Privacy Policy
Effective November 7, 2026
VitaGratiae
This policy describes how VitaGratiae collects, uses, and handles information. VitaGratiae is owned and operated personally by Desmynd Costin in New York, United States, without a separate LLC or corporation. For privacy or support, contact social@vitagratiae.com.
The public site offers footwear discovery, fashion editorials, and Sofia voting. It currently has no customer checkout or payment collection. Connected-service features described below are distinguished from features that are already operating.
1. Information collected
Website usage information can include pages and shoe designs viewed, voting and interaction activity, referring websites and campaign information, and browser, device, and technical information. Microsoft Azure hosting may process ordinary request information, including IP addresses, requested URLs, browser information, and request times, to deliver and secure the site.
Our voting records include anonymous browser and session identifiers, voting-round and shoe identifiers, selections, ballots, results views, timestamps, a coarse device category, referring hostname when available, and supported campaign parameters. Voting does not require an email address or a customer account. If you email us, our email service processes your email address and message so we can respond. Please do not send passwords, tokens, or payment details.
If you voluntarily use a connected feature when available, we may process the information reasonably necessary to provide that feature, as described below.
2. Analytics
Google Analytics runs on the Sofia voting and Closet pages only after you choose Allow analytics. Its cookies and browser identifiers help measure visits and voting activity. Google signals and advertising personalization are disabled.
Custom events contain catalog shoe and voting-round identifiers, with supported campaign attribution for completed ballots. Our tag does not send email addresses, voting browser tokens, voter identifiers, or voting session identifiers to Google Analytics. It limits the page URL to its path and supported campaign parameters, excluding other query values and fragments, and limits referrer information to the referring origin. Please do not put personal information in campaign parameters.
Use Analytics preferences on the Sofia or Closet page to reject or withdraw permission at any time. Browsing and voting remain available either way. The site keeps your choice in this browser for 90 days and honors Global Privacy Control by keeping optional analytics off.
Change Sofia analytics preferences
3. Voting
To operate voting, measure results, and reduce manipulation, our first-party service stores votes and limited technical information. An anonymous browser identifier is saved in local storage with a 180-day validity period; it may remain on your device until you return or clear storage. Clearing browser storage removes that identifier from your device but does not erase a ballot already counted. These identifiers do not verify a person's identity.
The audience database uses a daily keyed hash of the network address for short-term rate limits rather than storing raw IP addresses. Separate hosting logs may contain ordinary IP/request information. Reasonable abuse measures do not guarantee one vote per person. Voting results help show which designs visitors favor.
4. TikTok integration
The proposed official TikTok draft-upload integration is not available in this preview. If an authorized user chooses to connect TikTok or use sharing when enabled, VitaGratiae may process TikTok account identifiers, authorization information, access and refresh credentials, connection status, video delivery identifiers, and delivery/status information, depending on the permissions authorized.
VitaGratiae requests only permissions reasonably necessary for enabled functionality. Creators can send a video to TikTok as a draft when sharing is available. Basic account information may be requested through Login Kit to identify the connected account. This does not authorize unattended Direct Post.
5. TikTok video drafts
When an authorized user explicitly chooses Share to TikTok for an eligible, approved video, VitaGratiae may transmit that selected video and required metadata through TikTok's official API. Delivery to TikTok does not mean VitaGratiae published the video.
The creator receives a TikTok inbox notification, opens TikTok, and controls review, editing, and the final Post action. A Delivered state describes draft delivery only. TikTok handles the content under its own policies once received.
6. Authentication credentials and tokens
Connected-service credentials are sensitive application data. They must not be exposed in public pages, browser-delivered configuration, source control, or logs. Where credentials are required, they are to be stored in secured application infrastructure with restricted access and used only for authorized functionality. The proposed TikTok integration remains disabled until its credential storage, access, revocation, and data-handling controls are configured and verified.
VitaGratiae will not ask for a TikTok password. TikTok authorization occurs through TikTok's official authorization service. Operator authentication to VitaGratiae is separate from TikTok account consent.
7. Use of information
We use information to operate VitaGratiae; provide requested voting, discovery, and connected-service delivery features; understand usage and performance; secure the service and prevent fraud; troubleshoot problems; improve the service; respond to requests; and meet applicable legal obligations.
