Privacy Policy

Privacy Policy

Last Updated: 14 March 2026

1. Introduction

PDF Ghost ("we," "our," or "us") is committed to protecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and safeguard your information when you use our Service. Please read this Privacy Policy carefully.

Data Controller: PDF Ghost, [email protected]

2. Information We Collect

2.1 Information You Provide

  • Account Information: Name, email address, password, and other registration details
  • Organization Information: Organization name, settings, and member information
  • Payment Information: Billing address and payment method details (processed by Polar as Merchant of Record; we do not store payment card details)
  • Content: PDF documents and related metadata you upload and process through the Service
  • Communications: Messages you send to us through contact forms or support channels
  • Profile Information: Optional profile information you choose to provide

2.2 Automatically Collected Information

  • Usage Data: How you interact with the Service, features used, and time spent
  • Device Information: Device type, operating system, browser type, and IP address
  • Log Data: Server logs, access times, and error reports
  • Location Data: Approximate geographic location based on IP address

2.3 Information from Third Parties

  • Payment Processor: Payment transaction information from Polar (Merchant of Record), including subscription status and purchase history
  • Authentication Providers: If you use social login (Google or GitHub), we receive your email address, name, and profile picture from these providers
  • Service Providers: Information from third-party services integrated with our platform

3. How We Use Your Information

3.1 Service Provision

  • Provide, maintain, and improve the Service
  • Process and fingerprint PDF documents
  • Manage your account and organization
  • Process payments and manage subscriptions (via Polar)
  • Send service-related communications
  • Provide customer support

3.2 Communication

  • Respond to your inquiries and requests
  • Send important updates about the Service
  • Send marketing communications (with your consent, where required)
  • Notify you about changes to our policies or terms

3.3 Security and Compliance

  • Detect and prevent fraud, abuse, and security threats
  • Comply with legal obligations and respond to legal requests
  • Enforce our Terms of Service
  • Protect our rights and the rights of our users

3.4 Analytics and Improvement

  • Analyze usage patterns and trends
  • Improve Service functionality and user experience
  • Develop new features and services
  • Conduct research and analytics
  • Use Umami analytics to measure pageviews and product interactions
  • If you explicitly consent to consent-based analytics enrichment, selected analytics and billing events may include pseudonymous identifiers for your user profile, organization, and purchases
  • We use these pseudonymous identifiers only to enrich analytics data and improve billing flows, and only to the extent needed for those purposes
  • This processing follows our data-handling commitments on data minimization and your deletion and portability rights
  • Your analytics consent preference is currently stored in your browser in a consent cookie and applied locally in the app to control consent-gated analytics enrichment
  • You can update your analytics consent choice at any time using the cookie banner and our Cookie Policy page
  • You can request deletion of applicable data or a portable copy of your data by contacting support at [email protected]

3.5 Legal Basis for Processing (GDPR)

  • Contract Performance: To provide the Service under our Terms of Service
  • Legitimate Interests: For security, fraud prevention, and Service improvement (including basic anonymized analytics via Umami)
  • Consent: For marketing communications, consent-gated analytics enrichment, and optional features
  • Legal Obligation: To comply with applicable laws and regulations, including tax record retention

4. How We Share Your Information

4.1 Service Providers

We share information with trusted third-party service providers who assist us in operating the Service:

  • Payment Processor (Polar): Polar acts as Merchant of Record for all subscription and one-time token pack transactions, handling payment processing, invoicing, and VAT compliance
  • Cloud Infrastructure: Hosting and storage providers for data storage and processing
  • Email Services: Email delivery and communication services
  • Analytics Provider (Umami): Privacy-focused usage analytics and performance monitoring
  • Authentication Providers (Google, GitHub): OAuth identity verification for social login

4.2 Legal Requirements

We may disclose your information if required by law or in response to:

  • Court orders, subpoenas, or legal process
  • Government requests or regulatory investigations
  • Requests from law enforcement agencies
  • Enforcement of our Terms of Service or other agreements

4.3 Business Transfers

In the event of a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets, your information may be transferred to the acquiring entity. We will notify you of any such transfer.

