Privacy Policy

Last updated: October 3, 2026

1. Scope and contact

This policy covers browsing Scoutela, accounts, matching, memberships, referrals, optional personal activity and support. Scoutela is operated by an individual based in Latvia (LV-1050), using the Scoutela name. Contact support@scoutela.world about personal data. We do not run the studies listed here.

A study provider processes information you submit on its own website under its own privacy notice. This policy does not describe that separate processing or authorize sharing your Scoutela profile with a provider.

2. Account and profile information

• Account: email, authentication identifier, name, optional profile image and sign-in or verification information.
• Matching: age, gender choice, country and any region, city, occupation, interests, formats or study-language preferences supplied. Gender includes “Prefer not to say”.
• Membership: plan, subscription/payment status, Stripe customer/subscription identifiers and billing-reconciliation records. Stripe processes full card details; Scoutela does not store them.
• Referrals and available rewards: referral identifiers, inviter relationship, claim status, counts, credits and abuse-review records.
• Account tools: saved studies and application/completion statuses you mark. A marked status is your record, not provider confirmation.
• Support and rights requests: information you send, request status and correspondence.

A profile image is resized before storage. An unfinished onboarding form may remain as a draft in that browser. Do not enter health information, ethnicity, political or religious beliefs, identity documents, passwords, card details or another person’s information into general profile, report or support fields. Such information is not needed for an ordinary discovery profile.

3. Security, sessions and technical information

Technical processing can include IP addresses, browser/user-agent information, request times, errors and security logs. Referral-abuse checks can use device identifiers and hashed IP/browser signals. Hashing makes a signal pseudonymous, not necessarily anonymous. Configured hosting, authentication and rate-limit providers may process technical request information.

Scoutela admits up to three security sessions per account, using random identifiers, coarse device labels, creation times and a logical 30-day expiry. Expiry restricts access; it is not a physical-deletion deadline for all stored logs.

“Recent signed-in browsers” is a separate presence feature, with at most 20 records containing an account-specific random browser identifier, approximate browser/device labels and timestamps. Those records themselves do not contain raw IP, location or browser fingerprints. They are not a complete authentication log; this limitation does not cover all security processing.

4. Optional personal activity

History starts off. If enabled, it records approximate active browsing time and identifiers of successfully opened study-detail pages. It is separate from marketing analytics and does not record provider screener answers or establish applications, selection, participation or payment.

You can stop recording or clear history in your account. Stopping preserves previous records until cleared. Clearing browsing history does not remove saved studies, self-marked application records or billing records.

The overview uses the last 30 UTC days, with at most 30 daily slots and 200 distinct detail identifiers per day. Expired records are cleaned on a later signed-in visit; inactive accounts can retain older records until cleanup. Profile-image, presence and activity records are included in the scope of account export requests and deletion.

5. Purposes and legal bases

Account, requested matching, saved tools and subscription processing support performance of the service contract. Necessary security and proportionate fraud prevention support legitimate interests in protecting accounts, payments and the service. Applicable legal obligations can require transaction/compliance records. Optional browser analytics uses consent. Rights requests and complaints are used to address those requests and legal obligations.

Some information is needed to create an account or provide a requested paid feature. Public previews can be browsed without a matching profile. Withholding optional preferences can reduce personalization; it does not become a provider eligibility decision.

6. Matching and automated processing

Profile fields can filter and rank previews and explain overlap with published criteria. A match is a discovery aid, not acceptance probability. Providers make their own screening and quota decisions. Scoutela does not use this matching for a solely automated decision with legal or similarly significant effects.

7. Browser storage and analytics choices

Browser storage supports privacy choices, sign-in, preferences, temporary referral attribution and requested features, including recent-study links and drafts. Some device records remain until site data is cleared. Account deletion does not automatically clear every browser.

Optional Google Analytics can measure page views and interactions only after analytics acceptance in that browser. Campaign tags, landing path and capture time are stored only after that choice. The campaign record is cleared on a later visit without valid consent or when you choose necessary storage only; otherwise it remains until the choice changes or site data is cleared. Server-side subscription and purchase marketing analytics is disabled.

Use Cookie preferences to accept or withdraw analytics. Each browser has its own choice. Withdrawal does not undo earlier lawful processing. Clearing site data can reset preferences. See the Cookie Policy for details.

8. Recipients and provider websites

Relevant service categories include Firebase/Google authentication and storage, Stripe payments, hosting/infrastructure, configured rate-limit/security services, configured email/push delivery and consented Google Analytics. Integrations process data needed for their function; not every optional integration is enabled on every deployment. Authorized operators can access information needed for support, security and administration.

Scoutela does not sell personal data or send your matching profile to study providers. A provider link exposes ordinary web-request information to its destination, which can collect more when you interact. Read its privacy notice before submitting data.

Disclosure may also be required by law or reasonably necessary for legal claims, with an applicable lawful basis. These terms do not give unrestricted permission to share data.

9. International processing and retention

Providers can process information outside your country, including outside the European Economic Area. Applicable transfer restrictions still apply. Contact us for information about actual recipients, processing locations and applicable transfer safeguards or how to obtain a copy. This notice does not assert that a particular safeguard has been verified for every integration.

Account/profile records remain while needed for the account. Security, support, transaction and abuse-review records may remain for legal obligations, unresolved requests, proportionate fraud prevention or legal claims. Retention depends on purpose and applicable requirements; it is not an indefinite permission to keep every record. Device storage and activity have the separate behavior above. Analytics retention depends on configured provider settings.

10. Export requests and account deletion

The export action records a request for support handling. “Request sent” means recorded, not that a downloadable export is complete or an email reached your inbox. You can also contact support to exercise access or portability rights.

Deletion first addresses subscriptions, then removes account profile, saved/private activity data and authentication identity when successful. Unconfirmed billing or deletion may require support follow-up. Do not assume success after an error or uncertain result.

Transaction, deletion-request, audit/security, support-request and previously queued communication records are not necessarily erased. Some references can be pseudonymized rather than irreversibly anonymized. Stripe and other recipients may have independent retention duties. Provider screeners and local history are separate: contact the provider or clear browser data as appropriate.

11. Your rights

Where applicable, you may request access, correction, erasure, restriction, objection, portability or consent withdrawal. Lawful exceptions depend on circumstances. Under the GDPR, information about action on a rights request is generally due within one month, with extensions only where legally permitted and explained. This is a legal requirement, not a promise of automated export.

Send requests to support@scoutela.world with “Privacy request” in the subject. Ownership checks must be proportionate; do not send passwords or full card details. You may complain to Latvia’s Data State Inspectorate or another competent authority, including where you live or work.

12. Adults, security and updates

Accounts are intended for adults aged 18 or older. Contact support if you believe a child supplied account information.

Access controls, encrypted transport and provider security controls reduce risk but cannot guarantee absolute security. Protect credentials and report suspected unauthorized access. Processing changes may require updates, additional notice or consent. A revised policy alone does not authorize a new optional use.