Privacy Policy
Last updated: 2026-05-05
★ What we collect ★
When you sign in, we store your email address and a Clerk-assigned user id so we can link your saved items and subscription status to your account. We do not sell, rent, or share your email with anyone.
When you scan a restaurant menu, we keep the URL you submitted and the vegan items we generated so other visitors can see the same result without re-running the AI pipeline.
For subscribers, Stripe stores the billing-side data (customer id, subscription status). We never see your card number; Stripe sends us a token that lets us identify your subscription state, nothing more.
★ Cookies we set ★
The table below lists the cookies you may encounter on Vegan Recon. The purpose column explains what each cookie does in plain language.
| Cookie | Set by | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| __session | Clerk | Keeps you signed in. Set on your first authenticated visit, refreshed on every request, removed on sign-out. |
| __client_uat | Clerk | Tracks when your auth client was last updated so the SDK knows when to refresh tokens. |
| __stripe_mid, __stripe_sid | Stripe | Set during the checkout flow to detect fraudulent payment attempts. Required for the upgrade subscription to work. |
| __gads, __gpi, NID | Google AdSense | Used by Google to serve ads, prevent the same ad from showing too often, measure ad performance, and (when consent allows) personalize ads based on your activity across sites. |
| _ga, _ga_* | Google Analytics (only if enabled) | Used to measure aggregate site usage. We do not currently run Google Analytics in production; this row is included so the policy is forward-compatible if we add it. |
| vr_voter | Vegan Recon | Set on your first vote (thumbs up or thumbs down) on a vegan item if you are not signed in, so the engine can recognize the same anonymous voter on subsequent taps and avoid double-counting. HttpOnly + SameSite=Lax + Secure (in production) + 1-year expiry. Contains a random UUID, not any personal information; you can clear it from your browser any time without affecting your saved-items or account. |
★ Advertising ★
Vegan Recon displays ads through Google AdSense on free-tier pages. Google uses cookies and similar technologies to serve ads that are relevant to you, including personalized ads based on your activity across the web. As of the last updated date, we have not enabled additional third-party ad networks; if that changes we will update this section before the network goes live.
You can opt out of personalized advertising by visiting Google Ads Settings, by visiting the NAI consumer opt-out, by using the DAA WebChoices tool, or (within the EU) the EDAA Your Online Choices tool.
For details on how Google uses data from sites and apps that use their services, see Google's policy.
★ GDPR (EU residents) ★
Under the General Data Protection Regulation, you have the right to access the personal data we hold about you, request corrections, request deletion, and request that we restrict or stop processing it. You also have the right to data portability and the right to lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority.
To exercise any of these rights, email truenorthtechnologymi@gmail.com and we will respond within 30 days.
★ CCPA (California residents) ★
Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to know what personal data we collect, the right to request deletion, the right to opt out of any sale of personal data (we do not sell personal data), and the right to be free from discrimination for exercising these rights. To exercise these rights, use the email above.
★ Data retention ★
Account data and saved items are retained for as long as your account is active. When you close your account or request deletion, we remove the data within 30 days.
Scan results (menu URL plus generated vegan items) are public data and are retained indefinitely as a community resource; they are not associated with any individual user once stored.
Server logs that include IP address are retained for 30 days for security and abuse-prevention purposes, then deleted. Advertising-related logs follow the retention windows of the respective ad provider; for AdSense, see Google's policy page linked above.
★ Children's policy ★
Vegan Recon is intended for users 13 and older. We do not knowingly collect personal data from anyone under 13. If you believe a child under 13 has registered an account, email the address above and we will remove it.
★ Payments ★
Subscription payments are processed by Stripe. We never see your card number. Stripe sends us a token we use to identify your subscription status, nothing more. Stripe's privacy policy is at stripe.com/privacy.
★ Deleting your data ★
Email truenorthtechnologymi@gmail.com and we will remove your account, saved items, and any scrape history tied to you within 30 days.
★ Changes ★
If we update this policy, we will update the date at the top of the page and, for significant changes, notify signed-in users by email.