1. Scope and legal basis

The controller is NivoSoft, Vranje, Serbia. This notice covers visitors, members, organisation representatives and people whose information appears in content or migrated records. Serbia’s Personal Data Protection Law (Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia, 87/2018) applies. Reading this notice or registering is not consent to every form of processing.

2. Information we process and its sources

We receive information from you, use of the service, participants in applications and groups, the previous website and, if you choose it, Google sign-in. This includes names, usernames, email addresses, protected sign-in credentials, city, optional contact details, profile photographs and biographies. Depending on the features you use, it includes listings, images and videos, locations, adoption and fostering applications, messages, comments, memberships, favourites, pet-care records, donations, evidence and support requests. Technical information may include IP addresses, browser details, sessions, activity times and security logs. Do not submit other people’s information without an appropriate basis, or unnecessary identity documents or sensitive information. An animal’s medical information is not, by itself, human health data.

3. Why we use information

Accounts, sign-in, publishing, communication and applications support the service you request, including steps towards and performance of our relationship with you. Security, abuse prevention, ownership verification, dispute resolution and reliable records rely on legitimate interests balanced against your rights. Processing required by law relies on the applicable legal obligation. Where processing relies on consent, particularly optional publication of personal details, location and future optional analytics, you may withdraw consent for the future without affecting earlier lawful processing. Required fields are marked; without necessary information we cannot create an account or handle the relevant request.

4. Public and private information

Published listings and profiles, selected public details and lists, group posts, approved public adoption and treatment evidence, and public donations may be visible to visitors and search engines. Privacy settings apply to the relevant feature; making a profile photograph private does not make all your posts private. Donations may be public or private: check your choice before submitting. Adoption, fostering, veterinary and donation applications are shared with the people or organisations handling them, including relevant contact details. Other people may copy or share public material; removing it here does not automatically remove their copies.

5. Messages, groups and notifications

Private and group messages are intended for conversation participants and encrypted in the database. This is not end-to-end encryption: the application can decrypt messages to display them and handle reports. Authorised access for maintenance, security or investigating a report may be necessary. We do not promise absolute confidentiality. Service notifications and email support account verification, account recovery and updates about applications, favourite pets and other features you use. Email recipients also use their own mail providers.

6. Media, location and maps

Images and videos are processed for display and size reduction; original files may remain in protected storage and backups. You can enter a location manually, obtain it with browser permission or extract it from a photograph. Photo GPS extraction takes place in your browser; review the proposed location before confirming and submitting it. A published pet location may reveal a private address, so do not provide a precise home location unnecessarily. OpenStreetMap maps load on request; its service then receives technical information such as your IP address and map-tile requests.

7. Google sign-in and external sites

If available and you choose Google sign-in, we receive an account identifier, name and verified email address to sign you in or link an account. We do not receive your Google password. Sharing buttons and sponsor links lead to external services with their own data practices. Displaying a sponsor logo does not give that sponsor access to your account.

8. Cookies and Google Analytics

The site uses necessary cookies and similar local storage for sessions, form security, language choice, sign-in and remembering your login. Lifetimes depend on the function and session settings. You can clear browser data, but sign-in and other features may stop working. Google Analytics is planned and is not introduced by this update. Before enabling it, this notice must identify the specific data, recipients, retention and transfers, and optional analytics must remain off until the user gives appropriate consent. Refusing analytics must not prevent access to core services.

9. Recipients and processing outside Serbia

Recipients may include authorised NivoSoft personnel, technical hosting, maintenance and email providers as necessary for the service, participants receiving your application or message, the public for published content, and authorities where legally required. Organisations you contact may act as independent controllers for their subsequent activities. Google, OpenStreetMap and chosen external services may involve processing outside Serbia. Their use requires checking the recipient, country and appropriate legal transfer mechanism; this notice is not blanket consent to unrestricted transfers. You can request recipient and safeguard information from the privacy contact.

10. Retention and deletion

Information is kept as needed for an active account, the requested service, application history and handling reports. Dispute, security and ownership records and legal obligations are assessed against their purpose, statutory periods, legal-claim periods and evidential need. Completing an adoption does not automatically delete its listing or history, and moving a report to trash is not permanent deletion. Account deletion does not mean immediate removal of every related record, original file or backup. Erasure or anonymisation requests are assessed across relevant records; we explain any justified retention. Hosting-log and backup retention periods must match the actual system configuration.

11. Information from the previous website

Earlier accounts, listings and related information were migrated for service continuity, useful history and ownership verification. Original records may be retained in an encrypted archive. Conflicting identities are reviewed and ownership decisions are recorded. If information is not yours, is inaccurate or should be removed, contact us about privacy. Paw helper also accepts account and listing recovery requests.

12. Levels, abuse prevention and human review

The system calculates levels and badges from login days, posts, confirmed treatments and adoptions; levels can affect access to some features. Spam checks may reject requests because of frequency, repetition or suspicious content. An administrator can review a report and correct an error. These rules do not themselves decide who receives a pet: the participants assess applications. If you believe a restriction is wrong, request human review through support or the privacy contact.

13. Your rights and requests

Subject to legal conditions, you may request access and a copy, correction, erasure, restriction and portability. You may object to processing based on legitimate interests and withdraw consent where it is the basis. Contact the privacy email with your account and request; identity checks are proportionate to risk and we do not ask for your password. We respond without delay and within 30 days; where legally permitted, an extension of up to another 60 days requires an explanation within the first 30 days. Requests are generally free. You may complain to Serbia’s Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection and seek judicial protection.

14. Children, security and changes

Where processing for a service offered directly to a child relies on consent, Serbian law requires parental or legal-representative consent for children under 15. This rule does not itself give a minor legal capacity to agree an adoption: involve a parent or guardian. We use access controls, password protection, encryption of certain records and form checks; no system is risk-free. Do not send passwords through support. Changes to this notice carry an updated date, and new processing requiring consent requires a separate choice.

Legal framework and further information

• Serbian Personal Data Protection Law (87/2018)
• Commissioner — exercising your rights
• Google — Privacy
• OpenStreetMap — Privacy