Privacy Policy

01Who we are

Proof Ag Ltd ("Proof", "we", "us") operates proof.ag and the Proof platform at app.proof.ag. We are the data controller for personal information collected through our website, application form, and platform.

02What we collect

We collect three categories of information.

Application data

When you apply to contribute, you provide your name, email, contributor type, optional farm or business name, optional postcode prefix, optional region, and a short statement of why you want to join. This is held privately and used to evaluate your application.

Account & identity data

If approved, we hold your email for authentication, your auto-generated pseudonym for public display, and your private name for our internal records. Your private identity is never displayed publicly unless you choose to make a record non-anonymous.

Record data

Proof Records you submit contain structured agricultural data (crop, treatment, outcome, soil, region, etc.), photos and supporting documents you upload, and your timestamps. Once locked, this data becomes public.

03How we use it

• To evaluate your application and contact you with the outcome
• To authenticate you when you log in to app.proof.ag
• To display your Proof Records publicly under your chosen identity
• To credit your contribution to the dataset
• To send transactional emails (magic links, application confirmations, lock receipts)
• To detect and prevent fraudulent submissions or platform abuse
• To meet our legal and regulatory obligations under UK law

We do not use your data for advertising, behavioural profiling, or marketing automation. We do not share contributor data with any commercial third party for their own marketing purposes.

04Lawful basis

We process personal data under the following UK GDPR lawful bases:

05Records are public

Every Proof Record submitted to the platform is locked and publicly visible from the moment of submission. This is the platform's core purpose, not an unintended consequence. By contributing, you acknowledge that your Proof Records - including any photos and supporting evidence you attach - will be visible to anyone with internet access, indefinitely.

Your private identity is never published. What appears publicly with the record is, at your choice per record: your real name, a Proof-issued pseudonym, or no identifier.

06Anonymity options

Three identity modes are available, settable per record:

• Named - your real name appears on the record
• Pseudonymous - an auto-generated Proof handle appears on the record (default)
• Anonymous - no contributor identifier on the record at all

Identity preference is set when you submit and remains permanent on that record. You can use different identity modes on different records. Records under any mode count toward your contributor history and Proof Score.

07Cookies & tracking

We use the smallest set of cookies the platform needs to function: a session cookie for authentication on app.proof.ag, and a privacy-preference cookie to remember your choices on this site. We do not use third-party advertising cookies, behavioural profiling, or cross-site trackers.

We use privacy-respecting analytics on the marketing site (proof.ag) to understand which pages contributors find useful. Analytics are anonymised at collection - we cannot identify individual visitors.

08Third parties

We work with the following processors. Each is contractually bound to handle your data only as instructed by Proof and only for the purpose of providing service to Proof.

09Your rights

Under UK GDPR, you have the following rights with respect to personal data we hold about you:

• Right of access - to request a copy of the data we hold about you
• Right to rectification - to correct inaccurate personal data we hold
• Right to erasure - to request deletion of your personal data, subject to the limits below
• Right to data portability - to receive your data in a structured, machine-readable format
• Right to object - to object to processing based on legitimate interest
• Right to restrict processing - in specific circumstances
• Right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO)

Important limit: locked Proof Records

Locked Proof Records are immutable as a structural property of the platform. The right to erasure does not extend to the content of locked records, because this would defeat the purpose of the platform - and because the architecture itself makes it impossible. We can delete account-level data (your private identity, email, application data) on request, but locked records will continue to exist publicly. Identity preferences chosen at lock cannot be retroactively changed.

10Retention

11Security

Data is encrypted at rest in Supabase and in transit over TLS. Access to internal systems is restricted to Proof staff with multi-factor authentication. Database row-level security policies enforce that your private data is only accessible to you and to platform administrators authorised to handle it. We do not store passwords - authentication is via email magic link.

12Contact

For any question about how Proof handles your personal data, or to exercise any of your UK GDPR rights: