Legal

Privacy Policy

Last updated: 2026-09-05

INLEVEL9 is operated by INLEVEL9 from Seoul, South Korea. This Privacy Policy explains what personal data we process when you read, subscribe to, comment on, or pay for our newsletter service, including how cookies and local storage are used.

1. Controller Information

Business name	INLEVEL9
Service	INLEVEL9
Representative	Kwangseob Ahn
Business registration	735-23-01161
Mail-order registration	2026-서울영등포-0851
Email	contact@inlevel9.com
Address	4314, 4F, NH Foundation Building, 2, Gukjegeumyung-ro 8-gil, Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, Republic of Korea

2. Data We Process and Why

Context	Data	Purpose
Newsletter subscription	Email address, locale, source	Manage subscriptions, prevent duplicates, and send newsletter updates
Reader sign-in	Email address, login tokens, session cookie (`oz_reader`)	Authenticate readers, keep sessions active, and apply access rights
Membership and payments	Email address, plan, amount, payment references, billing key references, payment status	Register subscriptions, renew billing, grant access, and respond to billing issues
Educational program enrollment	Name, student number, school/department, email address, phone number, selected program, goal, payment and refund status	Process enrollment, manage capacity and attendance, send operational notices, process payment and refunds, and provide support
Comments	Comment text, timestamp, issue slug, anonymity flag	Display and moderate community contributions
Analytics	Pseudonymous identifier (`oz_aid`), path, referrer, device type, scroll depth, section reach, link and CTA clicks	Measure readership, understand article performance, and improve the service
Consent and admin operations	`oz_consent`, admin cookie (`oz_admin`)	Store consent preferences and secure operator access

KakaoTalk sharing sends the article’s public title, summary, image and link to Kakao. We record a webhook resource ID, article path, language, chat type and receipt time to measure delivery separately from button clicks. We do not store Kakao user IDs, recipient lists or chat-room identifiers.

If you choose Kakao sign-in, Supabase Auth processes your app-specific Kakao identifier and verified email, plus your nickname and profile image if you consent. We use the verified email to connect existing reader and membership records. The temporary sign-in cookie (oz_kakao_flow) lasts up to 10 minutes and the reader session (oz_reader) up to 30 days. Sign-in does not subscribe you to newsletter emails. We do not collect Kakao friends or chat content.

If you choose Google sign-in, Supabase Auth processes your Google identifier, verified email and basic profile. Sign-in is separate from newsletter consent; the temporary sign-in cookie expires within 10 minutes. Administrators use authenticator-app two-step verification, with administrator sessions lasting up to 12 hours.

We use Vercel Speed Insights to improve public page performance, measuring page paths, loading and interaction speed, visual stability, and browser, device and country-level statistics. Auth, account, payment and administrator pages are excluded, and URL queries and fragments are removed. This measurement sets no tracking cookie. Vercel retains performance metrics and operational logs for up to 30 days.

3. Legal Bases

Performance of a contract: reader accounts, memberships, payments, customer support.
Consent: advertising cookies and consent-based analytics where required, especially for EEA/UK visitors.
Legitimate interests: service security, fraud prevention, product analytics, and operational recordkeeping where allowed by law.
Legal obligation: tax, accounting, consumer protection, and dispute-handling requirements.

4. Cookies and Local Storage

Essential session cookies keep readers or operators signed in.
Analytics storage: oz_aid is a random pseudonymous identifier used for first-party analytics.
Consent storage: oz_consent records your cookie choice on the English site.
Advertising cookies: the English site may load Google AdSense. Optional storage defaults to denied. Existing analytics choices remain valid; Google/Meta advertising measurement requires the current separate cookie choice.
Advertising measurement: Google advertising storage and the Meta Pixel require a separate choice on our Korean and English pages. We send public page visits and a first newsletter registration only after server verification. Meta may receive page URLs, browser/cookie identifiers and connection information such as your IP address. We disable automatic advanced matching and automatic events; we do not send email addresses, form input or payment details through this Pixel.
Withdrawal: oz_ad_consent_v1 stores your choice for up to 180 days. Use “Cookie preferences” in the footer to withdraw. We stop subsequent Pixel events and delete known advertising cookies set on our site. Reading and subscribing remain available. We respect Do Not Track and Global Privacy Control signals.

You can manage or remove site data in your browser settings. If you clear stored data, the cookie banner will appear again.

5. Sharing and Processors

We use service providers to operate the site and process payments.

Provider	Role	Main data involved
Supabase	Authentication and database infrastructure	Email addresses, account status, comments, payment metadata
NICE Payments	Korean payment processing and recurring billing registration	Payment card input, email address, product details, transaction references
Lemon Squeezy	International payment processing and merchant of record	Email address, subscription details, amount, transaction references
Maily	Legacy newsletter subscription and delivery workflow	Email address, subscription status
Google	Google sign-in, GA4 analytics, Google Ads measurement, AdSense and consent-mode signals	Cookie and advertising identifiers, where permitted
Meta Platforms	Facebook/Instagram advertising measurement through the Meta Pixel	Consented page and verified registration events, browser/cookie identifiers, URL and connection information

We do not store full card numbers or full card passwords on our own servers. Payment card details are sent directly to the applicable payment processor.

6. International Transfers

Some providers we use may process data outside South Korea. Where applicable, we rely on contractual, technical, and organizational safeguards designed to protect personal data during those transfers.

7. Retention

We keep personal data only as long as needed for the purposes described above, unless a longer retention period is required by law.

Record	Retention period
Contract or withdrawal records	5 years
Payment and service supply records	5 years
Complaint or dispute-handling records	3 years
Advertising and display records	6 months

8. Your Rights

Depending on your jurisdiction, you may have rights to access, correct, delete, restrict, object to, or port your personal data, and to withdraw consent where processing is based on consent.

Subscription emails include an unsubscribe path, and privacy requests can be sent to contact@inlevel9.com.

9. Anonymous Comments

Anonymous comments are intentionally designed so that the posted comment is not linked back to a subscriber record. Because of that design, self-service deletion by the original poster may not be possible after submission. We may remove or hide comments when required by law, to protect rights, or to enforce our rules.

10. Children

Our service is not intended for children under 14, and we do not knowingly target or solicit them without an appropriate legal basis or parental authorization where required.

11. Contact

Controller: Kwangseob Ahn
Email: contact@inlevel9.com
Address: 4314, 4F, NH Foundation Building, 2, Gukjegeumyung-ro 8-gil, Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, Republic of Korea

12. Changes

We may update this Privacy Policy when laws, vendors, or service features change. Material updates will be posted on the site or communicated by a comparable notice.