Privacy Policy

In short

• You don't need an account to read this website. Like most websites, it keeps server logs and uses Google Analytics.
• To join Aegis you sign in with your Freedom! account and apply. Your application includes your contact details, your channels, proof that you own your content, and proof of your identity and address.
• When you connect a YouTube channel, you give Aegis access through Google's own consent screen. You can take that access back at any time in your Google account.
• To pay you, we keep the payout method you choose and a record of your earnings and payouts.
• We don't sell your data, and we share it only with the services that help us run Aegis, as listed below.

Who we are

Aegis is run by Freedom! Family Limited ("Freedom!", "we", "us"), which is responsible for the personal data described here. Freedom! also runs other websites and services, such as heart.id and spam.h.ki, which have their own privacy policies.

Aegis is not designed or intended for children under 13, and we don't market it to them.

YouTube API Services

Aegis uses YouTube API Services. By connecting a channel to Aegis, you agree to be bound by the YouTube Terms of Service. How Google handles data is described in the Google Privacy Policy.

You can take back Aegis's access to your YouTube data at any time on Google's security settings page, while signed in to the Google account you connected.

What we collect

When you visit this website

Our web servers log each request: your browser type, language preference, the page that referred you, the pages you request, the date and time, and your IP address. We use this to understand how the site is used and to keep it secure.

If you subscribe to news in "Stay Tuned", we receive your email address. If you send us a message or ask for a meeting through the contact forms, we receive what you type: your name, email address, website, message, and your preferred date and contact method.

When you sign in

You sign in to Aegis with your Freedom! account. We never see or store your password. From your Freedom! profile we receive your name, email address, country and profile picture.

When you apply

Your application holds what you tell us, which can include:

• your contact details: email addresses, phone numbers and the way you prefer to be contacted, your language and the best times to reach you;
• your YouTube channels and the other platforms where you publish;
• links to copies of your content that you want us to claim;
• your answers to the eligibility questions, such as what kind of content you make and the basis of your rights to it;
• your answers about your history, such as earlier copyright takedowns, trademark complaints, licences and claims;
• whether you apply for yourself or on behalf of someone else, and how you heard about Aegis;
• proof of your identity and address, and evidence that you own your content, as links and files you upload.

When you connect a YouTube channel

Google asks you, on its own screen, to let Aegis access your channel. Depending on what you approve, Aegis can read your Google profile and email address, your channel and video details, and your channel's analytics, including revenue reports, and can manage Content ID for the channel on your behalf. We use this to confirm that the channel is yours, to claim copies of your content, and to report what the claims earn.

When you get paid

To pay you, we keep the payout method you choose: a PayPal email address, or the bank details your bank needs, such as your country, currency and account details. We confirm changes with a code sent to your email address. We also keep a record of your earnings and payouts.

Licences and reuploads

If someone asks for a licence to use a creator's content on Aegis, we receive the YouTube channel they choose (confirmed through Google), how they plan to use the content and their acceptance of the licence terms, and we create an account for them.

To find and claim copies of your content, Aegis processes public details of the YouTube channels and videos that use it, such as channel names, video titles and links, and shows them to you in your reports.

What we don't collect

We don't ask for, or knowingly collect, sensitive information such as details about your health or religion. Anything you share about yourself in public places, such as forums, blogs or review sites, isn't covered by this policy.

How we use it

We use the information we collect to:

• run Aegis: review your application, claim copies of your content, and pay you;
• keep you up to date about Aegis, including new features, announcements and events;
• plan and improve our services, including analysis and research;
• publish combined statistics, such as the total paid to creators, which don't identify you;
• prevent and investigate fraud and abuse, and keep Aegis secure.

Cookies and analytics

This website and the Aegis app use Google Analytics, through Google Tag Manager, to count visits and see how pages are used. Google Analytics sets its own cookies. On this website, it also records when someone opens the application form, clicks Sign In, sends a form, or follows a link to another Freedom! product.

The Aegis app also keeps a random browser ID for analytics, your session and your settings in your browser's local storage. It uses Grafana Faro to report errors and performance, together with your Aegis user ID. If you allow notifications, the app stores a device token from Firebase Cloud Messaging so it can send them.

You can set your browser to refuse cookies or to warn you when one is set. If you do, some parts of Aegis may not work.

Channel check

Our free channel check at aegis.h.ki/check shows public facts about a YouTube channel and asks a few questions about your content. You don't need to sign in.

