Privacy Policy

Last updated 2026-08-06

Who we are

Atlas is operated by North Star, a non-profit community based in Belgium focused on AI and robotics (ns2agi.com). We are the data controller for personal data processed through Atlas. Contact: filip@ns2agi.com. We have not appointed a Data Protection Officer, because we are not required to.

What we collect

Account data — email, name, and authentication identifiers (e.g. Google OAuth subject) provided when you sign up.
Profile data — name, role or degree, company or university, location, bio, links, avatar, and any contributions you record.
Payment data — if you become a Patron, your payment is processed by Stripe; we receive a customer ID and subscription status, never your full card or bank details.
Usage data — basic server logs (IP, user agent, request paths) retained for security and debugging.

Why we process it

To run the service (legal basis: contract) — accounts, profiles, the directory, and Patron subscriptions.
To communicate with members (legitimate interest) — operational emails about the community and events you joined.
For the newsletter (consent) — Polaris Express only goes to people who tick the box asking for it.
To keep the service safe (legitimate interest) — abuse prevention and debugging.

Do you have to give us this data?

Nothing here is required by law, but a profile is what makes Atlas work. Without a name, role, location and bio you cannot appear in the member directory, which is most of what Atlas is. Everything beyond that — avatar, company, links, contributions — is optional, and the newsletter is entirely up to you. We do not make any automated decisions about you, and we do not profile you.

Who we share it with

These are every service provider that touches personal data on Atlas. They act on our instructions under data-processing agreements. We never sell your data and we don't share it with advertising networks.

Provider	What for	Where
Clerk	Accounts, sign-in and session cookies	United States
Stripe	Patron subscription payments and invoices	United States and Ireland
Resend	Transactional email, such as your invite code	United States
Neon	The Atlas database	European Union
Tigris	Avatar image storage	European Union
Fly.io	Application hosting, Amsterdam region	European Union
etoile.events	Polaris Express newsletter, if you subscribe	European Union
Stellars	Member benefit, receives only your Atlas member ID	European Union
EWOR	Member benefit, receives no personal data from us	European Union

Where your data lives

Atlas runs in Amsterdam and the database and avatar storage are in the European Union. Clerk, Stripe and Resend are US companies, so signing in, paying and receiving email involve a transfer outside the EEA. Those transfers rely on standard contractual clauses or the EU–US Data Privacy Framework.

How long we keep it

We keep your account and profile data for as long as you remain a member. When you delete your account, your profile, avatar, portfolio and activity are removed immediately. An unfinished payment attempt is deleted after seven days. Settled invoices are kept for seven years because Belgian accounting law requires it, with your account identifier stripped out. Server logs are kept short-term for security.

Your rights

Under GDPR you can access, correct, delete, export, restrict, or object to our processing of your data, and withdraw consent at any time. Three of those you can do yourself, without asking us:

Correct — edit your profile directly in Atlas.
Export — download everything we hold about you as a JSON file from Membership.
Delete — remove your account and its data from Membership.

For anything else, email filip@ns2agi.com and we will respond within one month. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Belgian Data Protection Authority (gegevensbeschermingsautoriteit.be).

Cookies and local storage

Everything Atlas stores on your device is strictly necessary to sign you in and carry you through sign-up. We use no marketing or advertising cookies and no analytics that profile you across the web. Because none of it is optional, there is no consent banner to click through — but here is the full list anyway.

Name	Set by	What for	Kept
__client	Clerk	Keeps you signed in across visits	400 days
__client_uat	Clerk	Tells Atlas whether a signed-in session exists	400 days
__session	Clerk	The short-lived token each request is checked against	60 seconds
__cf_bm	Cloudflare	Bot detection on the sign-in endpoint	30 minutes
_cfuvid	Cloudflare	Rate limiting on the sign-in endpoint	Until you close the browser
__clerk_environment	Clerk	Cached sign-in settings, held in local storage	24 hours
atlas:invite-code	Atlas	Carries your invite code between sign-up steps	Until you close the tab
atlas:tier	Atlas	Carries your chosen tier between sign-up steps	Until you close the tab

Paying for a Patron subscription sends you to Stripe's own checkout, where Stripe sets its own cookies under its policy. That happens on Stripe's domain, not ours.

Changes

If we change this policy in a way that affects you, we'll notify members by email and update the date at the top.

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