8. Sharing of information
VitaGratiae does not sell personal information to advertisers. Information may be processed by service providers supporting hosting, infrastructure, analytics, security, and communications. When you intentionally invoke a connected social-media service, information necessary for that feature is transmitted to that service. We may also disclose information when legally required or reasonably necessary to protect security, rights, users, or others.
9. Third-party services
Third parties have their own privacy practices. TikTok's processing is also governed by TikTok's Privacy Policy and your relationship with TikTok. Links to retailers or other services take you to separately operated services.
Pinterest integration: Vita Gratiae Publisher
Vita Gratiae Publisher (App 1616987) connects the VitaGratiae owner’s Pinterest business account. Visitors’ Pinterest accounts are outside the scope of this service.
The granted permissions are user_accounts:read (identify the connected account), boards:read and boards:write (read and manage that account's boards), and pins:read and pins:write (read and create/manage its Pins). These permissions are capabilities, not permission for unrestricted activity. The connection is limited to the owner’s account and board. Advertising, billing, secret boards, automated engagement, and scraping are outside this integration's intended use.
We process the connected account identifier and profile information, board and Pin identifiers and metadata, authorization scopes and expiry information, and approved media, titles, descriptions, alternative text, and destination links. We use these to verify the account, route approved content, reconcile publishing outcomes, prevent duplicates, and troubleshoot errors. Publishing and security records may be retained for those purposes. Pinterest data is kept for the purposes described here and is not sold or shared with third-party customers.
Access and refresh tokens are stored on the server in private, access-restricted Azure storage with encryption at rest. The application client secret is held in Azure Key Vault. Tokens and secrets are not served in public website pages. The backend can refresh an access token when it is used within three days of expiry, saving replacement token values and expiry information returned by Pinterest. It records a refresh-in-progress state before the request and holds on an uncertain or failed refresh rather than blindly repeating it. Disabling publishing does not itself erase or revoke an existing OAuth grant.
The account owner can revoke the app's access using Pinterest's connected-app controls in account Security settings; see Pinterest's connected-app instructions. There is no public VitaGratiae self-service Pinterest disconnect or deletion control. Contact social@vitagratiae.com for operator assistance with disconnecting or requesting deletion of retained integration data. Revoking Pinterest access does not itself erase our retained records or remove Pins already saved on Pinterest. Pinterest's handling is described in its Privacy Policy.
Pinterest's connected-app instructions
10. Data retention
Information is retained only as reasonably necessary for the purposes described, security and audit needs, dispute resolution, and applicable legal obligations. There is no single retention period for every category.
Existing voting maintenance removes detailed events and abuse records, and clears campaign/device details from old sessions, after 180 days. Anonymous ballots and round totals remain as voting history. The browser voting identifier has a 180-day validity period, subject to the browser-storage behavior described above. Hosting and analytics providers manage their own retention policies; we do not promise an unverified duration for those systems.
Pinterest access and refresh credentials, account/board/Pin information, publishing history, and diagnostic records are currently retained in secure storage. The integration has no configured automatic Pinterest-data deletion schedule or verified fixed retention period. Access-token expiry, token replacement, disabled publishing, and revocation of Pinterest access do not automatically purge all stored records or historical copies. We review verified deletion and disconnection requests manually, determine which credentials and account data should be removed, and retain only records needed for security, audit, dispute resolution, or applicable obligations. Azure storage currently has seven-day soft-delete recovery for deleted blobs and containers; this is recovery protection after deletion, not an automatic seven-day limit on live records. We do not promise immediate deletion of backups or automatic deletion of published Pins; applicable storage copies and provider-held content must be considered separately. Our catalog and independently approved media are separate from data obtained from Pinterest.
11. Security
We use reasonable administrative and technical safeguards, including protected operator access, restricted infrastructure access, HTTPS, and measures against abusive requests. No transmission or storage system is absolutely secure, and we cannot promise absolute security.
12. User choices and privacy requests
Contact social@vitagratiae.com with privacy questions or, where applicable, access, correction, or deletion requests. This address is actively monitored. We may need to verify your identity and the information relevant to the request; anonymous voting records may be difficult to associate with a person without additional information.
