Privacy & Terms
Part One: Privacy Notice
Equal Under The Sun asks you to share something personal: a commitment, a photograph, and where in the world you are. This notice explains what we do with that information, what we do not do with it, and how you can change your mind.
Who we are
Equal Under The Sun (EQ, we, us) is operated by [LEGAL ENTITY NAME], a company registered in [JURISDICTION] under company number [COMPANY NUMBER], with its registered office at [REGISTERED ADDRESS].
[LEGAL ENTITY NAME] is the data controller for the information described here. That means we decide what is collected and why, and we are responsible for looking after it. You can contact us about anything in this notice at [PRIVACY EMAIL].
What we collect, and when
We only collect information at two moments: when you make a Commitment, and when you create an EQ image.
When you make a Commitment, we ask for your first name, your email address, your country, your city or town if you choose to give it, the Commitment area you have chosen, a short title for your Commitment, the Commitment itself in your own words, and your responses to the consent options below.
We do not ask for your surname, your postal address, your date of birth, your phone number, or any payment details.
When you create an EQ image, we also process the photograph you upload and the EQ image generated from it.
Automatically, when you use the website, we receive limited technical information such as your browser type, device type and approximate location derived from your IP address. This comes from our hosting and analytics providers and is described in our Cookie Policy.
Why we use it, and on what basis
Data protection law requires us to have a lawful basis for using your information. Ours are set out below.
To register and record your Commitment. We use your name, email, location and Commitment details to create and maintain your participation record. Our basis is the performance of our agreement with you when you choose to take part.
To email you about your participation. We send a confirmation when you commit, a reminder before the equinox, a follow-up afterwards, and an invitation to return at the following equinox. These are not marketing emails. They are the mechanism by which the movement works, and you receive them because you have chosen to take part. Our basis is the performance of our agreement with you, and our legitimate interest in operating a movement built on a six-month return cycle.
To display your Commitment publicly. If you give public display consent, we may show your first name, your city and country, your Commitment area, your Commitment title and text, and your EQ image on the EQ website and on EQ social media channels. Our basis is your consent. If you do not give this consent, your Commitment is still counted in our totals but is never shown individually.
To send you wider campaign updates. If you give marketing consent, we may email you about EQ events, stories and campaign news beyond your own participation. Our basis is your consent. You can withdraw it at any time using the unsubscribe link in any such email.
To understand and improve participation. We look at aggregate patterns, such as how many people participate, from which countries, in which Commitment areas, and how many return at the following equinox. Our basis is our legitimate interest in running the movement well and reporting credibly to funders and partners. This reporting uses totals and never identifies individuals.
To keep the platform secure and prevent misuse. We check for duplicate or automated submissions and moderate uploaded content. Our basis is our legitimate interest in protecting the integrity of the movement and the people taking part.
The three consent choices, explained
Privacy and Terms. Required. Confirms you have read this notice and agree to the Terms of Participation. Without it we cannot register your Commitment.
Public display. Required as a choice, but you may say no. Says whether your Commitment and EQ image may be shown publicly. Saying no does not stop you taking part. Your Commitment still counts towards the totals, you still receive your EQ image, and you are still invited back at the next equinox. It simply is not displayed individually by us.
Marketing. Optional. Says whether we may email you about EQ beyond your own participation.
You can change any of these at any time by emailing [PRIVACY EMAIL].
A note about sharing publicly
EQ encourages you to post your EQ image on your own social media accounts. When you do that, you are publishing it yourself, on a platform with its own privacy terms, and we have no control over it. Anything you post publicly can be copied, saved and shared by others, and we cannot retrieve it for you afterwards.
Our public display consent covers only what we show on our own website and channels. It does not cover what you post yourself.
Photographs
Your equinox photograph is uploaded to our image processing provider, [IMAGE PROVIDER], where the EQ image is generated. Both the original and the generated image are stored there.
