NearArc Privacy Policy

Effective date: 20 October 2026 · Last updated: 21 October 2026

This Privacy Policy explains how NearArc collects, uses, shares and protects personal information when you use neararc.com, our web app(s), communications, event and community tools and related services (together, NearArc). It applies to members, invitees, event attendees, organisers, speakers, recruiters and visitors, including people whose information we receive from others before they join.

At a glance

• We collect what you give us (your profile, messages and event check-ins), what other people give us about you (invitations, event records), and technical information from your use of NearArc.
• We use it to run a professional network: connecting people, running events and communities, keeping the platform safe, and improving it.
• Other people see what you choose to share. Event organisers see what they need to run their events.
• We do not sell personal information, and we do not share it with third parties for advertising or AI training.
• Messages are private between participants but may be accessed by NearArc when a member reports one, or to support you, investigate abuse or meet a legal duty. They are not end-to-end encrypted.
• You can ask to access, correct or delete your information at any time at support@neararc.com.
• Information specific to Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United States is in section 8.

1. About this policy and who we are

NearArc is a professional social networking platform focused on real-world connections. It helps people meet, message each other, join technology events and communities, and find professional opportunities. NearArc is provided from Victoria, Australia by Zach Jensz (ABN 95 243 396 633), a sole trader (we, us, our).

NearArc is currently invite-only and is launching communities in selected cities. Our target markets are Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United States, and we may support other countries later. NearArc is not currently available to residents of Québec, Canada, or of the United Kingdom. You must be 16 or older to use NearArc.

We handle personal information in accordance with the Australian Privacy Principles in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), and with the privacy laws that apply to people in the other countries where we offer NearArc. In this policy, personal information means information about an identified or reasonably identifiable person, and includes "personal data" as defined in other laws.

Current and planned features. Some features described here are planned and not yet available, including recruiting and job applications, expanded event management tools, personalised advertising and AI features. Where we describe a planned feature, we say so. We will not treat this policy as permission for a materially new use of your information. Before launching one, we will update this policy and give any additional notice, or obtain any consent, the law requires.

This policy does not cover third-party websites, services or integrations you reach through NearArc; their own privacy policies apply. Our Terms of Use and Code of Conduct are separate documents.

2. Information we collect

We collect information you give us, information other people give us about you, and information generated when you use NearArc. We collect only what is reasonably necessary for the purposes in section 3.

Account and profile information

• Your name, username, email address, optional phone number and profile photographs. Your email address and phone number can each serve as account contact details.
• Profile details you choose to add, such as location, employer, job title, skills, interests and a public handle. (planned) We expect to add a biography, employment history, education, social links and websites.
• Information you provide through forms, registrations, support requests and other interactions.
• Sign-in and security information, such as verification status, sign-in events, timestamps and access logs. NearArc uses passkeys rather than passwords. We store your passkey's public key, never your private key or biometric data. One-time sign-in codes are not kept after use.

Networking and social information

• Connections, invitations, referrals, blocks and reports, and your interactions with other members.
• How you met someone, such as through a QR code, an event, a community or a referral.
• Mutual connections and shared events and communities.

Content and communications

• Direct messages, photographs and other content you create or share.
• Other participants may see when you are typing, and we may briefly record that typing status to prevent abuse. See section 3 for when we may access messages.

Events and communities

• Event invitations and registrations, RSVP links and participation history. (planned) In-person check-ins (QR scans) and event attendance records.
• Information about speakers, organisers and attendees.
• Information organisers enter, such as their community's details and setup progress. (planned) Notes about event attendees, tasks, budgets, catering details and attendance records.
• Event information imported from external services, feeds, public websites and links organisers submit.

Sensitive information

Some information is treated as sensitive under privacy law. We collect it only with your consent, or where the law otherwise allows.

• Accessibility and dietary requirements. You or an organiser may give us dietary requirements, disability-related accommodations or accessibility needs for an event. There is not yet a field for these, so today this would be by email. This can reveal health information or religious beliefs.
• Other sensitive information you choose to share, such as in your profile or messages. Please think carefully before sharing it, especially in public areas.

Information other people give us about you

We may receive information about you from other people, including before you join NearArc. For example:

• an organiser claims and maintains their event or community listing, which may name you as a speaker or organiser;
• a member invites you using a QR code or your email address;
• a member connects with you or sends you a message;
• we import publicly accessible professional, event or community information; or
• (planned) a member imports their contacts or address book.

