Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy applies to all users of Known, including visitors, account holders, and viewers of videos hosted on Known, whether or not you have created an account. It describes how Hiike Distribution Inc. ("Known," "we," "us," or "our") collects, uses, and shares information. Known is currently offered to users located in the United States.

1. Information We Collect

1.1 Information You Provide

Account data: your name, email address, and profile photo, collected via Google, Apple, or email/password sign-up through our authentication provider, Clerk.
Billing information: processed directly by our payment processor, Stripe. Known does not store your full card number.
Content: the videos, thumbnails, captions, credits, and other metadata you upload.
Communications: records of correspondence when you contact our support team.

1.2 Information Collected Automatically — Including From People Without an Account

Known collects certain information automatically, regardless of whether you have an account. This includes when you watch a video shared with you via a link, even if you never sign up:

Device and usage data: IP address, device type, browser, and operating system.
Viewing activity: whether a video was watched, how much of it was watched, and when.

A core feature of Known is giving video Owners detailed analytics about how their content performs and is watched. We want to be specific about what this includes, rather than describing it only in general terms:

Aggregate analytics: total views, unique viewers, watch time, completion rate, audience retention curves, playback-speed and volume/brightness engagement heatmaps, device and traffic-source breakdowns, and geographic location data.
Named per-recipient analytics: when an Owner shares a video with a specific person via a per-recipient link, Known tracks that individual's viewing activity — including watch start/finish, retention, drop-off points, playback speed, and watch-in-progress status — and displays it to the Owner, identified by that person's name or profile.
Aggregate analytics on open/public links: when a video is shared via a public link with no specific recipient, Known collects and displays aggregate viewing trends to the Owner rather than identifying individual viewers.

Every video page displays a notice that a viewer's activity on that link may be visible to whoever shared it with them, along with a link to this Privacy Policy, regardless of link type or whether the viewer is signed in.

This section describes, separately and distinctly from the rest of this Privacy Policy, how Known obtains consent for named per-recipient viewer tracking described in Section 2.

3.1 Account Holders

If you create a Known account as a Viewer, you will be asked, in a screen separate from your general acceptance of our Terms of Service, whether you agree that your viewing activity on videos shared with you directly may be tracked and shown to the person who shared it with you. This consent is not bundled into any other agreement. This consent, once given, remains valid for up to two years or until you withdraw it, whichever is sooner. You may withdraw this consent at any time in your account settings; withdrawal stops future tracking but does not delete viewing data already collected. You will be asked to renew this consent after two years.

3.2 Viewers Without an Account

If you watch a video via a per-recipient link without creating a Known account, you will be shown a notice before playback begins, asking you to acknowledge that your viewing activity on that specific video will be visible to the person who shared it with you. This acknowledgment is requested each time, since Known has no account-level relationship with you to attach an ongoing consent to.

4. How We Use Your Information

To provide, operate, and maintain the Service, including hosting, transcoding, and streaming video.
To provide the viewer analytics features described in Sections 2 and 3.
To process payments through Stripe.
To communicate with you, including login links, invoices, and product updates.
To detect and prevent fraud, abuse, and violations of our Terms of Service.
To automatically scan uploaded content for policy violations using image-based content moderation.

5. Artificial Intelligence

Known does not use, access, or license any video content you upload to train, fine-tune, or improve any generative AI, large language model, or image generation system. Automated image-based scanning applied to uploads for content-safety purposes (to detect violations of our Acceptable Use Policy) is not AI training and applies automatically to every upload.

6. Cookies and Similar Technologies

Known and our service providers use cookies and similar technologies to keep you logged in, remember your preferences, and understand how the Service is used.

Known does not sell or share your personal information for advertising purposes. That is not our business model. We share information only with:

Service providers who help us operate Known, including Mux (video hosting, encoding, and content moderation), Clerk (authentication), Stripe (payment processing), and PostHog (product analytics).
Law enforcement or government authorities, where required by law or legal process.
A successor entity, in the event of a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets.
Other users, to the extent you choose to share your content or profile with them through the Service.

8. Data Retention

Account deletion: deleting your account triggers a 14-day grace period, during which deletion can be reversed. After the grace period, your account and content are permanently deleted.
Shared links: when an Owner's account is deleted, any active share links associated with that account cease to function immediately.
Per-recipient viewer analytics: deleted along with the associated account.
Billing and tax records: retained after account deletion as required for accounting and tax compliance.

9. Security

We use industry-standard measures, including encryption in transit, to protect your information. No system can be guaranteed fully secure. Because Known uses third-party authentication providers rather than storing passwords directly, the security of your account also depends on the security of your Google, Apple, or email account.

10. Children

Known is not intended for anyone under 16 years of age, or the age of digital consent in their jurisdiction if older. If we learn an account was created by someone under this age, we will delete it.

11. Your Privacy Rights

Depending on where you live, you may have the right to access, correct, delete, or port your personal information, and to object to certain processing. To exercise these rights, contact us at privacy@known.video.

12. California Privacy Rights

If you are a California resident, the California Consumer Privacy Act (as amended) gives you the following rights with respect to your personal information:

Right to Know/Access: the right to request what personal information we have collected about you and how it has been used and shared.
Right to Delete: the right to request deletion of your personal information, subject to certain exceptions.
Right to Correct: the right to request correction of inaccurate personal information.
Right to Opt-Out of Sale or Sharing: Known does not sell or share personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising. This right is therefore not applicable, but you retain the right to confirm this at any time.
Right to Limit Use of Sensitive Personal Information: Known does not use sensitive personal information beyond what is necessary to provide the Service.
Right to Non-Discrimination: we will not deny you goods or services, charge you a different price, or provide a different level of service because you exercised any of these rights.

To exercise any of these rights, contact us at privacy@known.video. We may need to verify your identity before fulfilling your request.

13. International Users

Known is a U.S. company and currently offers the Service to users located in the United States. If this changes in the future, we will update this Privacy Policy accordingly before offering the Service in additional regions.

14. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Material changes will take effect 14 days after posting for existing account holders. Continued use of Known after a change takes effect constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.

15. California Consumer Complaint Notice

In accordance with California Civil Code §1789.3, you may report complaints to the Complaint Assistance Unit of the Division of Consumer Services of the California Department of Consumer Affairs by contacting them in writing at 1625 North Market Blvd., Suite N 112, Sacramento, CA 95834, or by telephone at (800) 952-5210.

16. Contact Us

Hiike Distribution Inc.

2108 N St, STE N, Sacramento, CA 95816

Email: privacy@known.video