Privacy Policy
Personal information, device permissions and your choices.
1. Scope and responsible operator
This policy explains how Magpies News handles personal information in connection with https://magpies.in, any official app, support enquiries, news submissions and advertising relationships. The legal operator responsible for the processing described here is identified in the operator and postal address section. "Personal information" means information relating to an identifiable person.
The categories below apply only to features that are actually enabled. An optional feature must not collect additional information silently. A separate notice should explain any new purpose before collection. This policy is not a request for blanket consent, and merely visiting the website does not authorise every optional use described below.
2. Information and reasons for collection
| Information category | When and why it is handled |
|---|---|
| Account and contact details | Name, email, phone number and sign-in information you provide, where accounts or contact forms are enabled; to administer access, verify communications and answer requests. |
| Reading choices and interactions | Selected language, region, categories, saved items and relevant usage events; to deliver chosen content, maintain preferences and, where enabled and lawfully permitted, improve recommendations. |
| Technical and security records | IP address, browser or device type, app version, request logs, crash reports and session identifiers; to deliver pages, diagnose faults and prevent abuse. |
| Location | A region you choose, an approximate area inferred from an IP address, or device location only if a relevant feature is enabled and permission is granted; to provide local content. |
| Submissions and complaints | Text, selected photographs or videos, correspondence and supporting records you send; to assess, publish where intended, investigate or respond. |
| Payment and advertiser records | Order details, payment references, status, billing information and business tax details where applicable; to fulfil purchases, invoice and process refunds. |
| Optional advertising identifiers | Cookies, SDK identifiers or device advertising IDs only where used and lawfully permitted; to measure or personalise advertising as explained at the point of choice. |
We do not need banking passwords, card PINs, UPI PINs or OTPs in a support message. Do not send them. Financial credentials entered into an authorised payment screen are handled according to that payment provider's notice. Any incidental sensitive information in a news tip or complaint will be restricted to a necessary, lawful purpose.
Permissions, consent and sharing
3. Device access is feature-specific
If an enabled feature needs location, a camera, selected photos, a microphone or notifications, we will explain the purpose and use the device permission process. Selecting a file does not authorise unrestricted access to your device. Permission should be limited to what the feature needs and can be changed through device settings.
Declining an optional permission may disable that particular feature. Where practicable, you can choose a region manually instead of sharing device location. We will not access contacts, call logs, SMS or background location merely to provide news; any proposed additional collection requires a justified feature, clear notice and the required permission before use.
4. Purposes and lawful use
We use relevant information to operate the Service, maintain your choices, respond to you, process transactions, assess submissions, improve reliability, protect people and systems, and meet legal obligations. Optional marketing, personalised advertising and non-essential tracking require the appropriate user choice where applicable.
Where consent is required, it must be specific and informed, and you may withdraw it through the relevant setting or privacy contact. Withdrawal stops future consent-based processing, subject to lawful retention or another permitted basis. It does not invalidate prior lawful processing. We will explain any effect on a feature rather than treating withdrawal as consent to a different use.
5. Cookies, analytics and advertising
Essential cookies or similar storage may maintain a session, security or a requested preference. Optional analytics and advertising technologies must be described in the relevant notice with their purpose and controls. Blocking essential storage can affect functionality; rejecting optional tracking should not remove unrelated core access.
Where advertising partners receive online identifiers, device information or activity signals, the notice must say so. Contextual advertising can be based on the story or region without building an individual interest profile. A paid ad-free product, if offered, must explain exactly which promotions or tracking it removes. We do not sell personal contact details to an advertiser merely because it purchases a placement.
Technology disclosure to complete: [List active cookies and SDKs, provider names, data categories, purposes, duration, relevant privacy links and the user control for each. Remove unused categories before publication.]
6. Recipients and service providers
Information may be handled by hosting, delivery, security, communications, analytics, advertising or payment providers where necessary for the disclosed service. Providers acting for us must have appropriate confidentiality, security and purpose restrictions. A provider acting for its own purposes must be identified as such where relevant.
We may disclose information when a valid legal requirement applies, to protect rights or safety on a lawful basis, or in a genuine business transfer with appropriate safeguards and notices. We assess the scope of a request and disclose only what is justified. Publicly submitted material is handled as described in section 10; ordinary support details are not automatically public.
