Legal · Privacy Notice

Mermaid Privacy Notice

Version 1.1 · 17 September 2026 · Krone Consulting s.r.o., Mlynské Nivy 5, 821 09 Bratislava, Slovakia · info@mermaid.navy · Part of the Terms and Conditions (§1.4, §8).

Privacy at a glance. Mermaid processes account, crew, charter, position, evidence, expense, community and technical data to provide a digital first mate. Precise position, crew information and photographs can be sensitive in context. We do not sell personal data, we do not use boating position for advertising, we do not train AI models on your data, and raw instrument streams stay on your device.

1. Who we are

Krone Consulting s.r.o. ("Krone", "Mermaid", "we", "us") operates Mermaid.

Registered office: Mlynské Nivy 5, 821 09 Bratislava, Slovakia (full company details in the Legal Notice and Imprint)
Privacy contact: info@mermaid.navy, subject "Privacy request"
Website: mermaid.navy

Krone is established in Slovakia; the competent supervisory authority is the Office for Personal Data Protection of the Slovak Republic (section 18). We have not designated a data protection officer because the law does not require one for our processing; the privacy contact above reaches the people responsible.

2. Scope

This Notice applies to personal data processed through:

the mermaid.navy website;
the Mermaid iOS and Android skipper apps;
the Mermaid Crew web app;
Mermaid Base, the portal for charter companies;
accounts, sign-in, support and transactional communications;
charter planning, boat context, routes, weather, anchor watch, crew operations, briefings, the cash kitty, inspections, incidents, evidence and the logbook;
optional instrument (NMEA) enrichment;
community ratings, observations, photos and corrections; and
beta, trial, subscription and business-customer services.

It does not govern a charter company, marina, app store, payment, map or weather provider acting for its own purposes; their notices apply to their independent processing.

3. Our roles under data-protection law

3.1 Krone as controller

Krone is the controller when it decides why and how personal data is processed for direct Mermaid accounts and sign-in; providing and securing the Service; product administration, billing, support and communications; community features and moderation; service analytics and measurement; fraud, abuse, audit and legal compliance; consents, preferences and data-subject requests; and improving Mermaid on a valid legal basis.

3.2 Krone as processor for charter companies

Where a charter company, fleet operator or other business customer determines the purposes of processing crew, inspection, incident or operational data and instructs Krone to host or handle that data through Mermaid Base, the business customer is the controller and Krone is its processor under the Mermaid Data Processing Addendum. Krone remains an independent controller for account security, billing, service telemetry and legal compliance. The allocation follows the actual arrangement, not only the label in a contract.

3.3 Skippers and Account Holders

A private skipper who enters crew details for a family or friends' charter acts in the course of a purely personal or household activity, to which the GDPR does not apply. A professional skipper, charter operator or organisation is a controller for the crew data it enters and needs its own lawful basis and notice.

Every skipper who provides crew details to Mermaid must tell the crew that their data is processed through Mermaid, give them access to this Notice at or before collection (the join link shows it), enter only what the charter needs, obtain any permission needed for photographs, a minor's details or optional position sharing, and keep the crew list accurate. Health-related dietary notes may be entered only by the person concerned or with that person's explicit consent.

4. Personal data we process

4.1 Account and identity data

Name, email address, sign-in identifier (including Apple or Google sign-in identifiers), profile image, language, country, time zone, account role and status, accepted legal versions and, for business users, organisation details.

4.2 Crew and invitation data

Name, surname, optional email and telephone, minor flag, invitation code status, role, session state, charter association, briefing progress, acknowledgement or signature status, dietary notes for the galley board and the identity of the inviting skipper. We usually receive this data from the skipper before the crew member opens the invitation; this Notice therefore also serves as the information owed to a person whose data was obtained indirectly (GDPR Article 14).

4.3 Boat, booking and charter data

Selected boat, base, booking code, charter dates, equipment, extras, check-in and check-out metadata and the association between users and a charter. Boat specifications alone are not personal data, but they become personal data when linked to an identifiable user or voyage.

4.4 Position, route and operational data

Depending on permissions and the features you activate: planned routes, stops and points of interest; GPS positions, timestamps, speed, heading and derived trip points; anchor position, swing radius, alarm events and sharing status; logbook records, trip replay and weather enrichment; approximate device or network location; and optional normalised instrument data. Precise position can reveal habits, presence and relationships; Mermaid processes it only for the boating function you use, safety, continuity, security or another purpose disclosed to you (section 7).

