Privacy Policy

Effective Date: May 16, 2026 | Last Updated: May 16, 2026

PetaByte ("we," "us," or "our") is committed to protecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, store, and protect your information when you use PetaByte Vault, PetaByte Mail, and related services at petabytemail.com and petabytevault.com.

1. Information We Collect

Account & Identity Information

When you register, we collect your full name, email address, account role, and password (encrypted). For business or enterprise accounts, we may also collect company name and billing contact information.

Profile & Preferences

You may optionally provide a display name, phone number, bio, contact email, shirt size (for merchandise rewards), and notification preferences. Referral codes and counts are tracked for our referral program.

Vault & File Data

We store file names, sizes, URLs, MIME types, folder paths, tags, color labels, workspace identifiers, starred status, version history, access timestamps, sharing permissions, and any user-added notes. We do not inspect the contents of your files except as required for mandatory safety and legal compliance scanning described below.

Email Account Data

For PetaByte Mail accounts, we collect and store your email address, storage quota, usage statistics, account status, and encrypted password credentials.

Content Safety Scanning

All uploaded images and videos are automatically scanned for illegal content including child sexual abuse material (CSAM), pornography, nudity, and other prohibited content using AI-powered content moderation services. All uploaded files are scanned for malware, viruses, worms, ransomware, trojans, and other malicious code using real-time virus scanning APIs. This scanning is mandatory, non-optional, and a condition of using our service.

Data Migration Information

When you use our import tools (e.g., Google Drive migration), we temporarily access your files from those third-party services solely to transfer them into your PetaByte Vault. We do not retain ongoing access or store credentials beyond the active migration session.

Usage & Activity Data

We collect login timestamps, session activity, online status indicators, login frequency, and IP addresses for security monitoring and service improvement purposes.

Payment & Subscription Data

Subscription plan details, storage limits, billing status, and transaction history are recorded. Payment card details are processed exclusively through Stripe — we never store raw card numbers on our servers.

2. How We Use Your Information

Service Delivery: Operating your Vault, Mail, and associated services.
Content Moderation & Safety: Automated scanning of all uploads for malware, viruses, and prohibited content. Violations result in immediate removal and enforcement action per our Terms of Service.
Security & Fraud Prevention: Detecting unauthorized access, abuse, and protecting platform integrity.
Billing & Payments: Processing subscriptions and managing plan upgrades or cancellations.
Communication: Sending service alerts, security notifications, policy violation warnings, account termination notices, and marketing messages (opt-out available).
Data Portability: Providing Gzipped archives of your data upon account closure or policy enforcement.
Eco-Friendly Initiatives: Tracking and reporting our reforestation contributions tied to active subscriptions.
Legal Compliance: Complying with applicable laws, court orders, and cooperating with law enforcement where required, including mandatory reporting of CSAM to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC).
Platform Improvement: Analyzing aggregated, anonymized usage patterns to improve our services.

3. Content Moderation & Prohibited Content

We operate a zero-tolerance policy for the following content categories. All uploads are subject to automated and manual review:

Pornography or sexually explicit material
Nudity uploaded without lawful context
Child sexual abuse material (CSAM) — immediately reported to law enforcement
Malware, viruses, worms, ransomware, trojans, spyware, and any malicious code
Corrupted or weaponized data files
Content that violates applicable law

Enforcement: Detected prohibited content is immediately deleted. First violations result in a formal warning. Second violations result in immediate subscription cancellation with no refund, Gzip export of compliant data made available for download, and permanent account deletion after the legally required retention period.

4. How We Protect Your Information

Encryption: Data is encrypted in transit (TLS/SSL) and at rest.
Virus & Malware Scanning: All uploaded files are scanned in real-time before storage.
AI Content Moderation: Images and videos are screened by AI-powered moderation APIs upon upload.
Access Controls: Role-based access controls limit data visibility to authorized users only.
Security Monitoring: Continuous logging and alerting for suspicious access patterns.
Secure Payments: All payment processing handled by PCI-DSS compliant Stripe infrastructure.

5. Sharing Your Information

Service Providers: Trusted vendors (Stripe, cloud infrastructure, content scanning APIs, email delivery) under strict data protection agreements.
Law Enforcement: We cooperate fully with valid legal requests, subpoenas, and court orders. CSAM is always reported regardless of legal demand.
Business Transfers: In the event of a merger or acquisition, your data may transfer with appropriate notice.
We do not sell your personal data.

6. Data Retention & Deletion

We retain your data for as long as your account is active. Upon voluntary account closure:

Your files remain available for 30 days before permanent deletion.
Backup copies may persist for up to 90 days before full purge.

Upon policy-enforcement termination, your compliant data is Gzipped and a signed download link is provided for the legally required retention period. After that period, all data and account records are permanently and irrecoverably deleted.

7. Your Rights

Access & Correction: View and update your data via your Profile page.
Deletion: Request account and data deletion by contacting us.
Data Portability: Request a copy of your data in a standard format.
Opt-Out of Marketing: Unsubscribe from promotional emails at any time.
Withdraw Consent: Where processing is consent-based, you may withdraw at any time.

8. Contact Us

For privacy questions, data requests, or concerns:

Email: privacy@petabytemail.com

Website: petabytevault.com

We reserve the right to update this Privacy Policy. Material changes will be communicated via email and posted on our website with an updated effective date.