Please only upload photographs that you have taken or have the right to use, and which do not show other identifiable people without their agreement. We ask this because when you upload a photograph you are responsible for what is in it, and because publishing a photograph of someone who has not agreed to it may affect their rights as well as yours.
Photographs are reviewed before being shown publicly. We may decline to display any image, and we do not have to explain why.
Who else handles your information
We do not sell your information. We do not share it with other organisations for their own marketing. We use a small number of service providers who process it on our behalf and under contract:
[HOSTING PROVIDER], for website hosting, the database holding participation records, and forms
[IMAGE PROVIDER], for upload, storage and processing of photographs and EQ images
[EMAIL PROVIDER], for sending participation and campaign emails
[ANALYTICS PROVIDER], for website analytics, if enabled and if you have accepted analytics cookies
We may also disclose information where we are required to by law, or where it is necessary to protect the rights or safety of participants or others.
Where your information goes
Some of our providers are based outside [JURISDICTION], including in the United States. Where information is transferred internationally, we rely on appropriate safeguards, which for most of our providers means the European Commission Standard Contractual Clauses, the UK International Data Transfer Addendum, or a finding of adequacy such as the EU-US Data Privacy Framework.
You can ask us for details of the safeguards in place for any specific provider.
How long we keep it
EQ is built around a six-month cycle, and it only works if we can invite you back. So we keep your participation record for as long as you remain part of the movement.
Your participation record, including your Commitment history across cycles, is kept until you ask us to delete it, or until you have not participated for [RETENTION PERIOD], after which we delete or anonymise it.
Your photographs and EQ images are kept on the same basis. If you withdraw public display consent, they are removed from public view immediately and deleted from storage within [DELETION WINDOW].
Aggregate and anonymised totals, which cannot identify you, are kept indefinitely. These are the all-time participation figures the movement reports on.
Email records are kept for as long as you are subscribed, plus a short period afterwards to honour your unsubscribe request.
Your rights
Under data protection law you have the right to access the information we hold about you, correct it if it is wrong or incomplete, delete it in most circumstances, restrict how we use it while a concern is resolved, object to use we have based on legitimate interests, receive a copy in a portable machine-readable format, and withdraw consent at any time where consent is our basis.
Withdrawing consent does not affect anything done before you withdrew it.
To exercise any of these, email [PRIVACY EMAIL]. We will respond within one month. There is no charge.
If you are unhappy with how we have handled your information, you can complain to [SUPERVISORY AUTHORITY]. We would rather you came to us first so we can try to put it right.
Children
EQ is not intended for children. You must be at least [MINIMUM AGE] to make a Commitment. If you believe a child has taken part, please tell us at [PRIVACY EMAIL] and we will remove the record.
Automated decision-making
We do not make decisions about you using automated processing alone, and we do not profile you.
Changes to this notice
We may update this notice as EQ develops. The date at the top shows when it was last changed. If we make a change that materially affects how we use your information, we will tell participants by email.
Part Two: Terms of Participation
These terms apply when you use the Equal Under The Sun website, make a Commitment, or create an EQ image. By taking part, you agree to them.
What EQ is, and what it is not
EQ is a participation movement. Twice a year, at the equinoxes, it invites people to make one meaningful commitment, share it publicly, and return six months later to report on it. It is important to be clear about what that means.
EQ does not deliver the action. We do not plant the trees, take the blood donation, run the food bank or contact your representative. We convene the moment and provide the mechanism. What you commit to, and whether you carry it through, is yours.
EQ does not verify commitments. We have no way to check whether a Commitment was kept, and we do not try to. The movement runs on good faith and on the social accountability of returning at the next equinox.
EQ does not claim quantified impact from participation. We report on how many people committed, in which areas and from where. We do not claim carbon saved, funds raised or hours volunteered on the basis of commitments made.
EQ is not currently accepting donations through this website. The Support page is an enquiry form only. If that changes, these terms will be updated and separate donation terms will apply. [ADJUST ONCE THE CHARITY POSITION IS RESOLVED.]
