Privacy-first by design.
Built with student privacy, parental consent and India's Digital Personal Data Protection framework at the core. This page explains our approach in plain language.
What privacy-first means in practice.
DPDP-aligned architecture
Designed with India's Digital Personal Data Protection framework in mind, from data collection through to deletion.
Parent-first consent for minors
For students under 18, we design onboarding around parent/guardian involvement and verifiable consent, consistent with applicable law.
Purpose-specific data collection
We collect only what's needed for a specific, disclosed purpose — never 'just in case it's useful later.'
Role-based access
Student, parent, counsellor, school and administrator access are kept separate, with sensitive information restricted to those who need it.
Secure data handling
Data is encrypted in transit, and secrets and credentials are never exposed in client-facing code.
Data rights & deletion support
We are building support for access, correction, deletion and consent-withdrawal requests, subject to applicable law.
A note on what we don’t claim
We do not describe Pathfinder as “100% DPDP compliant” or “DPDP certified.” Those are formal legal statuses we have not sought or received. Instead, we describe our architecture as DPDP-aligned and privacy-first by design — meaning our product decisions are made with that framework’s principles in mind, under ongoing legal review.
Minors and consent
Where a student is under 18, our onboarding is designed around parent/guardian-led consent before any personal data is processed, as required by applicable law. Once a student turns 18, they may provide their own consent where applicable. We do not design child-targeted behavioural advertising, and marketing communications for minors are directed to a parent or guardian rather than the child directly.
Voice and conversation data
Voice and audio captured during an AI Career Conversation are processed only for the purpose of that conversation. We are building the platform so that audio is not retained indefinitely by default, and can be deleted once processing is complete where extended retention is not necessary.
Who can see what
A student’s private responses are not automatically visible to parents, schools or counsellors. Access is purpose-specific: parents see parent-relevant context, schools see aggregate or consented information, and counsellors see what is necessary to support a session — each governed by role-based access controls.
Location and context
We may use general location as one contextual signal (for example, to understand local exposure to careers), but we never use location, community or background as a deterministic rule for what a student should become. Career suggestions are always based on evidence the student and family actually provide.
Questions or requests
If you have questions about your data, or wish to exercise a data right such as access, correction or deletion, please reach out via our contact page.