Privacy Policy

Who is responsible

Mettelo Technologies Limited operates Mettelo and is responsible for the personal information it uses to administer its website and community. Contact hello@mettelo.com with the subject “Privacy request”. This policy covers people who use our public website, apply to the community or projects, volunteer, join community spaces, contact us or request platform launch updates.

External providers also process information under their own policies. This notice describes Mettelo’s use of information; it does not replace those providers’ notices. The community is for adults aged 18 or over. Please do not submit information about a child; contact us if you believe we have received it.

What we collect & where it comes from

We receive information directly from you, from activity organisers and from the community tools you choose to use. Public professional profiles and contributions you link may be considered when administering participation. Do not send passwords, identity documents, financial information or sensitive personal details unless specifically necessary and a suitable secure route has been agreed.

Why we use information

• Review community applications, manage access and communicate about participation.
• Coordinate project interests, teams, volunteering and workshops.
• Answer questions, consider feedback, investigate reports and protect community safety.
• Send platform launch updates only where you have asked for them.
• Keep the website and application process secure, prevent abuse and meet applicable legal duties.

Providing details requested for an application helps us assess and coordinate it. If necessary information is missing, we may be unable to process that request. Optional launch updates are separate from membership. We do not use this website to make solely automated decisions with legal or similarly significant effects about you.

Legal grounds & choices

Where UK or Nigerian data-protection law requires a lawful basis, we use:

• Consent for optional platform launch updates and separately requested optional publicity. You can withdraw consent without affecting processing that was lawful before withdrawal.
• Legitimate interests for proportionate community/application administration, project coordination, support, moderation and security. These interests are running a useful and safe professional community, answering requests and preventing misuse. We consider necessity, reasonable expectations and the effect on individuals; you may object.
• Legal obligations where a specific applicable requirement requires us to retain, disclose or otherwise process information.

We do not treat agreement to community rules as blanket marketing consent. Optional information is not permission to reuse it for unrelated purposes. Where a new purpose needs another basis or notice, we address that before using the information for that purpose.

Who may receive information

Access is limited to organisers, administrators, moderators or project leads who need information for their role. We use Tally for forms, Microsoft OneDrive for relevant resources and working records, Hostinger for website/email hosting, GitHub for project collaboration, and Discord or WhatsApp for community activity. YouTube and linked social sites have their own provider practices when you visit them.

Working copies, including necessary spreadsheets or email records, remain subject to the same purpose, access and retention rules. We do not publish application responses as a public member directory. A project lead may receive the relevant participation details needed to coordinate a team.

Information you post in a group or public repository may be visible to other participants or the public. In WhatsApp spaces, visibility of your number and profile depends on the type of space and settings. Check these before joining. We do not sell personal information or share it for cross-context behavioural advertising, and this website has no advertising trackers.

We may disclose limited information where legally required or reasonably necessary to address a legal claim or serious safety issue. Requests are assessed rather than treated as automatic permission to disclose everything.

International handling

Mettelo serves an international community, including people in the UK, Nigeria and the US. Providers, organisers and recipients may handle information in other countries. Those countries may have different privacy laws.

Where a restricted international transfer requires safeguards, the relevant transfer must be assessed and supported by an applicable legal mechanism, such as an adequacy decision or appropriate contractual safeguards. We do not rely on your community membership alone as blanket consent to international transfers. Contact hello@mettelo.com for information about the providers and safeguards relevant to your information.

How long we keep information

We keep information for the purpose for which it is needed, rather than indefinitely. The following are Mettelo’s retention rules, not universal periods prescribed by law:

• Unsuccessful or withdrawn applications: delete or anonymise within 12 months of the decision or withdrawal, unless a specific unresolved issue requires a limited record.
• Member and active participation records: keep necessary details while participation continues, review at least annually and remove unnecessary administrative details within 12 months after participation ends.
• Waitlist: remove contact details within 30 days after the final launch communication, on withdrawal where no longer needed, or after 12 months without relevant engagement, whichever comes first. A minimal opt-out/consent record may be retained as needed to honour your choice and demonstrate how the request was handled.
• Routine support: delete or anonymise within 12 months after closure. Moderation and safety records are reviewed at closure and no later than 24 months afterwards; retain only what is still justified by a specific safety or legal need.
• Public project contributions: repository history, attribution and licensed material may remain relevant after participation ends. A request to remove personal details is considered separately from rights in the underlying contribution.

Checklist progress stays in your browser until reset or cleared. Waitlist rate-counter entries older than one day are removed on the next submission; an idle counter file may persist until another request or maintenance. Hosting logs and provider backups have their own technical lifecycles; deletion requests include checking relevant copies and avoiding unnecessary restoration of deleted records.

A documented legal requirement, dispute or continuing safety need may justify a limited longer retention period. Access is restricted, the reason is recorded and the need is reviewed. We do not promise that deleting a community record immediately erases independent public copies or a provider’s own records.

Your rights & complaints

Depending on the law and circumstances, you may request access, correction, deletion, restriction or a portable copy of your information; object to processing based on legitimate interests; and withdraw consent. US state rights, including a right to appeal a refusal, apply where the relevant law covers the processing. We consider privacy requests from all community members and do not retaliate for exercising applicable rights.

Email hello@mettelo.com using “Privacy request”. Explain the activity involved and the change or information you need. We may ask for proportionate identity confirmation; do not send identity documents unsolicited. We respond within the applicable legal deadline, explain any permitted extension or refusal, and provide a route to ask for a review.

You may complain to a competent authority, including the UK Information Commissioner, the Nigeria Data Protection Commission, or your relevant US state authority. Your statutory rights do not depend on first completing Mettelo’s internal process.

Cookies, storage & website choices

The public website does not add optional analytics, advertising cookies, tracking pixels, social embeds or remotely hosted fonts. It does not track your browsing across other websites. There is no additional tracking to switch off in response to Do Not Track or Global Privacy Control signals. External websites may behave differently under their own policies.

On Start Here, local storage saves checklist step IDs on your device. It does not identify you or send progress to Mettelo. Use “Reset progress” or clear this site’s browser storage to remove it. Blocking storage does not stop you using the page; progress may not persist.

The waitlist checks availability and, only when you submit, sends the entered details to this website’s PHP handler. It adds no waitlist cookie or browser-stored copy of the form. Hosting security services may process essential technical information. We will assess and explain any new optional tracking before enabling it, including consent controls where required.

Security & policy updates

We limit access to relevant people and use safeguards appropriate to the activity. No website, email or external community service can be guaranteed completely secure. Report suspected exposure to hello@mettelo.com without posting sensitive evidence publicly.

We update this policy when relevant practices change and show the revision date. Material changes are communicated through the affected channel where appropriate. Future member accounts or restricted-resource features will need their own implemented controls and updated notices before introduction.