Who can take part
You must be at least [MINIMUM AGE]. You must give accurate information when you register. One Commitment per person per equinox cycle. If you try to register more than once in the same cycle with the same email address, we will show you your existing Commitment rather than creating a second one.
Your Commitment
Your Commitment is a personal undertaking. It is not a contract, it is not legally binding, and there is no penalty if you do not keep it. Nobody will chase you.
We will invite you back at the following equinox to report on what happened, renew, or choose something else. Whether you do is up to you.
Your Commitment must be something real that you intend to do. Please do not use it to advertise, to campaign on behalf of an organisation without saying so, or to make a point at someone else expense.
Content you provide
When you upload a photograph and write a Commitment, you keep ownership of both. You are not giving them to us.
What you do give us, if you grant public display consent, is permission to use them: a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free licence to display, reproduce and distribute your EQ image, your first name, your location and your Commitment text on the EQ website, on EQ social media channels, and in EQ campaign, funding and press materials, for as long as you remain a participant.
You can end that licence at any time by withdrawing public display consent. We will remove the content from anything we control. We cannot retrieve it from anywhere it has already been shared by others, or from press or printed materials already published.
If you do not grant public display consent, we do not use your content publicly at all.
By uploading a photograph you confirm that you took it or have the right to use it, that it does not infringe anyone else rights, and that any identifiable person in it has agreed to appear.
What you must not upload
Please do not submit anything that is unlawful or encourages unlawful acts; abusive, harassing, hateful or discriminatory; sexually explicit; violent, graphic or distressing; misleading about who you are or what you are committing to; someone else work presented as your own; advertising, spam or automated submissions; or party political campaigning.
We review submissions before displaying them publicly. We may decline, remove or withdraw any submission at any time, without notice and without giving a reason. We may also decline to register a Commitment, or remove a participant, where we believe these terms have been broken.
This is not censorship of your view. It is the minimum needed to keep a public feed that people are willing to put their name and face to.
The EQ image
The EQ image is generated from your photograph with an EQ card applied to it. You may download it, post it, print it and share it freely. We encourage exactly that.
Please do not alter the EQ card itself, remove it from the image, or use the EQ name, logo or campaign identity to suggest that EQ endorses you, your organisation or your cause. If you want to use the EQ identity in any other way, ask us first at [CONTACT EMAIL].
The website
We try to keep the website available and accurate, but we do not guarantee it. It may be unavailable, particularly around an equinox when a lot of people are using it at once. Content may contain errors. We may change or withdraw features.
The website, its design, text, code and the EQ brand are owned by [LEGAL ENTITY NAME] or used under licence. You may not copy or reuse them beyond what these terms allow.
Liability
Nothing in these terms limits our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, for fraud, or for anything else that cannot lawfully be limited.
Subject to that, we are not liable for any loss arising from your participation, from anything you commit to or do as a result, from the actions of any organisation you choose to support, or from content posted by other participants. You take part voluntarily, and what you choose to do is your decision.
Where liability cannot be excluded, it is limited to [LIABILITY CAP].
Links to other organisations
EQ may link to charities, campaigns and other organisations relevant to the six Commitment areas. Those links are not endorsements, and we are not responsible for what those organisations do, say or collect. Their terms and privacy notices apply, not ours.
Ending your participation
You can leave at any time by emailing [CONTACT EMAIL]. We will delete your participation record and remove your content from public display, as set out in the Privacy Notice above. We may end your participation if you break these terms.
Changes
We may update these terms as EQ develops. The date at the top shows when they last changed. Continuing to take part after a change means you accept it.
Law
These terms are governed by the laws of [GOVERNING LAW JURISDICTION], and the courts of [COURTS JURISDICTION] have exclusive jurisdiction.
Contact
[LEGAL ENTITY NAME], [REGISTERED ADDRESS]. Email [CONTACT EMAIL].