Privacy Policy - EngNotes

1. Introduction

Welcome to EngNotes. We are committed to protecting your privacy and ensuring you have a positive experience on our website. This Privacy Policy explains how we handle information when you use our engineering notes and textbooks platform.

Key Point: EngNotes is a client-side only application. We do not collect, store, or transmit any personal data to our servers. All data processing happens locally in your browser.

2. Information We DO NOT Collect

We want to be crystal clear: EngNotes does not collect any of the following:

Personal Information: Names, email addresses, phone numbers, or any identifying information
Account Data: We don't have user accounts, logins, or registration
Browsing History: We don't track which pages you visit or files you access
IP Addresses: We don't log or store IP addresses
Cookies for Tracking: We don't use tracking cookies or analytics
Third-Party Data Sharing: We don't share any data because we don't collect any

3. Local Storage & Cookies

EngNotes uses browser local storage to improve your experience. This data never leaves your device.

What We Store Locally:

Data Type	Purpose	Duration
Theme Preference	Remember your light/dark/black theme choice	Until you clear browser data
Cookie Consent	Remember if you accepted or declined cookies	Until you clear browser data
Folder Cache	Cache Google Drive folder structure for faster loading	24 hours (auto-refreshes)
Calculator Data	Saved GPA/CGPA calculations (only if you save them)	Until you clear browser data

Note for Brave Users: Due to Brave browser's privacy policies, local storage caching may not work. This means the site will load folder data from Google Drive on each visit instead of using cached data.

Your Cookie Consent Choice:

When you first visit EngNotes, you'll see a cookie consent banner. You can:

Accept: Allows caching of folder structure for faster loading
Decline: No caching is used; data is fetched fresh on each visit

You can change your choice at any time by clearing your browser's local storage for this site.

4. Google Drive API

EngNotes fetches educational content from Google Drive using the Google Drive API. Here's what you should know:

API Calls: When you browse notes or textbooks, your browser makes direct requests to Google's servers
No Authentication Required: We use a public API key; you don't need a Google account
Google's Privacy Policy: These requests are subject to Google's Privacy Policy
What Google May Log: Google may log API requests including your IP address and requested file IDs

Transparency: The API key used is embedded in the client-side code. This is intentional for a public, read-only educational resource. The key is restricted to only access public folder contents.

5. Third-Party Services

Google Drive

All educational content (notes, textbooks, question papers) is hosted on Google Drive. When you view a PDF or file:

The file opens in Google's built-in PDF viewer
Google's terms of service apply to that interaction
We don't control what Google logs during file viewing

External Links

Our site contains links to external services:

Gmail: For contacting us or contributing notes
GitHub: For reporting issues or viewing our profile
Google Drive: For direct access to folders

These external sites have their own privacy policies.

6. Contributing Content

If you choose to contribute notes or textbooks via email:

Your email and any information you share is handled by Gmail/Google
We receive your email at our contact address
Contributed content may be uploaded to our public Google Drive folders
Please don't include personal information in contributed materials

7. Data Security

Since EngNotes doesn't collect or store any user data on our servers:

There's no database to breach
There's no user accounts to compromise
All data stored is local to your browser only
Clearing your browser data removes all EngNotes data

8. Your Rights

Because we don't collect personal data, there's nothing to request, delete, or export. However, you have full control over:

Local Data: Clear your browser's local storage/site data anytime
Theme Preference: Change themes anytime via the theme switcher
Cache: Cache automatically expires after 24 hours
Cookie Consent: Change your choice by clearing site data

9. Children's Privacy

EngNotes is an educational resource intended for college/university students. Since we don't collect any personal information:

We don't knowingly collect data from anyone, including children
No age verification is needed since no data is collected
Parents and guardians can be assured no personal data is gathered

10. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Changes will be posted on this page with an updated "Last Updated" date. We encourage you to review this policy periodically.

11. Contact Us

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or EngNotes in general, you can reach us at:

Email: mailtest65066@gmail.com

GitHub: github.com/abhinavdatta/engineering-notes

Summary

In short: EngNotes is a privacy-focused educational platform. We don't track you, we don't collect your data, and we don't have user accounts. Everything is stored locally in your browser and you have full control over your data.