• What leaves your browser. When you press the button, your browser sends what you typed in the channel field (a channel link, @handle or ID) to spam.h.ki, a service also run by Freedom!. spam.h.ki reads the channel's public details and newest public videos from YouTube through YouTube API Services, and sends back the channel's name, handle, profile picture, subscriber and video counts, and the views and uploads of its recent videos. Your answers to the questions are not sent anywhere: the page works out in your browser whether the channel fits.
• Cloudflare Turnstile. The page uses Cloudflare Turnstile to check that a person, not a script, is asking. Turnstile loads from Cloudflare and runs in your browser, so Cloudflare receives your IP address and browser details, and spam.h.ki confirms its result with Cloudflare.
• What is kept. Aegis keeps nothing about the channel you check or about you: the result exists only in your browser, until you leave the page. spam.h.ki keeps the channel's public details in its server's memory for up to 24 hours, so checking it again doesn't read YouTube again, and doesn't save them in its database. Its access log records each check: the address requested, which includes what you typed, the result, and two codes made from your IP address and its network with a key that changes every day, so they can't be turned back into an address or linked across days. The log is deleted after 30 days. See spam.h.ki's privacy policy.
• Analytics. Google Analytics records that a check started, whether it gave a result or which kind of error, and whether the answers fit, with the page's language. It doesn't receive the channel or your answers. If you open the check from a link that already names a channel, such as one from spam.h.ki, that address, channel included, is the page address Google Analytics records for your visit.
• If you apply. Only when you choose to apply with the checked channel do its channel ID and your answers go with you, through Freedom! sign-in, into your Aegis application. They are stored with your application, together with the fact that you came from the channel check.
• Figures about other creators. The figures the check shows are totals for groups of at least 10 Aegis creators. They don't describe any one creator.

Who else receives data

We don't sell your data. We share it only as follows:

• Google and YouTube provide YouTube API Services and Content ID, Google Analytics, Firebase notifications, and storage for the files you upload.
• spam.h.ki, also run by Freedom!, and Cloudflare receive what the channel check needs, as described under Channel check.
• Elastic Email receives what you send through the newsletter and contact forms on this website.
• Grafana Labs receives error and performance reports from the Aegis app.
• Payment providers such as PayPal and banks receive what they need to send your payouts.
• Agencies: if an agency represents you, it may manage your payouts for you.
• Fraud prevention and the law: we may share information with government agencies, or with companies that help us prevent or investigate fraud, when the law allows or requires it, to protect against actual or possible fraud or unauthorised transactions, or to investigate fraud that has already happened. We don't give it to them for marketing.
• A change of ownership: if Freedom! is involved in a merger, sale or acquisition, we may share your information under terms that keep it confidential, and we will tell you on our websites or by email before it is transferred.

These providers may process data outside the country where you live, where data protection laws may differ.

How long we keep it

We keep information only as long as we need it for the purposes above. After that, we may keep it only for statistics. Accounts that break our terms of service, accounts that have been inactive for at least six months, and accounts we must delete under rules such as the European Union's GDPR are deleted. You can delete data you have provided at any time while signed in.

Security

We use physical, technical and organisational safeguards to protect your information from unauthorised access, use or disclosure. For example, we store it on computer systems with limited access in controlled facilities. Because you sign in with your Freedom! account, we never store your password.

No server, network or transmission over the internet is completely secure, and Aegis is no exception. We can't guarantee the security of information sent to us, and we can't promise to prevent every loss or misuse. Sharing information with us is your choice, and you do so at your own risk.

Your rights and choices

Depending on where you live, including under the GDPR in the European Union and the United Kingdom, you may have the right to access the personal data we hold about you, to have it corrected or deleted, to restrict or object to how we use it, to receive a copy of it, and to withdraw consent you have given. To make a request, contact us as described below. You can also complain to the data protection authority where you live or work.

You can take back Aegis's access to your YouTube data at any time on Google's security settings page.

Changes to this policy

We update this policy from time to time, to reflect changes in technology, the law, our business or for other reasons. When we do, we publish the new version on this page and update the "Last updated" date at the top. If we make material changes to the policy or to how we handle personal data, we will also tell you in other ways, such as a notice on our websites before the change takes effect or a message sent to you directly.

Contact

For questions or concerns about this policy, or to report a possible breach of it, contact our support team at freedom.support.tm or email [email protected]. We treat every message as confidential and answer as soon as we can.