When we collect information about you from someone else, we take reasonable steps to let you know, such as by including a notice in the invitation or registration message, unless an exception under the law applies. People who give us information about others must have the right to do so.

Technical and usage information

• IP address, device and browser type, operating system, timestamps and access logs. Where you add your city and country, we store that profile location. We do not derive your location from your IP address, and we do not collect precise GPS location.
• Cookies, local storage, session identifiers and similar technologies (see section 5).
• How you use NearArc, such as sign-up and conversion steps (for example, how far you get through an invitation), and bug reports you submit. We do not record your screen or sessions for analytics or testing. If you submit a bug report, we collect what you include, together with technical details we show you first, such as your browser (user agent), device and operating system.
• Information used for fraud prevention, rate limiting, moderation and account security, including records of your sign-in sessions such as device, browser, IP address and time.

3. How we use information

We use personal information for the purposes we collected it for, related purposes you would reasonably expect, or as permitted or required by law. These include:

• Providing NearArc: creating and securing accounts, signing you in and delivering the features you use.
• Networking: helping you discover, connect and communicate with other professionals, and showing mutual connections, shared interests, communities and events.
• Recommendations (planned): suggesting people, communities, events and jobs that may be relevant to you.
• Events and communities: managing registrations, RSVPs, attendance, speakers and organiser workflows, and giving organisers community tools and (planned) attendee history and analytics.
• Recruiting (planned): helping recruiters and employers discover relevant professionals and manage job applications.
• Communications: sending service messages, invitations, event updates and, where permitted, marketing (see section 5).
• Safety and integrity: preventing fraud, spam and abuse, moderating content, enforcing our terms and investigating reports.
• Improvement and research: analysing how NearArc is used to improve functionality, usability, accessibility and performance, and to develop new features.
• Legal: meeting our legal obligations and establishing, exercising or defending legal claims.

Messages

We do not read your messages as a matter of routine. When a member reports a message, a person reviews the report and the message. We also plan to use automated tools, including an AI moderation service from our content delivery provider, to scan messages and flag possible spam, fraud, abuse or breaches of our Code of Conduct; these tools are not active yet, and a person will review flagged messages before we take any action. We may also access messages where necessary to provide support you ask for, to investigate reports, to keep NearArc secure, or to comply with the law. We may use de-identified message data to improve NearArc.

Accessibility and dietary information

We use accessibility and dietary information only to deliver the accommodations it was provided for, such as choosing accessible venues and suitable catering. We share it only with the organisers, venues and caterers who need it to deliver those accommodations (see section 4). We may analyse it in aggregated or de-identified form to improve event planning and platform accessibility. We do not use it for advertising or to decide what opportunities you see.

Artificial intelligence and machine learning

We currently use AI only for moderation: it checks the handle you claim against our guidelines, and we have built, but not yet switched on, the message screening described above. Both use a third-party AI service from our content delivery provider (Cloudflare). Its terms prohibit it from using that information to train AI models or improve its own or others' services without our explicit consent. We do not currently send customer information to any external provider to train AI models.

In future we may introduce AI features such as profile and event summaries, recommendations, content moderation, recruiting assistance and matching. We may also develop and train our own AI models using platform information. When we do:

• personal information used to train models will be de-identified first so that individuals cannot reasonably be identified;
• we may engage service providers to help develop or train our models, under contracts that require appropriate confidentiality and security;
• we will not sell or license personal information to third parties to train their own independent AI models;
• we may share the resulting models with others only where this does not expose identifiable training information; and
• before introducing a materially new AI use of personal information, we will update this policy and give any notice or choice the law requires.

Automated decisions

Apart from the planned automatic hiding of content reported as intimate images shared without consent until a person reviews it (see below), we do not currently use automated systems to make decisions that significantly affect you without a person involved. Automated tools help us make some decisions:

• Moderation and safety. Our automated tools currently block handle choices that breach our guidelines and limit repeated requests. We plan to add AI tools that flag messages, content and accounts that may involve spam, fraud, abuse or a breach of our terms; when they are active, a person will review each flag before we remove content or restrict or suspend an account. We also plan that a report of intimate images shared without consent will hide the reported content automatically as soon as the report is made, and a person will then review it and decide whether it stays down. Hiding it straight away protects the person shown while we check. These tools will use message and other content, account and sign-in information, technical and usage information, and reports from other members.
• Recommendations (planned). Automated tools will suggest people, communities and events, using profile, networking, event and usage information. These suggestions will not limit what you can find or do.