Retention, security and control
7. Retention and deletion
We retain information only for the disclosed purpose and applicable legal, accounting, security or dispute-resolution needs. Closing an account does not always require immediate deletion of invoices, legally preserved evidence or published journalism. We restrict such retained records to the relevant purpose and delete or anonymise them when that need ends.
Backups may retain a deleted record until their normal replacement cycle, subject to safeguards against routine reuse. De-identified statistics may be kept where individuals cannot reasonably be identified. We will explain a material legal reason for refusing a deletion request where we are permitted to do so.
Retention schedule to complete before launch: account data after closure [period]; support and grievance records [period]; security logs [period]; analytics identifiers [period]; backups [cycle]. Billing and evidence records follow the applicable statutory or documented legal retention period. The completed schedule must match the systems in use.
8. Security and processing locations
We are responsible for risk-appropriate safeguards, including access restrictions, secure transfer, staff controls and incident handling proportionate to the information involved. No internet service can guarantee absolute security. We will investigate suspected breaches and make required notifications within the applicable legal periods. A security incident does not excuse our own legal responsibilities.
Our final service-provider disclosure will state the principal hosting and processing locations: [Confirm countries or regions and relevant safeguards]. Cross-border handling, if any, must comply with restrictions in force and the notice given to users. We do not promise that all information stays in India unless the actual system and provider arrangements support that statement.
9. Choices and requests
You can ask us to explain the personal information we process about you, correct inaccurate details, close an account, erase information that no longer needs to be retained, or stop an optional use. Where applicable law provides additional access, grievance or nomination rights, those rights apply from their legal commencement and subject to their conditions.
Use [Official privacy email], the published grievance contact, or a relevant account control when available. We may verify identity in a proportionate way; do not send a government ID unless specifically and lawfully needed, and redact unrelated details. An authorised representative may act with suitable proof of authority.
Our proposed target for an ordinary access, correction or deletion request is a response within 30 calendar days. We will explain a lawful exception or further information needed. Complaints and urgent matters follow the shorter applicable periods in the Grievance Redressal Policy. Marketing
opt-outs should stop optional marketing without stopping necessary transaction or security messages.
The Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 and its Rules have phased commencement. This draft does not represent every statutory right, duty or Board remedy as already operational. The policy choices above are intended commitments once adopted; statutory routes apply when legally in force.
Children, journalism and privacy contact
10. Public material, journalism and AI tools
If you intentionally submit material for publication, the approved story, media, display name or agreed attribution may become public and be shared by others. Avoid sending private information unrelated to the story. Confidential tips should be clearly marked and sent through an appropriate channel agreed with the editorial team; routine forms cannot promise absolute source anonymity.
Information about people appearing in news is assessed for a lawful editorial purpose, relevance, accuracy, proportionality and harm. A request to remove a published story is assessed separately from deletion of a reader account. We do not claim that a news service is automatically exempt from all privacy duties.
If AI tools are used for transcription, translation, summarisation or other assistance, personal information must be limited to what is necessary and handled under appropriate provider terms and controls. Confidential tips, complaint evidence and private account information must not be used for unrelated model training without a separate lawful basis and appropriate notice. Public availability alone is not permission for every reuse.
11. Children and young readers
Accounts, paid transactions and independent submissions are intended for adults aged 18 or above. Public news may be read by younger people with suitable adult guidance. We must not knowingly enable a feature that processes children's personal information without the safeguards and verifiable parental consent required by applicable law.
Where a user is known to be a child, we will not direct behavioural advertising at that child or enable tracking or profiling contrary to applicable law. If you believe we have collected a child's information without the necessary permission, contact us so that we can assess, restrict and, where appropriate, delete it. Age controls and child-data handling must be implemented before a child-facing personal-data feature launches.
12. External sites and policy updates
Independent websites, embedded providers and app stores may process data under their own notices. Review those notices when you use their services. This does not remove our responsibility to explain third-party collection that we enable on our own Service.
We will publish the current policy and effective date on magpies.in. Material changes will receive an appropriate notice; we will obtain fresh consent when required. A policy update does not retroactively authorise an incompatible use of information already collected.
13. Privacy contact and address
Magpies News Operator and postal address: Cockatoo Pixels Private Limited [Building / door number, street and locality] Piravom, Kerala, India - [PIN code] Website: https://magpies.in Privacy enquiries and requests: [Official privacy email] Telephone: [Official contact number]
Privacy contact person: [Name and designation]
Grievance Officer: [Name and designation of India-based officer]
Grievance email: [Official grievance email]