Privacy Policy

01Who We Are & Contact

KIN Living Network (“KIN”, “we”, “us”, or “our”) operates a conversational academic network connecting college alumni, verified student builders, and collegiate research faculty across accredited higher education institutions.

For any questions or privacy inquiries regarding this policy or our data practices, contact our Data Privacy Team at:

02Data We Collect

We only collect data strictly necessary to facilitate alumni requirement discovery and verified student matching:

• Phone Number: Your WhatsApp phone number in standardized E.164 format (e.g. +91 98765 43210), used as your primary identifier.
• Name, Institution & Batch: Your identity and educational affiliation (e.g., IIIT Delhi, Batch of 2024), imported from institution rosters or provided during conversational onboarding.
• Candidate Profiles & Skills (Students): Verified technical competencies, GitHub commit proofs, portfolio links, primary frameworks, and graduation year.
• WhatsApp Inbound Messages & Voice Notes: Natural language text messages and audio notes sent by you describing hiring or project requirements.
• Structured Requirement Details: Extracted role titles, required skills, preferred seniority, location/remote preference, headcount, and urgency.
• Introduction Request & Match History: Records of candidate cards viewed, double opt-in intro requests dispatched, and candidate responses.
• Basic Usage & Telemetry Logs: Timestamped webhook delivery receipts and error codes, with phone numbers masked for privacy compliance (e.g., +91••••••3419).

03How We Use Data

Your information is used exclusively to:

1. Accurately parse and structure hiring, internship, and advisory requirements posted via text or audio.
2. Execute objective candidate matching based solely on verified engineering proof and skill requirements.
3. Deliver anonymized candidate cards directly inside your WhatsApp conversation window.
4. Facilitate mutual Double Opt-In introductions between alumni and candidates.
5. Maintain audit trails and handle user data deletion requests in accordance with applicable laws.

04Voice Notes & Immediate Audio Deletion

We do not build voiceprints, biometric profiles, or voice identification models from your voice notes.

05AI Processing & Neutrality Guarantee

KIN utilizes modern Large Language Models (LLMs) to extract structured requirements (such as technical skill tags, seniority level, and location preference) from colloquial conversational input.

06Double Opt-In & Third-Party Processors

Double Opt-In Guarantee: Candidate contact numbers and private emails are NEVER displayed publicly or shared with alumni upon initial search. Contact information is released strictly after the candidate receives the requirement summary and explicitly taps “Accept Introduction” in their own WhatsApp chat.

We work with the following sub-processors to deliver KIN services:

07Legal Basis & Consent Withdrawal

We process your personal data on the basis of your explicit consent, which is digitally recorded with an immutable timestamp upon your first message or onboarding confirmation.

Withdrawing Consent: You may withdraw your consent at any time:

• Send “STOP” to our WhatsApp number to immediately unsubscribe from updates.
• Send “DELETE MY DATA” or visit our Data Deletion Portal to permanently erase your records.

08Data Retention Schedule

• Voice Audio Files: 0 days (deleted immediately post-transcription).
• Transcripts & Requirement Specs: Retained for 12 months to allow alumni to revisit prior candidate matches, after which they are automatically expunged.
• WhatsApp Operational Message Logs: Retained for 6 months for security auditing and debugging.
• User Deletion Requests: Executed immediately via automated self-service, or within maximum 30 days for manual email requests.

09Your Rights (India DPDP Act 2023) & Grievance Officer

In compliance with the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 (DPDP Act) of India, you hold the following rights:

• Right to Access: Request a summary of personal data held about you and processing activities undertaken.
• Right to Correction & Erasure: Rectify inaccurate personal data or demand permanent erasure.
• Right of Grievance Redressal: Register complaints with our designated Grievance Officer.
• Right to Nominate: Nominate an individual to exercise rights on your behalf in the event of death or incapacity.

10Security, Age Limits & Policy Changes

Security Measures: We employ HMAC-SHA256 signature verification on all Meta webhook payloads, rate limit verification endpoints, isolate environment secrets server-side, and mask phone numbers in operational telemetry.

Children's Data: KIN is designed exclusively for university students, alumni, and academic researchers aged 18 and older. We do not knowingly collect or solicit personal information from minors under 18.

Policy Revisions: We may update this policy periodically to reflect operational or regulatory updates. Any material changes will be announced via WhatsApp notice or highlighted on this page.