Recruiting (planned). Our planned recruiting features will use automated tools to match, rank and assess applicants, using professional information such as skills, experience, employment history, education and application details. These decisions could significantly affect your job opportunities. Because of the volume of applications, using recruiting features will require you to agree to this automated processing, and we will tell you clearly before you apply. You can still ask for human review of any recruiting decision, as described below, and where the law gives you a right to opt out, we will honour it. We will update this policy before these features launch.

We do not use accessibility or dietary information in automated decisions. You can ask for a person to review any decision made or assisted by our automated tools, including moderation, account restrictions and (when available) recruiting decisions, by emailing support@neararc.com. We will respond within the timeframe required by the law that applies to you.

4. How we share information

We share personal information only as described here. We do not sell personal information, and we do not share it with third parties for advertising or AI training.

Other members and the public

Depending on your settings, each part of your profile may be Public, visible to the Community (signed-in members only), or visible to your Contacts only. A public, searchable profile is turned on only after you explicitly confirm it, and may then be indexed by search engines such as Google. (planned) When you RSVP to an event or check in with an in-person QR code, the event's organisers may see this. We explain who can see what on your Settings page and wherever you make these choices.

Event organisers and communities

When you register for or attend an event, its organisers receive the information they need to run it (planned). This can include your name and profile, attendance, and any dietary or accessibility requirements you provide. Organiser teams may share access to this information within their team. Organisers may keep attendance records and may use attendee information for event communications such as confirmations, changes, lost property and related follow-up events. (planned) Attendee histories and notes about attendees.

Organisers will be able to view, but not export, attendee information (planned). If we add export later, it will be within limits set by NearArc, and once exported, the organiser is responsible for how it is used. We will tell you in NearArc when your information will be shared with an organiser.

Sponsors, venues and caterers (planned)

When event catering and sponsorship tools are available, venues, caterers and sponsors involved in an event may receive operational information such as attendance numbers, dietary requirements, accessibility needs, and aggregate attendee demographics or experience levels. We share identifiable dietary or accessibility information only where it is reasonably necessary to deliver an accommodation. A sponsor may also provide the venue or catering; it then receives what a venue or caterer needs to deliver the event, but only for that purpose. We do not give sponsors attendee names, email addresses or other personal information for their own marketing.

Recruiters and employers (planned)

When recruiting features launch, recruiters may be able to find you based on your professional information, skills, experience and networking activity, subject to your discoverability settings. If you apply for a job, we share your profile, resume and application details with that employer or recruiter. Recruiters may view information on NearArc without being able to export it. Recruiting features may use algorithmic recommendations and matching. We will tell you in NearArc what is shared when you apply or make yourself discoverable.

Service providers and integrations

We use service providers to help operate NearArc, including for hosting, databases, email and SMS delivery, security, authentication, content delivery and AI-assisted moderation, and (in future) payment processing and other AI services. They may only handle personal information on our instructions and under contracts that require confidentiality and appropriate security. Event integrations with external services may involve receiving information from, and sending information to, those services.

Other disclosures

We may also disclose personal information:

• where required or authorised by law, or in response to a valid legal request;
• to prevent or investigate fraud, security incidents or serious threats to anyone's safety;
• to establish, exercise or defend legal claims, or enforce our terms;
• in connection with a merger, acquisition, restructure or sale of assets, subject to the protections in this policy and applicable law; and
• with your consent or at your direction.

We may share aggregated or de-identified information that does not reasonably identify anyone, for example to support event planning and sponsorship.

We may introduce personalised advertising in future. If we do, we will update this policy and provide the notices and choices, including any opt-outs, the law requires.

5. Your choices

Profile and visibility

• You can edit your profile on your Profile and Settings pages. If something can't yet be changed there, email support@neararc.com and we will change it for you.
• You can choose who sees each part of your profile, such as your name and profile picture: Public (anyone, and indexable by search engines only after you confirm), Community (signed-in members only) or Contacts only. We plan to add more controls, including event attendance visibility, connections visibility, discoverability and recruiting visibility. Until each control is available, you can ask us to make the change by email.
• You can block other members and report content or behaviour.

Communications

We may contact you by email, SMS or push notification about your account, sign-in codes, messages, invitations, and (planned) event reminders, RSVP confirmations, event changes, community updates, recommendations, jobs, and NearArc news and offers. We also contact people on our waitlist, for example to let them know when it is their turn. (planned) We may also contact members who haven't been active for a while to invite them back.