4.4 With Your Consent

We may share your information with third parties when you explicitly consent to such sharing.

4.5 Aggregated Data

We may share aggregated, anonymized data that cannot identify you individually for research, analytics, or business purposes.

4.6 Sub-Processors

We use the following categories of sub-processors to deliver the Service:

  • Polar — Payment processing, Merchant of Record (US)
  • Cloud infrastructure provider — Compute, storage, data processing (EU)
  • Email service provider — Transactional email delivery (EU)
  • Umami — Privacy-focused analytics (EU)
  • Google — OAuth authentication (US)
  • GitHub — OAuth authentication (US)

We will update this list when sub-processors change and notify users of material changes. For US-based sub-processors, we rely on the EU-US Data Privacy Framework adequacy decision or EU Standard Contractual Clauses as appropriate.

5. Data Storage and Security

5.1 Data Storage

  • Your data is generally stored on secure servers in the European Economic Area (EEA) (for details on international transfers and US-based sub-processors, see Section 8)
  • Documents and content are encrypted in transit and at rest
  • We use industry-standard security measures to protect your information

5.2 Security Measures

  • Encryption of data in transit (TLS/SSL)
  • Encryption of data at rest
  • Access controls and authentication
  • Regular security assessments
  • Monitoring for unauthorized access
  • Secure backup and recovery procedures

5.3 Data Retention

We retain different categories of data for specific periods:

  • Account data (name, email): While account is active + 30 days after deletion
  • Source PDF documents: Deleted automatically after fingerprinting processing completes
  • Fingerprinted artifacts: Per subscription plan — Free: 7 days, Starter: 30 days, Pro: 90 days, Team: 180 days, Enterprise: 365 days after job completion
  • Draft jobs: Auto-deleted per plan — Free: 3 days, Starter: 7 days, Pro: 14 days, Team/Enterprise: 30 days
  • Billing and transaction records: 7 years (Austrian BAO §132 tax record retention)
  • Analytics data (Umami): Anonymized by default (no personal data stored). When you consent to analytics enrichment, Umami may process pseudonymous identifiers (e.g. hashed user, organization, or purchase references). Under GDPR, these pseudonymized identifiers are treated as personal data because they can be linked back to individuals by us or our processors. This processing is based exclusively on your consent. These pseudonymous analytics records are retained for 26 months and used solely to improve product experience and billing flows
  • Server logs: 90 days

You may request deletion of your data in accordance with your rights described in Section 6.

6. Your Rights and Choices

6.1 Access and Portability

  • Right to Access: You can access your personal information through your account settings
  • Right to Data Portability: You can request a copy of your data in a machine-readable format

6.2 Correction and Deletion

  • Right to Rectification: You can update your information through your account settings
  • Right to Erasure: You can request deletion of your account and associated data
  • Right to Restrict Processing: You can request limitations on how we process your data

6.3 Objection and Withdrawal

  • Right to Object: You can object to certain types of processing, including processing based on legitimate interests
  • Right to Withdraw Consent: You can withdraw consent for optional data processing at any time without affecting the lawfulness of processing based on consent before its withdrawal

6.4 Account Management

  • Update your account information through account settings
  • Manage your organization settings and members
  • Control your subscription and billing preferences
  • Opt out of marketing communications

6.5 Cookies and Tracking

  • Manage cookie preferences through your browser settings
  • Use our cookie banner and Cookie Policy page to allow or decline analytics-related consent choices
  • Note that disabling essential cookies may affect Service functionality

7. Cookies and Tracking Technologies

7.1 Types of Cookies

  • Essential Cookies: Required for the Service to function properly, including authentication session cookies
  • Performance Cookies (basic anonymized analytics): Help us understand how users interact with the Service via anonymized Umami analytics with no personal data (lawful basis: legitimate interests)
  • Performance Cookies (consent-based analytics enrichment): Enable linking pseudonymous identifiers with analytics and billing events via Umami, only when you explicitly consent (lawful basis: consent)