4.5 Briefing, inspection, incident and evidence data

Checklist answers, issue descriptions, signatures or acknowledgements, safety-briefing images, check-in and check-out photographs, incident reports and the messages exchanged with a charter base, file metadata, timestamps, checksums and, where retained, limited EXIF data. Photographs may incidentally include faces, licence plates, documents or vessel names; frame images to avoid unnecessary people and information.

4.6 Expense and statement data

Expense description, amount, currency, date, payer, participants, shares, proposed transfers, paid state and the final statement. Mermaid does not move money and never asks for card numbers or banking credentials. An IBAN or payment handle is stored only when a crew member adds it for settlement and is shown only to the crew of that charter.

4.7 Community and moderation data

Ratings, observations, anchorage details, reports, corrections, photographs, moderation decisions, appeals, flags, trust indicators and an audit trail. Published content shows the display name and boat type chosen in the interface.

4.8 Boat assistant queries

Questions you ask the assistant (First Mate plan) and the pages of the boat documentation used to answer them. We send only the question and those pages to the AI model provider (section 12.2), never your account, position or crew data. Do not include personal data of others in a question.

4.9 Communications and support data

Emails, support requests, feedback, complaint records and attachments you choose to provide.

4.10 Device, network and technical data

IP address, device and operating-system information, app version, locale, browser, session identifiers, service-worker state, push subscription or device token, crash and performance data, API request metadata, rate-limit and security events, diagnostic logs and consent state.

4.11 Billing and consent records

Plan, price, currency, VAT treatment, order number, payment status and app-store receipt reference (the app store handles payment credentials); cookie and marketing choices, push permission status, position-sharing preference, and the date, source and version of each consent.

4.12 Data we ask you not to provide

Unless a feature expressly asks for it with an appropriate legal basis, do not upload medical records, diagnoses or other special-category data; passports, national identity numbers or copies of identity documents; payment-card data or online-banking credentials; criminal-offence information; confidential records of a charter company, employer or third party; or photographs of people where a boat issue can be documented without them. If such information is provided incidentally, we may restrict, redact or delete it.

5. Where data comes from

We receive personal data directly from account holders and crew; from a skipper, crew organiser or charter base that invites or lists a crew member; from your device, sensors, browser or connected instrument when you grant permission and activate a feature; from app stores, identity providers and support tools; from charter-company or boat databases linked to a booking; from other users who include or report content; and from publicly available or licensed sources where lawful. Where we hold data that did not come from you, this Notice provides the information required by GDPR Article 14.

6. Purposes and lawful bases

The exact basis can depend on whether you are a consumer, a crew member, a business user or an invited person.

Create, authenticate and administer an account: Account, identity, device, sessionContract; legitimate interest in secure administration
Provide charter planning, boat context, routes, weather and points of interest: Account, boat, charter, route selectionsContract; legitimate interest in providing the shared charter workspace to invited crew
Operate the anchor watch and optional crew sharing: Precise position, anchor events, device, push statusContract when activated; consent where required for device permissions or sharing
Operate crew invitations and the Crew web app: Crew contact, code, role, charterContract with the account holder; legitimate interests of the skipper and the invited crew
Record briefings, acknowledgements, inspections, incidents and evidence: Crew identity, answers, images, signatures, checksumsContract; legitimate interest in documenting a requested process, preventing disputes and defending claims
Operate the cash kitty and statements: Expenses, participants, amounts, statusContract; legitimate interest of the crew in a shared settlement record
Provide the logbook and trip replay: Position, trip points, weather enrichmentContract; legitimate interest in account continuity
Provide optional instrument (NMEA) enrichment: Normalised instrument values; short-lived local raw dataContract when activated; raw streams never leave the device
Run the boat assistant: Your question, boat documentation pagesContract (First Mate plan)
Host and moderate community content: Profile, content, reports, moderation logContract for posting; legitimate interest in community quality, safety and abuse prevention; legal obligation for valid notices
Share your last known position with your charter base: Last position, time, read logConsent (opt-in in the app); every read is logged
Send transactional email, push and service notices: Contact, token, eventContract; legitimate interest in service communication; operating-system permission for push
Provide support and handle complaints: Contact, account, correspondenceContract; legitimate interest in service quality and legal claims; legal obligation where applicable
Process subscriptions, invoices and tax records: Billing, order, receipt, VATContract; legal obligations in tax and accounting
Secure the Service, prevent fraud and enforce the Terms: IP, device, logs, content, audit trailLegitimate interest in security, safety and the protection of users; legal obligation where applicable
Measure performance and diagnose faults: Technical telemetry, crash dataLegitimate interest where low-impact and necessary; consent where a technology accesses your device and no exemption applies
Measure where website visitors come from: Referrer, campaign, language, device class, truncated IP (server-side, nothing stored on your device)Legitimate interest in understanding and marketing the Service
Non-essential analytics or marketing identifiers: Cookie or SDK identifiers, usageConsent; nothing runs before valid consent (Cookie Policy)
Send marketing: Contact and preferenceExisting customers: the customer relationship, with an opt-out in every message (Section 116 of Act No. 452/2021 Coll.); everyone else: consent
Improve features from feedback and aggregated data: Feedback, de-identified patternsLegitimate interest after balancing and minimisation
Comply with law and protect legal rights: Relevant recordsLegal obligation; legitimate interest in establishing, exercising or defending claims