You may revoke third-party access through VitaGratiae or the third-party service where available. Revocation does not itself delete previously delivered drafts or published content; use the third-party account's controls for that content. You can also manage cookies and local storage through your browser. We respond to requests subject to applicable law, legitimate security needs, and required record retention.
13. Children
VitaGratiae is not directed to children under 13 and does not knowingly seek personal information from children under 13. Send concerns about children's information to social@vitagratiae.com.
14. International users
VitaGratiae is operated from the United States. Information may be processed in the United States and locations where service providers operate, subject to applicable law.
15. Changes
We may update this policy as practices, features, or requirements change. Material updates will be reflected in the effective or updated date. Please review the current policy when using the service or connecting a new feature.
16. Contact
See the Terms of Service for the terms governing use of VitaGratiae.
VitaGratiae 2.0: protecting anonymous voting
Voting safeguards use limits on requests from a browser and a network, limits on new participant identifiers, and short-lived comparison tickets tied to the browser and the two designs shown. A ticket expires after 30 minutes. Requests also use same-site protections to reduce unauthorized submission from another website. These checks do not require an ordinary voter account, a fingerprinting service or a third-party CAPTCHA provider.
The application reads a network address transiently to create a keyed daily network identifier for rate limiting. The rate-limit database stores that keyed identifier, not the raw address. The identifier is not a verified person and shared networks may be affected by a common limit. Separate Azure hosting logs can contain ordinary network/request information as described in the existing policy.
We keep short-lived security records separately from votes and voting history.
VitaGratiae 2.0: Shoe Battles, favorites and sharing
Shoe Battles uses a separate voting system from the existing Sofia Audience Pick. It stores the two shoe identifiers in a comparison, the latest selection, dates, a pseudonymous browser-participant identifier, eligibility information, and a record of changes. It also records comparison deliveries and the order in which the two designs were presented. No email address, name or ordinary visitor account is required to make a choice. These records are linked to a browser identifier rather than a verified person, so we do not describe them as completely anonymous information.
One effective Shoe Battles choice is maintained for each eligible browser and matchup. Changing the selection replaces the effective choice while preserving the earlier choice in the audit history. A comparison is counted at most once per browser, pair and day for participation thresholds. A delivered or loaded image is not proof that someone looked at it.
Saved favorites are shoe identifiers held in this browser’s local storage. They are not a customer account or a cloud-synced list. Remove a favorite using its save control or clear the site’s browser storage to remove that device’s saved list.
Shoe and comparison sharing copies an ordinary page link. Comparison links contain the two shoe identifiers, not a participant token, account password or vote. Sharing a link does not cast a vote.
VitaGratiae 2.0: cookies and local storage
Shoe Battles uses a signed first-party participant cookie for up to 90 days from issue. It is separate from the existing Audience Pick identifier described above. When it expires, or you clear it or switch browsers, the service may treat you as a new participant. That does not remove a choice already counted. A choice can be changed while the same participant identity remains valid.
Browser storage settings can remove favorites or prevent the participant cookie from working. Browsing should remain available where possible, but voting cannot safely persist a browser-specific selection without its required first-party identifier.
VitaGratiae 2.0: analytics and social services
The preview uses no analytics or advertising tags. When you follow a link to a social service, its privacy policy applies.
VitaGratiae 2.0: retention and privacy requests
Shoe Battles keeps individual choices, changes, comparison presentations and exposures for up to 24 calendar months. The choice uses its original cast date; each change has its own retention date. The main site’s Audience Pick follows the policy above.
After 90 days, older voting activity no longer uses the browser identifier. The service keeps the choice and limited revision information without the shared browser identifier and uses less precise dates for older records. The application expires temporary security tickets and rate counters sooner and keeps its security and operational audit records for up to 90 days.
Private database snapshots expire within 30 days during maintenance. The service checks retention at startup and while it runs, including after a restart. A recovery copy is checked and swept before use; prior sign-in sessions are removed. Hosting and external provider records follow their separate policies.
Broad footwear-category and year totals may be kept for historical analysis. They omit browser, vote, matchup and device identifiers and suppress small groups. Continued use is subject to annual privacy review. Historical winners and approved editorial content may be kept while relevant.
For privacy questions or requests, contact social@vitagratiae.com. Please do not email a password or participant token. Older choices with the shared browser identifier removed may no longer be identifiable by browser.