Legal Notice

4.1 Purpose

Quarte (quarte.io) is a news-visualization service that aggregates, curates, and presents international news articles on an interactive world map. These Terms govern access to and use of the site, including any user account.

4.2 Access to the Service

The map and article content are accessible to visitors without an account. Creating an account is optional and unlocks account-specific features, currently: cross-device sync of your reading history, and (for administrators only) content management functions.

4.3 User Accounts

Eligibility. To create an account, you provide an email address and password. You are responsible for keeping your credentials confidential and for all activity under your account. Notify us promptly at pm@quarte.io if you suspect unauthorized access.

Account information. You may optionally add a username, display title, and profile picture. You may opt in to receive occasional emails from Quarte (see §5.3); this is unchecked by default and can be withdrawn at any time.

4.4 Cross-Device Reading History

If you are signed in, which articles you've read is saved to your account and synced across the devices you use to access Quarte, so your reading history stays consistent wherever you log in. If you are not signed in, this information stays only in your browser. See §5 for the full privacy treatment of this data.

4.5 Administrator Accounts

Certain accounts are designated as administrators and may manage published content, including removing articles. This role is assigned manually and is not available through self-service signup.

4.6 Intellectual Property

"Quarte" is a registered trademark.

INPI number: 26 5253769

Application: May 1st, 2026

Class n°42

The site's design, code, and original content are protected by applicable intellectual property law. Article content is sourced and curated from third-party news publishers; underlying rights to that content remain with its original publishers, and Quarte's role is aggregation, clustering, and curation, not republication as original authorship.

4.7 Availability and Changes

The service is provided on an "as available" basis. Features, including the article set and curation pipeline, may change over time. We may modify these Terms; material changes will be reflected on this page with an updated revision date.

4.8 Limitation of Liability

The sources of the information disseminated on the quarte.io website are deemed reliable but the website does not guarantee that it is free from defects, errors or omissions.

The information provided is for information purposes only and has no contractual value. Despite regular updates, the quarte.io website can not be held responsible for the modification of the administrative and legal provisions occurring after the publication. Similarly, the website can not be held responsible for the use and interpretation of the information contained on the website.

The website quarte.io can not be held responsible for any viruses that could infect the computer or any computer equipment of the surfer, following use, access or downloading from this website.

The liability of the website can not be committed in case of force majeure or the unpredictable and insurmountable fact of a third party.

4.9 Account Termination

You may delete your account at any time via [Account settings → Delete account]. We may suspend or terminate accounts that violate these Terms. See §5.8 for what happens to your data on deletion.

4.10 Governing Law

These Terms are governed by French law.

5.1 Data Controller

Quarte (SASU), [registered office to be completed], is the data controller for the personal data described below. Contact: pm@quarte.io

5.2 What We Collect

If you don't create an account, reading history stays in your browser only (local storage) and is never sent to us.

5.3 Why We Collect It, and On What Legal Basis

• Account credentials, reading-history sync — necessary to provide the account features you've asked for (performance of a contract you enter into by creating an account — GDPR Art. 6(1)(b)).
• Marketing emails — only if you've opted in via the checkbox at signup (consent — Art. 6(1)(a)). You can withdraw this at any time in account settings, with no effect on your ability to use the rest of the service.
• Security-related processing (e.g., detecting abuse) — legitimate interest (Art. 6(1)(f)), limited to what's necessary for that purpose.

5.4 Cookies and Local Storage

Quarte sets no advertising or analytics cookies, and runs no third-party tracking or analytics scripts. The following is the complete list of what is stored on your device.

Strictly necessary — set regardless of the cookie banner, because the site cannot function without them

• authjs.csrf-token and authjs.callback-url — set by the sign-in system on any visit. They protect the sign-in form against cross-site request forgery and record where to return to after signing in.
• authjs.session-token — created when you sign in and deleted when you log out. This is what keeps you signed in. It expires after 7 days.
• quarte_consent — records your answer to the cookie banner, so you are not asked again. Kept for 1 year if you accept, 7 days if you decline.
• admin_view — administrators only. Remembers whether you are viewing the site as an administrator or as an ordinary visitor. Kept for 30 days.

Stored only if you accept the cookie banner

• quarte.readArticles.<date> (browser local storage) — which articles you have read, grouped by day. If you decline, no reading history is kept at all and read/unread marks do not persist.
• quarte.celebratedPoolSignature (browser local storage) — which "you are all caught up" moment has already been shown, so it is not replayed on every reload.
• If you are also signed in, the same reading history is saved to your account so it follows you between devices (see §4.4). This is the only category of local data that ever leaves your browser.

Display settings — stored in your browser, never sent to us, and not personal data

• theme — whether you chose the light or dark appearance.
• quarte.palette.light and quarte.palette.dark — your map colour choices.

Third-party requests made by the pages themselves

• Google Fonts (fonts.googleapis.com, fonts.gstatic.com) — the DM Sans typeface used across the site is loaded from Google's font service. This sets no cookie, but it does mean Google receives your IP address and browser details when a page loads.

You can clear or block any of the above through your browser settings. Blocking the strictly necessary cookies will prevent signing in.

5.5 How Long We Keep Data

• Active account data: for as long as your account exists.
• Deleted accounts: soft-deleted for 30 days (in case of accidental deletion or recovery requests), then permanently purged.

5.6 Who We Share Data With

We use the following processors to operate the service:

• OVHcloud (application hosting) — France-based.
• Brevo (transactional email — account verification, password reset) — France-based.
• Neon (database hosting) — UK-based – international data transfer covered by the European Commission's UK adequacy decision.

We do not sell personal data, and we do not share it with advertisers.

5.7 Your Rights

Under GDPR, you have the right to:

• Access the personal data we hold about you.
• Rectify inaccurate data.
• Erase your data ("right to be forgotten") — self-service via Account → Delete account, or by contacting us.
• Restrict or object to certain processing.
• Data portability — receive your data in a structured, machine-readable format.
• Withdraw consent at any time (e.g., marketing emails), without affecting the lawfulness of processing before withdrawal.
• Lodge a complaint with the CNIL (cnil.fr) if you believe your rights have not been respected.

To exercise these rights, contact pm@quarte.io or use the relevant self-service option in your account settings.

5.8 Account Deletion

Deleting your account via Account settings marks it for deletion; it is soft-deleted for 30 days and then permanently purged, along with your reading history and preferences.

5.9 Security

Only a limited number of people have access rights to the database and this doesn't give them access to sensitive information: passwords are stored as salted hashes, never in plain text.

5.10 Changes to This Policy

We may update this policy from time to time. Material changes will be reflected here with an updated date.