Privacy Policy

This explains what information we hold about you, why, who can see it, and what you can do about it. We have written it to be read, not to be survived.

Longtable is operated by Front Porch OS LLC, a Washington limited liability company ("we", "us", "our"). We are responsible for the information described here. This policy works together with our Terms of Use and our Member Guidelines.

The short version: we collect what Longtable needs in order to work, to keep it safe, and to make it better. We do not sell your information, we do not show you advertising, and we do not build advertising profiles. Other members see your name and your town; details like your photo and description are shown only to members who meet conditions we set. We do not show other members your email address, phone number or street address.

1. What we collect

What you tell us when you join and fill in your profile:

• your name and email address;
• the area you live in: your ZIP code, town or city, state and country, and your street address only if you choose to give it;
• if you choose to give them: your phone number, your photo, your year of birth, a short description of yourself, and your interests;
• your preferences, such as how far you are willing to travel and whether you prefer to meet in person or online.

Trusted contacts. You may name one or two people you trust, such as a family member. If you do, we hold their name, email address and how they are related to you, and we send them an email to let them know you named them. Please only name someone who would be happy to hear from us.

What you do on Longtable, for example: the Circles, groups and events you join or create, meetings you say you will attend, what you post, introductions you ask for or accept, listings and connections where you offer or ask for help, reports you make, and messages you send us.

Verification. If you choose to verify your identity, we may ask you for photographs or identity documents, or speak with you directly. Where we hold images or documents of this kind, only the people who need them for that purpose can see them, and we delete them once verification is decided. We keep the result: whether you were verified, how, when, and by whom.

Payment. If you pay for a membership, our payment provider handles your card. We never see or store your full card number. We keep a reference that tells us which account paid, and your membership history.

Information we collect automatically, for example:

• sign-in records: when you signed in, and the internet (IP) address and browser you used;
• basic technical information our hosting providers record for every visit, such as your IP address, browser type and the pages requested, which we use to keep the service running and secure;
• notifications: if you turn on notifications, the address your browser gives us for sending them, and the kind of device;
• your agreement to our documents: which version of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy you agreed to, when, and the exact wording you were shown.

This describes the main information we hold. We may also hold other information you choose to give us, or that we need in order to run the service, and we will use it as this policy describes.

What we do not collect. We do not collect health information, government ID numbers, or your precise location from your device. We do not track you across other websites or apps.

2. Why we use it

• To help you find neighbors, and to help them find you. We use your area to show you Circles, people and events nearby, and to show others roughly how far away you are.
• To run the parts of Longtable you use, including reminders about things you have chosen to take part in.
• To confirm that members are real people, where verification is used.
• To look into reports and act on behavior that breaks our Member Guidelines, and to prevent misuse such as one person holding several accounts.
• To take payment for paid memberships, and to apply free trials and offers.
• To keep in touch with you about your account, your Circles and the things you have asked to hear about.
• To keep Longtable working: to fix problems, prevent abuse and improve the service.
• To meet our legal obligations, and to establish, exercise or defend legal claims.
• For other purposes closely related to these, where they are consistent with this policy.

We do not use your information to show you advertising, we do not send you offers from other companies, and we do not use it to make automated decisions that have legal or similarly significant effects on you.

3. What other members can see

Any signed-in member can see: your name, your town or city and state, your interests, and whether you are verified.

Some details need more trust. Details such as your photo, your description and roughly how far away you live are shown only to members who meet conditions we set, for example members who have verified their own identity. We may change those conditions.

People in the same Circle, group or event can see that you belong to it, the other members by name, what you post there, and whether you plan to attend. Members outside it see less: generally that the Circle exists and how many people are in it, rather than who they are.

We do not show other members your email address, your phone number, your street address, your year of birth, your trusted contacts, anything you gave us for verification, your payment details, or anything you send to our support team. We do not give your contact details to other members. When two members agree to be introduced, the introduction happens inside Longtable. After that, whatever you choose to share with another member — your phone number, your address, anything else — is your decision and your responsibility. Once you have shared something directly with another member, we cannot control or recover it.

4. Who else can see it

Our team. The people who run Longtable can see member information where they need it — for example to answer a support request, look into a report, verify a member, or look after a Circle, as our Terms of Use describe.

Volunteers. Volunteers who help verify members, or who welcome and support members, see only what their task needs. Identity documents are seen only by the people who review them.

Your Community. If you joined through a Community, such as a senior center or a retirement community, its appointed administrators can see that you belong to it, your name and email address, and the reports and support requests that concern their Community. They use this to help run the Community's Circles and events. We do not show them your payment details or anything you gave us for verification.

A Community may also hold information you gave it directly, outside Longtable. That information is theirs, not ours, and how they handle it is governed by their own privacy practices.

The companies that help us run Longtable. We use a small number of service providers, and give each only what it needs. They fall into categories such as:

• hosting and databases, where your information is stored;
• email delivery, to send the emails you receive from us;
• notifications, to deliver the messages you have asked for. If you turn them on, they travel through the service your browser or phone maker provides, such as Apple or Google;
• mapping, to turn the area you tell us about into an approximate map position. We send the place, not your name;
• payment processing, when you pay for a membership;
• error reporting, which tells us when something in the service breaks.

