PublicPin Legal

Terms of Use, Privacy Policy and Community Rules

Status: effective.
Version: 1.2
Updated: 22 September 2026
Effective date: 22 September 2026
Website: publicpin.org
Operator: PublicPin — individual operator
Location: Bengaluru, Karnataka, India

These terms apply to the PublicPin website and progressive web app (the “Service”). By creating an account, submitting a report, resolution, confirmation or other content, or using an account feature, you agree to these terms and the Privacy Policy below. If you do not agree, do not create an account or submit content.

Terms of Use

1. Service and eligibility

PublicPin helps communities share photographs and locations of local issues and record community updates. It is not an emergency service, public authority, law-enforcement agency, professional inspection service or repair provider. A submission does not notify an authority or guarantee action. Contact the appropriate emergency service or authority directly when necessary.

The Service is intended for people aged 18 or older in India who have legal capacity to agree to these terms.

2. Your submissions and conduct

You are responsible for your photographs, reports, locations, statements and other submissions. By submitting content, you confirm that:

it is honest, accurate to the best of your knowledge and not staged or materially misleading;
you created it or have the rights and permissions needed to submit and publish it;
it does not unlawfully invade privacy, disclose confidential information, infringe intellectual-property rights or endanger another person; and
you obtained any consent required by law.

Review the photograph and map position before submitting. Photograph the issue, not a person. Avoid identifiable faces, children, private interiors, documents, screens, vehicle plates, medical information and unrelated personal details. PublicPin does not promise automatic blurring or redaction.

Do not submit unlawful, infringing, fraudulent, threatening, hateful, harassing, sexually exploitative, non-consensual intimate, defamatory, malicious or spam content. Do not dox or impersonate anyone, manipulate location, fabricate activity, create duplicate reports to inflate activity, evade restrictions or interfere with the Service.

Do not trespass, drive unsafely, enter dangerous or restricted areas, obstruct traffic, confront people or interfere with emergency personnel to create a submission.

3. Ownership and licence

You retain rights you hold in your content. You grant PublicPin a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free licence to host, store, reproduce, resize, format, display, distribute, moderate and remove that content as reasonably necessary to operate, secure and improve the Service, display public reports, respond to complaints and comply with law. This licence may be exercised through service providers acting for PublicPin.

The licence ends for future ordinary public display when PublicPin deletes the content, except for reasonable legal, security, dispute and backup retention. PublicPin cannot retrieve copies independently saved or shared by others.

4. Public content and community status

Report and resolution photos, precise issue coordinates, categories, timestamps, derived or approximate place information, status, confirmation counts and issue history may be public. Anyone may view, copy or share public material. Public anonymity does not make a photo or location unidentifiable. Do not submit a location at a private residence or involving a vulnerable person when publishing it could create a safety or privacy risk.

Community confirmations, resolution evidence, impact counters, achievements, ranks and administrator review are application states, not professional findings, official credentials, prizes or guarantees that an issue exists, is safe or has been permanently resolved.

5. Maps and geographic information

Maps, place names, addresses, directions, boundaries and geographic data are provided through third-party services and may be incomplete, delayed or inaccurate. They must not be relied on for emergency response, safety-critical navigation, surveying, engineering, land ownership, legal boundaries or other professional decisions. A report coordinate is community-submitted information, not an official determination about a place or property.

6. Moderation and service changes

PublicPin may review, restrict, correct or remove content or access to protect people, operate the Service, enforce these terms, prevent abuse or comply with law. PublicPin does not promise to review every submission before publication.

Features may change, be suspended or discontinued. Material changes to these terms will be posted with a new effective date, and additional agreement or consent will be obtained where required by law.

7. Disclaimers and liability

User submissions are the responsibility of their contributors. Displaying a submission does not mean PublicPin endorses it, verifies the contributor’s rights or adopts an allegation about any person, property, organisation or authority.

To the maximum extent permitted by law, the Service is provided “as is” and “as available”, without warranties of uninterrupted availability, accuracy, completeness, fitness for a particular purpose, preservation of content, map or location accuracy, or action by any third party.

To the maximum extent permitted by law, PublicPin is not liable for a user’s unlawful photography, false statement, infringement, unsafe conduct or other misuse, or for indirect, incidental, special or consequential loss. PublicPin’s aggregate liability arising from the Service will not exceed the greater of the amount you paid PublicPin in the preceding 12 months and INR 1,000.

Nothing in these terms excludes or limits liability, duties or remedies that law does not permit to be excluded or limited, including liability for fraud, wilful misconduct or death or personal injury caused by negligence where applicable.

To the extent permitted by law, you are responsible for reasonable, proven losses and third-party claims directly caused by your unlawful content, wilful misuse or material breach of these terms. This does not cover loss caused by PublicPin’s own unlawful conduct.

8. Governing law

These terms are governed by the laws of India. Courts in Bengaluru, Karnataka will have jurisdiction, subject to any mandatory consumer right to use another court or remedy. If a provision is unenforceable, it will be limited or severed only to the extent necessary; the remaining provisions continue.