• Marketing: we send marketing messages only where the law allows, which usually means with your consent. Every marketing email or SMS includes a way to unsubscribe, and we act on unsubscribe requests promptly and within the time the law requires.
• Service messages: we will still send messages needed to operate your account or NearArc, such as security alerts and changes to events you're attending.
• Your settings: you can currently choose whether new message notifications arrive by email, by SMS, or not at all, and turn push notifications on or off for each device. These settings do not yet separate marketing from service messages; we plan to add more detailed controls. Until then, email support@neararc.com to change what you receive. Your settings never reduce our legal obligations, including honouring an unsubscribe.
• Invitations: if someone invited you and you don't want further invitations, use the opt-out link in the message or contact us.

Cookies, device storage and similar technologies

We use cookies, local storage and similar technologies to keep you signed in, protect your account, remember your preferences and saved drafts, and make pages load quickly. A notice on NearArc explains this. Essential cookies are needed for NearArc to work. You can block or delete cookies in your browser, but some features may then stop working. Where the law requires, we will ask for your consent before using non-essential cookies and honour opt-out preference signals such as Global Privacy Control. NearArc does not currently respond to browser "Do Not Track" signals, because there is no common standard for them.

Device storage. NearArc is a progressive web app. It uses browser storage APIs to keep data on your device long term, so pages load quickly and some features work offline. This data can remain on your device until it is replaced, or until you clear your browser's site data or uninstall the app.

6. Retention and account deletion

We retain personal information for as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes described in this policy, including to provide NearArc, maintain security and integrity, resolve disputes, comply with legal obligations and enforce our agreements. When we no longer need it, we take reasonable steps to delete or de-identify it.

We may keep de-identified information, which no longer reasonably identifies anyone, for longer to improve NearArc. If you were invited to NearArc or joined our waitlist but never created an account, you can ask us to delete your information at any time.

We do not currently delete inactive accounts automatically.

Deleting your account. You can ask us to delete your account by emailing support@neararc.com, or from your Settings page once that option is available. When an account is deleted:

• we delete or de-identify your information within a reasonable time, though copies may remain in backups for a limited period until overwritten;
• we may keep some information where needed for legal, security, fraud-prevention, dispute-resolution or enforcement purposes;
• messages you sent may remain in other participants' conversations after your account is closed, unless they are deleted as part of closing it, and may continue to show your name. We cannot remove information already shared with others; and
• records of your participation that other people created, such as event listings that name you as a speaker or organiser, may remain and may still show your name. If you ask, we will remove or de-identify your name from them where the law requires, and in other cases where appropriate.

Copies on other people's devices. Because NearArc stores data in each user's browser (see section 5), information you share with other people, such as messages and profile details, may be stored on their devices. Once it is on another person's device, it may remain there until they delete it, and we may not be able to remove it.

Historical event and community records. We keep records of past events and communities, including information other people provided, such as the names and photographs of past organisers and speakers shown on event pages. We do this to preserve history and context for other members, and these records may remain after you delete your account. If you ask us to remove or de-identify you from them, we will do so where the law gives you that right, and otherwise consider your request case by case, including where there are safety concerns.

7. Security and international processing

Security

We use reasonable technical, organisational and administrative safeguards to protect personal information from misuse, interference, loss and unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. These include encryption in transit (HTTPS), access controls limited to people who need access, monitoring and logging, and requiring service providers to protect information. No system is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security. Messages are encrypted in transit but are not end-to-end encrypted. This is deliberate: it allows us to review messages that are reported, and it will allow us to scan them automatically once our screening tools are active, to find and stop spam, fraud, harassment and other harmful content, as described in section 3. End-to-end encryption would prevent us from doing this and from protecting members from abuse.

If a data breach is likely to result in serious harm to you, we will notify you and the relevant regulators as required by law.

Where information is stored and processed

Our primary database is currently hosted in Australia, but this may change. We and our service providers may store, access or process personal information in other countries. The countries most likely to be involved are Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United States. Our content delivery and moderation providers operate global networks and may process information in other countries where they have facilities. Other countries may also be involved as NearArc or its providers expand; we will keep this list up to date.

The laws of those countries may differ from those where you live, and authorities there may be able to access information under their laws. Before disclosing personal information overseas, we take reasonable steps to ensure it will be protected to a standard comparable to the laws that apply to us, including through contracts with confidentiality, security and use restrictions. Where the law requires, we assess the privacy risks of transferring information to another country or province before the transfer happens.

