1. Who operates SolidCite
SolidCite is operated by Willem Touw. References to "SolidCite," "we," "us," or "our" mean the SolidCite beta product, website, Chrome extension, Supabase-hosted backend, and related support services.
2. What SolidCite does
SolidCite helps students evaluate research sources, capture notes and citations, organize research trails, and participate in professor-led course assignments. The private beta also gives professors tools to create courses, create assignments, manage rosters, review usage summaries, and test student workflows.
3. Chrome extension and app data practices
The SolidCite Chrome extension and app are designed for one purpose: helping students and professors build, review, and manage research trails for coursework. The extension may process the active webpage only when a user asks SolidCite to analyze, save, cite, or use that page as part of a research workflow. SolidCite does not passively monitor browsing, sell user data, use data for third-party targeted advertising, or use data for creditworthiness or lending decisions.
For Chrome Web Store disclosure purposes, SolidCite may collect or process personally identifiable information, authentication information, website content selected or submitted by the user, user activity inside SolidCite, and limited diagnostic information needed to operate and secure the product. SolidCite does not collect health information, financial and payment information, personal communications outside SolidCite, precise location, or general web history unrelated to a user-requested SolidCite action.
SolidCite uses personal and sensitive user data only to provide or improve SolidCite's single research and coursework purpose. We do not transfer user data except as needed to provide SolidCite, comply with law, protect security, or complete a merger, acquisition, or similar business transition. We do not use or transfer user data for personalized, retargeted, or interest-based advertising.
Humans do not review individual research workspace content except with the user's request or consent for support, when necessary for security or abuse investigation, to comply with law, or after the information has been aggregated or de-identified for internal product operations.
4. Information we collect
Depending on how you use SolidCite, we may collect:
- Account and contact information: name, email address, role, institution, support messages, professor invite details, and contact form submissions.
- Course and roster information: professor-created course names, assignment details, student display names, class membership records, course join status, and roster actions.
- Authentication information: access tokens, device tokens, account sessions, invite tokens, and related security metadata needed to connect a user to a course or account.
- Research workspace information: project titles, research questions, saved sources, notes, claims, quotations, citations, assignment metadata, exports, and research trail events that a user creates or saves.
- Website content selected or scanned by the user: page text, title, URL, metadata, selected text, links, citation fields, and source signals from webpages that the user asks SolidCite to analyze or save.
- Usage and diagnostic information: feature usage, AI usage counts, error reports, browser and device labels, and timestamps needed to provide, secure, debug, and limit beta usage.
- Website analytics: basic website analytics may be collected through Google Analytics to understand site traffic and improve the public website.
5. Information stored locally
The Chrome extension is designed to keep research workspace data local to the user's browser unless the user chooses to sync, export, submit, or use a feature that requires server processing. Local browser storage may include projects, saved sources, notes, citation metadata, research trail records, settings, and access state.
6. How we use information
We use information to:
- Provide the website, extension, professor console, and support.
- Authenticate users and connect students to professor courses.
- Create, display, and manage courses, assignments, and rosters.
- Analyze user-selected source content and generate research assistance.
- Save or export research trails, citations, notes, and related work.
- Apply usage limits, prevent abuse, secure the beta, and debug issues.
- Respond to support, privacy, and access requests.
- Improve SolidCite and evaluate whether the beta is working as intended.
7. AI and service providers
Some SolidCite features send user-selected source content, assignment context, project context, or draft text to server-side services so the requested feature can work. SolidCite currently uses Supabase for backend, database, authentication, Edge Functions, and storage-related infrastructure; OpenAI for AI-assisted source review, related-source suggestions, draft checks, study cards, and voice coaching; Resend for contact and support email delivery; and Netlify for the public website and contact form hosting. We use these providers to operate SolidCite, not to sell user data.
8. No sale of personal data
We do not sell personal data. We do not use personal data for third-party targeted advertising. We do not use personal data to determine creditworthiness or for lending purposes.
9. Disclosure of information
We may disclose information to service providers that help operate SolidCite, to a professor or institution when a student joins that professor's course, when a user exports or submits information, to comply with law, to protect rights and security, or with the user's direction or consent.
