Your information, your choices and our responsibilities.

1. Data controller and contact

AfterTheChurch is a survivor-led project operated from Norway. Until a separate legal entity is identified on this website, Ian Shammah, operating AfterTheChurch, is the data controller for the processing described here.

AfterTheChurch is not a confidential crisis, medical, legal or safeguarding service. Do not use this email for emergencies. Use the Safety and Urgent Help page instead.

2. Information we process and why

We aim to collect only information needed to receive and moderate stories, protect the service and honour contributors’ choices. You do not need an account or sign-in to read, submit or use any public feature.

When processing is required by law, necessary to protect vital interests or needed to establish, exercise or defend legal claims, a different lawful basis may apply. We will explain that basis when reasonably possible.

3. Survivor stories may contain sensitive information

A submission can reveal religious or philosophical beliefs, health, sexuality, ethnic background, trauma or alleged offences. Some of this is “special-category” personal data under the GDPR. Do not include it unless it is necessary to your story and you want us to process it under the privacy level you selected.

The story form asks for explicit consent before submission. Consent can be withdrawn by unpublishing or deleting the submission, or by contacting us. Withdrawal does not make earlier lawful processing unlawful and cannot reliably remove copies already made by readers, search engines, archives or other third parties.

Do not upload private medical records, government identifiers, passwords, verification codes, private addresses or another person’s confidential material. Where a story identifies another person, we may limit, redact or refuse publication to protect privacy, safety and legal rights.

4. Who receives information

• Authorised moderators can access private submissions only where needed for review, safety, support requests or administration.
• Supabase provides anonymous contributor sessions, administrator authentication, database services and private file storage as a data processor.
• Vercel provides website hosting, delivery, security and operational logging as a data processor.
• Email infrastructure delivers password-reset messages for authorised administrators only.
• Authorities or advisers may receive limited information where required by law, necessary to protect life or safety, or reasonably needed for legal claims.

We do not give unpublished stories or contributor identities to donors, churches, ministries or advertisers. Service providers may process information outside Norway or the EEA subject to their contractual safeguards and lawful transfer mechanisms. Their current terms and subprocessor arrangements govern those transfers.

5. Publication, privacy levels and limits of anonymity

These settings control what AfterTheChurch intentionally displays. They cannot guarantee that a person will remain unidentified. Writing style, dates, events, locations, images, voices and details may allow others to infer identity. Public pages may be copied, photographed, cached, indexed or archived beyond our control.

Moderation reduces risk but does not independently verify every claim or guarantee that published material is complete, accurate or lawful. People identified or affected by content can request review, correction, restriction or removal using the contact above.

6. Retention and deletion

• Rate-limit fingerprints are automatically removed after approximately 24 hours.
• Anonymous technical session identifiers are retained as needed to connect private submission controls, prevent abuse and meet legal obligations.
• Administrator authentication records are retained while moderation access is authorised and for the limited period needed for security or legal obligations.
• Pending submissions are retained while review or requested changes remain active.
• Approved stories remain until withdrawn, deleted or removed through moderation.
• Rejected and withdrawn submissions are scheduled for deletion after 30 days, unless the contributor deletes them sooner or a lawful preservation need applies.
• Current uploaded media is removed with a permanent submission deletion. Provider backups or security logs may retain encrypted or isolated copies for a limited period under provider schedules.

We may preserve specific records when reasonably necessary for safety, fraud prevention, a legal obligation or the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims. Access will be restricted and the material deleted when the preservation purpose ends.

7. Cookies, local storage and public browsing

When a visitor submits or manages a story, the site stores an essential anonymous session token in that browser. It contains no public account email or password and exists so another visitor cannot change the submission. Clearing site data or changing device may remove access to those private controls. Administrator sessions and content-warning choices may also be stored in the browser.

The site does not currently use advertising or third-party behavioural analytics. Essential hosting and security logs may still be generated. If non-essential analytics, marketing cookies or similar technologies are introduced, the notice and consent controls must be updated before activation where the law requires it.

8. Security and breach response

Measures include private media storage, signed short-lived media links, authenticated server routes, restricted administrator access, input validation, rate limiting and limited collection. Access should be granted only to people who need it for an authorised purpose.

No internet service can guarantee absolute security or uninterrupted availability. If a breach creates a risk to people’s rights and freedoms, we will assess notification duties and notify the relevant authority and affected people where required.

9. Your data-protection rights

Depending on the circumstances, you may request access, correction, deletion, restriction, portability, withdrawal of consent or objection to processing based on legitimate interests. You also have the right not to be subject to a solely automated decision that produces legal or similarly significant effects.

Send requests to sha2mmah@gmail.com. We may ask for proportionate information to verify your identity or authority. Do not email identity documents unless specifically requested through a safe method. We aim to respond without undue delay and normally within one month where the GDPR applies.

If the issue is not resolved, you may complain to the Norwegian Data Protection Authority (Datatilsynet) or the supervisory authority where you live or work.

10. Children and young people

Public educational material can be read without an account. Story submissions are intended for people aged 18 or over. A person under 18 must not submit a story unless a parent or legal guardian has provided verifiable consent and the operator has agreed in writing beforehand.

If we learn that a child’s information was submitted without an appropriate basis, we may restrict access and delete it. Immediate child safety concerns should be directed to emergency or specialist services, not the story form.

11. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy when the service, providers or law changes. The effective date will be changed and material changes affecting contributors will be communicated through a reasonable channel where possible. New uses requiring consent will not be applied merely by rewriting this policy.