Withdrawal and erasure

1. Withdrawal vs. erasure vs. anonymisation

• Withdrawal of consent: you stop future processing that was based on your consent (e.g. the special-category consent on the contact form, or the interest-list entry). Processing that already took place lawfully up to that moment remains lawful. Withdrawal is free of charge and does not require you to give a reason.
• Deletion of a specific record: you ask us to delete one specific submission (e.g. your interest-list entry, one contact message) without necessarily removing everything.
• Full erasure: you ask us to delete all personal data we hold about you across contact submissions, interest-list entries, and consent evidence. We will do this unless a legal obligation or an ongoing matter (e.g. an active dispute) requires temporary retention.
• Anonymisation: in some cases we may remove all identifying fields but keep an anonymised record so that aggregate counts remain consistent. Anonymised records cannot be linked back to you.

2. Withdraw from the private-event interest list

The email we sent you when you joined the interest list contains a personal withdrawal link. Clicking it withdraws you immediately, without further steps. If you cannot find that email:

• Request a new withdrawal link at /events/withdraw by entering the email address you originally used. We will send a fresh withdrawal link if that address is on the list.
• Alternatively, write to hello@between-us.app from the same address you used to register. We will manually remove your entry.
• Unverified entries are deleted automatically at the latest 30 days after submission, without any action from you.
• Verified entries that you withdraw are deleted or anonymised within 30 days; withdrawal is recorded as an audit event so we can demonstrate you asked us to stop.

3. Withdraw the Article 9 explicit consent on the contact form

If you previously ticked the explicit consent checkbox on the contact form, you can withdraw it by writing to hello@between-us.app referencing the message subject or approximate date. On withdrawal we stop processing the sensitive information under Article 9 for the future. We will either continue to answer your enquiry treating the message as ordinary correspondence, or, at your request, delete the message entirely.

4. Request full erasure

To request full erasure of all personal data we hold about you, send an email to hello@between-us.app with the subject “Erasure request”. Please include the email addresses you may have used with us so we can find your records. You may also send this request through the contact form.

• We will confirm receipt of the request.
• Unless a legal obligation or active matter requires temporary retention, we will delete or anonymise your data in the relevant systems (contact submissions, interest-list entries, associated consent evidence).
• Where retention is required, we will tell you why, for how long, and delete or anonymise as soon as the reason ends.
• We complete erasure requests within one month, extendable by up to two further months for complex requests, in which case we will inform you.

5. Retention periods at a glance

These are the retention periods that apply to public forms on Between Us. Retention is a commitment we hold as the controller: requested deletions are carried out within the timeframes below.

• Unverified private-event interest entries: deleted at the latest 30 days after submission.
• Withdrawn interest entries: deleted or anonymised within 30 days of withdrawal.
• Contact submissions: retained up to 6 months after the matter is resolved, unless a legal obligation or ongoing matter requires longer.
• Consent evidence: retained for as long as necessary to demonstrate consent and to defend legal claims, then deleted or anonymised.
• Security/rate-limit records: kept only as long as necessary to detect and defend against automated abuse, typically 7–30 days.

6. Your rights under GDPR

• Access (Art. 15): a copy of your personal data and information about how we process it.
• Rectification (Art. 16): correction of inaccurate or incomplete data.
• Erasure (Art. 17): deletion, subject to legal obligations.
• Restriction (Art. 18): temporary restriction of processing while a dispute is resolved.
• Objection (Art. 21): objection to processing based on legitimate interests.
• Portability (Art. 20): where technically applicable to consent- or contract-based processing.
• Withdrawal of consent (Art. 7(3)): at any time, without effect on the lawfulness of earlier processing.
• Right to lodge a complaint (Art. 77) with a supervisory authority — see section 8.

7. How to identify yourself

We do not ask you to send a copy of your ID. To find your records we usually only need the email address you used with us. Where the email address alone is not sufficient (e.g. a dispute), we may ask for additional information to confirm your identity, kept to what is strictly necessary and deleted afterwards.

8. Complaint authority

If you believe we process your data unlawfully, you can lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority. As the operator is based in Baden-Württemberg, the competent supervisory authority is the State Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information Baden-Württemberg (Landesbeauftragte für den Datenschutz und die Informationsfreiheit Baden-Württemberg). Their current contact details are published on their official website.

9. Contact

For any withdrawal or erasure request, or if a decision we made is unclear, write to hello@between-us.app or use the /contact form. We aim to respond within a reasonable time and, at the latest, within the statutory deadlines above.