In short: you can browse without an account. If you sign in, we get your name, email and photo from LinkedIn or Google, plus the profile details you add. We show only your public profile next to what you publish, never your email. We don't sell data or run ads, and you can delete your account yourself at any time.
1. Who we are
SoftwaresForCA (softwaresforca.com) is operated by Startup Atoms LLP, a limited liability partnership registered in India. For the purposes of the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 (“DPDP Act”), we are the Data Fiduciary for the personal data described here.
Startup Atoms LLP (LLPIN ACR-3037)
27th Main Rd, Sector 2, HSR Layout, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560102, India
Email: startupatoms@gmail.com
2. What we collect
When you browse (no account)
- A visitor ID. A random identifier stored in a cookie, so your recommendations and “helpful” votes are counted once and survive signing in. It contains nothing about you.
- Usage events. Pages and products viewed, comparisons opened and clicks through to vendor websites, linked to the visitor ID. We use these to show what is popular and to improve the site.
- A hashed network address. To limit spam and abuse we compute a one-way hash of your IP address combined with the date and a secret value. We never store your raw IP address, and the hash changes every day.
When you sign in with LinkedIn or Google
- From the provider you choose: your name, email address, profile photo and the provider's account identifier. We do not receive your password, contacts, connections or posts, and we never post on your behalf.
- Profile details you enter: display name, designation, firm or company, firm size and city.
When you take part
- Reviews (ratings, text, pros and cons), questions, replies and votes you submit.
- Your email address and confirmation status if you subscribe to the newsletter.
- Anything you send us through the contact form or by email.
3. How we use it
- To run the site: sign you in, keep you signed in, publish your contributions and show community ratings.
- To moderate content, enforce our Terms and Review guidelines, and prevent spam, fake reviews and abuse.
- To send emails you asked for: newsletter confirmations and issues, and notices about the status of your reviews and posts.
- To understand which tools and pages are useful, in aggregate, so we can improve the catalogue.
- To comply with law and respond to lawful requests.
4. What other people see
Next to a published review, question or reply we show your display name, profile photo, designation, firm size, city and which service you signed in with. Your email address, firm name and sign-in tokens are never shown publicly or shared with vendors.
Recommendation and vote counts are public, but who cast them is not.
5. Why we are allowed to process it
We process personal data on the basis of your consent, given when you sign in, complete your profile, submit content or subscribe, and for the legitimate uses permitted by Section 7 of the DPDP Act, such as keeping the service secure and complying with law. You can withdraw consent at any time (see Your rights); doing so does not affect processing carried out before withdrawal.
8. How long we keep it
- Usage events: deleted automatically after 180 days.
- Sign-in sessions: until they expire (30 days of inactivity) or you sign out.
- Account and profile: until you delete your account.
- Newsletter: until you unsubscribe (every email has a one-click link).
- Pending and rejected content: kept so we can handle appeals and repeat abuse, and deleted when you delete your account.
- Database backups roll over automatically, so deleted data can remain in backups for a short period before it is overwritten.
9. Your rights
Under the DPDP Act you have the right to:
- obtain a summary of the personal data we hold about you and how it is processed;
- correct, complete or update it, which you can do any time on your account page;
- have it erased. Delete my account on your account page removes your profile, email, sign-in links, pending posts and newsletter subscription immediately;
- withdraw consent, nominate another person to exercise these rights in case of death or incapacity, and seek grievance redressal.
When you delete your account, reviews and posts that were already published stay on the site attributed to “Former member”, with your name, photo and profile details removed, so that product ratings remain accurate. If you want a specific published contribution removed as well, email us and we will remove it.
For anything else, email startupatoms@gmail.com. We may need to confirm your identity before acting on a request.
10. Security
All traffic is encrypted with HTTPS. Sessions are stored server-side, secrets are held in our hosting provider's secret store, raw IP addresses are never stored and administrative access is restricted and logged. No system is perfectly secure; if a breach affects your personal data we will notify you and the Data Protection Board of India as the DPDP Act requires.
11. Age
SoftwaresForCA is meant for professionals. You must be 18 or older to create an account, and we do not knowingly process children's data.
12. Grievance Officer
In line with the Information Technology Act, 2000 and the rules under it, and the DPDP Act, complaints about personal data or content on the site can be sent to our Grievance Officer:
Grievance Officer, Startup Atoms LLP
27th Main Rd, Sector 2, HSR Layout, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560102, India
Email: startupatoms@gmail.com
We acknowledge complaints within 24 hours and aim to resolve them within 15 days. If you are not satisfied with our response, you may complain to the Data Protection Board of India.
13. Changes to this policy
We will update this page when our practices change and revise the date at the top. If a change materially affects how we use data you have already given us, we will tell signed-in members by email or on the site before it takes effect.