10. Student and classroom data
SolidCite is intended for professor-led private beta testing. Professors should use SolidCite only with students who are authorized to participate in the beta and should avoid entering sensitive student information that is not needed for the assignment. Student research work should be treated as educational records where applicable. Schools and instructors are responsible for determining whether their use of SolidCite complies with their institutional policies and applicable education privacy obligations.
When an institution uses SolidCite for a course, SolidCite uses student information only to provide and support the requested course functionality, maintain security, and comply with applicable law. We do not use student information for advertising, and we do not re-disclose student information except to service providers that help operate SolidCite, to the professor or institution directing the course, with user direction or consent, or as required by law.
11. Security
We use reasonable administrative, technical, and organizational safeguards designed to protect information. No system can be guaranteed completely secure. Users should keep browser profiles, devices, and account credentials secure and should not share access tokens or course join credentials publicly.
12. Retention
Local extension data remains in the user's browser until the user deletes it, resets the extension, clears browser storage, or removes the extension. Server-side beta records are kept only as long as reasonably needed for the beta, support, security, legal compliance, and product operation, unless a longer retention period is required or permitted by law.
13. California and U.S. state privacy notice
Depending on where you live and whether a state privacy law applies to SolidCite, you may have rights to know, access, correct, delete, obtain a copy of, or restrict certain personal information. You may also have the right to opt out of sale, sharing for cross-context behavioral advertising, targeted advertising, or certain profiling. SolidCite does not sell personal information, share personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising, or use personal information for targeted advertising or creditworthiness profiling.
For California residents, the categories of personal information we may collect are described above and include identifiers, account and contact information, authentication information, internet or other electronic activity inside SolidCite, education-related course and roster information, user-created research content, selected website content, support messages, and diagnostics. Sources include users, professors or institutions, the user's browser when the user invokes the extension, service providers, and SolidCite systems. Purposes include providing, securing, supporting, debugging, and improving SolidCite; managing courses and rosters; processing user-requested source analysis; and complying with law.
We may disclose the categories of information above to infrastructure, authentication, email, analytics, AI, security, and hosting service providers; to professors or institutions for course participation; to a user when the user exports or submits information; and to authorities or other parties when required by law or needed to protect rights and security. We do not knowingly sell or share the personal information of users under 16.
California residents may request access, correction, deletion, portability, limitation of sensitive personal information, and non-discriminatory treatment for exercising privacy rights. An authorized agent may submit a request on a resident's behalf if we can reasonably verify the authorization and the identity of the resident. If we deny a privacy request, we will explain the reason and any available appeal process.
14. Do Not Track and third-party analytics
SolidCite does not track users across unrelated websites through the Chrome extension. The extension processes active webpage content only when the user asks SolidCite to scan, analyze, cite, or save that page. Because there is not a uniform industry standard for browser Do Not Track signals, the public website and extension do not respond differently to those signals. If SolidCite receives a legally recognized opt-out preference signal, such as Global Privacy Control, and a law requires us to honor it, we will treat it as a request to opt out of sale or sharing. SolidCite does not currently sell or share personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising.
The public SolidCite website may use Google Analytics or similar tools to understand site traffic. Those providers may collect information about visits to the public website according to their own policies. Google Analytics is not used to monitor the user's browsing activity through the Chrome extension.
15. Your choices and privacy rights
You may request access, correction, deletion, export, or restriction of personal information by using the support form at solidcite.com/support. We may need to verify your request before acting on it.
New Jersey residents may have rights under the New Jersey Data Privacy Act, including rights to access, correct, delete, obtain a copy of personal data, and opt out of certain processing such as sales, targeted advertising, or profiling. SolidCite does not sell personal data or use personal data for third-party targeted advertising. Even if SolidCite is below statutory applicability thresholds during private beta, we intend to handle privacy requests in a practical and good-faith manner.
16. Children's privacy
SolidCite is not intended for children under 13. The private beta is intended for professor-led or institution-approved educational use. If you believe a child has provided personal information without appropriate authorization, contact us through the support page.
17. International users
SolidCite is operated from the United States. If you use SolidCite from outside the United States, you understand that information may be processed in the United States and other locations where our service providers operate.
18. Changes to this policy
We may update this Privacy Policy as SolidCite changes. The updated version will be posted on this page with a new effective date or last updated date. If a change is material, we may also provide notice through the website, extension, professor console, email, or another reasonable method.
19. Contact
For privacy or support requests, use solidcite.com/support.