Privacy Policy

9. Information and purposes

PublicPin is anonymous-first, not technically untraceable. It processes:

Information	Purpose and visibility
Report and resolution photos, categories, precise coordinates, accuracy, timestamps and status	Create and display public reports, maps and issue history. Public report fields and images may be publicly accessible.
Anonymous identifiers, ownership records, confirmations and proximity evidence	Operate contributions, prevent duplicates and abuse, and support review. These identifiers are not displayed as public profiles.
Optional Google account identifier, email address, display name and profile image, where Google provides them	Provide authentication and a private impact dashboard. PublicPin does not receive your Google password.
Impact counters, achievements and rank	Provide private progress and registered-user comparisons.
Feature-use events, such as starting or completing a report, selected issue category and completion time	Understand performance and improve the Service when analytics is configured. Report photos and descriptions are not sent as analytics event parameters.
Network, browser, device, diagnostic and security information	Deliver, secure and troubleshoot the Service, measure reliability and prevent abuse.
Local preferences and temporary browser state	Remember language, continue sign-in, limit repeated prompts, recover from app updates and support caching or offline behaviour.
Contact-form name, reply email, topic and message	Receive, investigate and respond to requests. Message content is emailed to the operator and is not copied to Firestore.

Based on applicable law and the activity, processing relies on your request to use the Service, your permission or consent, security and abuse-prevention needs, compliance with law, and the operator’s legitimate operation of the Service. Consent may be withdrawn where consent is the applicable basis, without affecting earlier lawful processing.

10. Camera, location and public disclosure

Camera and location permissions support capture, nearby issues, report placement and verification. You may refuse or revoke browser permissions, but related features will not work. Revocation does not delete earlier submissions.

The photo is processed in the browser before upload. Upload begins when you choose the submission action. Review the photo before submitting it. A submitted issue’s latitude and longitude are public and are not intentionally blurred merely because the interface shows a place name.

11. Local storage, analytics and security technology

PublicPin uses local storage, session storage and service-worker caches for language preference, sign-in continuity, dismissed prompts, app updates, reliability and limited offline behaviour. Clearing site data may reset these features or sign you out.

When configured, Firebase Analytics records feature-use and technical events. Firebase App Check and reCAPTCHA Enterprise may process browser, device, network and security signals to distinguish legitimate requests from abuse. These Google services operate under their own applicable terms and privacy documentation.

12. Providers and transfers

PublicPin uses Google/Firebase for authentication, database, photo storage, hosting, functions, analytics when configured, and abuse prevention. Primary Firestore and uploaded-photo storage are configured in Mumbai, India (asia-south1). Google services and other infrastructure may process data outside Mumbai or India.

Map display and place lookup use CARTO, OpenStreetMap-based data and Nominatim. Opening external directions or sharing services sends relevant information to those providers under their own terms and privacy policies.

13. Retention and account deletion

Public reports and resolution history may remain available while useful for the Service, community history, safety, disputes or legal obligations. Account, security and rate-limit records are retained as reasonably necessary for their purposes. Contact messages remain subject to the configured email provider and mailbox settings. PublicPin may retain limited records where required by law or to establish, exercise or defend claims. Deleted data may remain in restricted backups for a limited period before routine deletion or overwrite.

You may request account deletion through Contact. Deleting an account does not automatically delete public reports or other community contributions. PublicPin may delete or anonymise associated account information and may retain public contributions, security records or legally required information where reasonably necessary. You may separately request removal of content or personal data, subject to applicable law and legitimate retention needs.

14. Security and your choices

Reasonable technical and organisational safeguards are used, but no service can guarantee absolute security. Public photos and locations must not be treated as confidential.

Subject to applicable law, you may request access, correction or deletion, withdraw consent, object to or restrict processing, or raise a complaint. Identity verification may be required. Removal cannot recover copies independently saved by others. Submit requests and grievances through Contact; PublicPin will handle them in accordance with applicable law.

Do not submit identifiable images or sensitive information about children. The Service is not offered to people under 18.

Community Rules

Help keep PublicPin useful and safe:

1. Report genuine public or civic issues accurately. 2. Photograph the issue rather than nearby people or private information. 3. Check the photograph and map position before submitting. 4. Do not trespass, obstruct traffic or put yourself or anyone else at risk. 5. Do not stage, duplicate or manipulate reports, confirmations or resolutions. 6. Do not identify, shame, threaten or harass a person or organisation. 7. Do not upload advertising, political campaigning, irrelevant promotion or spam. 8. Submit resolution evidence only when it honestly shows the issue’s condition. 9. Use confirmations and content-reporting tools in good faith. 10. Follow applicable law and reasonable directions from emergency personnel, public authorities and property controllers.

Violations may result in content restriction or removal, loss of access, or referral to the appropriate authority where required by law.

Content concerns

To report unlawful, infringing, unsafe, private or misleading content, copyright or other intellectual-property concerns, impersonation, harassment or a child safety concern, use Contact. Include the report or image link, the concern, the requested action and a reply address. Do not resend illegal or intimate material as an attachment. PublicPin may restrict, remove, correct or preserve material as reasonably necessary to investigate, protect people and comply with law.

Contact

The monitored Contact form accepts general, technical, privacy, account-deletion, grievance and content concerns without requiring Google sign-in. It confirms acceptance by the email service, not guaranteed inbox delivery or a response.