Privacy Policy

Version 7 · effective October 19, 2026

This policy explains what data MeInTheStory processes, why, for how long, and how you stay in control of all of it. We’ve written it in plain language on purpose. It applies to the meinthestory.net website and to the books created on it.

1. Who looks after your data

The data controller is MeInTheStory. For any privacy matter, including to reach our data protection officer, write to hello@meinthestory.net.

2. The short version

  • Only adults (18 or older) create accounts. The child never fills anything in.
  • We ask for the bare minimum needed to make the book: almost everything is optional.
  • The child’s data is encrypted and never appears in links, emails, technical logs or analytics tools.
  • We don’t sell data and we don’t show ads. We use an analytics tool (PostHog) only with your permission, and never with the child’s data.
  • In My Account you can download a copy of your data or delete everything, instantly, whenever you like.

3. What data we process

Parent or guardian data

  • Your email address, used to sign in to your account and receive your sign-in links.
  • If you sign in with Google: the email address and identifier of your Google account. We don’t receive your name, photo, contacts or password.
  • Your preferred site language, and the date and version of the consent you gave.
  • If your account is a paid one, the books unlocked for you (by Me In The Story or with a coupon) and the coupons you used, with the date.

Book personalization data

  • The child’s first name (required). Surname, age, city, what the child calls their mom, dad, grandma and grandpa, the pet’s name, and the dedication (all optional).
  • Whether the story is about a girl or a boy. We use this only to choose the illustration and the wording of the story.
  • The book’s language.

Newsletter (only if you subscribe)

  • Email address, language, the dates of the request and of the confirmation, the version of this policy you accepted and a scrambled version (hash) of the request’s IP address, to prevent abuse.

Purchases (only if you buy)

  • The order: what was bought, price, currency, discount or coupon, dates, payment status, the payment method (such as card or Pix) and the payment reference at Stripe. We never receive or store your card number.
  • For a gift: the recipient’s email, the message (deleted as soon as the gift is sent) and the delivery date.
  • The personalization stays encrypted in the order only until the book goes into your library.

Technical data

  • A session cookie, to keep you signed in.
  • A scrambled version (hash) of your IP address, stored alongside sign-in link requests, to prevent abuse.
  • Access logs: IP address (and source port, when the host provides it), date and time, browser, and the actions taken in the account, such as signing in, adding, downloading and sending books, and using coupons. These logs never include the child’s data.
  • The creation, expiry and revocation dates of sharing links. When you send the book by email, the recipient’s address is kept in the access logs, so that we can look into a report of an inappropriate sending.
  • Usage analytics (only if you accept in the cookie notice): pages visited (with the address cleaned of access codes), clicks without their text, device and browser type, country and city approximated from the IP address and, on public pages (home, catalog, books, help and legal pages), screen recordings with all text and fields hidden. On the personalization page, in My Account and on sharing links we only record that the page was visited; in the admin panel, nothing. This data isn’t linked to your email or your account.

While you fill in the personalization, the draft stays only in your browser. Nothing reaches our servers until you ask to receive the book.

4. What we use it for, and on what legal basis

  • Creating your account and signing you in: performance of a contract (LGPD art. 7º, V; GDPR art. 6(1)(b)).
  • Creating, storing and delivering the personalized book with the child’s data: specific and prominent consent from the parent or guardian (LGPD art. 14, § 1º; GDPR art. 6(1)(a) and art. 8). You give this consent by ticking the box on the form, and you can withdraw it at any time by deleting the book or your account.
  • Sending the book to whoever you choose: performance of a contract, at your request.
  • Measuring promotional partnerships: we count how many times each coupon has been used. Whoever promoted the coupon receives only the count, never who used it. Legitimate interest (LGPD art. 7º, IX; GDPR art. 6(1)(f)).
  • Protecting the service and families against abuse (limiting sign-in link requests and looking into reports): legitimate interest (LGPD art. 7º, IX; GDPR art. 6(1)(f)).
  • Understanding how the site is used and improving it (PostHog): consent (LGPD art. 7º, I; GDPR art. 6(1)(a)), given in the cookie notice and withdrawable at any time.
  • Telling you about new titles (newsletter): consent (LGPD art. 7, I; GDPR art. 6(1)(a)), confirmed through the link we send to your email. You can unsubscribe at any time through the link included in every newsletter email.
  • Selling, charging for and delivering books, including gifts, and issuing receipts: performance of a contract (LGPD art. 7, V; GDPR art. 6(1)(b)). Keeping orders for the period required by tax law: legal obligation (LGPD art. 7, II; GDPR art. 6(1)(c)).
  • Complying with legal obligations, such as keeping access logs when the law requires it (Brazil’s Internet Civil Framework (Marco Civil da Internet), art. 15).

We don’t make automated decisions about you, and we don’t create profiles.

