Privacy Policy

Shutter League is a photography evaluation and skill assessment platform operated from India. Contact: support@shutterleague.com

• Account information — email address, username, password (hashed, never stored in plain text)
• Profile information — country, state, city, declared camera or phone brand
• Images you upload — the photograph, title, interest area, location, and subject notes you provide
• EXIF metadata — extracted automatically from uploaded images. Used for league integrity verification only. Never shown publicly.
• Payment information — processed entirely by our RBI-authorised payment gateway provider. We store only the subscription or order ID. We do not collect, store, or have access to your card number, CVV, UPI PIN, net banking credentials, or any other payment authentication data.
• Usage data — pages visited, images evaluated, challenge uploads.

We never sell your data. Shutter League does not serve advertising in its core platform. However, programme sponsors — such as photography brands (e.g. Fujifilm) or equipment partners — may be featured within sponsored programmes. In those cases, only aggregate participation data (e.g. number of participants, programme themes) may be shared with the sponsor. No personal data, images, or individual evaluations are shared with sponsors without your explicit consent.

• To evaluate your images using the Apex DDI Engine
• To display your portfolio and evaluations on your dashboard and programme standings
• To process subscription payments via our payment gateway provider
• To send transactional emails (evaluation notifications, subscription confirmations) via Brevo
• To detect and prevent AI-generated image uploads and other integrity violations
• To operate photography programmes, challenges, and Annual Excellence Award tracking
• To facilitate sponsored programmes where photography brands or equipment partners are involved, subject to the data sharing limits described above

We share data only with the following service providers, strictly for the purpose of operating the platform:

• Payment Gateway Provider — payment processing. Governed by the gateway provider's Privacy Policy.
• Brevo — transactional email delivery.
• Cloudflare R2 — image and file storage.
• Railway — application hosting and database.
• Anthropic Claude API — AI-powered image evaluation. Images are sent for analysis and are not stored by Anthropic beyond their standard API data handling policies.

We do not share your data with advertisers, data brokers, or any third party for marketing purposes.

The following information is visible publicly on programme standings and image share pages:

• Your username and display name
• Your city and state (if provided in your profile)
• Your images, titles, interest areas, and tier classifications
• Your peer rating count (not individual peer evaluations)

Your exact DDI evaluation is private and visible only on your personal dashboard. Only tier classifications are shown publicly.

Images you upload are stored permanently on Cloudflare R2 unless you delete them. Deleting an image from your dashboard removes it from the platform and from public display. Thumbnails and evaluation cards are also deleted.

RAW files submitted for verification are stored for 90 days after the programme result is published, then deleted.

We use a single session cookie to keep you logged in. We do not use tracking cookies, advertising cookies, or third-party analytics cookies. No cookie consent banner is required as we use only strictly necessary cookies.

Passwords are hashed using industry-standard algorithms and are never stored in plain text. All data is transmitted over HTTPS. Payment data is handled entirely by our payment gateway provider and never passes through our servers.

You have the right to access, correct, or delete your personal data at any time. You can delete your account and all associated data from your profile settings. For data export or other requests, contact us directly.

To exercise any of these rights, email support@shutterleague.com with subject line Privacy Request — [your username].

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of material changes by posting a notice on the platform. Continued use of the platform after changes are posted constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.

Shutter League processes personal data in accordance with the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 (DPDP Act) of India. As a Data Fiduciary, we process your personal data only for the lawful purposes described in this policy and only to the extent necessary for those purposes.

• Consent: By registering on Shutter League, you provide consent to the collection and processing of your personal data as described in this policy. You may withdraw consent at any time by deleting your account.
• Right to access: You have the right to obtain a summary of the personal data we hold about you and details of the processing activities carried out.
• Right to correction and erasure: You may request correction of inaccurate or incomplete personal data, or erasure of personal data that is no longer necessary for the purpose for which it was collected.
• Right to grievance redressal: You may contact our Grievance Officer to raise any concerns about the processing of your personal data. We will acknowledge your grievance within 48 hours and resolve it within 30 days.
• Right to nominate: You may nominate another individual to exercise your data rights on your behalf in the event of your death or incapacity.

Grievance Officer: For any data protection concerns, contact support@shutterleague.com with subject line DPDP Grievance — [your username].

We do not transfer personal data outside India except to the service providers listed in Section 04, each of whom processes data under appropriate contractual safeguards. We retain personal data only for as long as necessary for the purposes described in this policy or as required by applicable law.

Shutter League is operated from India. If you access the platform from outside India, your data is processed and stored in India. By using the platform, you consent to this transfer.

European Union & United Kingdom (GDPR / UK GDPR)

If you are located in the EU or UK, you have rights under GDPR / UK GDPR including: right of access, rectification, erasure, restriction of processing, data portability, and the right to object. To exercise these rights email support@shutterleague.com with subject GDPR Request — [username]. We will respond within 30 days. Our lawful basis for processing is your consent (given at registration) and legitimate interests (platform operation).

United Arab Emirates

Users in the UAE are subject to Federal Decree-Law No. 45 of 2021 on Personal Data Protection. You have the right to access, correct, and request deletion of your personal data. Contact us at support@shutterleague.com.

Australia (Privacy Act 1988)

Australian users have rights under the Privacy Act 1988 and Australian Privacy Principles. You may request access to or correction of your personal information by contacting us directly.

Canada (PIPEDA)

Canadian users have rights under the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA). You may withdraw consent and request access to or deletion of your personal data at any time.

For all international privacy requests: email support@shutterleague.com with subject Privacy Request — [your country] — [username]. We aim to respond within 30 days.