Privacy Policy

1. Who We Are

DFIIX ("Design for Industry & Innovation Exchange") is an online community platform for designers, engineers, manufacturers, and makers. When we refer to "DFIIX", "we", "us", or "our" in this policy, we mean the DFIIX platform and its operators.

This Privacy Policy applies to all information collected through our website at dfiix.com, including when you create an account, post questions, submit designs, sign up for our newsletter, or otherwise interact with the platform.

2. Information We Collect

Information you provide directly:

• Account details — name, email address, password (hashed), professional role, and optional bio when you register.
• Profile information — any additional information you choose to add to your public profile.
• Content — questions, answers, comments, and design submissions you post on the platform.
• Messages — private messages sent between members.
• Newsletter sign-up — name, email address, company name, and country when you subscribe to our newsletter.
• Contact form submissions — any information you send us directly.

Information collected automatically:

• Usage data — pages visited, features used, and actions taken on the platform.
• Device & browser information — IP address, browser type, operating system, and referring URLs.
• Cookies — session tokens and preference cookies (see section 4).

Information from third parties:

• If you sign in with Google, we receive your name, email address, and profile photo from Google, subject to your Google account privacy settings.

3. How We Use Your Information

We use your information to:

• Create and manage your DFIIX account.
• Provide, operate, and improve the platform and its features.
• Send you the DFIIX newsletter and community updates you have opted into.
• Enable community features — posting questions, answering, upvoting, and direct messaging.
• Respond to your support requests or feedback.
• Detect, prevent, and address fraud, spam, or abuse.
• Comply with legal obligations.

We do not sell your personal data to third parties. We do not use your data for advertising profiling.

4. Cookies & Tracking

We use minimal cookies that are necessary for the platform to function:

• Session cookie — keeps you logged in during your visit.
• Preference cookies — remembers settings like dark mode or notification preferences.

We do not use third-party advertising or tracking cookies. If you use Google Sign-In, Google may set its own cookies subject to Google's Privacy Policy.

5. Sharing Your Information

We share your information only in the following limited circumstances:

• Publicly on DFIIX — your username, profile, posts, and questions are visible to other members unless your account is set to private.
• Service providers — we may use trusted third-party services to host the platform or send emails. These providers only process your data on our behalf and are contractually bound to protect it.
• Legal requirements — we may disclose information if required by law, court order, or to protect the rights and safety of DFIIX users.
• Business transfers — if DFIIX is acquired or merges with another entity, your data may be transferred as part of that transaction. We will notify you before this happens.

6. Data Retention

We retain your account data for as long as your account is active. If you delete your account, we will delete your personal information within 30 days, except where we are required to retain it for legal or compliance purposes.

Content you post publicly (questions, answers, article submissions) may remain visible in anonymised form after account deletion unless you explicitly request its removal.

Newsletter subscriber data is retained until you unsubscribe, at which point your details are removed from our mailing list within 5 business days.

7. Your Rights

Depending on your location, you may have the following rights regarding your personal data:

• Access — request a copy of the data we hold about you.
• Correction — update or correct inaccurate information via your account settings.
• Deletion — request that we delete your account and associated data.
• Objection — object to certain types of processing, such as marketing communications.
• Portability — request your data in a machine-readable format.
• Withdraw consent — unsubscribe from our newsletter at any time using the unsubscribe link in any email we send.

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at privacy@dfiix.com.

8. Security

We take reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect your data, including HTTPS encryption for all data in transit, hashed password storage, and access controls limiting who can access personal data.

No system is completely secure. If you believe your account has been compromised, please contact us immediately at security@dfiix.com.

9. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we make material changes, we will notify you via a banner on the platform or by email. The "Last updated" date at the top of this page always reflects the most recent revision.

Continued use of DFIIX after the effective date of a revised policy constitutes your acceptance of the changes.

10. Contact Us

If you have questions, concerns, or requests relating to this Privacy Policy or your personal data, please reach out: