Privacy Policy - Bower AI | Data Protection & Privacy

Welcome to Bower Industries' Privacy Policy. Bower Industries ("Bower," "we," or "us") is a Miami-Dade, Florida-based startup providing AI-powered geolocation intelligence services. We respect your privacy and are committed to protecting your personal information in line with applicable laws like the GDPR and CCPA. This Privacy Policy explains what data we collect, how we use and protect it, and the choices and rights you have regarding your information.

Introduction

By using our website, platform, or services (including our InsightsAI image geolocation tool), you agree to the practices described in this Policy. Our company is run by a young founder who is passionate about technology and user privacy. We strive to be transparent and straightforward about our data practices, without hiding behind excessive legal jargon.

Please note: We are not lawyers and do not offer legal counsel – this document is a candid explanation of our privacy practices, not formal legal advice. That said, we are serious about safeguarding your data and doing the right thing. If you have any questions or concerns about this Policy or your data, feel free to contact us at the email or address provided at the end of this document.

Information We Collect

Bower collects a variety of information from and about users in order to provide and improve our services. This includes:

Contact and Account Information:

If you create an account, register on our platform, or contact us for support, we collect information such as your name, email address, organization/company name, and any other information you choose to provide. This also includes credentials (like username and password) for your account on our services.

Geolocation Data:

We collect location-related data through multiple methods. For example, we may collect precise geolocation information from your mobile device if you grant permission, or infer your general location from your IP address or device settings. Because geolocation data can identify or pinpoint an individual's whereabouts, privacy laws treat it as personal data – accordingly, we handle it with a high level of care and security.

Image Uploads and Content:

A core feature of our service is InsightsAI, which allows you to upload photos or images so our AI can infer the location depicted. When you provide an image for analysis, we collect that image and any associated metadata (such as EXIF data containing camera settings or timestamps). Please be aware that photos can sometimes reveal location information even if you've removed obvious metadata.

Device and Browser Information:

Like many online services, we automatically collect technical information about the device and browser you use to access Bower. This may include your device type, operating system version, browser type and version, language preferences, network domain, and other device identifiers.

Usage Data:

We collect data about how you interact with our website and platform. This includes timestamps and logs of when you log in or access our services, the pages or features you visit, the searches or queries you run, clicks and navigation paths, and other usage metrics.

Cookies and Tracking Data:

We use cookies and similar tracking technologies to collect additional website usage data and to improve your experience. Cookies are small text files placed on your device that store information about your interactions with a website.

How We Use Your Information

We use the personal information we collect for various legitimate business and operational purposes. In particular, Bower uses your information in the following ways:

To Provide Services and Features: We use your data to operate our platform and deliver the features you expect. We process the images and geolocation data you submit in order to generate the location intelligence results or InsightsAI analysis you request.
To Improve and Develop Our Services: We continually work to enhance Bower's offerings. The data we collect helps us understand what is working well and what could be better. We analyze usage patterns and feedback to debug issues, optimize our algorithms, and develop new features.
To Personalize User Experience: Some data is used to tailor the service to you. For example, we might use cookies to remember your preferences (like language or display settings) so that you have a consistent and convenient experience.
To Communicate with You: We may use your contact information to send you service-related communications. These include transactional emails and notifications of important updates or security alerts.
For Security and Abuse Prevention: Ensuring the security of our platform and users is a top priority. We use data to monitor for fraudulent, unauthorized, or malicious activity and to authenticate users and sessions.
To Comply with Legal Requirements: We may process and, in some cases, disclose your information in order to comply with our legal obligations, including lawful requests from government authorities.

Cookies and Similar Technologies

Bower uses cookies and similar tracking technologies to provide and improve our services. When you visit our websites or use our app, we may place one or more cookies on your device. These cookies serve several functions:

Essential Cookies: Some cookies are necessary for our site to function properly, such as keeping you logged in and enabling core features.
Preference Cookies: We use cookies to remember your preferences and settings, such as preferred map view or language.
Analytics Cookies: We use cookies and third-party analytics tools to understand how users engage with our website and platform.
Advertising Cookies: Bower Industries does not use advertising cookies or third-party ad trackers. We do not allow third-party advertisers to collect your data for advertising through our site.

Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually modify your browser settings to decline cookies if you prefer. However, please note that if you disable cookies entirely, some parts of our service may not function properly.

Data Sharing and Disclosure

We understand that how we share (or don't share) your information is critically important. Here is our policy in plain terms: We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal data to third-party advertisers or unrelated businesses. In fact, Bower does not share your personal information with any third parties for their own marketing or advertising purposes.

There are, however, a few situations where we may need to disclose information, all of which are for legitimate operational or legal reasons:

Service Providers (Processors): We may share your information with trusted third-party service providers who help us run our operations, such as cloud hosting providers or email delivery services.
Within Our Company: Within Bower Industries, we restrict access to personal data to employees and team members who need that information to perform their duties.
Legal Compliance and Protection: We may disclose personal information when we believe in good faith that such disclosure is necessary to comply with a legal obligation or request.
Business Transfers: If Bower Industries is involved in a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets, your information may be transferred as part of that transaction.
With Your Consent: In scenarios where you explicitly consent or request that we share your information with third parties, we will do so.

Data Retention and Deletion

How long we keep your data:

Bower retains personal data only for as long as it is necessary to fulfill the purposes for which we collected it, or as required by applicable laws or regulations. As long as you maintain an account with us or use our services, we will keep the information associated with your account.

User-initiated deletion:

You have the right to request deletion of your personal data at any time. When you request account deletion or data deletion, we will take steps to promptly remove or anonymize the information. Once we verify the request, we will permanently delete the requested personal information from our active databases.

Data export (portability):

We believe you should have control over your data. Under various privacy laws, you may have the right to obtain a copy of the personal information you have provided to us, in a portable format. We are actively working on an easy-to-use data export tool to let you download your data directly.

Your Rights and Choices

We want you to have control over your personal information. Depending on your location and the applicable privacy laws, you have a number of rights regarding the personal data we hold about you:

Right to Access: You have the right to request confirmation of whether we are processing your personal data, and to obtain a copy of the personal information we hold about you.
Right to Rectification (Correction): If any of your personal information is inaccurate or incomplete, you have the right to request that we correct or update it.
Right to Deletion: You have the right to request that we delete your personal data. This right is sometimes called the "right to be forgotten."
Right to Data Portability: For data that you have provided to us, you have the right to obtain that information in a structured, commonly used, and machine-readable format.
Right to Withdraw Consent: In cases where we are processing your personal data based on your consent, you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time.
Right to Object to Processing: You have the right to object to our processing of your personal information in certain circumstances.

To make any request regarding your personal data, you can contact us at our contact email provided below. We will respond to your request as soon as reasonably possible, and in any event within the timeframes required by law.

Data Security

Bower Industries takes the security of your personal data very seriously. We employ industry-standard security measures to protect your information from unauthorized access, alteration, disclosure, or destruction. Our security program is designed to safeguard data both during transmission and at rest:

Encryption: We use strong encryption protocols to protect personal data. Whenever your data is in transit between your device and our servers, we secure it using encryption (HTTPS/TLS). We also encrypt personal data at rest in our databases and storage systems.
Access Controls: We limit access to personal data to authorized personnel only, on a need-to-know basis. Our systems are protected by authentication mechanisms, and we use role-based access control.
Network & Application Security: We maintain up-to-date firewall and network security practices to protect our infrastructure and use security tools to detect and prevent intrusions.
Monitoring and Audits: Bower implements monitoring systems to alert us of unusual activities or potential security incidents. Regular security audits and reviews are conducted to ensure our measures are effective.

While we utilize top-tier security measures to protect your data, it's important to note that no method of transmission over the internet or method of electronic storage is 100% secure. However, we continually update and improve our security practices to meet or exceed industry best practices.

InsightsAI and Responsible Use of Geolocation Technology

One of Bower's distinctive features is InsightsAI, our artificial intelligence tool that can analyze photographs or images to infer geolocation information. Because this feature is powerful and somewhat novel, we want to address its use and associated privacy considerations transparently.

How InsightsAI works:

When you upload an image to InsightsAI, our system processes the image using advanced AI algorithms. The AI may look at architectural styles, natural landscapes, signage, language on objects, the position of the sun, and compare these against known data to determine a likely location. Modern AI tools have demonstrated the ability to pinpoint a location from a photo even when all metadata has been stripped out.

Data handling for InsightsAI:

The images you upload to use InsightsAI are considered personal data. We treat these images with the same care as any other personal information. The image files are transmitted to us securely using encrypted connections and processed within our isolated analysis environment. We do not use any images you upload for any purpose other than providing you the location inference, unless you give explicit consent for another use.

Respecting Privacy and Preventing Misuse:

We are acutely aware that a tool like InsightsAI, while providing strong utility, could be sensitive in malicious hands. Bower is committed to preventing the misuse of InsightsAI through user agreements, rate limiting and monitoring, access restrictions, and continual assessment of ethical implications.

Children's Privacy

Bower Industries' services are not directed to children, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under the age of 13. Our platform is designed for use by adults or with adult supervision, as it involves analysis tools and data that are not likely to be of interest to young children.

If you are under 13, please do not use our services or provide any personal information to us. If we learn that we have collected personal data from a child under 13, we will promptly delete that information from our records. For teens between 13 and 18, we advise using our services only with parental consent and supervision, especially when sharing location-related data.

Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time as our services evolve or as privacy laws change. If we make any significant (material) changes to how we collect, use, or share your personal information, we will notify you by appropriate means so you can review the changes before they become effective.

We encourage you to periodically review this Privacy Policy to stay informed about how we are protecting your information. If you continue to use Bower's services after an updated Privacy Policy takes effect, it means you acknowledge and agree to the revised policy.

Contact Information

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or our data practices, please contact us at:

Privacy: privacy@bower.site

Data Protection Officer: dpo@bower.site

Support: support@bower.site

CCPA Requests: 1-800-PRIVACY

Website: bower.site