Privacy policy

This policy explains what personal data audiotale.net collects, why, how long we keep it, and the choices and rights you have. Operator (controller): [Operator name and address — owner to fill in]. Contact: hello@audiotale.net.

What we collect

• Account: your email address; if you use Google sign-in, your Google account identifier and the email and name Google shares. We never receive your Google password.
• Profile: the display name, username, bio, links, interests and avatar you choose to add. These are public.
• Age: at sign-up we ask for your birth month and year, check the minimum age, and store only your age band (13–15, 16–17 or 18+). We do not store your birth date.
• What you post: posts, comments, votes, saved items, follows, blocks and mutes, reports you file, learning progress.
• Reading history: only if you turn it on in Settings. Off by default.
• Sessions and security: for each signed-in session, the time, an IP address and browser user agent, kept to protect your account and to stop abuse. For rate limits we store a keyed, truncated hash of your IP address for a short window, not the address itself.
• Newsletter: your email address and when you confirmed, if you subscribe.
• Anonymous page counts: only if you allow them. Daily totals per page, per referring site (its name only), per campaign tag and per search term. No cookies, no identifiers, nothing that links a count to you.
• Days you were active: if you have an account, the dates (not times or pages) on which you used the site while signed in, so we can count active members and see whether people come back. Part of your data export; deleted with your account.

Why (legal bases)

• To run your account and show what you post: performance of our agreement with you.
• To keep the community safe (moderation logs, rate limits, spam checks): our legitimate interest in a safe service.
• Newsletter, reading history and anonymous page counts: your consent, which you can withdraw.
• To meet legal obligations, such as responding to lawful requests.

Who else processes data

We use a small number of service providers, under data-processing terms: our hosting provider (Cloudflare: the site, database, file storage, and the Turnstile spam check), our email provider for sign-in codes and newsletters, and Google if you choose Google sign-in. We do not sell personal data and we do not use advertising or third-party tracking.

Cookies

We only use cookies needed for the service: your sign-in session, your theme choice, and your privacy choice. See Cookies and choices.

How long we keep it

• Account data: while your account exists.
• After you delete your account: a 14-day grace period in which you can change your mind, then we delete your account data. Your posts and comments are removed or kept without your name, as you choose when deleting.
• Sessions: up to 30 days of inactivity. Rate-limit counters: about two days.
• Days you were active: about 13 months. Search-term totals: about 6 months. Other page count totals: about 13 months.
• Moderation records: as long as needed to keep the community safe and to handle appeals.

Your rights

Depending on where you live (for example under the GDPR or UK GDPR), you can access, correct, export, restrict or delete your data, object to processing, and withdraw consent. You can download your data and delete your account yourself in Settings. You can also complain to your data protection authority.

Children

Accounts are for people aged 13 or older, or 16 or older in the EU, EEA, UK and Switzerland (and wherever we can't tell where you are). We don't offer parental consent, so younger people can read the site but can't create an account. If we learn an account belongs to someone under the minimum age, we delete it.

International transfers and security

Our providers may process data outside your country, with safeguards such as standard contractual clauses. Data travels over HTTPS; sign-in codes are stored only as hashes.