Legal

Privacy policy

Last updated September 24, 2026.

This policy explains what personal data Lakebench collects, why, and what control you have over it. Lakebench is operated by Hunnurji Rao, who decides how this data is used and is responsible for it (the “data fiduciary” under India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023).

What we collect

• Account details: your email address, name, username, and, if you sign in with Google, your Google profile photo.
• Learning activity: lessons and problems you complete, code you submit for grading, mock interview results, streaks, and your readiness score.
• Things you write: community posts and comments, questions you ask the AI mentor, ratings and feedback on lessons, and messages sent through the contact form.
• Payment records: the plan you bought, amount, date, coupon used, and the payment reference we use to match your payment. We do not receive or store card numbers, UPI PINs, or bank passwords.
• Technical data: IP address, browser type, and error logs, used to keep the site secure, apply usage limits, and fix bugs.

If you use Lakebench without an account, your progress is saved only in your browser's local storage. We do not receive it and cannot recover it if you clear your browser data.

Why we use it

• to create your account, sign you in, and sync your progress across devices
• to grade your work, show your progress, and recommend what to practice next
• to process payments, activate Pro, send receipts, and handle refunds
• to answer your AI mentor questions and your support messages
• to send service emails, such as receipts, pass expiry reminders, and a weekly progress summary
• to prevent abuse, enforce usage limits, and keep the site secure
• to meet legal duties, such as keeping payment records for tax purposes

We do not sell your personal data, show third-party ads, or use your code or questions to train AI models.

Who we share it with

We share data only with the service providers that run Lakebench, and only what each one needs to do its job:

• Google Firebase: sign-in and the database that stores account and progress data
• Vercel: website hosting, plus privacy-friendly page-view and performance measurement without tracking cookies
• WhatsApp (Meta): messages you send us to buy Pro
• Resend: sending emails
• Upstash: short-lived counters for rate limiting and caching
• Groq, Google Gemini, and OpenAI: generating AI mentor answers. Only your question and the relevant lesson or code context are sent.

Community posts and your public username are visible to other visitors. We may also disclose data if the law requires it, for example in response to a valid order from a court or government authority.

Some of these providers store data on servers outside India. They are established companies bound by their own security and privacy commitments.

Cookies and local storage

We use a sign-in cookie to keep you logged in, and browser local storage for progress, theme, and plan details. We do not use advertising or cross-site tracking cookies.

How long we keep it

We keep account and learning data while your account is open. When you delete your account, we delete your profile, progress, and usage records, and remove your name and username from your community posts. Payment records are kept for as long as tax and accounting laws require, currently up to 8 years, and then deleted. Contact form messages are kept for up to 2 years.

Your rights

You can:

• see and update your account details on your account page
• delete your account and its data at any time from the account page, under “Delete account”
• ask us for a summary of the personal data we hold about you
• ask us to correct data that is wrong
• opt out of the weekly progress email by replying to it or emailing us
• withdraw consent to optional processing, or nominate someone to act for you
• raise a complaint with us, and then with the Data Protection Board of India if we do not resolve it

Email hunnur.data@gmail.com for any of these. We reply within 2 business days and complete requests within 30 days.

Children

Lakebench is meant for adults. We do not knowingly collect personal data from anyone under 18 without a parent or guardian's consent. If you believe a child has created an account without that consent, email us and we will delete it.

Security

Data is encrypted in transit (HTTPS), and access to our database is restricted to the Lakebench server. Payments are arranged over WhatsApp, and we never ask for card numbers or PINs. No system is perfectly secure, but if a breach affects your data, we will tell you and the authorities as the law requires.

Changes to this policy

If we change this policy, we will update the date at the top. For significant changes, we will also show a notice on the site or email account holders.

Grievance officer and contact

For privacy questions or complaints, contact the grievance officer, Hunnurji Rao: