Privacy Policy
This Privacy Policy governs Hidri, the family-tree service at family.myhidri.com (also reachable at erifamily-staging.onrender.com), operated by Aklilu Tuccu as a sole proprietor.
Hidri is a private family tree for the use of one extended family. It is not a public directory, it is not a social network, and it is not a business. Nothing here is sold, rented, or used for advertising, and there is no tracking or analytics of any kind.
What is stored
- Family records — names (including Tigrinya/Ge'ez spellings and nicknames), relationships, dates of birth and death, town or region, a short biography, and photographs, where a family member has added them.
- Contact details — an email address and/or phone number, where one has been recorded, so a relative can sign in and be reached.
- Sign-in data — a password stored only as a bcrypt hash (never the password itself), and a signed session cookie that keeps you logged in.
- An access log — the date, IP address and browser of sign-ins and of visits through a share link, kept so the family can see who has reached the tree. An approximate city or country may be shown next to an IP address; this is worked out on our own server from a local database file, and no IP address is ever sent to an outside lookup service for this.
- A change history — who changed what and when, so edits can be reviewed and undone.
Phone numbers and text messages
We send a text message only in one situation: you asked us to sign you in. There are no marketing messages, no newsletters and no reminders.
- Numbers are used for text messages only when you typed your own number into the sign-in screen and agreed to be texted. A number that a relative recorded on your behalf is never used to text you.
- Message frequency: only when you request a sign-in code — typically a single message, and never unrequested.
- Message and data rates may apply.
- Reply STOP to any message to stop receiving them. Reply HELP for help. Stopping texts does not remove you from the family tree and does not stop you signing in by email.
- Your number is shared with our messaging providers purely to deliver the message (see below). It is not shared with anyone else, ever.
Who else sees this data
Only the family members who have been given access, and a small number of service providers who process data on our behalf in order to make the app work:
- Render — hosts the application and its database.
- A text-message provider — delivers sign-in codes by text message. Receives the destination number and the message.
- WhatsApp — where a message is delivered over WhatsApp instead of a text message, it passes through a delivery provider, which receives the destination number and the message.
- An email provider — delivers sign-in links and notifications.
- Google Drive — holds encrypted-at-rest backup copies of the tree, so the family's records survive a server failure.
- GitHub — if you use "Report a bug" inside the app, your report and the screenshot you attach are filed there. Do not include anything in a bug report you would not want stored outside the app.
Data may be disclosed if the law requires it. Otherwise it stays within the family.
How long it is kept
Family records are kept for as long as the tree exists — that is the point of a family tree. Deleting a person moves them to Recently Deleted, from which they can be restored; an administrator can then remove them permanently. Backups are kept on a rolling schedule (daily, weekly and monthly copies) and older copies are pruned automatically, so a deleted record can persist in a backup for a period after deletion.
Your choices
- See your record — open your own profile in the app.
- Correct it — edit it yourself, or ask any family administrator.
- Stop text messages — reply STOP, or remove your phone number from your profile.
- Be removed — ask an administrator, or use the contact below. Note that a family tree records relationships between people, so removing someone entirely can affect how relatives are connected.
Children
Children appear in a family tree by their nature. Their records are added by adult relatives, they are visible only inside the family's private tree, and no child is contacted by message. Sign-in accounts are for adults.
Security
Access requires a sign-in. Passwords are stored only as bcrypt hashes. Sessions are signed. The tree is not indexed by search engines and is not reachable without a link and an account. No system is perfectly secure, and this is a family project run by one person — please treat it accordingly.
Changes
If this policy changes, the date at the top changes with it.
Contact
Aklilu Tuccu — erifamilytree@gmail.com