Welcome to Designswitch’s Privacy Policy

Designswitch ("Company") provides a directory service for design companies and freelancers, aiming to create a trusted meeting place for partners and clients. The Company prioritizes the protection of personal information, and this policy explains how your personal information is collected, used, and protected.

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1. Types and Purposes of Personal Information We Collect

We collect only the minimum personal information necessary to provide our services. We do not collect any sensitive personal information, such as race, religion, political opinions, or health data.

Account Registration Information

- Collected: Email address, password
- Purpose: For account creation, login authentication, account management, and enhanced security.

Partner Registration Information

- Company Partners: Company name, representative email, website URL, physical address, contact number, social media accounts, types of services offered, and a copy of the business registration certificate (for administrator verification).
- Freelancer Partners: Name or pseudonym, website URL, physical address, contact number, social media accounts, types of services offered, and an external professional profile URL (for administrator verification).
- Purpose: To publish partner profiles in the directory, enable search functions for potential clients, and verify identity for administrative rights.

Reporting Feature

- Collected: Reporter's email, report subject, and report details.
- Purpose: To prevent illegal, harmful, or false information and inappropriate behavior, and to maintain the reliability of the service.

Service Usage Information

- Collected: IP address, browser type, access time, visited pages, cookies and session information, and other log records.
- Purpose: Service improvement through statistical analysis, enhanced security, user experience optimization, maintenance of login sessions, and providing personalized content.

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※ Cookie Policy

What are Cookies?

Cookies are small text files that are stored on your browser when you visit a website. We use cookies to help you use our services more efficiently and conveniently.

Purpose of Using Cookies

We use cookies for the following purposes: - Essential Cookies: Used to provide core services and to maintain your login status. - Performance and Analytics Cookies: Used to analyze service performance and understand user behavior to improve our services. - Functionality Cookies: Used to remember your settings (e.g., language, search history) to provide a personalized experience.

How to Reject Cookies

You can refuse to store cookies by adjusting your web browser's settings. However, if you refuse to accept cookies, you may experience limitations in using some of our services.

Cookie Settings

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2. Use and Provision of Personal Information

We use the personal information we collect solely for the purposes listed above and do not provide it to third parties without your explicit consent.

Partner Information Publication

- Information registered by companies and freelancers will be published in the directory.
- However, verification materials such as the business registration certificate copy and external profile URL remain confidential and are only accessible to administrators for verification purposes.

Third-Party Service Integration

- For the billing and processing of service fees for banner ad services, partner ad services, and contributions for site operations, we use third-party payment services like PayPal. The minimum required payment information (transaction amount, billing email address) is securely transmitted to the relevant service for this purpose.
- The Company does not directly store sensitive financial information such as users' credit card numbers or bank account details. All financial transactions are processed through a secure third-party payment system.
- This process is governed by the privacy policy of the respective payment service..

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3. Data Retention and Deletion

We securely destroy collected personal information without delay after the purpose of its use has been fulfilled. However, if retention is required by relevant laws, we will store the information securely for the period specified by those laws before destruction.

General Account Information (email, password, etc.)

- Retention Period: Deleted immediately upon account withdrawal.

Partner Verification Materials (business registration certificate, external professional profile URL, etc.)

- This information is retained according to the verification process and is deleted immediately upon the partner's removal or the manager's account withdrawal. However, if there are associated payment or sponsorship records, they will be kept for the same retention period as those records before being deleted.

Report-Related Information (reporter's email, report content, etc.)

- Retention Period: Retained for up to 3 years for dispute resolution and legal compliance, then deleted.

Payment and Sponsorship Records (transaction history, receipts, etc.)

- Retention Period: Retained for the period necessary to comply with legal obligations for accounting, tax, and audit purposes, as required by the laws of the respective region and country.

Service Usage Logs (IP, access records, etc.)

- These logs are retained in accordance with relevant laws and are deleted after the period necessary for service operation and security.

After the retention periods have expired, the Company will securely and irreversibly destroy the personal information.

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4. User Rights

Users have the right to exercise the following rights regarding their personal information at any time. Requests can be made through the My Account page or by contacting our support team, and we will process them promptly within the legally required timeframe.

Right to Access, Correction, and Deletion

Users can request to view, correct, or delete their personal information.

Right to Account Deletion and Service Withdrawal

Users can request account deletion and service withdrawal at any time.

Right to Data Portability

Upon request, users can receive their information in a structured, machine-readable format.

Right to Restrict or Object to Processing

Users can request restrictions on or object to specific data processing activities.

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5. International Data Transfers

If necessary for service operations, personal information may be transferred to servers located outside the user's country (e.g., the United States or the EU). In such cases, we apply appropriate safeguards (e.g., Standard Contractual Clauses) to comply with relevant laws such as the GDPR.

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6. Children's Privacy

Our services are not intended for children under 13 (or the age of consent specified by local law). We do not knowingly collect personal information from children.

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7. Security Measures

Passwords are encrypted before storage.

Passwords are stored using irreversible encryption methods, meaning no one, including the Company, can view your password.

Personal information is stored on secure servers with restricted access.

Personal information is kept on servers with strict security measures to prevent unauthorized external access.

Administrators comply with strict internal access controls to ensure personal information protection.

Access for administrators who handle personal information is minimized, and they receive regular training to reinforce their personal information protection duties.

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8. Notice Regarding the Sale of Personal Information

The Company does not, under any circumstances, sell users’ personal information.

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9. Absence of Automated Decision-Making

We do not use personal information for automated decision-making or profiling purposes.

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Contact Us

If you have any questions or concerns about this Privacy Policy, please contact us at kkiart81@gmail.com

Contact Person: Lee, ki hoon