Privacy Policy

Effective date: 1 March 2026

Bihar Visual Archive & Lab is a non-profit digital visual archive created for research, education, and public knowledge. We are committed to respecting the privacy, dignity, and rights of everyone who engages with our platform.

1. Information We Collect

We may collect the following types of information:

• Personal information, such as name, email address, affiliation, or role, when you contact us or submit material.

• Contributor information, including short biographies, consent forms, and contextual details related to submitted content.

• Content-related data, such as images, audio, video, text and associated metadata.

• Automatically collected information, including IP address, browser type and basic analytics data.

We do not collect more data than is necessary for archival, research, educational or communication purposes.

2. How We Use Information

We use the collected information to:

• Preserve, catalogue and present archival material

• Attribute and credit contributors appropriately

• Communicate with contributors, researchers or users

• Maintain and improve the archive’s functionality

• Fulfil ethical, legal and research responsibilities

We do not sell personal data or use it for advertising or commercial profiling.

3. Consent & Contributor Rights

By submitting material, contributors confirm that:

• They have the right to share the material

• Necessary permissions and consents have been obtained

• They understand the material may be publicly accessible

Contributors may request withdrawal or modification of their material. We will make reasonable efforts to honour such requests, while noting that complete removal may not always be possible once material has been publicly cited, archived, or referenced.

4. Sensitive, Cultural, and Community Material

We recognise that some materials may be culturally sensitive or involve issues of identity, caste, class, gender, religion, ethnicity or historical trauma.

• Such content may be reviewed with additional care

• Contextual notes or access limitations may be applied

• The editorial team reserves the right to restrict, contextualise, or remove material in the interest of ethical representation

5. Data Storage & Security

We take reasonable steps to protect personal information from unauthorised access, loss or misuse. Data is stored securely and retained only as long as necessary for archival and legal purposes.

In the unlikely event of a data breach, affected users will be informed where required.

6. Cookies & Analytics

Our website may use basic cookies or analytics tools to understand site usage and improve performance. These tools do not identify users personally. You may disable cookies through your browser settings.

7. Children & Minors

Content involving minors is accepted only with appropriate consent from a parent or legal guardian. Users under the age of 18 should not submit personal information without supervision.

8. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Updates will be posted on this page with a revised effective date.