Karavali Karavali.net
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Privacy policy

What we collect, who sees it, and how to get it changed or deleted. Last updated 29 July 2026.

The short version

  • You can browse the whole site without an account and without telling us anything about yourself.
  • Anything you contribute — a place, photo, fact, event, review — is published, with your username against it.
  • Ask for solar quotes and installers see your requirement immediately, but not your name, phone or email. Those are released only to the installers you shortlist.
  • We do not sell your data, and we do not send marketing mail you did not ask for.
  • Write to [email protected] and we will show you what we hold, correct it, or delete it.

Who we are

Karavali.net is a community website for coastal Karnataka, run from Karnataka, India. In the language of the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 we are the data fiduciary for the information described below, and you are the data principal.

What we collect, and why

Nothing here is collected in the background. Each item below is attached to something you chose to do.

Just reading the site

Our server keeps ordinary web logs — the page requested, your IP address, browser and time. A session cookie keeps you logged in and protects forms against cross-site submissions. That is all; there is no account and no profile behind it.

Creating an account

Your name, an email address, a username and a password. The password is stored only as a one-way hash — we cannot read it, and neither can anyone who obtains the database. Your username and contributions are public; your email is not.

Contributing content

Places, photos, facts, events, food listings, brands, reviews and route data you submit are reviewed and then published on the site, credited to your username. Contributions are meant to be public — treat anything you write in one as public from the moment you submit it.

Asking for solar quotes

Your name, phone, email, area, property type, monthly electricity bill, the system size you are after and any roof photos you attach. Installers in your district are shown the requirement so they can quote. Your name, phone and email stay hidden until you shortlist an installer — shortlisting is the act that releases them, and it releases them only to that installer.

Enquiring about an EV

Your name and phone number, passed to the dealer you enquired with so they can call you back.

Ordering from the shop

Your name, email, phone and delivery address, so the order can be printed, packed and couriered to you. Payment is handled entirely by Razorpay — card and UPI details are entered on their systems and never reach ours.

Mapping mobile coverage

The collector app records signal strength, your mobile carrier and your location as you travel. The start of each trip is fuzzed before it is stored, and the public coverage map only ever shows readings averaged into grid cells, never an individual track. If you are signed in, samples are linked to your account so you earn points for them; if you are not, they are linked only to an anonymous device identifier.

Reporting a power cut, or leaving a visitor tip

A power-cut report records the place and the time, plus your account if you were signed in. A visitor tip can be left without an account; the name you give is shown with the tip, and the email — which is optional — is not published and is used only if we need to check something about what you wrote.

Cookies and measurement

  • Session cookies. One cookie keeps you signed in and one protects forms. Both are necessary for the site to work and neither is used to track you elsewhere.
  • Your itinerary. The trip planner saves the places you add in your own browser's storage. It is never sent to us — clearing your browser data deletes it, and we have no copy.
  • Meta Pixel. When advertising is running we load Meta's pixel, which reports a page view plus two of our own events — that a solar calculation was completed, and that a quote was requested — so we can tell whether an advertisement worked. The events carry no name, phone number or email. When no advertising is running the site ships no tracking script at all. You can block it with any content blocker without breaking the site.
  • Maps. Map tiles are fetched from OpenStreetMap and Google, so those services see the IP address of anyone viewing a map page.

Who else sees it

We do not sell personal data and we do not share it for anyone else's advertising. It reaches other people only in these ways:

  • Installers and dealers — only the enquiry you directed at them, and only the contact details described above.
  • Razorpay — payment processing for shop orders.
  • ZeptoMail — delivery of the email we send you.
  • Printing and courier partners — the name and address needed to fulfil a shop order.
  • Meta — the pixel events described above, when advertising is running.
  • Anyone, for content you contributed: it is published.

We will also disclose information where the law requires it.

How long we keep it

Account details and published contributions are kept for as long as your account exists. Orders are kept for as long as tax and accounting rules require. Enquiries are kept while they are being handled and then for a reasonable period afterwards in case of a dispute. Coverage samples are kept as anonymised map data. Server logs are rotated. Ask us to delete something and we will, except where we are required to keep it.

Your rights

Under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 you may:

  • ask what personal data we hold about you and who it has been shared with;
  • have it corrected, completed or updated — much of it you can edit yourself under your account;
  • have it erased, unless we are required to keep it;
  • withdraw consent you have given, as easily as you gave it;
  • nominate someone to exercise these rights if you die or become incapacitated;
  • raise a grievance with us, and escalate to the Data Protection Board of India if we do not resolve it.

Write to [email protected]. A person reads that address — we aim to reply within seven days and to resolve a grievance within thirty.

Children

The site is not directed at children under 18 and we do not knowingly collect their personal data. If you believe a child has given us information, write to us and we will remove it.

Security, and changes to this policy

The site is served over HTTPS, passwords are hashed, and access to the database is limited to the people who run the site. No system is perfect; if something goes wrong that affects you, we will tell you.

If this policy changes we will update the date at the top of the page. Substantial changes to what we collect or who we share it with will be announced on the site.