Privacy Policy

1. Who We Are

MEQuest COMs ("we", "us", "our") is a conference management platform operated by MEQuest. This policy explains how we collect, use, store, and protect your personal data when you use our platform at coms.mequest.org.

2. Data We Collect

We collect the following personal data:

• Account information: Name, email address, password (stored as a secure hash), institution, and country.
• Conference activity: Paper submissions, reviews, registration records, check-in timestamps, poll/survey responses, and voting activity.
• Technical data: Session cookies necessary for authentication. We do not use tracking cookies or third-party analytics.

3. Why We Process Your Data

We process your personal data for the following purposes:

• To create and manage your account.
• To enable conference submission, review, registration, and attendance tracking.
• To generate badges, certificates, and reports for conferences you participate in.
• To communicate conference-related updates and notifications.

Lawful basis: We process your data on the basis of your consent (provided at registration) and where necessary for the performance of a contract (your participation in a conference).

4. Data Sharing

We do not sell or rent your personal data. Your data may be shared with:

• Conference organisers: Administrators of conferences you register for can see your name, email, institution, and conference activity.
• Reviewers: May see your submitted paper details (depending on review type: single-blind or double-blind).
• Infrastructure providers: Microsoft Azure hosts our platform. Their data processing is governed by the Microsoft Data Processing Agreement.

5. Data Retention

We retain your account data for as long as your account is active. Conference-related data (submissions, reviews, registrations) is retained for the duration required by the conference organisers, typically up to 3 years after the conference concludes. You may request deletion at any time (see Section 7).

6. Data Security

We protect your data with:

• Encrypted connections (HTTPS/TLS) for all data in transit.
• Secure password hashing (bcrypt).
• Role-based access controls limiting who can view your data.
• Infrastructure hosted on Microsoft Azure with enterprise-grade security.

7. Your Rights

Under GDPR, NDPR, and applicable data protection laws, you have the right to:

• Access: Request a copy of all personal data we hold about you.
• Rectification: Correct inaccurate data via your account settings.
• Erasure: Request deletion of your account and associated data.
• Portability: Export your data in a machine-readable format.
• Withdraw consent: You may withdraw consent at any time by deleting your account.

To exercise any of these rights, contact us at privacy@mequest.org.

8. International Transfers

Your data is stored on servers in Canada (Microsoft Azure, Canada Central region). Canada is recognised as providing adequate data protection under GDPR Article 45. For transfers to other jurisdictions, we ensure appropriate safeguards are in place.

9. Cookies

We use only strictly necessary session cookies to maintain your login state. We do not use advertising, analytics, or third-party tracking cookies. No cookie consent banner is required for strictly necessary cookies.

10. Changes to This Policy

We may update this policy from time to time. Significant changes will be communicated via email or a notice on the platform. Continued use of the platform after changes constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.

11. Contact

For privacy-related inquiries, contact us at:
privacy@mequest.org