Privacy Policy
About BriarBase
BriarBase is a private collection and journaling service for adult tobacco pipe enthusiasts. Questions about this Privacy Policy or BriarBase privacy practices may be sent to info@vn-works.com.
Information BriarBase collects
The information BriarBase handles depends on the features you use.
- Account and membership information: email address, display or account identifiers, password hashes and related security records, email-verification and password-reset state, membership role and status, policy acceptance, and account timestamps.
- Member content: pipe collection and Pipe Passport information, Tobacco Cellar and blend information, Smoke history, timelines, notes, stories, photos, collection organization, and member-requested exports.
- Community information: Community profile fields, sharing choices, collections, and content you explicitly make available to other eligible members.
- Technical, security, and operational information: IP address, browser or user-agent information, requested URL, referrer and query metadata subject to sanitization, session or security correlation information, request-guard records, error information, and basic traffic or use records.
BriarBase does not use precise device GPS. It does not intentionally collect a date of birth, government identification, identity documents, or third-party age-verification data for its 21-or-older eligibility check.
How information is used
BriarBase uses information to provide and maintain account access; verify email addresses; operate Pipe, Smoke, Cellar, Passport, photo, story, Community, recommendation, and export features; store and display member content according to member choices; protect accounts and prevent abuse; diagnose errors; respond to support or privacy requests; maintain service reliability; understand basic traffic and use; and count use of optional external resource links.
Information is not used for an unrelated purpose merely because it is available to BriarBase. If a materially different use would change the basis on which members provided information, the policy version and acceptance process may require an updated notice or acknowledgment.
Cookies and sessions
BriarBase uses essential session and security cookies or similar browser storage needed to keep you signed in, protect requests, maintain authorized application state, and support account security. These technologies are part of providing the service rather than an advertising program.
BriarBase does not use advertising cookies or cross-context behavioral-tracking cookies. It does not use an advertising network or tracking pixels.
Photos and private media
Uploaded images are processed to provide BriarBase photo features. New renditions are re-encoded and metadata such as EXIF and GPS information is stripped from those new renditions. Application-managed pipe and Cellar images are stored outside the public webroot, and private delivery requires authentication and an authorization check.
These controls reduce exposure but cannot guarantee absolute security. Keep an independent copy of an original image when it is important to you, because BriarBase retains optimized renditions rather than promising permanent storage of every original upload.
Community sharing
Member content is private by default. A member must explicitly enable an available Community sharing control before approved information is shared. Current Community sharing is limited to authenticated, active BriarBase members and is not open-web public.
Turning off sharing prevents future access through BriarBase. It cannot retrieve a screenshot, printout, download, or other copy independently retained by a viewer who was authorized to see the content while it was shared. Eligibility and sharing permissions are checked when Community content is viewed.
Request, security, and error records
BriarBase and the PortalCORE platform record ordinary request, security, and error information to operate the service, understand basic traffic, investigate failures, and prevent abuse. Request URLs, referrers, query metadata, and error details are sanitized to reduce retention of credential-like values. Raw session identifiers are not intentionally retained in new error-log records.
Operational records may still identify an account or request through information such as IP address, account association, browser information, timestamps, or security correlation data. Access analytics, security records, error logs, and narrow referral records are separate records and may have different retention periods.
IP addresses and geographic information
IP addresses may be used for security, service operation, access controls, and ordinary request analytics. BriarBase does not use device GPS, and remote IP-geographic enrichment is not used. Historical operational records may contain geographic fields created under earlier practices.
Smokingpipes resource links
When a member uses a BriarBase link to a Smokingpipes resource, BriarBase may store a narrow referral event containing the destination, the BriarBase source of the link, and the time. Ordinary PortalCORE request logging is separate and may contain request-level technical information.
Smokingpipes is an optional external informational resource. The current relationship is non-sponsored, non-advertising, non-affiliate, and uncompensated, and no purchase is required. After you leave BriarBase, the external site's own privacy practices and terms apply.
BriarBase may send email needed for account verification, password reset, service operation, support, or security. BriarBase does not operate a marketing-email program.
Service providers and disclosures
BriarBase uses service providers as needed to host, operate, secure, maintain, or support the service. Hostek is the confirmed hosting provider. Service providers may process information as needed to host, maintain, secure, or support BriarBase.
Information may also be disclosed when reasonably necessary to comply with law or valid legal process; protect members, BriarBase, providers, or the public; investigate fraud, abuse, or security incidents; enforce service terms; or support a business transition subject to appropriate handling of the information.
Sale and advertising
BriarBase does not sell personal data, provide targeted or cross-context behavioral advertising, participate in advertising networks, or use tracking pixels. BriarBase does not operate a marketing-email program.
Retention
Current routine retention boundaries are:
- ordinary identifiable access analytics: 30 days;
- routine error logs: 90 days;
- raw Smokingpipes referral events: 90 days;
- routine Request Guard hit history: 180 days; and
- expired or used verification and password-reset records, and expired or revoked bridge records: removed within 7 days after the relevant used, expired, or revoked state.
These boundaries apply to the listed routine operational categories and do not mean every record is kept for the same period. Member collection and content data is generally retained while the account or data remains active, or until removal is requested or performed, subject to security, service-integrity, legal, and operational limitations. Policy-acceptance evidence may be retained to document the service relationship.
Deletion is not always immediate. Limited records or copies may persist temporarily when reasonably necessary for security, fraud prevention, legal obligations, dispute handling, service integrity, or normal backup aging. BriarBase does not state a fixed backup duration here because an exact public backup-retention period has not been confirmed.
Your choices and requests
You can edit available account, collection, profile, and Community information through BriarBase and can disable eligible Community sharing. For questions or requests concerning access, correction, or deletion, contact info@vn-works.com.
Requests are handled manually. BriarBase may need to verify control of the account or email address and clarify whether a request concerns BriarBase only or other services associated with the same account. BriarBase does not offer a self-service privacy-request portal or promise instantaneous deletion. Some information may remain where reasonably necessary for the limited purposes described in this policy.
Adults age 21 and older
BriarBase is intended only for adults age 21 or older. It does not intentionally offer BriarBase memberships to children. Age eligibility uses self-attestation; BriarBase does not intentionally collect date of birth, government identification, identity documents, or third-party age-verification data for this purpose. If you believe an ineligible person has created an account, contact info@vn-works.com.
Security
BriarBase uses safeguards appropriate to the current service, including account access controls, hashed credentials and tokens, request-verification controls, private media storage, authorization checks, and operational logging and monitoring. No Internet service or storage system can guarantee complete security, so use a unique password, protect your account, and report suspected unauthorized access.
Changes to this Privacy Policy
Each Privacy Policy revision is identified by a version and effective date. Material changes may require acknowledgment or reacceptance, as applicable, before continued use of member features. Non-material corrections, such as formatting, accessibility, or typographical changes, may not require a new acknowledgment. The version shown on the Privacy Policy page controls for that document.
Contact
Contact BriarBase at info@vn-works.com with privacy questions or requests.