7.2 Cookie Usage

  • We use cookies to provide and improve the Service
  • Cookies help us remember your preferences and maintain your session
  • Detailed information about cookie categories, consent handling, analytics-related cookie behavior, and preference updates is provided in our Cookie Policy

7.3 Managing Cookies

  • You can control cookies through your browser settings
  • Disabling certain cookies may limit Service functionality
  • We respect Do Not Track signals where technically feasible
  • You can review and update your current consent choice on our Cookie Policy page

8. International Data Transfers

8.1 Cross-Border Transfers

  • Your data is primarily stored and processed within the European Economic Area (EEA)
  • Certain sub-processors (Polar, Google, GitHub) are based in the United States
  • We ensure appropriate safeguards are in place for all international transfers

8.2 Transfer Safeguards

  • For US-based sub-processors certified under the EU-US Data Privacy Framework: reliance on the European Commission's adequacy decision
  • For transfers to other countries without an adequacy decision: EU Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) approved by the European Commission
  • We regularly review the data protection practices of our sub-processors

9. Children's Privacy

  • The Service is not intended for users under the age of 18 (or the age of majority in your jurisdiction)
  • We do not knowingly collect personal information from children
  • If we become aware that we have collected information from a child, we will take steps to delete it
  • Parents or guardians should contact us if they believe their child has provided us with personal information

10. GDPR Compliance (European Users)

10.1 Your Rights Under GDPR

If you are located in the European Economic Area (EEA), you have additional rights under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR):

  • Right to access your personal data
  • Right to rectification of inaccurate data
  • Right to erasure ("right to be forgotten")
  • Right to restrict processing
  • Right to data portability
  • Right to object to processing
  • Right to withdraw consent

10.2 Data Controller and Processor Roles

PDF Ghost acts as the data controller for personal data collected through the Service, including account information, billing data, and analytics data.

For PDF documents uploaded by users, PDF Ghost acts as a data processor on behalf of the user (who is the data controller for the document content). We process document content solely to provide the fingerprinting and leak detection services. Organizational customers may enter into a Data Processing Agreement (DPA) with us.

10.3 Data Protection Inquiries

For data protection inquiries, please contact us at [email protected].

10.4 Supervisory Authority

You have the right to lodge a complaint with your competent data protection supervisory authority if you believe your data protection rights have been violated.

11. California Privacy Rights (CCPA)

If you are a California resident, you may have additional rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). We do not sell personal information to third parties. For inquiries about your California privacy rights, please contact us at [email protected].

12. Changes to This Privacy Policy

12.1 Updates

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices or legal requirements.

12.2 Notification

  • We will post the updated Privacy Policy on our website
  • We will notify you of material changes by email or through the Service
  • The "Last Updated" date at the top indicates when changes were made

12.3 Continued Use

Your continued use of the Service after non-material Privacy Policy changes constitutes acknowledgment of the updated policy. For material changes, we will seek your consent where required by law.

13. Third-Party Links and Services

  • The Service may contain links to third-party websites or services
  • We are not responsible for the privacy practices of third parties
  • We encourage you to review the privacy policies of third-party services you use
  • Your interactions with third-party services are subject to their privacy policies

14. Data Breach Notification

14.1 Security Incidents

In the event of a data breach that compromises your personal information, we will:

  • Investigate the incident promptly
  • Take steps to mitigate the impact
  • Notify affected users as required by law
  • Report to the competent data protection authority within 72 hours of becoming aware of the breach, where feasible, as required by GDPR Article 33

14.2 Notification Procedures

  • We will notify you without undue delay after becoming aware of a breach
  • Notifications will be sent via email or through the Service
  • We will provide information about the nature of the breach and recommended actions

15. Contact Us

If you have questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or our data practices, please contact us:

15.1 Data Protection Inquiries

For specific data protection requests (access, deletion, portability, etc.), please contact us at [email protected] with:

  • Your account email address
  • Description of your request
  • Any relevant account identifiers

15.2 Response Time

We will respond to your privacy-related requests within 30 days, or as required by applicable law.

By using PDF Ghost, you acknowledge that you have read and understood this Privacy Policy.