court order, or a lawful order from an authorised government agency, requires us to. Every internal access to that link is logged. We tell you this up front so you can decide what to write.
Context can identify you even when we do not
In a building where people know each other, details such as your floor, your car, your working hours or a dispute only a few people know about may allow a determined neighbour to work out who you are. No app can prevent that. Write as though someone who knows the building is reading.
4. Automated moderation, and the AI involved
Every post and comment is screened before it becomes visible. Screening has two stages: a set of fixed rules, and an automated classifier that scores the text for risks such as threats, personal information, hate speech and unsubstantiated allegations.
To do this, the text of your post or comment is sent to Anthropic PBC's API for classification. Anthropic processes it on our behalf as a service provider and does not use it to train models. Your email address, flat number and handle are not sent — only the text itself. If that screening is unavailable, posting stops rather than publishing unscreened content.
The classifier only produces signals. Whether something is published, held or refused is decided by fixed thresholds, and anything that names a person or a flat is reviewed by a human moderator before it appears. You can appeal any enforcement action, and an appeal is decided by a person.
5. Where your data is stored
Application data is stored with Supabase. During the current testing period the database is hosted in Seoul, South Korea. We are migrating it to Supabase's Mumbai, India region, and this page will be updated to say so once that migration is complete.
Content submitted for moderation is processed by Anthropic in the United States. Both Supabase and Anthropic act as processors under contract.
6. Who we share data with
- Service providers — Supabase (hosting and database), Anthropic (content classification), and an email delivery provider for sign-in codes. Each processes data only to provide that service.
- Courts and authorised agencies — where a valid legal order requires it. Orders are verified before they are acted on; we do not act on an unverified request, because that would let anyone with a convincing letterhead remove criticism of themselves.
- A person you name — if you post about an identifiable person, they may be told that a post concerns them and given a right to reply. They are not told who wrote it.
We do not sell personal data, and we do not run advertising.
7. How long we keep it
- Account data — while your account is active, and for a short period afterwards to complete any open moderation matter.
- Posts you delete — removed from view immediately and retained for 90 days for moderation and legal purposes, then deleted.
- Handle history — retained internally so enforcement continues to work if you change your handle.
- Moderation and access logs — retained as an append-only record, because a decision that cannot be audited cannot be challenged.
8. Your rights
Under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 you may ask us to:
- give you a copy of the personal data we hold about you;
- correct data that is wrong or incomplete;
- erase your account and personal data, subject to records we must keep for legal or safety reasons;
- nominate someone to exercise these rights if you cannot.
You can request an export or an erasure from within the app under Settings, or by writing to the address in section 1. We respond within 30 days.
9. Grievance Officer
In accordance with Rule 3(2) of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, the Grievance Officer for GoSip is:
- Name: Gautam Anand
- Email: gosipavenues@gmail.com
Complaints are acknowledged within 24 hours and resolved within 15 days. Reports of non-consensual intimate imagery are acted on within 24 hours.
10. Children
GoSip is for adults. You must be 18 or older to create an account. We do not knowingly collect data from anyone under 18; if we learn that we have, we delete the account.
11. Security
Email addresses and flat numbers are encrypted at rest. Identity data is held in a separate database schema that the application's client-facing role cannot reach at all, so a compromised app session cannot read an email address. Access to the link between an account and a handle is restricted and logged.
No system is perfectly secure. If a breach affects your personal data we will notify you and the Data Protection Board as required.
12. Changes
We will update this page if our practices change, and will change the date at the top. Material changes will be notified in the app.