6.1 Contract

Where we rely on contract, the processing is necessary to create or perform the service you requested. If the required account, charter or device information is not provided, the feature cannot work.

6.2 Legitimate interests

Our legitimate interests are providing a shared charter workspace to invited users, securing accounts and infrastructure, preventing misuse, keeping records auditable, improving reliability, understanding and marketing the Service, moderating content and defending claims, including deposit and damage disputes in which our records are evidence. We assess necessity, impact and reasonable expectations and apply minimisation, access limits, short retention and opt-outs. You may object at any time (section 16); we then stop unless we demonstrate compelling legitimate grounds or the processing is needed for legal claims.

6.3 Consent

Where we rely on consent, it is voluntary, specific, informed and unambiguous, and you can withdraw it at any time without affecting earlier processing. Withdrawing an optional consent disables the related feature but not the core service. An operating-system permission for location, camera, photos, notifications or nearby devices is a technical permission; where the law needs more, Mermaid asks separately.

6.4 Legal obligations and claims

We process data to comply with accounting, tax, consumer, platform, security, court and regulatory duties and to establish, exercise or defend legal claims.

7. Precise position and the anchor watch

Mermaid reads your device position only when you grant the permission and activate a feature that needs it: navigation, trip recording, the anchor watch or sharing. The anchor watch, navigation and the logbook work on your device. Position leaves the device only for a feature that needs it: a delegated anchor alarm sends the swing data to the crew phones you share it with; logbook sync stores your trip on our servers; a linked charter base sees your last known position only if you opt in, and every such read is recorded in an audit log you can ask about.

The interface shows when sharing is active and how to stop it. Remote crew alerts are supplementary: a crew member's acknowledgement on their phone does not silence the alarm on the skipper's device. We do not use boating position for advertising and do not give it to data brokers. Stop sharing when it is no longer needed and never activate it on another person's device without authority.

8. Photographs, signatures and evidence

Briefing and inspection photographs are converted to WebP and limited to Full HD before online storage. We remove unnecessary EXIF data and keep the timestamps, checksums and metadata needed for evidence integrity. A signature or acknowledgement records that an action took place and its metadata; it is not a biometric template and we perform no biometric identification. Skippers should tell crew when photographs will be taken and avoid capturing bystanders.

9. Minors

Mermaid is not directed to children as skipper customers; an account holder must be at least 18. A minor may appear as a crew member only through a responsible adult's charter, with a name, role and the dietary notes needed for the galley, and under that adult's supervision. Where consent is the legal basis for an information-society service offered directly to a child, the age of digital consent in Slovakia is 16; below it, consent must come from the holder of parental responsibility. We do not profile minors or show them advertising. A guardian or an eligible minor may request access, correction or deletion.

10. Cookies, app storage and device permissions

The Cookie and Similar Technologies Policy explains cookies, local storage, service-worker caches, SDK identifiers, push tokens and other access to your device. Strictly necessary storage operates without consent; analytics and marketing identifiers stay off until you agree. Device permissions are managed in iOS, Android or browser settings; turning one off stops the related feature but does not delete data already lawfully stored.

