Privacy Policy

1. Platform Purpose & Research Disclaimer

Halal Screener provides Shari’ah-oriented equity screening, financial ratio analysis, and governance research based on publicly available disclosures from the National Stock Exchange of India (NSE), Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), and statutory regulatory filings.

All screening results and information on this platform are provided strictly for research, educational, and informational purposes. They do not constitute personalized financial advice, investment recommendations, or religious rulings (fatwa).

Screening statuses do not guarantee religious compliance or commercial performance. Users are urged to conduct their own independent due diligence and consult qualified Islamic scholars and certified financial advisors before making investment decisions. For more information, please see our Disclaimer and Governance Framework.

2. Information We Collect

We believe in data minimization. We only collect information necessary to operate, secure, and deliver the services you choose to use:

A. Information You Provide Directly

• Account Details (Google SSO): If you choose to log in using Google Single Sign-On, we receive your name, verified email address, and avatar image from Google via secure OAuth 2.0. We do not receive or store your Google account password.
• User Watchlists: Stocks you intentionally save to your personal watchlists are stored in our database associated with your account.
• Advisor Applications: If you voluntarily apply to become a Shari’ah Advisor, you provide details such as your full name, academic or Islamic qualifications, biography, contact references, and verification links.
• Portfolio Connection (Optional): If you choose to link an external brokerage account (such as Upstox) to inspect the Shari’ah compliance of your portfolio holdings, we obtain a short-lived, read-only authorization token directly through the broker’s official OAuth workflow.

B. Automatically Collected Information

• Technical & Log Data: When you access our servers, our application logs certain standard technical data (such as your IP address, browser user-agent, operating system/device type, requested URL path, referring URL, and timestamp). This information is used exclusively for site reliability, performance diagnostics, security, and rate-limiting.
• Web Push Subscriptions: If you opt-in to browser push notifications, we store the anonymized W3C Push Service endpoint and encryption keys provided by your browser to send compliance update alerts.

C. What We Do NOT Collect

We do not collect credit card numbers, debit card details, or banking passwords. The core Halal Screener platform is free to access. We do not buy personal consumer data from brokers or track users across unrelated third-party websites.

3. Cookies & Local Storage

We use minimal, privacy-conscious storage technologies:

• Essential HTTP Cookies: We use encrypted session cookies (laravel_session) and Cross-Site Request Forgery protection tokens (XSRF-TOKEN). These are strictly necessary to keep you securely signed in and prevent unauthorized form submissions.
• Browser Local Storage: We use your browser’s local storage strictly to save your on-device UI preferences, including your selected interface theme, reduced-motion accessibility preference, recent stock search history, and view filter toggles. This information stays directly on your device and is not transmitted to external marketing servers.

4. Analytics & Performance Measurement

We use Google Analytics 4 (GA4) (via Google Tag Manager, measurement ID G-12H44RGSHD) to analyze aggregated, non-personally identifiable traffic patterns, monitor page loading speeds, and optimize user experience across different devices.

We do not use advertising tracking networks, behavioral remarketing cookies, Facebook/Meta Pixels, or third-party ad banners on our website or mobile app.

5. Third-Party Service Providers

We work only with reputable technology providers necessary to run our platform:

• Google Identity Services (OAuth 2.0): Facilitates secure, one-click authentication without exposing your password.
• Google Analytics: Provides aggregated, anonymous web performance and traffic statistics.
• Upstox API (Optional): If you explicitly authorize a broker connection, your portfolio holdings are retrieved via Upstox’s official API to evaluate Shari’ah compliance metrics. You can revoke this connection at any time.
• Exchange & Public Regulatory Portals: We ingest publicly available financial statements and XBRL filings directly from statutory stock exchanges (NSE and BSE) and verified financial aggregators.

6. How We Use Information

We use the information we collect to:

• Authenticate you and provide access to your personal watchlists and profile.
• Calculate and display Shari’ah compliance screening ratios for listed Indian securities.
• Compute portfolio purification and compliance metrics if you choose to connect your broker.
• Process applications for scholars and researchers joining our Shari’ah advisory board.
• Protect against malicious activity, cyber attacks, automated scraping abuse, and spam.
• Troubleshoot technical issues and enhance platform stability and speed.

7. How We Share Information

We do not sell, rent, lease, or monetize your personal data.

We do not provide user lists to advertisers, brokers, or data aggregators. Information is only shared under the following limited circumstances:

• Infrastructure Providers: With hosting, cloud server, and database providers operating under strict confidentiality obligations to run our service.
• Legal Obligations: If strictly required by law, regulation, subpoena, or lawful request by Indian regulatory authorities (e.g., SEBI) or law enforcement agencies.
• Protection of Rights: To enforce platform terms, investigate security violations, or protect the safety and integrity of our users and services.

8. Data Retention

We retain your personal data (account profile, watchlists, portfolio snapshots) only for as long as your account remains active or as needed to provide you with the service.

Technical server logs and visit records are retained on a rolling basis for system diagnostic, security auditing, and operational analysis purposes before being purged.

9. Data Security

We implement industry-standard technical and organizational security controls to protect your personal information:

• All web and API traffic is strictly encrypted in transit using Transport Layer Security (HTTPS/TLS).
• Session identifiers and authentication tokens are encrypted and protected against unauthorized script access.
• Database access is restricted, firewalled, and accessible only to authorized administrators under strict access control policies.

While we apply rigorous safeguards, no electronic transmission over the Internet or digital storage method is 100% impenetrable. We encourage users to maintain secure login credentials for their Google accounts.

10. User Rights & Data Deletion (Google Play Compliance)

We respect your rights to access, manage, and delete your personal information:

• Self-Serve Data Management: You can create, edit, or delete any of your custom watchlists and watchlist items directly from the Watchlist tab. If you have connected an Upstox brokerage account, you can disconnect it and immediately purge the stored holdings snapshot from the Portfolio tab by clicking the “Disconnect” option.
• Full Account & Personal Data Deletion Request: If you wish to permanently delete your account, your profile, your watchlist data, and all associated personal records from our system, you may submit a deletion request at any time.

11. Children’s Privacy

Halal Screener is a financial equity research platform designed for general audiences and adult investors. We do not knowingly solicit or collect personal information from children under the age of 13 (or under the age of majority in your jurisdiction).

If we discover that a child under 13 has provided personal information to our platform, we will take immediate steps to delete that data from our systems. Parents or guardians who believe their child has submitted personal details should contact us at shaikhoology@gmail.com.

12. Links to External Websites

Our platform may contain links to external websites, including company websites, regulatory filing pages on NSE/BSE, and research sources. We are not responsible for the privacy practices, content, or data policies of external third-party sites. We advise you to review the privacy policy of any third-party website you visit.

13. Changes to this Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect operational, legal, or regulatory enhancements. When updates are published, we will revise the “Last Updated” date at the top of this page.

Continued use of Halal Screener following the posting of an updated Privacy Policy constitutes acceptance of the changes. We encourage you to review this page periodically.