Privacy Policy

1. Scope & Core Principles

At Apex Legal Bridge Inc. ("Apex Legal Bridge", "we", "our", or "us"), privacy is not an afterthought—it is built directly into our decoupled ledger architecture. This Privacy Policy details our practices concerning the collection, usage, and safeguarding of data when you navigate our site, register for verification portals, or query our trust ledger.

Our core operating paradigm relies on data minimization. We believe that you should not have to upload sensitive commercial documents or legal files to third-party databases just to prove their authenticity. By performing cryptographic operations locally in your environment, we reduce data exposure surfaces by design.

Key Highlights

Zero Document Uploads: Document text and metadata stay on your infrastructure.
Decoupled Ledger Anchoring: We only log one-way cryptographic SHA-256 hashes.
Regulatory Compliance: Formulated to meet GDPR, CCPA, and global financial notary standards.

2. Information We Collect

We process different types of information depending on how you interface with our services:

A. Public Registry Queries & Verification

When you paste a document hash into our public validator or upload a local file to generate a client-side match, we process:

The calculated SHA-256 fingerprint/hash of the document.
Metadata (file format type, date of calculation, anchoring block headers).
Client-side connection data (network IP address for rate-limiting, browser agent, query speed).

B. Registered Developer & Enterprise Portal

If you request API keys, setup sandbox profiles, or configure enterprise nodes:

Corporate contact information (name, business email, physical address, registration number).
API authorization keys, configuration parameters, and traffic volume statistics.
Billing logs (we rely on certified third-party processors and do not store raw payment card credentials).

3. Local Hashing & Zero-Knowledge Hashing

Traditional validation tools require sending full file contents to centralized databases. Apex Legal Bridge employs client-side, zero-knowledge hashing frameworks:

Client-Side Verification ArchitectureLocal WebCrypto API

// Raw contract content never leaves local RAM:

1. File -> WebCrypto API -> SHA-256 Hash

Output: 4a2e5d79b90c1e8aef45398d28a1c9ef...

// Only the final 64-character hash is queried against the ledger:

2. GET https://api.apexlegalbridge.com/v1/anchor/4a2e5d79b90c1...

Because SHA-256 is a mathematically secure one-way hash function, it is impossible for us, external nodes, or governmental agencies to reconstruct the underlying text of your contracts, financial logs, or certificates from the registry entries.

4. How We Process Your Information

We process your information exclusively under the following legal bases:

Processing Purpose	Legal Basis (GDPR / CCPA)
Delivering registry responses and verifying digital credentials	Performance of Contract / User Agreement
Rate-limiting, anti-DDoS protections, and preventing signature spam	Legitimate Interest (Network Security)
Compliance with export laws, anti-money laundering (AML), and court orders	Legal Obligation
Developer newsletters and product beta updates	Consent (Revocable at any time)

5. Cookies and Analytics

Apex Legal Bridge limits tracking utilities to the bare minimum required for operations. We utilize:

Essential Session Cookies: Set to store developer login sessions, language selections, and API sandbox preferences. These do not track cross-site activity.
Security Tokens: Used to monitor token rotation, verify client logins, and protect against CSRF attacks.
Anonymized Telemetry: We collect aggregated API throughput metrics. No personal identifiers or precise browser footprints are shared with ad-targeting companies.

You can configure your browser to reject cookies. However, this may limit functionality inside the Developer Hub and active sandbox portals.

6. Information Sharing and Disclosure

We do not sell, rent, or trade user profile metadata. We share data only under the following limited conditions:

Consensus Nodes: To secure global ledgers, public certificate status reports are broadcast to authorized federated nodes. Only the cryptographic hashes and timestamps are transmitted.
Authorized Subprocessors: We use hosting providers (e.g. AWS, Vercel) and payment processors (e.g. Stripe) who operate under strict non-disclosure terms.
Legal Demands: If compelled by an official subpoena, court order, or regulatory decree, we will disclose API accounts, provided the demand is legally binding and we cannot satisfy it with anonymized logs.

7. GDPR & CCPA Rights

Under international rules (GDPR Articles 15-22 and California Civil Code), users have key data entitlements:

Right to Erasure (To Be Forgotten)

You may request deletion of your API developer profiles or contact form details. Note that ledger records cannot be edited due to cryptographic immutability.

Right to Portability & Correction

Export a copy of your account profile and validation logs at any time via the developer panel or by emailing support.

If you are a European Union resident, you have the right to lodge a complaint with your local Supervisory Authority.

8. Contact & Security Reporting

For questions regarding this policy, requests to delete accounts, or queries regarding security practices, contact our Compliance Office:

Apex Legal Bridge Compliance Operations

Email: integrity@apexlegalbridge.com

Address: Financial District, Suite 1400, New York, NY

Data Protection Officer: legal-dpo@apexlegalbridge.com

We review and update this Privacy Policy periodically to match network upgrades, new protocol releases, and regulatory revisions. Please visit this URL regularly to monitor updates.