Privacy Policy

Authority Engine ("Company", "we", "our", "us"), operated by Cogniterra Group, s.r.o., respects your privacy and is committed to protecting the personal data of our users ("you"). This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, and share information in the course of operating our B2B software-as-a-service platform.

1. Our Dual Role (Controller vs. Processor)

Depending on the data being processed, we act in one of two capacities:

• As a Data Controller: We are the controller of the personal information you (the real estate professional) provide to us to create and manage your Authority Engine account, process your subscription payments, and deliver customer support.
• As a Data Processor (Service Provider): If you use our tools to host subdomains or capture leads (e.g., website visitors filling out a contact form on your AI-generated blog), we process that end-consumer data strictly on your behalf. You remain the Data Controller of your clients' information, and we do not sell or use this data for our own marketing purposes.

2. Information We Collect

We collect the following categories of information:

• Account Information: Name, email address, brokerage name, professional license numbers, and Telegram ID.
• Cookies and Tracking Technologies: We use essential cookies to keep you logged in and manage your session. We may also use standard analytics tools to understand how visitors interact with our public website.
• Platform Usage Data: AI prompts, "Brand Voice" writing samples, approved articles, and analytics data (IP addresses, login timestamps) to prevent fraud and improve our Service.

3. Third-Party Sub-processors

To deliver the Service, we share necessary data with trusted third parties:

• Payment Providers: We use Stripe to process subscriptions. Stripe collects your payment method when you start a free trial, even though no charge occurs until the trial ends — see our Terms of Service for the full trial, billing, and cancellation terms. We do not store full credit card numbers.
• AI Infrastructure: We utilize OpenAI's API to generate content. In accordance with OpenAI’s API data usage policies, the text and prompts we send via their API are not used to train OpenAI’s foundational models.
• Communication Platforms: We use Telegram to deliver article drafts and approval notifications to your device.
• Hosting & Storage: Your data is securely hosted on our cloud infrastructure (e.g., Hetzner).

4. U.S. State Privacy Rights (CCPA, TDPSA, VCDPA, CPA)

If you are a resident of California, Texas, Virginia, Colorado, or other states with applicable consumer privacy laws, you have specific rights regarding your personal information:

• Right to Know / Access: You may request a copy of the specific pieces of personal data we have collected about you.
• Right to Correction: You may request that we correct inaccurate personal data.
• Right to Deletion: You may request the deletion of your personal data, subject to certain legal exceptions (e.g., fraud prevention or compliance with legal obligations).
• Right to Opt-Out of Sale / Targeted Advertising: We do not sell your personal data. However, you may opt-out of the sharing of data for cross-context behavioral advertising.

To exercise these rights, please contact us at belsan@cogniterra.net. We will verify your request by matching the email address associated with your account.

5. Global Privacy Control (GPC)

We respect your right to privacy. Our website architecture is designed to recognize and process "Universal Opt-Out" signals, such as the Global Privacy Control (GPC) signal transmitted by compatible web browsers or extensions. If our systems detect a valid GPC signal, we will automatically treat it as a request to opt-out of tracking and targeted advertising.

6. Data Retention & AI Fine-Tuning

We retain your personal information only for as long as necessary to provide the Service or comply with legal obligations. As outlined in our Terms of Service, we may use anonymized text inputs (such as rejected article drafts) to fine-tune our underlying Generative AI models. This data is stripped of personally identifiable information (PII) before being used for training.

7. International Data Transfers & GDPR Compliance

While our Service is primarily designed for U.S. real estate professionals, our operating entity is based in the European Union. We process personal data in compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). By using our Service, you acknowledge that your information may be transferred to, stored, and processed in the EU (e.g., on our secure servers in Germany) or other countries where our sub-processors operate. We rely on legally provided mechanisms, such as Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs), to lawfully transfer data across borders.

8. Contact & Legal Entity Information

Authority Engine is a product developed and operated by Cogniterra Group, s.r.o., a limited liability company registered in the Czech Republic.

Cogniterra Group, s.r.o.
IČO (Company ID): 23704624
Registered Address: 5. května 159/15, Liberec I-Staré Město, 460 01 Liberec, Czech Republic
Registered at the Regional Court in Ústí nad Labem, file C 54549/KSUL.

If you have any questions or concerns about this Privacy Policy, please contact our privacy team at: belsan@cogniterra.net.