Privacy &
data use

1. What is handled

Information you choose to provide

• Shared Wayhouse account: username, email address, a one-way password hash, email-verification status, session records, and an 18-or-older attestation timestamp. We do not ask for a full birth date for Commons.
• Basic profile: display name and any general area, biography, short introduction, availability, skills, things offered, learning interests, self-described traits, and portrait you choose to add. You separately choose whether that snapshot appears beside your Commons activity, only inside shared commitments, or stays private—and whether verified adult members can find it through People search. Account contact information and participant records are not part of it.
• Community participation: stewardship-hub memberships, organization roles, posts, structured responses, acceptance status, private commitment threads, job-specific crew workrooms, reports, notification choices, and completion updates.
• Location: an approximate public area; optional rounded coordinates for distance sorting; and an exact address only when a host chooses to enter one for accepted respondents. Verified public venues may publish their business address.
• Images: one optional activity cover and one optional personal portrait, plus alt text and rights/consent confirmations. A portrait must depict the account holder and may not include an identifiable minor. Uploaded images are reviewed and re-encoded to remove embedded metadata before other people see them.
• Organization and resource information: representative roles, public service details, eligibility summaries, hours, access instructions, and reviewed requests to connect another system. Connection-request forms must not contain passwords, API keys, or client case information.
• Stage profiles: a creative name, profile type, general area, biography, genres, roles or instruments, availability, website and booking links, collaborator access roles, and reviewed music links, credits, descriptions, and explicit-content labels. Unity Commons does not copy or host the audio from those links.

Information created automatically

• Basic server logs: the hosting provider may process IP address, browser details, requested page, date, and time to deliver and protect the site.
• Device storage: the browser stores the sign-in token, community and display preferences, chosen community-sponsor topics, and unfinished post text. Exact addresses and images are excluded from offline drafts. Public app files and approved public listings may be cached for predictable offline access.
• General location permission: location is requested only after you press a location button. Commons rounds the result before using it. Community-setting coordinates stay on that device; rounded coordinates attached to a post are sent to the server.

Unity Commons currently uses no third-party advertising pixels or behavioral analytics. Community-sponsor choices do not read private WAYmaker needs, messages, People searches, location, or clicks. We do not store People search terms, or record shelf impressions or click histories. Approved sponsored or in-kind cards are labeled “Advertisement”; unpaid cards are labeled “Community notice.” If these practices change, this notice and the choice presented to members must change first.

The Stage does not store listening history, play counts, likes, follower totals, or popularity rankings. Starting an embedded player does contact the selected music platform so it can deliver the audio or video.

2. Why it is used

Every use needs a purpose

We may also use de-identified totals—such as completed commitments, participating people, fulfillment time, and moderation workload—to understand whether the service is useful. We do not rank people by popularity or optimize for compulsive use.

3. Public and private

What other people can see

• Public: approved post content, approximate area, schedule, capacity, accessibility notes, approved cover image, host display name or verified organization, and approved completion update. If a host chooses “people viewing something I post,” their selected profile snapshot and approved portrait also appear beside that activity.
• Public Stage: approved creative profiles and music-link details are publicly shareable, including creative name, general area, biography, genres, roles, availability, credits, explicit-content labels, and external artist, booking, and music links. Personal account email, username, and manager sign-ins are not shown.
• Verified adult members: People search returns only members who deliberately turn it on, and only their chosen community snapshot. It can match a chosen name, general area, introduction, biography, availability, skills, offers, learning interests, or traits. It never searches or returns username, email, phone, exact location, trust records, private conversations, or WAYmaker information. There is no open public member catalog.
• Other members: only the information needed for the activity and the profile details each person chooses to share in that context. There are no follower lists, general direct messages, public comment threads, public trust scores, or popularity counts.
• Accepted respondents: an exact private address only after the host accepts that response and chooses to share the address.
• Poster and respondent: their response-specific private thread. An assigned steward may participate. Other steward access requires a safety or reporting reason and is logged.
• Accepted work crew: members accepted for the same Commons Works opportunity share its job workroom. It is not a general group chat. Steward access outside the crew requires an open report and is logged.
• Private to Wayhouse: email, phone, exact location, account recovery data, adult attestation, moderation records, and WAYmaker needs, goals, plans, progress, or program status.

