Privacy policy

Voice of Keralam is an app and website where people in Kerala report public problems (potholes, garbage, broken streetlights, blocked drains) and follow them in public until they are fixed. This policy explains what personal data we collect, why, who can see it, how long we keep it, and your rights under India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 (the DPDP Act) and the Information Technology Act, 2000 and its rules.

1. Who we are

• Voice of Keralam is run by XQ Tech Solutions, Nattukal, Kozhinjampara, Palakkad, Kerala 678554, India ("we", "us"). For the personal data in this policy, we are the data fiduciary.
• Voice of Keralam is independent. It is not a government service, and it is not an emergency service: in an emergency, call 112.
• Contact: xqtechsolutions@gmail.com. Complaints go to our Grievance Officer (section 14).

2. The short version

• Reports are public. Your name shows on your reports and comments, unless you choose Hide my name on a report.
• Your mobile number is private. Only the office of the elected representative your report is tagged to can see it, so they can call you about the problem. Never the public, and never for a report where you hid your name.
• We publish the problem's pin, not your live location.
• Photos are cleaned on your phone before upload: faces and number plates are blurred, and the location and camera data inside the photo are removed.
• We don't sell your data, and there are no ads.
• You can see, correct and delete your data.

3. What we collect, and why

3.1 Your account

• Email address and password, to sign you in. Passwords are handled by our sign-in provider and stored only in a scrambled (hashed) form that no one can read, including us. Your email address is never shown to other people.
• Display name, shown on your reports and comments.
• Mobile number (required to create an account), so the elected office your report goes to can call you about the problem (section 4.2). We don't check it by OTP yet.
• Your confirmation that you are 18 or older and that you agreed to the seven community rules, with the date.
• App settings: your language, and your trust level and any posting pause under the community rules.

3.2 Reports you post

• What the problem is: category, title and description, in Malayalam, English or both. Phone numbers typed into titles, descriptions and comments are masked automatically.
• Where it is: the problem's location pin, how accurate it is, and whether you moved it by hand. If you allow location, the pin starts where your phone is, and you can move it to the problem. The pin you post is public. From the pin we work out the ward, local body, assembly constituency and Lok Sabha constituency, which are public too. You may also pick the ward yourself ("Not sure" is fine).
• Photos, videos and voice notes. Before a photo leaves your phone, it is resized and saved again without its hidden data (EXIF: GPS location, time, camera details), and faces and vehicle number plates are found on your phone (Google ML Kit, which runs on the device) and blurred. We also record whether a photo was taken in the app ("Live") or picked from the gallery, a video's or voice note's length, and a short fingerprint of each photo (a perceptual hash) to spot reused photos.
• Videos are compressed on your phone. Today we do not blur faces in videos or remove all the hidden data inside video files. Please avoid filming faces and number plates.
• Hide my name: the public sees "A resident of Ward 12" instead of your name. Elected offices don't see who you are, and they don't get your number for that report. We still know the report is yours, for moderation and accountability; we reveal it only under a valid legal order (section 4.4).

3.3 Taking part

• Votes ("this affects me too"), answers to "Is it fixed?", "It's back" reports, escalations, comments (text, up to 4 photos and one voice note), and content you flag for review, with the reason.
• Whether you are local. When you vote, answer "Is it fixed?" or report that a problem is back, the app sends your phone's location once, only to check whether you are within 1 km of the problem. We keep only the yes-or-no answer, not the location.
• Near me. To list problems near you, the app sends your approximate location with the request. It is not stored.

3.4 Where you live and "Your representatives"

When you create an account, we ask for your grama panchayat or municipality, and you may add your ward. We use them to show you your elected representatives and the contact details their offices publish. They are never used to decide who a report goes to, and not for votes, rankings or notifications either. Only you can see them. You can change them at any time, and they are deleted with your account.

3.5 "Write it for me" (optional AI writing help)

When you tap Write it for me, we send the category, the problem detail, the place name and your notes (with phone numbers masked) through OpenRouter to an AI model, which writes a title and description in both languages. We ask the AI providers not to keep or train on the data. We never send your name, mobile number or GPS location. We log that a write happened (which model, how long it took, whether you edited the result), not the text. You review and edit the text before posting.

3.6 See translation

When you tap See translation, the published text (already public, with phone numbers masked) is sent to Google Cloud Translation. We keep each translation so the same text is never sent twice. To apply the daily limits, we keep a record of who asked for a translation and how many characters for 3 days.

3.7 Notifications

If you allow notifications, we keep your device's push token (Firebase Cloud Messaging), its platform and language, and your notification settings, such as quiet hours. A token is removed when you sign out, when it stops working, or after 270 days without use. Notifications waiting to be sent are deleted after 30 days.

3.8 Elected representatives and their staff

• If you claim an elected seat: your claim, the proof you upload (for example your Certificate of Election, photo ID, a selfie or an office letter), and a checklist of what an admin checked and when. Proof files are kept in a private store, seen only by the admins reviewing the claim, and deleted 90 days after the decision. We keep the checklist.
• Office actions are public: updates, replies and "Solved" claims show the office's name, for example "MLA, Chittur".
• Public officials' information: we publish the names of elected representatives and the office contact details that government bodies publish (the State Election Commission, local bodies' official websites, the Kerala Legislative Assembly and the Lok Sabha), with the dates of their terms of office. If something is wrong, tell us (section 14).

3.9 Crash reports

If the app crashes or hits a serious error, Firebase Crashlytics (Google) collects technical data: the phone model, Android version, app version, the error and where in the app's code it happened, and a random installation ID. It does not collect your name, email address, mobile number, reports or location.