8. Your privacy rights and complaints

For everyone

Wherever you live, you can ask us to:

• give you access to the personal information we hold about you;
• correct information that is inaccurate, out of date or incomplete;
• delete your information or close your account;
• stop sending you marketing; and
• have a person review an automated decision about you.

Email support@neararc.com. We will verify your identity, then respond within the time the law requires, usually 20 days. Access and correction are free. If we refuse a request where the law allows, we will tell you why and how to complain. If we won't correct your information, you can ask us to attach a statement that you consider it incorrect. We currently handle requests manually and may add self-service tools later.

Complaints. Please contact us first so we can try to resolve your concern. We will acknowledge your complaint within 28 days and aim to respond in full within 120 days. Requests to access, correct or delete information follow the shorter timeframes above. If you're not satisfied, you can contact the regulator listed for your country below.

Australia

We handle personal information in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles. If you are not satisfied with our response, you can complain to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) at oaic.gov.au or 1300 363 992. You can choose to deal with us anonymously or using a pseudonym where that is practicable, but we generally need your real name and contact details to provide an account.

New Zealand

We handle information about people in New Zealand in accordance with the Privacy Act 2020. You can request access to and correction of your information under information privacy principles 6 and 7. If you're not satisfied with our response, you can complain to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner at privacy.org.nz.

Canada

We handle information about people in Canada in accordance with the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) and applicable provincial laws. By using NearArc, you consent to the collection, use and disclosure described in this policy; we will ask for express consent for sensitive information and new purposes. You can withdraw consent at any time, subject to legal or contractual limits, although this may mean we can't provide some features. You can complain to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada at priv.gc.ca, or to your provincial commissioner in Alberta or British Columbia.

United States

If you live in a US state with a consumer privacy law (including California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and Virginia), you may have the right, subject to exceptions, to:

• know what personal information we collect, use and disclose, and access a copy in a portable format;
• correct inaccurate information;
• delete your information;
• opt out of the sale of personal information, sharing for cross-context behavioural or targeted advertising, and profiling that produces legal or similarly significant effects (we do not currently sell, share or target advertising);
• limit our use of sensitive personal information, or have it used only with your consent;
• obtain a list of the third parties or categories of third parties we disclose information to, where your state provides that right; and
• not be discriminated against for exercising these rights.

To make a request, email support@neararc.com. You can use an authorised agent; we may ask for proof of their authority and verify your identity directly. If we deny your request, you can appeal by replying to our decision with "Appeal" in the subject line. If you're not satisfied with the outcome of the appeal, you can contact your state Attorney General. We treat a Global Privacy Control signal as a valid opt-out request where the law requires.

Categories of information (California and similar states). In the last 12 months we have collected the following categories of personal information, from you, other members, organisers, public sources and your devices, for the purposes in section 3. We retain each category as described in section 6. We have not sold or shared any category for cross-context behavioural advertising.

We use sensitive personal information only for purposes permitted by law, such as providing the features you request and keeping them secure, and not to infer characteristics about you.

Consumer health data (Washington, Nevada and similar laws). Accessibility and disability-related information may be "consumer health data" under laws such as Washington's My Health My Data Act. We collect it only with your consent, use it only to provide the accommodations you request, share it only as described in section 4, and never sell it. You can withdraw consent and ask us to delete it at any time. Our Consumer Health Data Privacy Notice explains your rights in full.

California Shine the Light. We do not disclose personal information to third parties for their own direct marketing purposes.

Federal and other laws. We comply with US laws on electronic and SMS marketing, including obtaining any consent required before sending marketing text messages.

9. Children and age requirements

NearArc is intended for people aged 16 and over. People under 16 must not create an account or use NearArc, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from them. If we learn that someone under 16 has registered, we will close the account and delete their information, except where we need to keep limited information to prevent them re-registering or to meet a legal obligation. If you believe someone under 16 is using NearArc, please tell us at support@neararc.com.

We do not sell the personal information of anyone under 18 or use it for targeted advertising. Some jurisdictions give extra protections to people under 18; where those apply, we will follow them.

10. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as our features, technology, legal requirements and business practices change. We will publish the current version on neararc.com with its effective date, and keep previous versions available on request. If we make a material change, we will give you reasonable notice before it takes effect, such as by email or a notice in NearArc. Where the law requires your consent for a new use of your information, we will ask for it rather than relying on an updated policy.

11. Contact us

For privacy questions, requests or complaints, contact our Privacy Officer:

Zach Jensz, Privacy Officer
Zach Jensz · ABN 95 243 396 633 · Victoria, Australia
Email: support@neararc.com
Website: neararc.com