Privacy Policy

1. Who we are

BookBite.fm ("the Site", "we", "us") is a bilingual Chinese–English audio site for readers in Melbourne, Australia and the wider Chinese-speaking diaspora. We produce derivative two-host conversations and written outlines based on published works.

The Site is operated by WINKME PTY LTD (operating BookBite.fm), ABN 47 607 693 658, registered at 47 Radnor St, Camberwell VIC 3124, Australia. For any question about this policy, contact bookbite.fm@gmail.com.

2. What we collect

We collect only what is necessary to provide the service.

Sign-in and saving are both live. The five items below arise under different conditions, so we state each trigger separately rather than saying they all follow from signing in.

Item 1 arises when you complete Google sign-in. Item 2 arises only when you actually submit your details — if you are under 16 we refuse to store them, so it does not arise; you may also simply not submit, at the cost of account features staying closed. Item 3 arises only when you actually save a book or booklist; signing in alone does not create it. Items 4 and 5 do not depend on signing in at all: they arise while browsing signed out as well.

• Basic Google account details: if you choose to sign in with Google, the authorisation we request is limited to your account identifier, your email address and basic profile details — it does not cover your contacts, your Drive, or data from any other Google service. The fields returned under that authorisation, and stored by our identity service, include: an account identifier, your email address and whether it is verified, your display name (possibly split into given and family name), your avatar URL and your language preference; if you use a workplace account, this may also include your domain. The exact set is determined by Google. We only actually use three of them: email address, display name and avatar URL. The rest arrive with the authorisation and are stored, but are not used for any purpose. We never receive or ask for your Google password.
• Details you give us: nickname, gender and date of birth. We ask you to complete these after sign-in; all three are required. The nickname is your display name on the site — we prefill it from your Google display name and you can change it; gender is a fixed set of options including "prefer not to say"; date of birth is used to check that you are at least 16. Gender and date of birth are never taken from Google — only you can enter them.
• Saved items and interactions: the books and official booklists you save, together with the timestamps needed to make those features work.
• Language and playback preferences: your chosen interface language, and the playback position needed to resume where you left off.
• Technical and security logs: ordinary access records generated by our servers and infrastructure, such as IP address, browser identifier and access time, used for troubleshooting, abuse prevention and service security.

3. Why we collect it

We use the information above for the following purposes and no others (the first five require an account and apply only once you sign in):

• to create and maintain your account so that you can sign in;
• to show your nickname on the site (top bar and "My Library") rather than reusing your Google display name;
• to check, from your date of birth, that you meet the minimum age of 16;
• to hold basic profile information (gender). At this stage we only collect and store it — it is not yet used for any recommendation or targeting; we will update this policy before any such use begins;
• to sync the books and official booklists you save so that your Library follows you across devices;
• to serve the interface and audio language you chose, and to resume playback;
• to keep the service secure and to detect and prevent abuse, fraud and automated attacks;
• to meet legal obligations where required.

4. Our basis for handling your information

We handle personal information in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs).

We collect only what is reasonably necessary for the purposes stated above (APP 3), and we tell you about those purposes through this policy at the point of collection (APP 5). We do not use your personal information for other purposes except as set out here, and we do not sell it.

If you are outside Australia and protected by local data protection law, we will respect the rights that law gives you to the extent it applies.

5. Third-party services

We rely on the following third parties to run the service. Their own privacy policies govern their handling:

• Google (sign-in): if you choose Google sign-in, Google performs authentication and returns the basic details described above. If you do not sign in, no user data passes between the Site and Google.
• Supabase (authentication and database): we use Supabase for authentication and to store your account details and the items you save.
• Vercel (website hosting): the Site’s pages are hosted and served by Vercel.
• Cloudflare R2 (media storage): audio and cover images are stored in Cloudflare R2 and served through its content delivery network.
• We do not currently use any third-party advertising network, and we do not disclose your personal information to third parties for ad targeting. We do not sell your profile details, including nickname, gender and date of birth.

6. Cross-border transfers

The cloud services and content delivery network we use may store or process data outside Australia, including in data centres in the United States, Europe and the Asia-Pacific. This is ordinary for mainstream cloud infrastructure, and we state it plainly rather than gloss over it.

Where we disclose personal information to an overseas recipient under APP 8, we take reasonable steps to require that recipient to handle it to a standard no lower than the Australian Privacy Principles.

7. How long we keep it

We keep personal information only as long as necessary for the purposes described in this policy.

Account details (nickname, gender, date of birth) and the items you save are kept for the life of your account. After your account is closed we will delete or anonymise that data within a reasonable period, except where we are required by law to retain it. Technical and security logs are held on a rolling basis and then cleared.

8. Your rights

Under the Australian Privacy Principles you may:

• access the personal information we hold about you (APP 12);
• ask us to correct information that is inaccurate, out of date or incomplete (APP 13);
• delete your saved items, or ask us to close your account and delete the personal information associated with it;
• complain about how we handle personal information.
• To exercise any of these rights, contact bookbite.fm@gmail.com. If you are not satisfied with our response, you may complain to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC).

9. Children

This service is not directed at people under 16, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from people under 16.

After sign-in we ask for your date of birth and check it. If you are under 16 we do not save the profile you entered (nickname, gender, date of birth) and no account features are opened to you. However, the fields Google returned during authorisation already exist in our identity service at that point (see section 2, first item), and we do not currently clear them automatically. If you or your guardian ask us to, contact bookbite.fm@gmail.com and we will delete the whole account record. If we discover that we have collected such information without verifiable parental consent, we will delete it promptly.

10. Cookies and local storage

We only use cookies that are strictly necessary for the service to run — none for advertising or cross-site tracking. There are two kinds today:

• bookbite.language: records the interface language you chose and lasts one year. It takes you straight to your chosen language on your next visit and is not used for cross-site tracking.
• When you sign in we set the session cookies required to keep you signed in. Those cookies are strictly necessary for the service to work; they are not used for advertising or cross-site tracking.
• We do not currently use any third-party analytics or advertising cookies.

11. Source material used in production

Our audio and outlines are derivative works produced from published books. In our production process we may apply internal practices such as limiting retention of reference material and clearing it promptly.

To be clear: these are internal production practices, not a legal promise or warranty to end users. The Site does not display, distribute or offer any original book file for download.

The Site provides no public file-upload feature, so we do not collect files from you.

12. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. Any change will be published on this page and the effective date at the top will be updated.

Where a change materially affects your rights, we will take reasonable steps to tell you separately, through a notice on the site or at the email address you gave us. Continuing to use the service means you accept the updated policy.

13. Contact us

For any question, request or complaint about this policy or how we handle personal information, contact:

WINKME PTY LTD (operating BookBite.fm) | 47 Radnor St, Camberwell VIC 3124, Australia | bookbite.fm@gmail.com