These are examples. We may use other kinds of provider as Longtable develops.

The terms under which we use these services require them to use your information only to provide the service to us. They are separate companies: they also operate under their own terms, their own privacy policies and the laws that apply to them, and we do not control how they run their businesses. We may add, change or replace providers at any time.

When the law requires it, or to protect someone. We may disclose information where we believe it is needed: to comply with the law or with legal process, such as a court order, subpoena or other lawful request; to enforce our Terms of Use or Member Guidelines; to protect the rights, property or safety of members, of Longtable, or of anyone else — including reporting suspected abuse, neglect or exploitation to law enforcement, adult protective services or another authority; or to investigate or prevent fraud, security problems or misuse. These are examples, not a complete list.

If Longtable changes hands. If our business is sold or merged, your information may pass to the new owner, who would have to honor this policy. We would let members know, for example by a notice in the app or on our website.

If Longtable closes. We will delete member information within a reasonable period, apart from records we must keep, or transfer it to whoever takes over the service, who would have to honor this policy.

We do not sell your personal information. We do not share it with anyone for their own marketing.

5. Cookies and your device

We use cookies and similar storage on your device only for things Longtable needs in order to work, such as: keeping you signed in, remembering your choices, storing a short-lived link to your own photo so it does not have to reload each time, and keeping a copy of the app's own files on your device so it starts quickly and works when your connection is poor.

Longtable does not include advertising services, and we do not use advertising cookies. We may use simple analytics that count visits and show us which features are used, to help us improve the service; where we do, we choose providers that do not use the information to advertise to you.

If we change how we use cookies or similar storage — for example by adding analytics or another tool — we will update this policy.

6. Emails and notifications

You choose which notifications Longtable sends to your device, and you can turn them off at any time in your profile.

Some messages are part of having an account and cannot be turned off, such as sign-in codes and notices about your account, your membership or changes to our terms.

7. How long we keep it

While your account is open, we keep your profile and your activity.

How long other things last depends on what they are. Content and records of activity — such as messages, closed Circles, past events, resolved support conversations and old notifications — are deleted automatically after a period we set for each, and we may change those periods as the service develops. Verification images are deleted once a decision is made.

If you leave Longtable, we stop showing your profile to other members, and we delete your account and your profile after any period we allow for you to change your mind. Where you took part in a shared conversation, we may keep what was written while removing it from your name, rather than deleting a conversation other members also took part in. The same applies to the record of a Circle, group or event you were part of, including one you led.

We keep some records for longer, including but not limited to payment records, records of agreement to our terms, and records of reports and decisions about accounts. We keep them for as long as we need them for the purpose they serve, or for as long as the law requires.

Combined and anonymous information stays. Figures that no longer identify anyone — for example how many Circles exist, how often they meet, how many people take part, how long Circles last, and how these change over time — are not personal information about you. We may keep and use them, including after you leave, to understand how Longtable is working and to describe it to partners, funders and the public. We do not try to identify anyone from information that has been combined or stripped of identifiers.

Deleted information may remain in backups held by our providers for a time, until those backups are replaced.

8. Your choices

Most of what we hold about you is in your profile, and you can change it there whenever you like. You can turn notifications off in your profile, and you can leave Longtable from your account settings — Section 7 explains what happens then.

If the law where you live gives you rights over your personal information, write to us at hello@longtablecircles.com and we will respond as that law requires. We may ask you to confirm your identity first, so that we do not give your information to someone else.

9. Security

We take reasonable steps to protect your information. It is encrypted while it travels between your device and Longtable, access is limited to the people who need it, and member photos are kept privately rather than at public web addresses.

We do not control the systems of the companies we rely on, and we are not responsible for them.

No service can be completely secure, and we cannot guarantee the security of your information. If we become aware of a breach affecting your information, we will notify you and the authorities where the law requires.

You can help by keeping your email account secure, since that is how you sign in.

10. Links and files from other people

Members and others may share links, and where we allow it, files. We do not check them. A link may lead anywhere, may be spam or an attempt to defraud you, and a link or file may try to install something on your device. Anything you open, download or use is at your own risk, and we are not responsible for it, or for any website, service, file or content it leads to, or for what those websites do with information you give them.

If something looks wrong, do not open it. Please report it, and tell us if you think another member is sending things of this kind.

11. Children

Longtable is for adults. We do not knowingly collect information from anyone under 18, and we will delete it if we learn that we have.

12. Where your information is held

Longtable is run from the United States, and we hold your information there. Some of the companies that help us run Longtable operate internationally, and information may pass through or be stored on their systems in other countries. If you use Longtable from outside the United States, your information will be transferred to the United States, where privacy laws may differ from those where you live.

13. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as Longtable changes. We will let you know when we do, and we may ask you to accept the new version before you continue. We keep every earlier version, and the date at the top tells you which one you are reading.

14. Getting in touch

Questions about your privacy go to hello@longtablecircles.com, or through the support section of the app.

Front Porch OS LLC, Washington, United States