5. How we protect it

  • Personalization data is encrypted in the database with AES-256-GCM. The key is kept separately from the database.
  • Sign-in links, sessions and sharing links are stored only as hashes: anyone who saw the database wouldn’t be able to use them.
  • Sign-in links are valid for 15 minutes and can be used only once. Sharing links are valid for 7 days, and you can revoke them.
  • All traffic uses HTTPS.
  • The PDF and EPUB are generated at the moment you download them and are not saved on our servers.
  • Payment happens on Stripe’s secure page: card details never pass through our servers.

6. Who we share it with

Only with the providers needed for the service to work, who process data on our behalf and follow our instructions:

  • Hostinger: hosting for the website and the database.
  • Resend: sending emails (sign-in links, books you send, purchase and gift emails, and the newsletter, if you subscribe). It receives the recipient’s address and the content of the email, which never includes the child’s data.
  • Google: only if you choose to sign in with Google.
  • PostHog (United States): usage analytics for the site, only with your consent. It never receives the child’s data, your email or your account identifier.
  • Stripe: payment processing (card, Pix and other methods). It receives your email, the amount and the details you enter on its payment page. Stripe also processes this data as a controller, to prevent fraud and comply with financial laws, under its own privacy policy. It never receives the child’s data.

When you send the book to someone, that person receives a link to download it, and the book, of course, contains the personalization.

We don’t sell or rent data, and we don’t share it for advertising.

Authorities: we only hand over logs or data under a court order or a request from an authority with legal power to make it, as the law provides (Brazil’s Internet Civil Framework (Marco Civil da Internet), arts. 10, 15 and 22).

7. International transfers

Some providers (such as Resend, Google, PostHog and Stripe) may process data outside Brazil and the European Economic Area, particularly in the United States. In those cases, we use providers that offer the safeguards provided for in the LGPD (art. 33) and the GDPR (Chapter V), such as standard contractual clauses.

8. How long we keep it

  • Account and books: for as long as the account exists. When you delete your account, we immediately delete the account, the books, the children’s data and the sharing links.
  • Sign-in link requests and Google sign-in requests: the personalization is removed from the request as soon as the book goes into your library; the requests themselves are deleted within 30 days.
  • Sessions: up to 30 days, or until you sign out.
  • Newsletter: while the subscription is active. When you unsubscribe, your email leaves the list immediately; when you delete your account, the subscription for that email is cancelled too. Unconfirmed requests are deleted within 30 days.
  • Access logs: 6 months, kept confidential (Marco Civil da Internet, art. 15), even if you delete your account. If there is an abuse report or a request from an authority, we may preserve the logs and an encrypted copy of the books of the account involved for as long as the investigation requires.
  • Usage analytics (PostHog): events for up to 1 year and screen recordings for up to 30 days.
  • Coupon use: when you delete your account, the record of the use is no longer linked to you and remains only as a count.
  • Sharing links: valid for 7 days; the record is removed when you delete the book or your account.
  • Orders: 5 years after the purchase, as required by tax and accounting law, even if you delete your account. When you delete your account, the order is no longer linked to you: we erase the gift recipient’s email and any personalization still in it.
  • Database backups may take up to 30 days to be replaced.

9. Your rights

You can, at any time: confirm whether we process your data, access it, correct it, take a copy with you (portability), ask for it to be deleted, withdraw your consent, find out who we share it with, and object to processing (LGPD art. 18; GDPR arts. 15 to 22).

The quickest way is My Account: there you can download all your data as JSON or delete your account instantly. For any other request, write to hello@meinthestory.net. We reply within 15 days.

If you feel we haven’t handled something properly, you can lodge a complaint with Brazil’s National Data Protection Authority (ANPD), or with the data protection authority in your country in the European Union.

10. Cookies and browser storage

Essential, always on:

  • mits_session: a cookie that keeps you signed in (30 days). Without it, your account doesn’t work.
  • Light or dark theme: saved in your browser (localStorage).
  • Personalization draft: kept only in this browser tab (sessionStorage) and cleared when you close it.
  • mits-consent: stores your choice in the cookie notice (localStorage).

Only if you click “Accept” in the cookie notice:

  • ph_…_posthog (PostHog): an anonymous identifier for this browser, to count visits and paths through the site (up to 1 year).

We don’t use advertising cookies. You can change your choice at any time under “Cookie preferences” in the footer; if you decline, PostHog is turned off and what it stored in your browser is deleted.

11. Children

MeInTheStory is made for adults to create books for children. We don’t collect data directly from children, and we don’t allow accounts for anyone under 18. If you learn that a child has created an account, write to hello@meinthestory.net and we will delete everything.

12. Changes to this policy

When we change something important, we’ll let you know by email or on the website before the change takes effect. If the change affects how children’s data is used, we’ll ask for your consent again.