3.10 Technical logs

Our service providers keep short-lived technical logs (IP address, time, device or browser type, the request made) to run the service securely and to stop abuse.

3.11 Things done by your phone's own services

• Dictation: if you speak instead of typing, your phone's speech recognition service (usually Google's) turns your speech into text. We receive only the text.
• Maps: the map in the app is Google Maps, so Google receives the map requests from your phone.

3.12 What we don't collect

No contacts, SMS or call logs. No location in the background. No advertising IDs and no marketing trackers. The camera and microphone are used only when you take a photo or video, record a voice note or dictate.

4. Who can see what

4.1 Everyone

Anyone, with or without an account, and search engines can see: reports, with their photos, videos and voice notes; the location pin and place names; the reporter's display name (or "A resident of …"); the status history and office updates; comments with the commenter's name; vote and comment counts; and rankings and scorecards. Report pages on voiceofkeralam.in can appear in search results (new, unverified reports and closed ones are not indexed).

4.2 Elected offices

The verified representative of a seat, and up to 3 staff they add, see everything public, plus the reporter's mobile number on reports tagged to their office, so they can call about the problem. Not for "Hide my name" reports. Every time they look at a number, it is written to an audit log.

4.3 Our moderators and admins

They see flagged content, strikes and appeals, and (admins only) seat claims and proof files. Staff accounts need two-step sign-in, and their actions are written to an audit log that cannot be edited.

4.4 Legal requests

We share personal data with authorities only when Indian law requires it, for example under a court order or a lawful request under the IT Act. We check each request and share only what is required. The identity behind a "Hide my name" report is revealed only under a valid legal order.

4.5 Never

We don't sell or rent personal data, and we don't use it for advertising.

5. Service providers and where data is stored

These companies process data for us, under contracts that limit what they may do with it:

Some of these providers process data outside India. The DPDP Act allows this, except to countries the Government of India restricts.

6. How long we keep data

• Your account: while it exists. After you delete it, your personal data (email address, mobile number, name, profile, push tokens and notification settings) is erased within 90 days.
• Your reports and comments: they are part of a public record of local problems. When you delete your account, reports that nobody else has voted on, commented on or acted on are deleted. Reports and comments that others have engaged with stay, shown as "Former resident", without your name.
• Photos and videos uploaded but never posted: deleted after 2 days.
• Seat-claim proof files: deleted 90 days after the decision.
• Translation request records: 3 days. Translations of public text are kept.
• Push tokens: deleted at sign-out, when they stop working, or after 270 days without use. Queued notifications: 30 days.
• Crash reports: 90 days, at Firebase.
• Drafts on your phone: they stay on your phone until they are posted or you delete them.
• Moderation records and audit logs (strikes, appeals, staff actions, views of reporters' numbers): kept for accountability and legal compliance. Strikes stop counting after 12 months.
• Backups: our database provider keeps backups for a limited time, after which deleted data is gone from them too.
• If the law requires us to keep something longer, we keep it only as long as required.

7. Your rights

Under the DPDP Act you can:

• See your data: ask for a summary of your personal data, how we use it, and who we have shared it with.
• Correct it: change your name and mobile number in the app (Me); ask us for anything else.
• Erase it: delete your account (section 8).
• Withdraw consent: at any time, for example by turning off notifications or location, or by deleting your account. This doesn't affect what was done before.
• Nominate someone to use these rights for you if you die or cannot act yourself: tell us by email.
• Complain: to our Grievance Officer (section 14). If you are not satisfied with the answer, you can complain to the Data Protection Board of India.

We acknowledge requests within 24 hours and resolve them within 15 days.

8. Deleting your account

• Email xqtechsolutions@gmail.com from the email address of your account, with the subject "Delete my account", or call or WhatsApp +91 62354 55560. We confirm it is you, and we delete your account and personal data within 90 days.
• The steps are on voiceofkeralam.in/delete-account. In the app: Me → Delete my account.
• What happens to your reports and comments is described in section 6.

9. Children

You must be 18 or older to create an account. Anyone can browse without an account. We don't knowingly collect personal data of children. If you believe a child has an account, tell us and we will delete it. The community rules ask people not to photograph children, and faces in photos are blurred.

10. Security

All connections are encrypted (HTTPS). Database rules let each person read only what they are allowed to. Proof documents are kept in a private store and opened by admins through short-lived links. Staff accounts need two-step sign-in, and access to sensitive data is logged. No system is perfectly secure: if a data breach affects you, we will tell you and the Data Protection Board as the law requires.

11. Permissions on your phone

• Location: only while you use the app, to place the pin, to show problems near you and to check whether you are local. Never in the background.
• Camera and microphone: only when you take a photo or video, record a voice note or dictate.
• Notifications: only if you allow them. You can change all of these in your phone's settings.

12. Changes to this policy

We will publish any new version here with its date, and tell you in the app before an important change takes effect.

13. Languages

This policy is available in Malayalam and English. If the two versions ever differ, the English version applies.

14. Contact and Grievance Officer

• Grievance Officer: Ashok Kumar G, xqtechsolutions@gmail.com, +91 62354 55560, XQ Tech Solutions, Nattukal, Kozhinjampara, Palakkad, Kerala 678554.
• We acknowledge complaints within 24 hours and resolve them within 15 days, as the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 require. A complaint about content showing a person's private parts or nudity, a sexual act, or an impersonation of that kind is acted on within 24 hours.
• General questions: xqtechsolutions@gmail.com.