Privacy Policy

1. Who we are

Connect Meet IRL is a private, invitation-only community run by a group of volunteers. In this policy, “we” means the volunteers who run it. If a formal organization is set up later, this policy will be updated to name it.

2. What we collect

Only what the community needs to work:

• Your account: your email address and password (stored only as a secure hash by our sign-in provider), and your two-step verification setup.
• Your profile: first and last name, US phone number, age (we don't ask for your date of birth), gender, state, education, citizenship and visa status, your parents' names, two photos, and an optional “About me” if you write one.
• Your activity: connection requests and connections, event registrations, profile change and deactivation requests, and your privacy choices.
• Payments you report: for the membership fee and event fees, the amount, the date, the name on the Zelle payment, any reference you add, and an optional screenshot. Payments are made by Zelle in your own bank app, and we don't ask for bank account details. If you add a screenshot, please crop out your account number and balance.
• How you joined and were reviewed: who invited you and the invitation used, and administrators' review notes (for example, the reason a registration or a request wasn't approved).
• Contact Us messages: your name, email, optional phone, state, citizenship and visa status, and message.
• Security records: technical logs of requests to the site, including the network address and account id they came from, kept for up to 90 days; when you last signed in; and short-lived counters of network addresses used to limit abuse.

3. Who can see what

• Other verified members (members whose registration has been approved) see your first name, photos, age, education, citizenship and visa status, state, and your “About me” if you've added one. An administrator approves it, and any change to it, before members see it. Your last name, email, phone and family details aren't shown in search or on your profile.
• Your connections (members you've both agreed to connect with) can see your email or phone only if you choose to share it with them. You choose separately for each connection, on their profile; nothing is shared until you do, and sharing ends if either of you disconnects.
• Administrators (volunteers who review registrations for their states) see your full registration, including family details and payments, to review it. Super Admins can see this for every state. Contact Us messages are seen by the administrators for the state you pick, and by Super Admins.
• Representatives (volunteers who pass invitation links on to people they know) don't have administrator access and don't see your profile or registration through the site.
• The public doesn't see your profile. The only member-related content on the public website is events that administrators choose to list: the title, date and time, city and state (or which states can attend) and flyer. The venue, fee and description are shown only to verified members.

We don't sell your information, we don't show ads, and we don't send marketing emails. Emails from us are about your account, invitations and events.

4. How we use it

• To create and protect your account, and to review and approve registrations.
• To let members find each other, connect, and register for events.
• To keep track of payments members report, and to refund a membership fee when a registration isn't approved.
• To answer Contact Us messages, and to prevent spam and abuse.

5. Services we use

We use a few service providers to run the site, on our behalf. Your information is stored in the United States:

• Amazon Web Services: the database, sign-in and two-step verification, and sending email.
• Cloudflare: hosting the website, protecting it from attacks, and the security check on public forms. Cloudflare handles requests through its worldwide network.
• Backblaze: storing photos, event flyers and payment screenshots.

Zelle payments go directly between your bank and the organizer's bank. Those records are kept by the banks, not by us.

6. How we protect it

• Information is sent over encrypted connections (HTTPS) and stored encrypted.
• Our technical logs mask email addresses and phone numbers, and personal fields such as names and payment details.
• Signing in requires two-step verification.
• Members join by invitation, and each profile is reviewed by a person before it goes live.
• Photos and screenshots are private files, shown only through short-lived links to people allowed to see them.

7. How long we keep it, and deleting it

We keep your information while you have an account. You can:

• Ask to deactivate your account (Settings): an administrator reviews the request. Once deactivated, you're hidden from other members and can't sign in; your information is kept, and an administrator can reactivate you.
• Delete your account and data (Settings → Delete My Account, or by emailing support@connectmeetirl.com): your account is deactivated right away and, after a waiting period of at least 15 days, your profile, photos, login, connections, requests, notifications and Contact Us messages are permanently deleted.

After deletion:

• Payment records are kept permanently, without your name: the amount, the dates, the event or membership fee, your state and any payment reference you added, so organizers can balance their books and the records can't be quietly changed.
• Our history of administrator actions keeps what was done and when, with your name replaced by “Deleted member”.
• Notifications other members already received (for example, that you accepted their request) can show your first name until they expire after 180 days.
• Backups are kept for 35 days, so deleted information is gone from them within 35 days.
• Security logs that include your account id expire on their own within 90 days.
• An account can't be deleted while a membership fee refund is still due to it.

Contact Us messages are deleted automatically a set time after they're handled (sooner if marked as spam), or with your account if you delete it.

8. Cookies and browser storage

We don't use advertising or tracking cookies. Your browser keeps your sign-in session and a few preferences (such as how you like to view events), and our security provider may set cookies to tell people from bots. You can clear these in your browser at any time; you'll just need to sign in again.

9. Age

Connect Meet IRL is for adults aged 21 or older. We don't knowingly accept anyone younger.

10. Your choices

• Choose what you share with each connection on their profile, and change it at any time.
• Ask to correct your profile through a profile change request, or ask us a question at support@connectmeetirl.com.
• Ask to deactivate your account, or delete it, as described above.

11. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as the community and the site change. The effective date at the top shows the latest version. Read it together with our Terms of Use.