Privacy Policy

Thank you for choosing VocalNews.

We are committed to protecting your personal data and respecting your privacy in accordance with the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and applicable Italian data protection laws.

This Privacy Policy explains what personal data we collect, how we use it, on what legal bases we process it, and what rights you have in relation to your data.

1. Data Controller and Contact Details

The data controller responsible for processing your personal data in connection with the Service is VocalNews (the “Controller”).

You can contact us regarding privacy matters at: legal@vocalnews.it.

If you are an EU/EEA resident, you also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Italian Data Protection Authority (Garante per la protezione dei dati personali) or with your local supervisory authority.

2. Personal Data We Collect

2.1 Data You Provide Directly

We collect personal data that you voluntarily provide when you:

Register for an account or sign up for early access or newsletters.
Express interest in our products or features (for example, by selecting news interests or topics).
Contact us via email or other communication channels.

This may include:

Name.
Email address.
Optional profile or preference information (e.g., news categories you want to follow).
Any other information you choose to provide in free-form fields or messages.

2.2 Data Collected Automatically

When you visit or use our website or Service, we automatically collect certain technical and usage data, which may include:

IP address and approximate location (e.g., country or region).
Device and browser characteristics (e.g., type, version, operating system).
Language preferences.
Referring URLs, pages viewed, and time spent on pages.
Information about how and when you use the Service (e.g., which features you interact with).

We collect this information using cookies and similar technologies as described in our Cookie Policy.

To provide the Service, we process data from publicly available online sources, primarily:

RSS and Atom feeds and similar news syndication mechanisms.
Basic metadata such as article titles, very short excerpts, publication dates, and URLs of original articles.

This data is used to generate summaries and commentary and to link you to the original articles, and is generally not personal data, except where such metadata may contain names of authors or other identifiable information already made public by the publisher.

We do not build user profiles based on individual journalists or other natural persons and apply data minimization where personal data is incidentally included in such feeds.

3. Purposes and Legal Bases for Processing

We process your personal data only when we have a valid legal basis under the GDPR.

3.1 Service Delivery and Account Management (Contract and Legitimate Interest)

We process your data to:

Provide, operate, and maintain the Service.
Create and manage your user account.
Provide personalized content or recommendations based on your selected interests, where applicable.

Legal basis: Article 6(1)(b) GDPR (performance of a contract) and, where personalization is modest and expected, Article 6(1)(f) GDPR (legitimate interest in providing a relevant and user-friendly service), subject to a balancing test.

3.2 Analytics and Service Improvement (Legitimate Interest)

We analyze how users interact with the Service (e.g., which features are used, performance metrics) to understand and improve functionality, security, and user experience.

Legal basis: Article 6(1)(f) GDPR (legitimate interest in operating and improving the Service), using aggregated or pseudonymized data wherever possible.

We may use your contact data to:

Send you service-related communications (e.g., updates, security notices), which are necessary to provide the Service you requested.
Send you optional newsletters, product updates, or marketing messages, only where you have given us your consent or where another lawful basis applies under applicable law.

Legal bases: Article 6(1)(b) GDPR (contract) for essential communications, and Article 6(1)(a) GDPR (consent) or Article 6(1)(f) (legitimate interest, where permitted) for marketing, subject to your right to opt out at any time.

3.4 Security and Fraud Prevention (Legal Obligation and Legitimate Interest)

We may process certain data to detect and prevent abuse, fraudulent activity, or security incidents, and to comply with legal obligations (e.g., responding to lawful requests from authorities).

Legal bases: Article 6(1)(c) GDPR (legal obligation) and Article 6(1)(f) (legitimate interest in protecting the Service and its users).

3.5 Processing of Publicly Available News Data (Legitimate Interest and Journalistic Purposes)

We process publicly available news metadata (e.g., from RSS feeds) to generate editorial summaries and commentary and to link back to original articles.

Legal basis: Article 6(1)(f) GDPR (legitimate interest in providing an aggregation and summarization service) and, where applicable, Article 85 GDPR and corresponding Italian provisions on processing for journalistic and information purposes, balanced against the rights and freedoms of data subjects.

We limit this processing to what is necessary, avoid collecting sensitive categories of data, and respect publishers’ opt-out requests where made.

We do not sell your personal data.

We may share your personal data with:

Service providers and processors who assist us with hosting, analytics, communications, and other operational tasks, bound by data processing agreements.
Public authorities or regulators, where required by law or in response to valid legal requests or to protect our rights or the rights of others.
Professional advisors (e.g., lawyers, accountants) as necessary to protect our legitimate interests and comply with legal obligations.

If we transfer personal data outside the EU/EEA, we will do so only where appropriate safeguards are in place (e.g., adequacy decisions, standard contractual clauses) as required by GDPR.

5. Cookies and Similar Technologies

We use cookies and similar tracking technologies to operate the website, understand usage, and, where permitted, personalize your experience.

For more information about the types of cookies we use and how you can manage your preferences, please see our Cookie Policy.

Where required by Italian and EU law, we will obtain your consent via a cookie banner before setting non-essential cookies (e.g., analytics or advertising cookies), and you can withdraw that consent at any time through the cookie settings.

6. Data Retention

We retain your personal data only for as long as necessary for the purposes described in this Policy, or as required by law.

In particular:

Account data is kept for the duration of your account and for a limited period thereafter (typically up to 24 months) to manage any queries or legal obligations.
Technical logs and analytics data are kept for limited periods (typically 12–24 months) and may be aggregated or anonymized earlier where feasible.
RSS and other news metadata used to generate summaries are generally cached only for a short operational period (e.g., up to 24 hours) and are not retained longer than necessary to provide the Service.

We may retain data for longer where necessary to comply with legal obligations or to establish, exercise, or defend legal claims.

7. Data Security

We implement appropriate technical and organizational measures designed to protect your personal data against accidental or unlawful destruction, loss, alteration, unauthorized disclosure, or access.

However, no electronic transmission or storage can be guaranteed to be completely secure, and you use the Service at your own risk, while we continuously work to enhance our security.

8. Your Rights

Under GDPR and applicable national law, you may have the following rights in relation to your personal data:

Right of access – to obtain confirmation whether we process your data and to receive a copy.
Right to rectification – to request correction of inaccurate or incomplete data.
Right to erasure – to request deletion of your data in certain circumstances (e.g., where it is no longer necessary for the purposes collected).
Right to restriction – to request restriction of processing in certain cases (e.g., while a dispute about accuracy or lawfulness is resolved).
Right to object – to object at any time to processing based on legitimate interests, including profiling, and to direct marketing.
Right to data portability – to receive personal data you provided in a structured, commonly used machine-readable format and to transmit it to another controller, where technically feasible and lawful.

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at legal@vocalnews.it, clearly indicating your request and providing sufficient information to identify your account.

We may need to verify your identity before responding, and we will respond within the timeframes required by applicable law.

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority, in particular the Italian Garante or the authority where you live or work.

9. Children’s Privacy

The Service is not intended for children under the age of 16, and we do not knowingly collect personal data from children in this age group.

If you believe that a child under 16 has provided us with personal data, please contact us so that we can take appropriate steps to delete such data.

10. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time, for example to reflect changes in our practices, the Service, or applicable law.

When we make material changes, we will notify you by appropriate means (e.g., on-site notice or email) and indicate at the top of the Policy when it was last updated.

Your continued use of the Service after the effective date of the updated Policy will constitute your acknowledgment of the changes.

11. Contact Us

If you have any questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or our data practices, you can contact us at:

Email: legal@vocalnews.it