11. Automated processing and AI

Mermaid uses automated processes to fuse weather data, compare routes, score shelter, calculate settlements, suggest inspection areas, classify reports, screen content and answer boat questions. Outputs are advisory and never replace the skipper's judgment. We make no decision based solely on automated processing that produces legal or similarly significant effects for you; if that ever changes, we will explain the logic, significance and safeguards before it starts. We do not use your data to train AI models; if we ever offer a contribution programme it will be a separate opt-in, off by default.

12. Sharing and recipients

12.1 Other Mermaid users

The skipper and the invited crew see the charter data enabled for their role: crew names, briefing status, the galley board, expenses, statements, shared anchor alarms and trip information. A charter base linked to your charter sees the check-in and check-out records, incidents, handover documents and, only with your opt-in, your last known position. Community content is visible to all users and on the website, as indicated when you post.

12.2 Processors acting for us

Google Cloud (EU regions): Hosting, database, storage, delivery, security and logs
Apple: iOS distribution, Sign in with Apple, in-app purchases, Apple Push Notification service (Apple acts under its own terms for store functions)
Google Play and Firebase: Android distribution, Google sign-in, in-app purchases, push delivery
Transactional email provider: Invitations, statements, alerts and service notices
Crash and error reporting provider: Diagnostics for the apps and services
AI model provider: Answers for the boat assistant (question and documentation pages only)
Weather and map data providers: Receive no personal data; forecasts and charts are fetched by our servers

Each processor is bound by a data processing agreement. The current list, with locations and transfer safeguards, is available on request from the privacy contact.

12.3 Professional and legal recipients

Lawyers, accountants, insurers, auditors, courts, regulators, law enforcement and emergency authorities, where necessary and lawful. We assess every request and disclose only what is required, and we inform you unless the law prohibits it.

12.4 Corporate transactions

Data may be disclosed under confidentiality in a financing, reorganisation, merger, acquisition or sale of the Mermaid business. A successor may process it only consistently with the law and this Notice.

12.5 No sale of personal data

We do not sell personal data and do not share it for cross-context behavioural advertising.

13. International transfers

Our systems run in the European Union. Some providers, or their support staff, process or access data outside the EEA. Where a transfer goes to a country without an adequacy decision, we rely on the European Commission's standard contractual clauses with supplementary measures, or on an adequacy decision such as the EU-US Data Privacy Framework where the provider is certified. Information about the safeguards is available on request.

14. How long we keep data

We keep data only as long as the stated purpose, your own storage choices, legal duties, security or claims require. A documented dispute, fraud investigation, security incident, court order or legal hold can extend a period; a product setting or a valid deletion request can shorten it.

Account profile and settings: While the account exists; deleted from active systems within 30 days of a closure request. Minimal suppression, legal or security records may remain; encrypted backups roll over within 90 days.
Sign-in and ordinary security logs: 12 months; incident-specific logs up to 24 months or for the duration of a claim.
Crew list, invitations and access codes: The charter plus the 90-day Crew Access Window defined in the Terms; deleted or de-identified within 30 days after the window, unless linked to a retained statement, evidence item or dispute.
Safety-briefing images: 72 hours after the Crew Access Window ends (Terms §16).
Check-in and check-out online originals: 72 hours after a verified export package exists (Terms §16); a dispute hold or failed export delays deletion.
Signed handover records and evidence packages: 3 years after the charter ends, in restricted storage, so that deposit, insurance and damage questions can be answered (Terms §16).
Incident threads with a charter base: 24 months after the thread is closed (Terms §16).
Cash kitty: Open ledgers while the charter is active; final statements 3 years after the charter, the general limitation period for claims between crew members.
Logbook and saved routes: Until you delete them or close the account; local records stay on your device until you remove the app data.
Anchor-sharing heartbeat: Transient during sharing; deleted or aggregated within 24 hours. The final anchor event may remain in the logbook.
Last known position shared with a base: Overwritten by each new position; removed 30 days after the charter ends. The read log is kept 24 months.
Raw instrument (NMEA) data: Local rolling buffer on your device of at most 24 hours; never uploaded. Normalised values synced to the logbook stay until logbook deletion.
Community content: While published; on account deletion it is removed or kept anonymised so that a bay's history stays useful. Moderation and notice records 3 years.
Support and complaints: 3 years after closure; longer for an active legal claim.
Consent evidence and marketing suppression: Consent records for the reliance period plus 5 years; the minimal suppression record for as long as needed to honour your objection.
Billing, invoices and tax records: 10 years from the end of the accounting year, as Slovak accounting law requires.
Technical logs, crash reports and website measurement: 12 months; aggregated statistics indefinitely.
Backups: Rolling encrypted backups of at most 90 days; restored data remains subject to any earlier deletion request.

