OpenAgriSynapse Privacy Policy

OpenAgriSynapse (hereinafter "OAS" or "Company") values the personal information of its members and complies with the relevant laws and regulations including the Personal Information Protection Act. Through this Privacy Policy, OAS informs members about how the personal information they provide is used, for what purposes and by what means, and what measures are taken to protect personal information.

1. Categories and Methods of Personal Information Collected

OAS collects the following personal information for membership registration, customer consultation, and service provision (simulation execution).

A. Categories of Personal Information Collected

• Required items: User ID (email address), password (encrypted storage), name, organization (company or institution name), country
• Automatically collected during service use: IP address, cookies, visit date/time, service usage records, fraudulent usage records, device information
• Simulation data: Agricultural data uploaded by members (soil information, weather data, crop growth information, etc.) is classified as 'user data' rather than personal information. However, if such data is combined with personally identifiable information, it will be protected as personal information.

B. Collection Methods

Collected through website registration, service usage process, and information collection tools

2. Purpose of Collection and Use of Personal Information

OAS uses collected personal information for the following purposes.

• Service provision and contract fulfillment: Agricultural simulation engine operation, result report (secondary output) generation and delivery, data analysis service provision
• Member management: Identity verification for membership services, individual identification, prevention of fraudulent use by bad actors and unauthorized use prevention, registration intent confirmation, customer inquiry processing
• New service development and marketing: Service provision and advertising based on statistical characteristics, service validity verification, access frequency analysis

3. Retention and Use Period of Personal Information

In principle, OAS destroys personal information without delay once the purpose of collection and use has been achieved. However, the following information is retained for the reasons stated below for the specified period.

A. Information Retention by Company Internal Policy

• Fraudulent use records: 1 year (fraud prevention)
• Simulation log data: 3 years (service quality improvement and error tracking)

B. Information Retention by Related Laws

When information needs to be preserved under the provisions of related laws such as the Commercial Act and the Act on Consumer Protection in Electronic Commerce, the Company retains member information for the period specified by the relevant laws.

• Records related to contracts or withdrawal of subscription: 5 years
• Records related to consumer complaints or dispute resolution: 3 years
• Login records: 3 months (Protection of Communications Secrets Act)

4. Procedures and Methods of Personal Information Destruction

• Destruction procedure: Information entered by members is moved to a separate database (or separate file cabinet for paper documents) after the purpose has been achieved, and is destroyed after being stored for a certain period according to internal policies and other related legal reasons for information protection (see retention and use period).
• Destruction method: Personal information stored in electronic file format is deleted using technical methods that prevent record reproduction.

5. Provision of Personal Information to Third Parties

In principle, OAS does not provide members' personal information externally. However, exceptions are made in the following cases.

• When members have given prior consent
• When required by law or when an investigative agency requests it through procedures and methods prescribed by law for investigative purposes

6. Entrustment and Overseas Transfer of Personal Information Processing

OAS uses cloud infrastructure to improve services, and accordingly, data may be physically stored on servers located overseas (United States, etc.).

• Entrusted company (cloud provider): Microsoft Azure
• Entrusted business content: Data storage, system operation, simulation computation processing
• Overseas transfer of personal information: Member data may be transferred to and stored in data centers in the United States for service provision. Members are deemed to consent to this when using the service.

7. Rights of Users and Legal Representatives and How to Exercise Them

Users may view or modify their registered personal information at any time and may request cancellation of registration.

• To view/modify personal information, click 'Change Personal Information' (or 'Edit Member Information'), and to cancel registration, click 'Withdraw Membership' to directly view, correct, or withdraw after going through the identity verification process.
• If you request correction of errors in personal information, the relevant personal information will not be used or provided until the correction is completed.

8. Technical/Administrative Protection Measures for Personal Information

OAS takes the following measures to ensure security so that members' personal information is not lost, stolen, leaked, altered, or damaged.

• Password encryption: Member ID passwords are encrypted for storage and management, so only the member knows them, and verification and changes to personal information can only be made by the member who knows the password.
• Measures against hacking: OAS does its best to prevent the leakage or damage of members' personal information due to hacking or computer viruses. Data is transmitted securely through communication section encryption (SSL), etc.

9. Personal Information Protection Officer

OAS designates a Personal Information Protection Officer as follows to protect members' personal information and handle complaints related to personal information.

• Personal Information Protection Officer: Jaehun Jeong
• Department: OAS Operations Team
• Email: james@openagrisynapse.com