Privacy Policy

Overview

Subnetica ("we", "us") provides hands-on networking labs. This policy explains what information we collect when you use the site, why we collect it, and the choices you have.

Information we collect

When you create an account, we collect:

• Username, display name, and email address
• Password - stored as a salted hash, never in plain text and never accessible to us
• Date of birth - used only to verify you meet our minimum age requirement (13); we don't use it for anything else

When you use a lab, we store the lab template you launched, its randomized configuration, and the commands you run against it, so the console and grading checks work. When you subscribe to a paid plan, payment is handled entirely by Stripe (see below) - we never see or store your card details.

How we use it

• To create and secure your account, and to keep you signed in
• To run the labs you launch and grade your progress against them
• To process subscriptions, invoices, and promo codes
• To send account-related email (verification, billing receipts)
• To detect abuse and enforce rate limits

We do not sell your information, and we do not run ads.

Third-party services

We rely on a small number of third parties to run Subnetica, and only share what each one needs to do its job:

• Stripe - payment processing, subscription billing, and invoices. Stripe has its own privacy policy.
• Amazon SES - delivering verification and account emails.

Cookies and local storage

Your session is a token stored in your browser's local storage, sent with each request - signing out or clearing your browser's site data removes it. We set exactly one cookie, subnetica_age_block, only if you fail the minimum-age check when creating an account - it's a client-side speed bump that briefly (24 hours) blocks another registration attempt from that browser, isn't used for tracking or analytics, and expires on its own. We don't use any other cookies, and we don't run analytics or advertising scripts of any kind.

Data retention

We keep your account data for as long as your account is active. Lab instances and their configuration are deleted once a lab ends. Deleting your account (available from Settings) permanently removes your profile and lab history, and immediately cancels any subscription. We retain billing/invoice records (amounts, dates, no longer linked to your identity) after deletion, since we're legally required to keep them for tax purposes - nothing else about your account survives.

Your rights

Wherever you are, you can do all of this yourself from Settings - no request needed:

• Access & portability - download a copy of everything we hold about you (profile, billing history, lab instances) as a JSON file
• Rectification - edit your display name and bio directly; contact us for anything else on your account
• Erasure - permanently delete your account and everything tied to it (subject to the billing-record retention above)

If you're in the EU/UK, GDPR additionally gives you the right to restrict processing and to object to it; if you're a California resident, the CCPA gives you the right to know what we collect, request deletion, correct inaccuracies, and not be discriminated against for exercising any of these rights. As stated above, we do not sell or share your personal information with anyone. Contact us for anything these self-service tools in Settings don't cover.

Children's privacy

Subnetica is not intended for anyone under 13, and we don't knowingly collect information from children under 13.

Security

We use industry-standard measures - encryption in transit, hashed passwords, and scoped access to production systems - to protect your information. No system is perfectly secure, but we take reasonable steps to keep yours safe.

Changes to this policy

If we make material changes to this policy, we'll update the date at the top of this page and, where appropriate, notify you directly.

Contact

Questions about this policy or your data? Reach us at privacy@subnetica.xyz.