15. Security

We use risk-based technical and organisational measures: encryption in transit and at rest, EU hosting, role-based access with two-factor sign-in for staff and for charter-base users, an audit log for position reads, monitoring and abuse prevention, backup and recovery, vulnerability handling under our security contact, incident response, staff confidentiality and data-minimisation controls appropriate to the data and the feature. No internet service is perfectly secure: protect your account, device and invitation links and report suspected compromise promptly. Where a personal-data breach creates a notification duty, we notify the authority and affected individuals as the GDPR requires.

16. Your rights

Subject to the conditions in the GDPR, you may obtain confirmation and access to your personal data; correct inaccurate or incomplete data; have data erased; restrict processing; receive the data you provided in a structured, machine-readable format and transmit it to another controller; object to processing based on our legitimate interests, and object at any time to direct marketing, which we then stop without exception; withdraw consent; obtain human intervention against a solely automated significant decision, should one ever occur; complain to a supervisory authority; and seek a judicial remedy.

16.1 How to exercise them

Write to info@mermaid.navy with the subject "Privacy request" and describe the account, charter and request. Do not send a passport copy unless we specifically and lawfully ask for it; we verify identity through the signed-in account, an email confirmation or proportionate contextual questions. We answer within one month, extendable by two months for a complex or numerous request, in which case we explain why. Requests are free; a manifestly unfounded or excessive request may be refused or charged as the law permits. Most exports are available directly in the app.

16.2 Other people's data and business customers

A request cannot override another person's rights, legal privilege, evidence integrity or a business customer's lawful control of its records. Where Krone is a processor for a charter company, we pass the request to that company and assist it under the data processing agreement.

16.3 Exports

Product exports include JSON, CSV, PDF, image and checksum packages. A GDPR portability export differs from an evidence export because it is limited to personal data you provided.

17. Marketing

Service messages about your charter, account and security are sent without marketing consent and cannot be unsubscribed. We send marketing email about Mermaid to existing customers on the basis of the customer relationship, with an unsubscribe link in every message, as Section 116 of Slovak Act No. 452/2021 Coll. on electronic communications permits; anyone else receives marketing only after opting in. We keep a minimal suppression record to honour an opt-out.

18. Complaints and the supervisory authority

Contact us first so that we can put things right. You also have the right to complain to a supervisory authority, in particular the Office for Personal Data Protection of the Slovak Republic (Úrad na ochranu osobných údajov Slovenskej republiky), Hraničná 12, 820 07 Bratislava 27, dataprotection.gov.sk, or the authority of the EU country where you live or work. You are not required to contact us before complaining.

19. Changes to this Notice

We update this Notice when the Service, our providers or the law change. The version and date at the top tell you which text applies; for material changes we notify account holders in the app or by email before they take effect and ask for new consent where a change requires it. We keep prior versions for accountability.

Appendix: permissions and controls by surface

iOS skipper app: Precise or approximate location, camera and photos, notifications, local database and files, optional nearby-device access. Controls: iOS Settings and in-app feature toggles; account deletion and export in Account.
Android skipper app: Precise, approximate or background location where a feature needs it, camera and photos, notifications, local database and files, optional nearby-device access. Controls: Android Settings and in-app toggles; account deletion and export in Account.
Crew web app: Browser storage, service worker and cache, push subscription where supported, camera or photo access for selected workflows. Controls: browser and site settings, invitation revocation by the skipper.
Mermaid Base portal: Session and sign-in storage, two-factor sign-in, push subscription for alerts. Controls: browser settings, portal account settings.
Public website: No cookies; server-side visitor measurement only. Consent-managed analytics or marketing identifiers only if and when introduced (Cookie Policy).