THE VEIL OF THE HOUSE
Within the House, discretion is not merely courtesy. It is custom. This page describes how the House safeguards the information of those who pass through its chambers, and the choices available to those who entrust it.
Who Is Responsible for This Page
This website and its handling of personal information are overseen by Shaneela Rowah Al-Qamar. Matters concerning this page should be addressed to rashid@houseofshaneela.com.
Information Entrusted to the House
When visitors send correspondence, subscribe to dispatches, or request passage through the Court of the Golden Veil, certain information may be provided voluntarily. This typically consists of a name and an email address and, where correspondence is sent, the contents of that message. Such information is treated with discretion and used only for the purposes for which it was offered: to respond to enquiries, to send dispatches to those who have requested them, and to maintain the House's record of those it serves.
The House does not knowingly collect information from anyone under the age of eighteen and does not request sensitive personal information concerning matters of health, belief, or similar matters through any chamber of this site.
How Information Is Used
Information entrusted to the House is used only to fulfil the purpose for which it was given: to respond to a communiqué, to deliver a requested dispatch, or to maintain the relationship between a visitor and the House. It is not used for purposes beyond these without further notice, and it is never sold.
Correspondence and dispatch information is processed on the basis of the visitor's own consent in providing it, or the House's legitimate interest in responding to an enquiry the visitor has initiated. Court security records are processed on the basis of the House's legitimate interest in protecting access to its private chambers. Analytics is processed only on the visitor's freely given, informed consent.
Those Who Assist the House
We use carefully selected service providers for website hosting, secure database services and delivery of correspondence. They process limited personal information where necessary to provide those services.
Where Information Is Held
Information entrusted to the House is processed through infrastructure located outside the United Kingdom, principally in Japan and the United States, through various providers. When a visitor consents to analytics, information may also be processed through Google's global infrastructure.
Court Access and Security Records
A visitor who is granted passage through the Court of the Golden Veil is issued a signed session record, held only in that visitor's own browser, containing the preserver details tied to their sigil key — name, city, and the details of the artefact entrusted to them (fragrance, flacon, and the date it was placed in their custodianship). This record expires automatically after one hour of inactivity. A separate browser preference records for three hours whether the entering ceremony has recently been seen. This controls whether the ceremony is shown again and does not determine how long consented analytics information is retained.
To guard against repeated unauthorised attempts to enter, the House also keeps a short-lived record of failed attempts, identified only by a cryptographically hashed form of the visitor's network address. The address itself is never stored, and the record is never linked to any name. This record is cleared automatically upon a successful entry, and is never kept for more than 24 hours in any case.
The House also keeps a record of when each sigil key has been used and how often, tied to the preserver's own record. This is retained for as long as the sigil key remains part of the House's active records.
How Long Information Is Held
Information is retained only for as long as necessary to fulfil the purpose for which it was entrusted, or as required by law. Correspondence and enquiry records are typically held for no longer than three years from the date of last contact, after which they are deleted or anonymised, unless a longer period is required for legal, regulatory, or archival purposes consistent with the House's own custodianship of its records.
The Rights of Those Who Pass Through
Those who entrust their information to the House may, at any time:
- request to know what information the House holds concerning them
- request that inaccurate information be corrected
- request that their information be deleted
- withdraw consent to future correspondence or dispatches
- request a copy of their information in a portable form
To exercise any of these, write to the House at rashid@houseofshaneela.com. The House will respond within a reasonable time, and in any case within the period required by applicable law.
Guardianship of Information
Reasonable technical and organisational measures are taken to safeguard the information entrusted to the House, including the use of reputable processors and restricted access to records. However, no digital transmission can be guaranteed to be entirely secure, and the House cannot warrant absolute security of information transmitted to it.
Should a breach of this guardianship occur that places entrusted information at meaningful risk, the House will notify those affected, and any relevant authority, without undue delay.
Cookies and Analytics
The House's digital chambers use a small number of cookies necessary for the site to function, chiefly to hold a signed record of passage through the Court of the Golden Veil. These cannot be declined, as the chambers they serve cannot otherwise be entered securely.
Beyond this, the House uses Google Analytics, via Google Tag Manager, to understand in general terms how its digital chambers are visited — but only where a visitor has chosen to allow it. This is never active by default, and a visitor may accept or decline it freely, and change that choice at any time below. Google Analytics is not used to build advertising profiles, and the House does not use it, or any other means, for marketing tracking.
Your Analytics Preference
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Changes to This Page
The House may revise this page from time to time, to reflect changes in its practices or in applicable law. The date of the most recent revision will be noted below.
Should You Wish to Raise a Concern
Should a visitor believe their information has not been handled in accordance with this page, they are invited to write first to rashid@houseofshaneela.com, so that the matter may be addressed directly. Where a concern remains unresolved, visitors may raise the matter with the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).
Last revised: 29 August 2026
Within the House, discretion is observed as carefully as ceremony.