Do not post Social Security numbers, banking or card details, government identification, full birth dates, medical records, passwords, or another person’s private story.

4. When information leaves Wayhouse

Limited sharing, never selling

• People you connect with: information needed for the specific post, response, or accepted commitment.
• Service providers: web/database hosting and transactional email providers process only what is needed to operate those services. Limited, screened administrative alerts may pass through a notification provider.
• Music platforms: SoundCloud, Bandcamp, Spotify, or YouTube receives the normal browser request and related technical information only after a visitor starts or opens music supplied through that platform. Their own privacy terms apply.
• Resource partners: a future import, export, or two-way agency connection requires review of fields, authority, security, retention, and privacy terms before it is enabled. A connection request is not approval to share client data.
• WAYmaker: a Commons activity crosses into the participant center only through an approved linked opportunity or a person’s explicit private handoff. Participant details do not return to the public Commons.
• Safety and law: information may be preserved or disclosed when reasonably necessary to address an immediate safety concern, investigate abuse or fraud, comply with law, or respond to valid legal process.

External music and resource websites, calendar apps, email providers, and donation services have their own privacy practices once you leave Wayhouse. Donations linked from Unity Commons are processed by Zeffy; Unity Commons does not receive or store payment-card details.

5. Your choices

Access, correct, limit, or delete

• Browse approved public activity without creating an account.
• Edit your username, profile, community settings, and notification choices; recover your password by email; and contact Wayhouse to correct an account email.
• Choose where your profile snapshot appears, separately turn People search on or off, replace your portrait through review, or keep the expressive parts of your profile private. People search is off by default.
• Decline browser location permission and enter a broad area instead.
• Choose, change, or clear community-sponsor topics—or hide the sponsor shelf entirely.
• Manage a Stage profile with individual collaborator access, remove a music link from public view, or ask Wayhouse to pause or delete the creative workspace.
• Ask for a copy of your information, correction of inaccurate information, or deletion of your account and associated personal data.
• Withdraw optional weekly email at any time. Essential account, safety, and active-commitment notices may still be sent when needed to provide the service.

Some records may be retained when reasonably necessary for safety, fraud prevention, legal obligations, dispute handling, or a documented legal hold. We will explain any exception that applies to a request. Exercising a privacy choice will not reduce access to unconditional community help.

6. Retention

Keep less, and only for a reason

• Email-verification and password-recovery keys stop working after 30 minutes.
• Sign-in sessions expire after 30 days and can be ended sooner by signing out or resetting the password.
• Browser drafts and preferences remain on that device until submitted, cleared, or removed with browser storage controls.
• Posts and their job workrooms close according to the activity lifecycle. Removing something from public view does not automatically erase related responses, safety reports, crew messages, or audit records.
• Hosting logs and backups follow provider-controlled schedules that Wayhouse must document in its vendor review.

Wayhouse is still formalizing record-by-record deletion periods for account, thread, moderation, and backup data. Until that schedule and deletion process are verified, the product should remain a limited adult pilot rather than scale broadly. We will update this notice when those periods are approved.

7. Security

Protected does not mean risk-free

• Site traffic is required to use HTTPS, which encrypts information while it travels between the browser and Wayhouse.
• Passwords are stored as one-way hashes; session and recovery tokens are stored as hashes on the server.
• Private API responses are marked not to be cached, and the offline worker caches only the app shell and explicitly public listings.
• Role, membership, and chapter checks limit private records, while unusual steward access to private threads or job workrooms is tied to a safety reason and audit event.
• Uploads are type/size checked, decoded, metadata-stripped, re-encoded, and held for review.

Private threads and exact locations are access-controlled, but they are not end-to-end encrypted and are not yet protected with application-level field encryption in the database. Authorized server processes—and authorized people when required for safety or support—can access them. No internet service can promise perfect security; Wayhouse must maintain backups, access reviews, updates, incident response, and breach-notification procedures.

Our operating standard follows the Federal Trade Commission’s guidance to collect only what is needed, protect it, retain it only for a reason, and dispose of it safely.

8. Adults and youth safety

The social Commons is 18+

Commons stores an adult attestation, not a full date of birth. The public youth-safety route does not collect a child’s story, identity, location, or contact information. Unity Commons does not create child accounts, arrange informal placement, or privately match a minor with housing, transportation, or work.